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Bullseye installation failure because boot loader not installed

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  Bullseye installation failure because boot loader not installed Ken Heard <mozkenslists@gmail.com> - 2021-08-15 15:30 +0200
    Re: Bullseye installation failure because boot loader not installed Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-08-15 16:00 +0200
    Re: Bullseye installation failure because boot loader not installed Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-08-15 16:50 +0200
      Re: Bullseye installation failure because boot loader not installed David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-08-15 17:30 +0200

#238725 — Bullseye installation failure because boot loader not installed

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 I recently upgraded a desktop computer by replacing major parts in it
including the mainboard and CPU. I now want to install in it a more up to
date operating system than Wheezy which was the one used before the
upgrade. Having noted that the release of Bullseye is imminent I decided to
use the RC2 iteration of Bullseye rather than Buster.
I consequently downloaded file 'Debian-bullseye-DI-rc2-amd4-netinst.iso'
and also the 2021-07-18 version of the 'Debian GNU/Linux Installation
Guide".

I had considerable difficulties with the installer, to the effect that it
took me about 27 hours off and on over 10 days with nine false starts. I
managed to complete the installation but with one crucial exception. In due
course I want to impart to you my complete installation experience -- but
not before that exception is rectified. I refer to the last item on the
installation menu, 'Install the boot loader' -- it was never installed. The
verbatim transcript of the messages received from the installer at this
point and my answers thereto follow.
------------------------------------
Install the GRUB boot loader. First message from the installer:
It seems that this new installation is the only operating system on this
computer. If so, it should be safe to install the GRUB boot loader to your
primary drive (UEFI partition/boot record).
I gave my consent to have the GRUB boot loader to my primary drive. Second
message:
You need to make the newly installed system bootable, by installing the
GRUB boot loader on a bootable device. The usual way to do this is to
install GRUB to your primary drive (UEFI partition/boot record). You may
instead install GRUB to a different drive (or partition), or to removable
media,

Device for boot loader installation:
Enter device manually
/dev/sda (ata-ST2000DM008-2FR102_ZFL3PHLG
/dev/sdb (ata-ST2000DM001-1CH164_Z340HH9V

I chose to install it on /dev/sda.

The installer however did not like the answer and sent me a third message:
It seems that this computer is configured to boot via EFI, but maybe that
configuration will not work for booting from the hard drive. Some EFI
firmware implementations do not meet the EFI specification (i.e. they are
buggy!) and do not support proper configuration of boot options from system
hard drives.

A workaround for this problem is to install an extra copy of the EFI
version of the GRUB boot loader to a fall back location, the “removable
media path”. Almost all EFI systems, no matter how buggy, will boot GRUB
that way.

Force GRUB installation to the EFI removable path? <Yes> or <No>
Once again I did not really have much choice in the matter; so I chose
<Yes> and pressed 'Enter', but the installer did not seem to like that
answer either.
Next a series of messages crossed the screen too quickly for me to read
them, and then the screen went blank. Not only was the ‘Install the boot
loader’ aborted but also was aborted whatever would follow – if anything.

I would consequently be very grateful if someone could tell me what needs
to be done to provide the boot loader and how to do it. I am quite eager to
start using this computer as soon as possible.

By the way I was able to find a way into the computer by doing a Knoppix
live installation. I examined the files in /boot/grub, the one belonging to
the computer, not to Knoppix. I discovered that in directory /boot/grub
there is no grub.cfg file. Also there is no directory /boot/efi. Finally I
noted that from the installer start page grub commands are accessible.

On 2021-08-12 I sent this message to submit@bug.debian.org; but I was told
that my message will be ignored unless I identify the package to which it
relates and its version. My situation is such that i don't think i can
provide such information.

For the record the mainboard is a Gigabyte B450 I Aorus pro wifi. The CPU
is a 4 core AMD RyZen3 3200G with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics. I will not be
using a separate GPU. There are two 2 tb hard drives for a RAID1, with LVM.

Regards, Ken

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#238729

On Sun 15 Aug 2021 at 20:19:35 +0700, Ken Heard wrote:

[Extensive information snipped]

>From Knoppix live check that the Debian installation is on /dev/sda.
Then 'grub-install /dev/sda' and boot.

-- 
Brian.

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#238739

On Sun, Aug 15, 2021 at 08:19:35PM +0700, Ken Heard wrote:
> Having noted that the release of Bullseye is imminent I decided to
> use the RC2 iteration of Bullseye rather than Buster.
> I consequently downloaded file 'Debian-bullseye-DI-rc2-amd4-netinst.iso'

I don't know where you're getting your information from, but you
appear to be out of date in a few respects.

Bullseye was officially released yesterday.  You should be using an
installer image labeled "11.0", not one labelled "rc2" (release
candidate 2).  In fact, I don't even think that was the final release
candidate.  I thought there were at least 3 of them, possibly more.

It's quite possible that the issues you encountered were fixed after
that release candidate image was created.

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#238749

On Sun 15 Aug 2021 at 10:48:58 (-0400), Greg Wooledge wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 15, 2021 at 08:19:35PM +0700, Ken Heard wrote:
> > Having noted that the release of Bullseye is imminent I decided to
> > use the RC2 iteration of Bullseye rather than Buster.
> > I consequently downloaded file 'Debian-bullseye-DI-rc2-amd4-netinst.iso'
> 
> I don't know where you're getting your information from, but you
> appear to be out of date in a few respects.
> 
> Bullseye was officially released yesterday.  You should be using an
> installer image labeled "11.0", not one labelled "rc2" (release
> candidate 2).  In fact, I don't even think that was the final release
> candidate.  I thought there were at least 3 of them, possibly more.
> 
> It's quite possible that the issues you encountered were fixed after
> that release candidate image was created.

I assumed this account started, say, a number of weeks ago, and the OP
stuck with the original media for continuity's sake. But if the full
account is posted in due course, I hope it's more informative than
would be suggested by statements like:

"The installer however did not like the answer"
"Once again I did not really have much choice in the matter"
"the installer did not seem to like that answer either"

(Personally, I only tested rc2 on a BIOS-booting machine. As expected,
I still got the "seems that this computer is configured to boot via EFI"
screen that's entirely inappropriate for this class of PC.)

Cheers,
David.

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