32-bit UEFI and atom netbook

[Wilop91]

Hello Eliminateur
EFI is a micro firmware installed in a chip on the motherboard and its purpose is to launch the OS. I well understood in your case the EFI firmware is a 32 bit version or at least it can only boot into 32 bit. However I also understood your laptop is 64 bit and you would like to run a 64 bit OS like LM. If this does not work I'm afraid the only solution that remains is the installation of a 32 bit OS....

If you install a 32 bit OS (I dont think LM has one - you could try Antix, MXlinux or Debian) it should work. If the instalation of the 32 bit OS was successful, did you performed a full update before reboot? When you say GRUB shell you mean "GRUB rescue" like this?
https://aty.sdsu.edu/bibliog/latex/debi ... escue.html

In this case you need to go trough this article to find out where is your problem.

EDIT: this may also be helpful to you:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Troubleshooting

Btw in your BIOS is there an option to boot in "legacy" mode instead of EFI?

W.O.

[Eliminateur]

it's not the grub rescue, it's just "grub>" prompt

I'm not planning on installing a 32 bit edition, as very few distros have it and it's a deprectaed thing(also slower).
I did a full update before rebooting, no difference

i'm trying again with mint.

These baytrail devices are uefi-only, no legacy option

edit: reinstalled mint, i hav the exact same issue, upon reboot all i get is a bash> prompt
if i manually select the boot and config file it boots perfectly

[Wilop91]

Hello
When you say "grub>" promt do you mean case 1) below (which I extracted from the Ubuntu link in my previous post)?
1) grub> prompt: GRUB 2 loaded modules but was unable to find the grub.cfg file.
2) grub rescue> prompt: GRUB 2 failed to find its grub folder, or failed to load the normal module.
3) grub>: - The grub prompt on a blank screen. GRUB 2 has found the boot information but has been either unable to locate or unable to use an existing GRUB 2 configuration file (usually grub.cfg).
4) grub rescue>: - The rescue mode. GRUB 2 is unable to find the grub folder or its contents are missing/corrupted.
5) GRUB - a single word at the top left of the screen, with no prompt and no cursor. GRUB has failed to find even the most basic information, usually contained in the MBR or boot sector.
6) Busybox or Initramfs: GRUB 2 began the boot process but there was a problem passing control to the operating system.
7) Frozen splash screen, blinking cursor with no grub>

When you say "if i manually select the boot and config file it boots perfectly" can you detail how you did this?

W.O.

[Eliminateur]

the prompt is like this one:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2 ... _grub_.png

which would be the (1) option

the manual methos is like i've said in this post before: viewtopic.php?p=2214336#p2214336

i'm testing the procedure linked here viewtopic.php?f=42&t=333755

but still boots to grub shell, doing boot repair with the same iso as instructed, results in exactly the same

[Wilop91]

Hello
Well....from what I understand, your BIOS finds whatevenr it needs in the MBR to launch GRUB, the grub.cfg file is OK because you can manually launch it and the LM install is also OK.

The bad news is I dont know how to help you....

EDIT: in your grub.cfg file the set root function and the UUID of your disk are identical with what you did manually?

W.O.

[Wilop91]

Hello
And another question: can you give the result of

Code: Select all

sudo parted -l sda

assuming your disk is sda....

[Eliminateur]

following the ubuntu grub help you linked, specifically the "search and set" part, doing a "set"
shows that root and prefix point to hd0,gpt1 (which is the EFI partition)

but the grub cfg and correct files are on hd0,gpt2(the main ext4 partition)

i did a set root=(hd0,gpt2) and prefix, but upon reboot it's not saving them

the parted output ar 2 partitions:
1 537MB fat32 "efi system patition", with boot,esp flags
2 the rest of the drive with ext4

edit: i managed to solve this, in the EFI partition had to manually create a "boot/grub" folder and copy the grub.cfg from the main partition boot/, of course i have NO boot menu it shows gibberish characters but no matter.

now, ¿why doesn't the installer do this?, ¿why can't i set the grub env variables and have them stick?, and my fear is what happens next time a kernel update triggers a grub-update

[Wilop91]

Hello
Can you give the result of the command below?
efibootmgr -v

More about here:
https://www.linuxbabe.com/command-line/ ... r-examples


And what is the result of this command?
grub-install /dev/sda

As I told earlier I'm not sure I can help you. Maybe this article may help you:
https://blog.uncooperative.org/uefi/lin ... ition.html

W.O.