Re: EFI boot on non Mac hardware.

[Matthew Ratzke]

Almost all motherboards are EFI but it is not enabled, you could  
verify if it is enabled by trying to install a retail copy of mac os  
x. Windows 7 has boot code for both efi and non efi boards this makes  
installing into os x boot camp easier. You may also be able to speak  
with your manufacturer to see if there is a jumper on the motherboard  
that can enable efi. Installing os x might not work as the os is now  
processor locked.

Matthew Ratzke

On 2010-06-01, at 7:45 AM, Cedric Lejeune <address@hidden 
> wrote:

> Hello list,
>
> I have bought a EFI capable notebook (ASUS G73GH, x86_64, MegaTrend  
> BIOS) and I am trying to fully boot Linux (Debian) using EFI. I  
> first partitioned my disk using GPT and allocated some space to the  
> ESP. Then I installed Debian package grub-efi-amd64, used grub- 
> install and grub-mkconfig to generate grub.efi and grub.cfg config  
> file and check everything was on the ESP, including *.mod, *.lst and  
> the like. I added a new entry in my boot menu pointing to grub.efi,  
> saved changes and choose the newly added entry. The screen  
> resolution changed and a prompt appeared at the top left corner of  
> the screen and tada! Epic fail... Blank screen. So I tried using  
> grub-efi-ia32, same result. Next, I tried with grub-1.98 sources  
> using grub wiki and http://blog.fpmurphy.com/2010/03/grub2-efi-support.html 
>  as references and once again, blank screen.
>
> So I give a try using Windows 7: EFI boot install DVD, wipe GPT from  
> the install disk and let Windows 7 installer manage everything. At  
> the end of the installation, a new boot entry was added to my boot  
> menu and I could fully boot Windows 7 using it. So, I guess that  
> means my notebook is really EFI capacble, right?
>
> I then tried to install and use Shell_Full.efi from EDK, added a new  
> entry to my boot menu and everything worked fine. I have tried rEFIt  
> too and it kinda worked (it complain about vollabel?). But at least,  
> I was seeing something one my screen. Manually added entry to boot  
> Windows 7 worked too.
>
> So here come the questions:
> 1. Is there some way to precisely know which modules I have to  
> include when I generate grub.efi?
> 2. Is there a way to make grub more verbose? Or a debug mode?  
> Something that would let me know at which step the boot sequence is?  
> Or a way to use EFI shell to run grub in verbose mode? To sum up, I  
> would like some log to track down what is wrong with my current setup.
> 3. How could I check the problem is not due to my BIOS?
>
> I have already took a look at the mailing list, but a lot of (all?)  
> EFI issues are Mac related (no 'bless' command on Linux for instance).
>
> Thank you for your help.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> cedric.
> <cedric_lejeune.vcf>
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