Install of Trisquel 9.0 failure - GRUB installation failed

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jaisgossman
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Hello, I'm trying to install the Etiona release and have run into a recurring failure.

The installer, upon multiple attempts, runs the message "The 'grub-efi-amd64' package failed to install into /target/. Without GRUB the installed system will not boot."

Is there anything to do other than download the release again and start from scratch?

Magic Banana

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You can chroot in the root partition of the installed system (from a live system, such as the one you used to install Trisquel) and run grub-install and update-grub, as https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Installing#Fixing_a_Broken_System explains it in far too many details. That page gives other more maybe user-friendly methods.

jaisgossman
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I went down a couple paths on that page, first installing the boot-repair graphical repair program, to no avail. The included image is the message prompt that closes out the repair attempt. Don't know if that is any help.

I also ran the following command under chroot, and I'm kind of lost after this step.

trisquel@trisquel:~$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/loop0: 2.5 GiB, 2636050432 bytes, 5148536 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: E3B5D87A-D0AC-4AD4-8E0E-03C2D452D427

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 1050623 1048576 512M EFI System
/dev/sda2 1050624 976771071 975720448 465.3G Linux filesystem

Disk /dev/sdb: 7.5 GiB, 8004829184 bytes, 15634432 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x2eb192a2

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 * 0 5303231 5303232 2.5G 0 Empty
/dev/sdb2 320 2367 2048 1M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)

as well as:

trisquel@trisquel:~$ sudo blkid
/dev/sda1: UUID="7764-BCD8" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="1c4a95fd-dc87-4790-b182-a2d0eedfd1a5"
/dev/sda2: UUID="77e876ca-d9fb-47f0-aa7b-84d8128abe9f" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="876c72a7-9a6c-4e77-b686-425b509b68ee"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="2020-10-18-18-24-18-00" LABEL="trisquel 9.0 amd64" TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="2eb192a2" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="2eb192a2-01"
/dev/sdb2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="EFI" UUID="0CF4-5769" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="2eb192a2-02"

and:

trisquel@trisquel:~$ df -Th
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev devtmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /dev
tmpfs tmpfs 383M 1.4M 382M 1% /run
/dev/sdb iso9660 2.6G 2.6G 0 100% /cdrom
/dev/loop0 squashfs 2.5G 2.5G 0 100% /rofs
/cow overlay 1.9G 178M 1.7G 10% /
tmpfs tmpfs 1.9G 28M 1.9G 2% /dev/shm
tmpfs tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock
tmpfs tmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs tmpfs 1.9G 8.0K 1.9G 1% /tmp
tmpfs tmpfs 383M 56K 383M 1% /run/user/999
/dev/sda2 ext4 457G 7.3G 427G 2% /media/trisquel/77e876ca-d9fb-47f0-aa7b-84d8128abe9f

this is step 12 via chroot:

trisquel@trisquel:~$ sudo chroot /mnt
root@trisquel:/# grub-install /dev/sda
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

Another note is that upon booting into the BIOS screen, the harddrive is no longer accessible. So I am unable to run the previous install of Trisquel 8. the other image shows a message that would show up when messing with the BIOS options, sorry I don't remember exactly how I fixed it (if it can be called that), but it was regarding secure boot or something rather. I suppose this can be assumed if I'm having trouble with the GRUB?

Hopefully there is something useful in there showing a mistake I've made.

Screenshot at 2020-11-28 22-58-08.png IMG-0261.JPG
Magic Banana

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# grub-install /dev/sda

That was the right command to execute. However:

grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

You apparently need to create a small partition with the bios_grub flag set: https://blog.hostonnet.com/grub-install-warning-this-gpt-partition-label-contains-no-bios-boot-partition-embedding-wont-be-possible

jaisgossman
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I set the flag on sda, but to no avail.

root@trisquel:~# parted /dev/sda print
Model: ATA Hitachi HTS54505 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 538MB 537MB fat32 EFI System Partition bios_grub
2 538MB 500GB 500GB ext4

root@trisquel:~# grub-install /dev/sdb
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: failed to get canonical path of `/cow'.
root@trisquel:~#

I feel like I'm getting pretty tangled up in stuff I don't know much about, but learning! Thanks.

Also, off topic, but could help. How do I make command line text appear as it does in your entries? It's much easier for reference, and I'd like to develop a sense of the style.

Magic Banana

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You can try some other solutions on https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Installing#Fixing_a_Broken_System

To format your text on the forum (and in the wiki): https://trisquel.info/en/filter/tips

jaisgossman
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Something I'm not sure I've articulated yet. I no longer have access to the hard drive in the BIOS screen. I don't know how that is related to the GRUB install/corruption/whatever is going on.
Here is a picture of what it looks like without anything hooked up (USB devices and such) (sorry about the poor quality). Should I ignore this and continue troubleshooting with the GRUB repair?

