Install of Trisquel 9.0 failure - GRUB installation failed

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.

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.

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/

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.

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.

Well, that didn't work.

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?

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?)

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?

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)

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.