grub2 EFI boot loader internal/external booting

**binary10** · April 17th, 2010

Has anyone been able to boot their i7 iMac 11,1 (ATI Radeon HD 4850) using this external method ?

I'm stuck where it loads the files from the usb and still bails out in grub with the 'framebuffer address' problem.

I can boot the ubuntu lucid install CD with boot options:

radeon.modeset=0 nomodeset

Do all the install stuff to the external usb stick, then after booting off of its EFI boot loader and grub2 on the external stick I just get the small window and the 'framebuffer' problem.

My efi grub entry (/efi/boot/grub.cfg) looks like this:

Code:

menuentry "MAC Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-19-generic" {
        search --set /grub/grub.cfg
	insmod ext2
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.32-19-generic root=UUID=dbe5a02f-8f32-44f2-9d26-684188cc0e3c ro   quiet radeon.modeset=0 nomodeset splash
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.32-19-generic
}

Any ideas? I just want to my mac ubuntu build portable like my intel laptop ubuntu build.

**krazyd** · April 27th, 2010

I've been trying to install grub2 to an EFI partition on my HP elitebook. Has anyone done this who can give me some instructions? Thanks!

**bean123** · April 29th, 2010

Originally Posted by binary10

Has anyone been able to boot their i7 iMac 11,1 (ATI Radeon HD 4850) using this external method ?

I'm stuck where it loads the files from the usb and still bails out in grub with the 'framebuffer address' problem.

I can boot the ubuntu lucid install CD with boot options:

radeon.modeset=0 nomodeset

Do all the install stuff to the external usb stick, then after booting off of its EFI boot loader and grub2 on the external stick I just get the small window and the 'framebuffer' problem.

My efi grub entry (/efi/boot/grub.cfg) looks like this:

Code:

menuentry "MAC Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-19-generic" {
        search --set /grub/grub.cfg
	insmod ext2
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.32-19-generic root=UUID=dbe5a02f-8f32-44f2-9d26-684188cc0e3c ro   quiet radeon.modeset=0 nomodeset splash
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.32-19-generic
}

Any ideas? I just want to my mac ubuntu build portable like my intel laptop ubuntu build.

Have you tried my BURG version, does it have the same problem ?

**bean123** · April 29th, 2010

Originally Posted by krazyd

I've been trying to install grub2 to an EFI partition on my HP elitebook. Has anyone done this who can give me some instructions? Thanks!

I have tested BURG on HP ProBook, it works. BTW, this wiki have some tips on installing Windows 7, OSX, Ubuntu Lucid and FreeBSD 8 using UEFI/Apple EFI:

http://code.google.com/p/burg/wiki/QuadBoot

**binary10** · April 29th, 2010

Originally Posted by bean123

I have tested BURG on HP ProBook, it works. BTW, this wiki have some tips on installing Windows 7, OSX, Ubuntu Lucid and FreeBSD 8 using UEFI/Apple EFI:

http://code.google.com/p/burg/wiki/QuadBoot

Thanks bean123 - I'll give it a go later on when the hurdle of lucid final is out.

**bfroemel** · May 10th, 2010

Hey there,

new model - hopefully old problems.

I tried several of the recently posted grub EFI applications here - nothing worked at all. Finally, I could make some progress by using the stock grub as shipped with Lucid:

Code:

grub-mkimage -o grub.efi part_gpt hfsplus fat ext2 normal sh chain boot configfile linux videotest loadenv search lvm help lspci datetime loadenv efi_gop loadbios appleldr ls acpi

Unfortunately the boot process hangs very early if 'noefi' is not supplied to the kernel - I have no means of finding out how and why: the framebuffer isn't available that early. I don't have one of those USB debug key for early printks pushed over USB EHCI.

When not using the kernel EFI services (noefi), a 2.6.34-rc6 kernel boots with framebuffer (and luckily netconsole) to the point where it expects a root device. Still, ACPI and DMI seem to be messed up and so most of the devices (incl. the SATA controller) just aren't detected (regardless of acpi=force). I tested with fakebios and with loadbios: no difference.

Any hints are very much appreciated!

**bfroemel** · May 10th, 2010

I can boot into a shell now - it's been again ''efi_enter_virtual_mode'' that's causing the grief. I didn't debug further, but at least ACPI + DMI is working properly when I disable EFI right before that call in init/main.c (may break other things...).

I can see both graphcis adapters now (lspci). The discrete Nvidia seems to be still the active one. Unfortunately the 195.36.15 driver is not able to work with the current setup:

Code:

