Syslinux - Mar 2015 - Fail to set up UEFI syslinux on ArchLinux USB Flash Drive

Trying to set up UEFI Syslinux boot on an ArchLinux USB 4GB stick.

- Host system:  64-bit Ubuntu 14.10 on 56 GB hard drive
- Hardware:  ASUS P8H77-I, Bios v1101, i7-3770 at 3.40 GHz, 16 GB DDR3

- ArchLinux Instructions followed:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Syslinux#UEFI_Systems >
? ?
2. UEFI Systems > 2.2 Installation

- Arch syslinux v.6.03
196352 Oct 13 22:25 /usr/sbin/syslinux

- Used Arch syslinux files from /usr/lib/syslinux/efi64/
(copied to EFI/syslinux/ on /dev/sdd1 (see below)):
 ...
134744  ldlinux.e64
121848  liblua.c32
 27688  libmenu.c32
  6136  linux.c32
 31720  menu.c32
 10328  syslinux.c32
   400  syslinux.cfg    (created by me - "Text boot menu" format)
176456  syslinux.efi
 ...

- USB Drive (with Arch
?Linux?
installed on second partition, sdd2):
Disk /dev/sdd: 3.7 GiB, 4007264256 bytes, 7826688 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: gpt
Disk identifier: 77D7213D-00A3-4042-9489-4B57D54B2D23
Device       Start     End Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sdd1       34 1048609 1048576   512M EFI System
/dev/sdd2  1048610 7397409 6348800     3G Linux filesystem
/dev/sdd3  7397410 7826654  429245 209.6M Linux swap

?Note:  the EFI partition (sdd1) is formatted FAT-32?

- Command to set up UEFI boot:
$ efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sdd -p 1 -l EFI\\syslinux\\syslinux.efi -L ArchLinux


$ efibootmgr
BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0000,0002,0003,0001
Boot0000* ArchLinux
Boot0001* CD/DVD Drive
Boot0002* Hard Drive
Boot0003* ubuntu

$ sudo efibootmgr -v
 ...
Boot0000* ArchLinux
HD(1,22,100000,f8f45ea2-387b-4fd8-aee6-d9aec44699d4)File(EFI\syslinux\syslinux.efi)
Boot0003* ubuntu
HD(1,800,100000,7173866f-e6bc-4ad4-b68a-b9e0a4ba9327)File(EFI\Ubuntu\grubx64.efi)

Please note the above similarity between the "good" (working) entry,
ubuntu, and the "bad" Archlinux entry.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESULTS:
In BIOS, select ArchLinux entry
Blank screen.
WARNING: No configuration file found
boot: syslinux.cfg
Failed to load COM32 file syslinux.cfg.c32
boot: syslinux
Undefined symbol FAIL: lua_pushlightuserdata
Failed Failed to load COM32 file syslinux.c32
boot:
etc., etc ...

Please comment and help,

Thanks
-- Alex

> Trying to set up UEFI Syslinux boot on an ArchLinux USB 4GB stick.
 
 (snip) 
 
> In BIOS, select ArchLinux entry
 
Just a minor detail (but it helps for understanding each other)... You 
probably mean "in UEFI firmware", not "in BIOS". And yet,
this is still
not clear (at least, not to me).
 
> Blank screen.
> WARNING: No configuration file found
You probably should double-check that you actually have a 
"syslinux.cfg" in the same directory where your
"syslinux.efi" file is
located. I would suggest also checking for typos.
 
> boot: syslinux.cfg
> Failed to load COM32 file syslinux.cfg.c32
> boot: syslinux
> Undefined symbol FAIL: lua_pushlightuserdata
> Failed Failed to load COM32 file syslinux.c32
> boot:
> etc., etc ...
 
Those are not accepted commands, so you cannot expect adequate results.

Perhaps you might want to start a forum topic in ArchLinux.
 
> 
> Please comment and help,
> 
> Thanks
> -- Alex
 
Regards,
Ady.
 
