[GIGABYTE GA-A75-UD4H] "You need to load the kernel first" when trying to select any option from grub list when using EFI (ver 2.1) and trying to install Ubuntu.

[geezanansa]

This affects Precise, Quantal and Raring on ga a75 ud4h hardware. This is not a Secure Boot capable system .
Trying to install using EFI mode when Windows installed using GPT already.
 EFI has to be switched off to allow installer or live session to run. Both default and fallback installers not working when EFI is on. No options from grub list boot - get "can not read cd0/files" and "You need to load the kernel first" errors.

Have asked this http://askubuntu.com/q/208405/102029 question and tried to list some observations at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2149013.

After installing using the workaround of switching EFI off and then creating grub_bios partition to allow installtion bios mode. Then installing of grub-efi needs other modification to existing boot loader for Ubuntu to boot. This is due to firmware hardcoding by vendors. Boot-Repair fixes things to get going but through time system deteriorates and becomes unrecoverable or bootable due to mountall errors.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: grub-efi (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-19.29-generic 3.8.8
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-19-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.331
Date: Fri Aug 16 15:09:38 2013
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: grub2
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: linux-image-3.8.0-19-generic 3.8.0-19.29
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-19.29-generic 3.8.8
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-19-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: ubuntu 3446 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: command ['iw', 'reg', 'get'] failed with exit code 1: nl80211 not found.
CasperVersion: 1.331
Date: Fri Aug 16 17:26:40 2013
IwConfig:
 eth0 no wireless extensions.

 lo no wireless extensions.
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-A75-UD4H
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 radeondrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: file=/cdrom/preseed/username.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- keyboard-configuration/layoutcode=gb
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.8.0-19-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.8.0-19-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.106
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 12/07/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Award Software International, Inc.
dmi.bios.version: F8c
dmi.board.name: GA-A75-UD4H
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.board.version: x.x
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAwardSoftwareInternational,Inc.:bvrF8c:bd12/07/2012:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnGA-A75-UD4H:pvr:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnGA-A75-UD4H:rvrx.x:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: GA-A75-UD4H
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

How to add "ubiquity" to Affects?

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

/var/log/syslog from EFI (installed but broken 13.04)

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

/etc/fstab from EFI (installed but broken 13.04)

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

blkid from live session 13.04

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

Possible kernel upgrade from 3.8.0.28 to 3.8.0.30 has caused mountall error leading to maintenance shell. Breaking Raring.

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

How to add "linux" and "mountall" to Affects?

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

Uploaded linux bug report https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1213172 How to add to affects?

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Please attach your /boot/grub/grub.cfg file that causes this error.

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

The location is of course /cdrom/boot/grub/grub.cfg. Other research may confirm this is a firmware issue. The firmware version is EFI 1.1 rev 2 which rEFInd sees as UEFI 2.1. Due to not being able to boot any grub options from grub list (grub boot manager loads but grub bootloaders will not boot) when booted using EFI mode the grub.cfg is when booted using Non-EFI mode. Which is BIOS on this system due to not having CSM as this is an emulated EFI layer!(opposite of CSM which is full UEFI with emulated BIOS)
Canonical BIOS/UEFI Requirement documentation explains Ubuntu is geared to use UEFI 2.3.1 as described in the first paragraph of section 9 in this [Canonical Document]( http://hwe.ubuntu.com/docs/ubuntu-bios-uefi-requirements.pdf)

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

>=UEFI 2.3.1 is the specification demanded by Windows 8 for Secure Boot purposes. I still think Ubuntu should still be able to install on a non secure boot capable system using EFI. There appears to be no other option than >=2.3.1 UEFI or BIOS when trying to install Ubuntu EFI mode. This document goes some way to confirm this http://web.dodds.net/~vorlon/wiki/blog/SecureBoot_in_Ubuntu_12.10/

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

Windows installs on this hardware with no secure boot; so why not Ubuntu?.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Ahh, so you can't even boot the live CD in EFI mode? Can you go to the grub prompt and run ls -l and report the output?

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

Sorry for slow response; keep on getting lost here in the depths of Launchpad. I posted a picture to another Ask Ubuntu question. http://askubuntu.com/q/298819 and trying more recently gives similar results with main difference being cd0,apple1 and cd0,apple2 are found. I will see about borrowing a camera to get a better representation of what is actually happening currently. The only thing that i have done that may have had any influence on this is installing rEFInd (which installs its own efi iso.9660 drivers) and burnt a new disc (due to cat taking a walk on my disc when it was left lying about). The same .iso was used so this should not be relevant. checksums have been checked on .iso and veryified disk when burning. This is all using 13.04 Desktop amd64.iso.

Getting to the black grub screen indicates liveDVD has booted EFI mode but iIt is when a kernel is selected i get the "can not read file" or cd and "you need to load the kernel first" errors.

Using lsefisystab also confirms system is booting live DVD EFI mode. Will do this again and try to report actual outcome.

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

Reconsidering the situation here it should be rementioned that this problem of not being able to boot any kernels from liveDVD could be directly related to very poor EFI implementation as well as vendor hard coding. Have considered trying to run FirmWareTestSuite set of tools to try and get some accurate information regarding what my firmware is capable of or not. Not sure if these tools can be used on a system with no working Ubuntu. (did have EFI booting Ubuntu but she is broken and really struggling to recover from mountall errors) .
Considering this could be a or multiple Ubiquity grub possibly even shim bug or firmware hardcoding problem - Should i change this bug to a question?

