Efi installation Latitude E4310

naguam

Hello,

After some testing on a personal project in a VM, I decided to install NetBSD 10 RC5 on my dell latitude e4310 to test on real hardware.

In EFI it boots but the gpt command to generate the partition table on my disk fails (there is no more message than just "failed"), after validating the partition scheme.

Is anybody else affected ?

(The problem is easy to reproduce for me).

Cheers,

naguam

The installation worked in MBR mode but if it is a recurring problem with other EFI laptop, maybe this should be fixed before the final NetBSD 10 release.

naguam

Just tried with RC4 and same problem, error on gpt create -p 128 wd0

I wonder why it worked on my uefi VM when I installed it.

I tried pre-creating the GPT partition table from a linux liveusb but then it fails when making the news_msdos for the efi partition.

Linux, OpenBSD and FreeBSD installs in UEFI and manage to format the disk without any problems.

rvp

naguam Try erasing the first and last MB or thereabouts of the disk using dd.

naguam

rvp

Actually now after a clean install, the NetBSD bootloader does not find the netbsd kernel 🙁
hd0a:netbsd no such file or directory, and all the attempts on similar files failed.

I'm currently digging into the bootloader commands.

I'm still learning NetBSD sorry.

naguam

Thanks for the answer.

Just made a gpt destroy from the live environment and it seems it fixed my problem.

However I think it could be a nice add-on on the installer to have an option to tick "destroy and recreate" in a whole disk configuration.

rvp

naguam hd0a:netbsd no such file or directory

This error is from the MBR bootloader, I think. The EFI bootloader won't produce this.

Is the firmware in BIOS/CSM or in UEFI mode?
Do you have an EFI ESP (DOS) partition containing the NetBSD EFI bootloader files in \EFI\BOOT\?
If you have more than one NetBSD-type EFI partition, does the one containing the kernel have the bootme attribute?

You can also boot a kernel without marking a partition bootme by giving it an EFI label, then using the NAME=label syntax in \EFI\NetBSD\boot.cfg. Eg. :

# First NetBSD partition (no label reqd.) -- main install
#
menu=Boot normally:boot
menu=Boot single user:boot -s

# Test NetBSD installation labelled `NetBSD_test'
#
menu=Boot TEST:boot NAME=NetBSD_test:
menu=Boot TEST single user:boot NAME=NetBSD_test: -s

menu=Drop to boot prompt:prompt
rndseed=/var/db/entropy-file
default=1
timeout=10
clear=1

naguam

I am sure I used UEFI
I have the partition and looked into it from my bios to add the entry that was not automatically added.
I only have one entry. (removed the others from efibootmgr or the bios)
For this point I need to dig more into it.

rvp

naguam Using the USB install stick, can you run these commands (after quitting the installer) and show the output?

# determine boot method
sysctl machdep.bootmethod

# show GPT; use: "sysctl hw.disknames" to list devices
gpt show wd0              # 1st (S)ATA disk; or: sd0 (1st SCSI disk), ld0 (1st NVME disk), ...

# mount and list NetBSD root partition
dkctl wd0 listwedges      # list partitions (AKA wedges) on disk.
mount -r /dev/dkN /mnt    # use correct number for `N'
ls -l /mnt/netbsd*

naguam

machdep.bootmethod = UEFI

Honestly, I made a very standard installation with default partitioning that succeeded after I learned the GPT backup block needing to be erased.
I tried with both cdrom and http sets, without errors, and I don't know why the kernel would not be here (and the kernel is actually here as you can see in the captures).

At that point I just think the NetBSD UEFI bootloader might have a problem after installation (not the usb img stick)

Maybe a problem making the right configuration at the setup step ? or at boot to recognise the partitions ?

rvp

naguam Judging from that 1st screenshot of yours, the bootloader hasn't even found a boot.cfg, otherwise you'd have been presented with the standard menu.

Can you see which partition on the disk has the bootme attribute? If there is one (and one isn't needed), it should be on the partition which has the kernel. The EFI ESP should not be flagged bootme.

gpt show -i 1 wd0

If the wrong partition has been flagged bootme, remove the attribute:

gpt unset -i 1 -a bootme wd0

naguam

Hello,

It seemed like my ESP partition had the bootme flag and removing seemed to have fixed it.

I am curious though about why it is important for the partition not to have that flag.

I spoke too fast on bootloader problems, and as such thanks for your patience and for the help.

(I used default partitioning but my bad, I think I probably added the boot flags after in doubt at validation without knowing it could cause problems )

Thanks again, I will now be able to proceed with my tests.

Cheers,

rvp

naguam I am curious though about why it is important for the partition not to have that flag.

That flag was inherited from FreeBSD, I think. If you have multiple installations of NetBSD (-HEAD, 10.x, 9.x, ...) on a disk, then you can make the NetBSD bootloader boot any of them by setting that flag. But, it's cleaner to just add menu entries in /boot.cfg instead for this use-case.

You would also use that flag if the kernel (and related stuff: modules, DTB files?, ...) are on a separate partition -- ie. not / -- and if that partition is not the 1st NetBSD-type partition on a disk. This is also rather uncommon--at least on x86.