> _______________________________________________
> Syslinux mailing list
> Submissions to Syslinux at zytor.com
> Unsubscribe or set options at:
> http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux

@Alex, please next time use "Reply All" (instead of the simple
"Reply")
for the mailing list emails; that way the emails will get to the 
Syslinux Mailing List (instead of arriving to particular members).

Now, to the matter in question...

 (snip) 
 
> > Just a minor detail (but it helps for understanding each other)...
> > You probably mean "in UEFI firmware", not "in
BIOS".
> > And yet, this is still not clear (at least, not to me).
> 
> We're in sync here (although not immediately apparent :)
> I'm resonably familiar with UEFI.? Above, by "in BIOS" I
meant
> going to my machine's "BIOS", i.e., in my paricular
case/motherboard,
> Boot
> Hit Delete key
> Hit F8
> and then select from among the _UEFI_ menu entries
> the subject "ArchLinux" entry (and watch what happens).?
Unfortunately,
 
Is this "ArchLinux" entry equivalent to
"\EFI\syslinux\syslinux.efi" in
your UEFI firmware?

Note: UEFI firmware is supposed to use (or show) backslash "\" as path
separator. This is not a big deal here; just the reason I used it 
above.
 
> instead of the expected nice menu created by me in 'syslinux.cfg' I
get
> the problem "boot:" prompt in the middle of an otherwise blank
screen
> :(
 
Which means that syslinux.efi actually boots (to the boot prompt), but 
(it seems, as per your report) it cannot find a "syslinux.cfg" file in
the expected location.
 
> 
> 3.
> > You probably should double-check that you actually have a 
> "syslinux.cfg"
> > in the same directory where your "syslinux.efi" file is
located.
> 
> I had thousend-checked and the files in 'EFI/syslinux/' are as 
> originally
> listed in my OP (where I selected only a few "important" files).
> For reference here,
> - Used Arch syslinux files from /usr/lib/syslinux/efi64/
> (copied to EFI/syslinux/ on /dev/sdd1 (see below)):
> ?...
> 134744 ?ldlinux.e64
> 121848 ?liblua.c32
> ?27688 ?libmenu.c32
> ? 6136 ?linux.c32
> ?31720 ?menu.c32
> ?10328 ?syslinux.c32
> ? ?400 ?syslinux.cfg ? ?(created by me - "Text boot menu" format)
> 176456 ?syslinux.efi
> 
 
>From your "/usr/lib/syslinux/efi64/" (in your particular OS), you
need
"libutil.c32" so your "menu.c32" would work. This is
a/another reason
for you to see a boot prompt instead of a menu.
 
> 4.
> >> boot: syslinux.cfg
> >> Failed to load COM32 file syslinux.cfg.c32
> >> boot: syslinux
> >> Undefined symbol FAIL: lua_pushlightuserdata
> >> Failed Failed to load COM32 file syslinux.c32
> >> boot: ?etc., etc ...
> 
> > Those are not accepted commands, so you cannot expect adequate 
> results.
> 
> Those were attempted by me in order to maybe guess a "meaningful"
> response
> to the "boot:" prompt and/or maybe in hopes some syslinux people
to
> guess
> (in their turn :) where I was and/or what was/went wrong.
> Obviously, something "behind" that "boot:" prompt spoke
some
> "syslinux",
> see the "c32", "lua_pushlightuserdata",
> "Failed to load COM32 file syslinux.c32" clues there.
> 
> BTW, ?from the "boot:" situation I could recover only by
rebooting the
> machine
> (or is it by reuefiing the machine? :)
> 
 
In the Syslinux boot prompt, have you tried typing in one of the 
recognized LABELs you used in your "syslinux.cfg"?
 