IMG_0264.JPG
chaosmonk

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Run the graphical installer while connected to the Internet. I have run into this before when installing Trisquel on EFI machines. I'm not sure why, but it needs to install grub-efi-amd64 from the Internet.

jaisgossman
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I ran again (I'm pretty sure I was connected to the internet the first attempt, but just to be thorough), I got the same result. I also ran the Bootinfo summary and was given this report: http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/k9ZhS7PVnJ/

jaisgossman
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I think I did some things wrong previously, so here is my latest attempt, for the sake of documentation:

trisquel@trisquel:~$ sudo apt-get install mdadm
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
mdadm is already the newest version (4.1~rc1-3~ubuntu18.04.4).
mdadm set to manually installed.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
trisquel@trisquel:~$ sudo sh -ec "apt-get install software-properties-common; add-apt-repository ppa:g2p/storage; apt-get update; apt-get install bcache-tools"
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
software-properties-common is already the newest version (0.96.24.32.14+9.0trisquel3).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Storage-related packages; SSD acceleration, Btrfs deduplication, LVM and bcache conversion.

Packages are built for Ubuntu 14.04 (trusty) and newer.
If you installed blocks on raring or saucy and have upgraded since, you may want to reinstall the python3-parted package (sudo sh -c 'dpkg --purge --force-depends python3-parted; apt-get -f install').

The package source is available at https://github.com/g2p?tab=repositories
Report bugs to linux-bcache: http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html#linux-bcache
Get help at http://askubuntu.com/ , using the bcache tag.
More info: https://launchpad.net/~g2p/+archive/ubuntu/storage
Press [ENTER] to continue or Ctrl-c to cancel adding it.

Hit:1 cdrom://Trisquel 9.0 _etiona_ - Release amd64 (20201018) etiona InRelease
Ign:2 http://ppa.launchpad.net/g2p/storage/ubuntu bionic InRelease
Err:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net/g2p/storage/ubuntu bionic Release
404 Not Found [IP: 91.189.95.83 80]
Hit:4 https://archive.trisquel.info/trisquel etiona InRelease
Get:5 https://archive.trisquel.info/trisquel etiona-updates InRelease [6132 B]
Get:6 https://archive.trisquel.info/trisquel etiona-security InRelease [4918 B]
Get:7 https://archive.trisquel.info/trisquel etiona-updates/main amd64 Packages [1753 kB]
Get:8 https://archive.trisquel.info/trisquel etiona-security/main amd64 Packages [999 kB]
Reading package lists... Done
E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/g2p/storage/ubuntu bionic Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
trisquel@trisquel:~$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/loop0: 2.5 GiB, 2636050432 bytes, 5148536 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: E3B5D87A-D0AC-4AD4-8E0E-03C2D452D427

Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 1050623 1048576 512M BIOS boot
/dev/sda2 1050624 976771071 975720448 465.3G Linux filesystem

Disk /dev/sdb: 7.5 GiB, 8004829184 bytes, 15634432 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x2eb192a2

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 * 0 5303231 5303232 2.5G 0 Empty
/dev/sdb2 320 2367 2048 1M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
trisquel@trisquel:~$ sudo blkid
/dev/sda1: UUID="7764-BCD8" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="1c4a95fd-dc87-4790-b182-a2d0eedfd1a5"
/dev/sda2: UUID="77e876ca-d9fb-47f0-aa7b-84d8128abe9f" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="876c72a7-9a6c-4e77-b686-425b509b68ee"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="2020-10-18-18-24-18-00" LABEL="trisquel 9.0 amd64" TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="2eb192a2" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="2eb192a2-01"
/dev/sdb2: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="EFI" UUID="0CF4-5769" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="2eb192a2-02"
trisquel@trisquel:~$ df -Th
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev devtmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /dev
tmpfs tmpfs 383M 1.4M 382M 1% /run
/dev/sdb iso9660 2.6G 2.6G 0 100% /cdrom
/dev/loop0 squashfs 2.5G 2.5G 0 100% /rofs
/cow overlay 1.9G 106M 1.8G 6% /
tmpfs tmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock
tmpfs tmpfs 1.9G 0 1.9G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs tmpfs 1.9G 8.0K 1.9G 1% /tmp
tmpfs tmpfs 383M 36K 383M 1% /run/user/999
trisquel@trisquel:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
trisquel@trisquel:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
trisquel@trisquel:~$ for i in /dev /dev/pts /proc /sys /run; do sudo mount -B $i /mnt$i; done
trisquel@trisquel:~$ sudo chroot /mnt
root@trisquel:/# grub-install /dev/sda
Installing for i386-pc platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.
root@trisquel:/# update-grub
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Generating grub configuration file ...
grub-probe: error: unknown filesystem.
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1. Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for EFI firmware configuration
done
root@trisquel:/#

I'm posting this for hindsight and will attempt to reboot now. I will also be setting the boot device to /dev/sda. Here goes.

Magic Banana

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The PPA you tried to install is discontinued: the latest supported release of Ubuntu is Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Velvet.

