[mythtv-users] Installation report: ECS Liva doesn't boot after Debian Installation. What am I missing?

[A. F. Cano]

On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 06:37:44PM -0500, James Miller wrote:
> ...
> I did not have problems with wifi, nor did I need to load any
> firmware. But I did research the machine's hardware to discover what
> sort of module the wifi might need, and accordingly compiled the
> kernel (forget whether it was as <M> [module]) or not. But, having
> done that, wifi worked pretty much out of the box for me. Pretty
> sure mine has the same wifi hardware as yours.

You took the low-level approach.  I'm pretty sure my issue with the
firmware is a problem with the installer, or maybe I didn't put the
fw file where it could find it.  I'm sure that once I start
configuring and adding non-free apt packages, I could install the
realtek deb and it will automagically work.  Debian is quite dogmatic
about separating non-free packages out of the standard distribution.

> ...
> Once I'd installed the OS, I could not get my system to boot in
> "BIOS compatibility mode." Try setting it to UEFI--though that may

Yes, as the OP suggested, UEFI is required.

> be dependent on whether you have a UEFI-aware kernel. (See below
> regarding "existing operating systems").
> 
> ...
> /dev/mmcblk0p1 matches pretty closely what I have set as the root
> partition on mine (mine is /dev/mmcblk0p3). That is, of course, on
> the device's SSD drive. That's where I installed the entirety of the
> OS on mine. I have an external USB drive mounted under
> /var/lib/mythtv that holds recordings. You're probably going to need
> to create another small FAT32 partition, though (see below).

Yes, the installer forced me to do that.  See my reply to the OP.

> ...
> I've left "secure boot" disabled. I was I was informed by someone
> who seemed knowledgeable about this, regarding those small,
> pre-existing partitions, that "Those little partitions come from the
> manufacturer and usually have 3 different purposes. The first having
> special software/firmware related to the machine, the second would
> be the ESP, formatted FAT32 and the boot-flag on it, and the third
> often is for recovery or OEM reserved." I think those partitions
> might be what your installer mistook as a pre-existing operating
> system.

Correct.  I found out that they are read-only, so luckly no chance to
mess things up by attempting to put the EFI partition there.

> For my scenario--which again, involves just a kernel with built-in
> command line and no boot loader--I needed a small FAT32 partition on
> which to locate the kernel (/dev/mmcblk0p2 on mine). The device
> finds that partition and boots the kernel. I believe a similar
> partition is needed even if you use a boot loader, however, and it
> is on that partition where your bootloader files are to be kept
> (usually it's mounted under /boot). This small FAT32 partition is
> apparently stipulated in the UEFI spec, so unless you intend to boot
> and run your system in BIOS compatibility mode, it is my (not
> terribly well informed) understanding you'll need to create that
> partition before you'll get this to work.

I think you're right.  The Debian installer took care of convincing me
to do so before letting me go any further.

This is what the SSD partitioning looks like now:

#1      primary 38.8 MB B f ESP
#5      logial  31.2 GB   f ext4        /

Like I said in the other sub-thread, the system boots fine now.

So, Kudos to the debian-installer team.  If it had not been for my UEFI
ignorance, it would have gone well the first time.

Augustine