[SOLVED] Default Boot Device Missing or Boot Failed

rpeasal · 01-20-2021, 10:24 AM

I’m trying to install Arch on an Acer Aspire ES15 computer with UEFI (secure boot disabled), on which I changed the HD to an SSD and I had dual boot with Windows. I went basically by the installation guide on the Arch website.

I used fdisk. I first entered g to make a gpt table. I then made three partitions:
sda1: type 1 (EFI) 500M
sda2: type 19 (swap) 8G
sda3: type 20 (Linux file system) the rest of the drive (more than 200G)

I then ran:

Code:

mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkswap /dev/sda2
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda3

mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
swapon /dev/sda2
mkdir -p /mnt/boot/EFI
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/EFI
mkdir /mnt/etc

I generated the fstab and then continued with the Arch installation guide.

I used grub for the bootloader. I ran:

Code:

pacman -S grub efibootmgr mtools dosfstools os-prober
grub-install /dev/sda --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/EFI --bootloader-id=grub_uefi
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Instead of reboot I ran

Code:

shutdown now

so I could remove the usb before I restarted the computer.

On boot, I got:

Quote:

Default Boot Device Missing or Boot Failed.
Insert Recovery Media and Hit any key
Then Select ‘Boot Manager’ to choose a new Boot Device or to Boot Recovery Media

Doing some checking, I found that there is a good grub.cfg file in /boot/grub

I ran efibootmgr and found the bootloader id grub_efi is defined as 0001, but that number does NOT appear in the boot order. I tried changing the boot order with

Code:

efibootmgr -o 0000,0001,2001,2002,2003

and

Code:

efibootmgr -O -o 0000,0001,2001,2002,2003

But changes to efibootmgr, including boot order, don’t persist. After reboot the original boot order is again restored.

I found that there is a directory /boot/EFI that is empty.

I have no idea how to get this installation to boot.

colorpurple21859 · 01-20-2021, 03:41 PM

Is there an option somewhere in the bios to select windows/other? Select other if it exist.
post the output of

Code:

parted -l

rpeasal · 01-21-2021, 05:52 AM

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I also posted this problem on the Arch website forum and got an answer. When I came back to this website yesterday to edit my post, the post wasn't up yet. I'm a new user and apparently my posts need to be approved before the are actually posted.

Anyway, the solution was pretty simple. In the command

Code:

grub-install /dev/sda --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/EFI --bootloader-id=grub_uefi

I just needed to add

Code:

--removable

I have no idea why this is necessary or why it solved the problem, but it did.

colorpurple21859 · 01-21-2021, 06:11 AM

Some efi systems require at least one drive with /EFI/boot/bootx64.efi on an efi partition for the system to be considered bootable. The —removable option creates the boot directory if it doesn’t exist, and copies the grubx64.efi to it and renames it to bootx64.efi

rpeasal · 01-21-2021, 06:22 AM

Thanks for the info!