(--) PCI:*(0:0:2:0) 8086:0046:0000:0000 Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller rev 18, Mem @ 0xc1400000/4194304, 0xb0000000/268435456, I/O @ 0x00003130/8
(--) PCI: (0:1:0:0) 10de:0a29:106b:00c7 nVidia Corporation rev 162, Mem @ 0xc0000000/16777216, 0x90000000/268435456, 0xa0000000/33554432, I/O @ 0x00002000/128, BIOS @ 0x????????/524288
(II) Open ACPI successful (/var/run/acpid.socket)
(II) "extmod" will be loaded by default.
(II) "dbe" will be loaded by default.
(II) "glx" will be loaded. This was enabled by default and also specified in the config file.
(II) "record" will be loaded by default.
(II) "dri" will be loaded by default.
(II) "dri2" will be loaded by default.
(II) LoadModule: "glx"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules/libglx.so
(II) Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
        compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
(II) NVIDIA GLX Module  195.36.15  Fri Mar 12 01:17:05 PST 2010
(II) Loading extension GLX
(II) LoadModule: "extmod"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libextmod.so
(II) Module extmod: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.7.6, module version = 1.0.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 2.0
(II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
(II) Loading extension XFree86-VidModeExtension
(II) Loading extension XFree86-DGA
(II) Loading extension DPMS
(II) Loading extension XVideo
(II) Loading extension XVideo-MotionCompensation
(II) Loading extension X-Resource
(II) LoadModule: "dbe"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdbe.so
(II) Module dbe: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.7.6, module version = 1.0.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 2.0
(II) Loading extension DOUBLE-BUFFER
(II) LoadModule: "record"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/librecord.so
(II) Module record: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.7.6, module version = 1.13.0
        Module class: X.Org Server Extension
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 2.0
(II) Loading extension RECORD
(II) LoadModule: "dri"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri.so
(II) Module dri: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.7.6, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 2.0
(II) Loading extension XFree86-DRI
(II) LoadModule: "dri2"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri2.so
(II) Module dri2: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.7.6, module version = 1.1.0
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 2.0
(II) Loading extension DRI2
(II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules/nvidia_drv.so
(II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
        compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
        Module class: X.Org Video Driver
(II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver  195.36.15  Fri Mar 12 00:38:50 PST 2010
(II) NVIDIA Unified Driver for all Supported NVIDIA GPUs
(II) Primary Device is: PCI 00@00:02:0
(II) Loading sub module "fb"
(II) LoadModule: "fb"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
(II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.7.6, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
(II) Loading sub module "wfb"
(II) LoadModule: "wfb"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libwfb.so
(II) Module wfb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.7.6, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
(II) Loading sub module "ramdac"
(II) LoadModule: "ramdac"
(II) Module "ramdac" already built-in
(II) NVIDIA(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section
        "Default Screen" for depth/fbbpp 24/32
(**) NVIDIA(0): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32
(==) NVIDIA(0): RGB weight 888
(==) NVIDIA(0): Default visual is TrueColor
(==) NVIDIA(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "NoLogo" "True"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerLevel=0x3; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x3"
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "Coolbits" "1"
(**) May 10 15:47:17 NVIDIA(0): Enabling RENDER acceleration
(II) May 10 15:47:17 NVIDIA(0): Support for GLX with the Damage and Composite X extensions is
(II) May 10 15:47:17 NVIDIA(0):     enabled.
(EE) May 10 15:47:17 NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the display subsystem for the NVIDIA
(EE) May 10 15:47:17 NVIDIA(0):     graphics device!
(EE) May 10 15:47:17 NVIDIA(0): Failed to determine chip display capabilities
(EE) May 10 15:47:17 NVIDIA(GPU-0): Failed to get supported display device(s)
(EE) May 10 15:47:17 NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize dac HAL
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
(II) UnloadModule: "wfb"
(II) UnloadModule: "fb"
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Fatal server error:
no screens found

Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
         at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.

Next step is to further debug and fix ''efi_enter_virtual_mode'' so that this EFI stuff is certainly not interfering. Then I experiment some more with the Nvidia card.

**engelsma** · May 14th, 2010

Originally Posted by bean123

Try this one. It's compiled with burg, the configure file should be named burg.cfg.

I've tried the burg from this post (#1110) on an Xserve 3,1 with the Ubuntu Server 10.04 CD... using the following menuentry, i get the output shown in the attached screenshot.

menuentry "Ubuntu Server 10.04 installer cd" {
fakebios
root=cd0
linux /install/vmlinuz video=efifb nomodeset
initrd /install/initrd.gz
}

From what I can tell, the kernel loads successfully as well as the initrd.gz. However, the system hangs here...

**bean123** · May 15th, 2010

Originally Posted by engelsma

I've tried the burg from this post (#1110) on an Xserve 3,1 with the Ubuntu Server 10.04 CD... using the following menuentry, i get the output shown in the attached screenshot.

menuentry "Ubuntu Server 10.04 installer cd" {
fakebios
root=cd0
linux /install/vmlinuz video=efifb nomodeset
initrd /install/initrd.gz
}

From what I can tell, the kernel loads successfully as well as the initrd.gz. However, the system hangs here...

You can try the noefi option.

**engelsma** · May 17th, 2010

Thanks bean. I tried the noefi option -- with the following line:

linux /install/vmlinuz video=efifb noefi

No luck -- after loading the initrd.gz, and issuing the boot command, the machine hangs.

"About rEFIt" gives the following information:

EFI Version: 1.1
Platform: x86_64 (64 bit)
Firmware: Apple 1.10
Screen Output: Graphics Output (UEFI), 1024x768

Are the different versions of "burg" you've posted dependent on a particular kernel version?

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