You may have to change things in the UEFI configuration. Maybe disable "Secure Boot" and/or enable a "Legacy mode" and/or a "BIOS mode" or... You do not risk anything: there must be a way in the menu to "Restore defaults".

jaisgossman
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Well, that didn't work.

jaisgossman
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I made a workaround work, which unfortunately is not Trisquel. I've installed Ubuntu Studio, and it seems to have smoothed out the booting issues. This, of course, isn't what my goal was, but I've learned a few things along the way (maybe?). Ubuntu studio seems to be appropriate for my needs so I'm going to stick with it for a while. I hope to return to Trisquel-land before too long, before I get too comfortable with Ubuntu Studio. I will perhaps try to install a dual boot that I can actually use, all my previous attempts have been failures.

In the meantime, I will just attempt to make my desktop appearance as wacky as possible. Maybe it will make me yearn for the simplicity of Trisquel. Until then, thanks.

To ask a question that does not implicate Trisquel, but I hope will be tolerated on this forum, is the UEFI configuration accessible in the same fundamental way with Ubuntu Studio? Where do I go / What should I do to access the UEFI configuration?

Magic Banana

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There must a be a key to press before reaching the boot loader (GRUB). It is usually indicated on the very first screen that briefly appears right after you switch your computer on. If not, try "Esc", "Del", "F2", "F9", "F10", "F11" or "F12", which are the usual keys.

Disabling "UEFI Boot" and/or "Secure Boot" and/or enabling "Legacy mode" and/or "BIOS mode" may solve your problem.

jaisgossman
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I've got the live session on again, and I'm submitting a picture of the desktop to see what the partitions display. Is this a regular divvy-ing up of the main storage? I've gone through many different iterations of OS's on this computer, between linux mint and Trisquel. Ubuntu is the latest. It seems my storage space shrinks at a slow rate, and I'm not sure what is leading to this. I also wonder if it is related to the booting issues. To your suggestion of Disabling "UEFI Boot" and/or "Secure Boot" and/or enabling "Legacy mode" and/or "BIOS mode" may solve your problem. , I have done that a few times, at one point unable to get into any session, live or on the harddrive.

So, I have a workable OS right now, and I want to double check before I even attempt another install whether all is in order. Let me know if there is any other info I should supply (triple check?)

Screenshot at 2020-12-01 20-29-03.png
Magic Banana

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What is the first partition for? In an earlier post, I linked to https://blog.hostonnet.com/grub-install-warning-this-gpt-partition-label-contains-no-bios-boot-partition-embedding-wont-be-possible that suggests the creation of a tiny (not half a GiB) partition with the bios_grub flag (absent in the screenshot you show). In that post, ext4 is used rather than FAT. It may not matter though.

Having a separate partition for /home allows to later substitute the system keeping the user files. Unless that changed with Trisquel 9 (I upgraded from Trisquel 8), Trisquel's installer chooses for /home the XFS type of filesystem, by default. It is reputed more performant with larger files.

If you separate /home from / (you can do that from the installer), the partition for / can be rather small, maybe 32 GB, unless you plan to install many heavy games. The rest would be for /home.

jaisgossman
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There's also this.

I'm not sure what I'm looking at in this screenshot. Is this "/" the file system of the live trisquel session, or is it the trisquel install I attempted?

Screenshot at 2020-12-01 20-54-12.png Screenshot at 2020-12-01 20-58-13.png
jaisgossman
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I feel like a cat that's crawled up a tree and isn't sure how to get down (Call the fire dept!).


GRUB installation failed (as superuser)

The 'grub-efi-amd64' package failed to install into /target/. Without the GRUB boot loader the installed system will not boot.

perl: warning: falling back to the standard locale ("C")

locale: cannot set LC_CTYPE
LC_MESSAGES
LC_ALL

to default locale.
No such file or directory

The above few lines of warning are what appeared in a desktop window prompt (pop-up?) after the (near) first attempt to install Trisquel 9 from a live USB. The OS currently running was Trisquel 8, FLIDAS. After this message appeared, I couldn't get into the FLIDAS installation. So, I downloaded the UBUNTU STUDIO image and installed on another USB. I was able to install that, and it worked, and it is from which I write this accounting. That's the closest I can explain the length the tree of which I have climbed up. I'm trying to get back to the "root", as it were.

My question, should I be seeking help at the askubuntu forum in order to find a resolution to all this BIOS and GRUB mixup? I don't want to distract with questions that are a little naive.

To half-answer your question, Magic Banana, that first partition /sda1/ is what I remember seeing ever since I have used the gparted viewer on previous installs of Trisquel. I don't know if it is a relic from the original Linux Mint install, which I what I used when I wiped windows from the machine. When I ran the parted /dev/sdb set 1 bios_grub on command, I didn't pay attention to any of that stuff, since I wasn't seeing it in the terminal. I'll definitely change habits in how I tinker with things as a result of all this. Let that be a warning, dear reader! And magic banana, thanks for all the help and patience. Definitely have I learned plenty from you.

Magic Banana

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Your /dev/sda1 actually looks like a relic of Windows, given the filesystem on it (FAT). Have you tried the installation type "Erase disk and install Trisquel" (or whatever it is called nowadays)? The installer will then use a default partitioning and not ask you anything about it.