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

This has nothing to do with Ubiquity. Did you download the correct iso image? The one for macs? Can you try ls (cd0)/ at the grub prompt?

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

I definitely downloaded amd64 .iso.
uname -a from live session (booted in BIOS mode) gives Linux ubuntu 3.8.0-19-generic #29-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 17 18:16:28 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux Using checksums for amd64 .iso to verify download and burnt DVD! 100% positive using amd64 .iso

Do not have rEFInd installed as Fedora 19 installed using LVM which used grub in non-efi mode - even when EFI was on. Fedora has taken all EFI bootloaders and put them in grub non-EFI!
Fedora 18 amd 64 .iso could not install with EFI on but rEFInd saw apple installer- common denominator =GRUB and system latest firmware!

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

ls (cd0)/ at grub commandline when booting with EFI on gives:autorun.inf boot/ casper/ dists/ EFI/ install/ isolinux/ md5sum.txt pics/ pool/ preseed/ README.diskdefines ubuntu wubi.exe

ls -l at grub prompt confirms missing files regarding /boot/grub/x86_64-efi then lists hd0 partitions and then also lists:
Partition cd0,apple2
Partition cd0,apple1
Partition cd0,msdos2

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

After noticing wubi.exe had to eject disk from drive to make sure this is 13.04 iso which it definitely is 13.04. Thought wubi was dropped?

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

Double checked .iso again and can confirm 13.04 PC amd64 Desktop .iso is definitely being used. sha256sum on downloaded iso and verified disc - all checks are good.

[Oliver Grawert (ogra)]

amd64 != amd64+mac ...
http://releases.ubuntu.com/raring/ubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64+mac.iso has the Mac iso ...

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

Oliver Grawert Have tried to confirm i understand the difference between Ubuntu PC Desktop and Ubuntu Mac Desktop. The .iso that was downloaded is named ubuntu-13.04-amd64.iso and definetely not ubuntu-13.04-amd64+mac.iso. Additionaly have confirmed that using sha256sum and sha256sum.gpg (for Desktop PC) to verify downloaded .iso and burned disc. ref:Posts #18 and #20.

In post #17 have provided evidence this (ref apple1 and apple2) is applicable to other distrubitions on this hardware. I more than suspect this is due to firmware hardcoding but is possibly some kind of bug (grub).

GA A75 UD4H is an amd64 platform which uses chipset A75 and AMD socket FM1. It is not a Mac.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Can you try ls /casper, and run the set command and check the value of the root variable?

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

ls /casper gives : filesystem.manifest filesystem.manifest-remove filesystem.size filesystem.squashfs initrd.lz vmlinuz.efi

set gives : root=cd0

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

So other than recommending trying mac.iso; anybody got other advice?
 What other information could be of any use to get the ball rolling on getting Ubuntu to boot using EFI on this hardware?
Surely the outcome of ls /casper confirms vmlinuz.efi files is on .iso. The question is why can't Grub the boot manager see vmlinuz.efi files?

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

Responding to https://launchpad.net/~jsalisbury comment #4 in bug#1213172 have tried latest dailybuild of 13.10 which gives same outcome - can not install using EFI mode.

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

On GA A75 UD4H;
Using Saucy image to go for install with EFI off detects a mac partiton table!
Using Raring image to go for install putting boot loader to existing ESP installed grub.efi.signed bootloader!
This is more indicative of boot manager and boot loader bugs and/or deficiencies.

How to install Ubuntu on a pre UEFI 2.3.1 system?

Am looking at EFI stub loader to install using EFI. To be continued...

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

Would like to update with some more observations; firstly with reference to original bug description regarding the workaround to get Ubuntu booting using EFI mode on this hardware: Boot-Repairs recommended fix wants to apply "rename bootloader" and after going for reinstalltion of Ubuntu using 13.04 amd desktop .iso made the conscious decision not to apply this which gives a seperate Ubuntu directory in ESP and boots just fine! This was attempted after reading http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/bootrepair.html which mentions a few problems relating to this situation of being unable to install using EFI mode. Perhaps Rod Smith is the man to ask about how to get Ubuntu installing EFI mode on this hardware!? His webpages are a very reliable source of information regarding all things U/EFI!
Secondly regards to my last comment regarding 13.10 amd64 installer detecting mac partition table when windows installed to GPT may be to do with DVD using mac partition table!?

[geezanansa (geezanansa-ubuntu)]

@Oliver Grawert referring to your comment and this Ask Ubuntu answer http://askubuntu.com/a/40480/102029 confirms the use of amd64+mac iso simply allows the BIOS installer/live session to run on a system set to run EFI mode which ultimately would mean a non booting Ubuntu. It does allow booting live session without the need to access firmware settings but is running in BIOS mode. Again the work around of installing grub-efi would need to be relied on to get Ubuntu booting EFI mode after a BIOS installation. I am still hunting down a solution to "How to install or boot Ubuntu live session EFI mode" The fact the amd64+mac iso exists and has existed for a good while proves this has been a long term problem being side stepped by those in a position to do something about it. The blaming of firmware hardcoding appears to be used as a convenient hood winking technique as i have proven this is not applicable on this hardware at least. It appears the problem is somehow grub related. The wild goose chase continues but due to the fact Windows boots and installs using EFI the question still remains "How to install or boot Ubuntu using EFI mode on an EFI 2.1 machine?"

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for grub2 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]