> 5.
> This is the content of the 'syslinux.cfg' file
> ?UI menu.c32
> ?PROMPT 0
> ?
> ?MENU TITLE Boot Menu
> ?TIMEOUT 100
> ?DEFAULT arch
> ?
> ?LABEL arch
> ? ? ? ? ?MENU LABEL Arch Linux
> ? ? ? ? ?LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
> ? ? ? ? ?APPEND root=/dev/sdd2 rw
> ? ? ? ? ?INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img
> ?
> ?LABEL archfallback
> ? ? ? ? ?MENU LABEL Arch Linux Fallback
> ? ? ? ? ?LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
> ? ? ? ? ?APPEND root=/dev/sdd2 rw
> ? ? ? ? ?INITRD ../initramfs-linux-fallback.img
> 
> Note: ?During the numerous tests I made, I played with
> UI menu.c32 (in/out), PROMPT (0/1),
> to no avail.
 
In your boot prompt, type in:
arch
and press enter. Is you OS booting then?
 
> 
> I'd also like to append this "parted" summary of the subject
USB drive
> to the documentation I submitted in my OP:
> ?
> Model: Kingston DataTraveler G3 (scsi)
> Disk /dev/sdd: 4007MB
> Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
> Partition Table: gpt
> Disk Flags:?
> 
> Number ?Start ? End ? ? Size ? ?File system ? ? Name ? ? ? ? ? 
> ? ?Flags
> ?1 ? ? ?17.4kB ?537MB ? 537MB ? fat32 ? ? ? ? ? EFI System ? ? 
> ? ?boot, esp
> ?2 ? ? ?537MB ? 3787MB ?3251MB ?ext2 ? ? ? ? ? ?Linux filesystem
> ?3 ? ? ?3787MB ?4007MB ?220MB ? linux-swap(v1) ?Linux swap
> 
> Thanks,
> ?-- Alex?
> 
> 
For more info about c32 library modules, see:
 http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Library_modules 

Regards,
Ady.

On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 9:03 AM, Ady via Syslinux <syslinux at zytor.com>
wrote:

Hi Ady,
> please next time use "Reply All" (instead of the simple
"Reply")
for the mailing list emails ...
Sorry about that.  Please add my reply to the list for me.  Thanks.
> Is this "ArchLinux" entry equivalent to
"\EFI\syslinux\syslinux.efi"
> in your UEFI firmware?
> Note: UEFI firmware is supposed to use (or show) backslash "\" as
path
> separator.
You have a great point there.
I redid the "efibootmgr" installation and instead of

efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sdd -p 1 -l EFI\\syslinux\\syslinux.efi -L ArchLinux

as I used originally (as documented in my OP), I put a (double) slash in
front
of "EFI", i.e., I now have

efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sdd -p 1 -l \\EFI\\syslinux\\syslinux.efi -L ...

and
I finally get the expected nice menu prompt !!!
Thanks.

UNFORTUNATELY
as documented in the latest ArchWiki
 (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Syslinux#UEFI_Systems)
quote,
"For syslinux, kernel and initramfs files need to be in the ESP, as
syslinux
does not (currently) have the ability to access files outside its own
partition..."

so this is as far as I can go with my attempt to use UEFI syslinux!!!

(reminder, the 'syslinux.cfg' file in the EFI partition, /dev/sdd1,
has lines like this

 LABEL arch
         MENU LABEL Arch Linux
         LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
         APPEND root=/dev/sdd2 rw
         INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img

and unfortunately, 'vmlinuz-linux' and 'initramfs-linux*.img'
reside in the
root=/dev/sdd2 !)

i.e., This is the end of the line :(

Maybe you'll let me know when syslinux gets the capability to hop
partitions.

Many thanks again,
--Alex

This is a post I sent by mistake directly to Ady without a reply to all
(i.e., to the thread "Fail to set up UEFI syslinux on ArchLinux USB Flash
Drive")
It should go between Ady's post of Sun Mar 15 13:23:26 PDT 2015 and
Ady's
post of Mon Mar 16 06:03:58 PDT 2015
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: alex lupu <alupu01 at gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Mar 15, 2015 at 7:07 PM
Subject: Re: [syslinux] Fail to set up UEFI syslinux on ArchLinux USB Flash
Drive
To: Ady <ady-sf at hotmail.com>

On Sun, Mar 15, 2015 at 4:23 PM, Ady via Syslinux <syslinux at zytor.com>
wrote:

Hi Ady,

Thank you for the reply.

1.  I'll start with the end of your post, if I may,
> Perhaps you might want to start a forum topic in ArchLinux.
As a reminder (going down memory lane), you were very helpful
once in helping me point to a problem,

http://www.syslinux.org/archives/2013-April/019817.html

which turned out to be a bug,

http://www.syslinux.org/archives/2013-April/019822.html

So you cannot blame me for expecting the same patience, expertise
and help in troubleshooting this new problem first with Syslinx
and, if need be, later with ArchLinux.
_As an example_, we might discover ArchLinux do not have the latest
UEFI files/docummentation from you.
So please bear with me for the time being.

2.
>> In BIOS, select ArchLinux entry
> Just a minor detail (but it helps for understanding each other)...
> You probably mean "in UEFI firmware", not "in BIOS".
> And yet, this is still not clear (at least, not to me).
We're in sync here (although not immediately apparent :)
I'm resonably familiar with UEFI.  Above, by "in BIOS" I meant
going to my machine's "BIOS", i.e., in my paricular
case/motherboard,
Boot
Hit Delete key
Hit F8
and then select from among the _UEFI_ menu entries
the subject "ArchLinux" entry (and watch what happens). 
Unfortunately,
instead of the expected nice menu created by me in 'syslinux.cfg' I get
the problem "boot:" prompt in the middle of an otherwise blank screen
:(

3.
> You probably should double-check that you actually have a
"syslinux.cfg"
> in the same directory where your "syslinux.efi" file is located.
I had thousend-checked and the files in 'EFI/syslinux/' are as
originally
listed in my OP (where I selected only a few "important" files).
For reference here,
- Used Arch syslinux files from /usr/lib/syslinux/efi64/
(copied to EFI/syslinux/ on /dev/sdd1 (see below)):
 ...
134744  ldlinux.e64
121848  liblua.c32
 27688  libmenu.c32
  6136  linux.c32
 31720  menu.c32
 10328  syslinux.c32
   400  syslinux.cfg    (created by me - "Text boot menu" format)
176456  syslinux.efi

4.
>> boot: syslinux.cfg
>> Failed to load COM32 file syslinux.cfg.c32
>> boot: syslinux
>> Undefined symbol FAIL: lua_pushlightuserdata
>> Failed Failed to load COM32 file syslinux.c32
>> boot:  etc., etc ...
> Those are not accepted commands, so you cannot expect adequate results.
Those were attempted by me in order to maybe guess a "meaningful"
response
to the "boot:" prompt and/or maybe in hopes some syslinux people to
guess
(in their turn :) where I was and/or what was/went wrong.
Obviously, something "behind" that "boot:" prompt spoke some
"syslinux",
see the "c32", "lua_pushlightuserdata",
"Failed to load COM32 file syslinux.c32" clues there.

BTW,  from the "boot:" situation I could recover only by rebooting the
machine
(or is it by reuefiing the machine? :)

5.
This is the content of the 'syslinux.cfg' file
 UI menu.c32
 PROMPT 0

 MENU TITLE Boot Menu
 TIMEOUT 100
 DEFAULT arch

 LABEL arch
         MENU LABEL Arch Linux
         LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
         APPEND root=/dev/sdd2 rw
         INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img

 LABEL archfallback
         MENU LABEL Arch Linux Fallback
         LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
         APPEND root=/dev/sdd2 rw
         INITRD ../initramfs-linux-fallback.img

Note:  During the numerous tests I made, I played with
UI menu.c32 (in/out), PROMPT (0/1),
to no avail.

I'd also like to append this "parted" summary of the subject USB
drive
to the documentation I submitted in my OP:

Model: Kingston DataTraveler G3 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdd: 4007MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name
? ?
Flags
 1      17.4kB  537MB   537MB   fat32           EFI System
? ?
boot, esp
 2      537MB   3787MB  3251MB  ext2            Linux filesystem
 3      3787MB  4007MB  220MB   linux-swap(v1)  Linux swap

Thanks,
?-- Alex?