Bootloader fails to install on ThinkPad

bdbenton · 7 November 2023 10:54

Hello, Manjaro n00b here.

Finally got a flashdrive to install Linux on my ThinkPad (X130e) and managed to boot the OS. Loving it so far, much better than what I had before (Windows 7), but I’m having issues installing.

Every time I walk through the GUI installer, I get this error at the very end:

The bootloader could not be installed. The installation command <pre>grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=Manjaro --force</pre> returned error code 1.

Following similar threads on this forum, I tried running the installer as root, tried setting up manual partitions for boot (flagged), swap, and root, and tried booting in grub2 mode.

Ran the installer in the terminal to produce a log below.

Looking at the bottom of the log, I notice where I think it goes wrong, but I have no clue how to resolve it:

[PYTHON JOB]: "Bootloader: grub (efi)" 
    .. Running ("grub-install", "--target=x86_64-efi", "--efi-directory=/boot/efi", "--bootloader-id=Manjaro", "--force") 
    .. Target cmd: ("grub-install", "--target=x86_64-efi", "--efi-directory=/boot/efi", "--bootloader-id=Manjaro", "--force") Exit code: 1 output:
 Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Could not prepare Boot variable: No space left on device
grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: Input/output error.
WARNING: [PYTHON JOB]: "Command 'grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=Manjaro --force' returned non-zero exit status 1." 
[PYTHON JOB]: "stdout:Installing for x86_64-efi platform.\nCould not prepare Boot variable: No space left on device\ngrub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: Input/output error." 
[PYTHON JOB]: "stderr:None" 
22:16:04 [6]: virtual void Calamares::JobThread::run()
    Skipping non-emergency job "postcfg" 
    ..  Skipping non-emergency job "Unmount file systems." 
22:16:04 [1]: void Calamares::ViewManager::onInstallationFailed(const QString&, const QString&)
    ERROR: Installation failed: "Bootloader installation error" 
    .. - message: "Bootloader installation error" 
    .. - details: The bootloader could not be installed. The installation command <pre>grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=Manjaro --force</pre> returned error code 1.
22:16:04 [6]: void Calamares::ViewManager::onInstallationFailed(const QString&, const QString&)
    Calamares will quit when the dialog closes. 
22:16:04 [6]: void Config::doNotify(bool, bool)
    Notification not sent; completion: failed

The “No space left on device” error is my best guess.

[PYTHON JOB]: "Bootloader: grub (efi)" 
    .. Running ("grub-install", "--target=x86_64-efi", "--efi-directory=/boot/efi", "--bootloader-id=Manjaro", "--force") 
    .. Target cmd: ("grub-install", "--target=x86_64-efi", "--efi-directory=/boot/efi", "--bootloader-id=Manjaro", "--force") Exit code: 1 output:
 Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
Could not prepare Boot variable: No space left on device
grub-install: error: efibootmgr failed to register the boot entry: Input/output error.

Sorry if I seem ignorant on things like bootloaders and partitions, am a n00b.

Does anyone have any clue? Have followed the advice on similar threads here with no luck.

I’d love to use Manjaro as my daily OS and install it on my desktop, upgrading from Windows 7 so I can develop in Python, not interested in using Windows 11.

Thank you for your time.

Moderator edit: removed distracting GIF

Teo · 7 November 2023 12:03

I do not think it is lack of space, it is more like it cannot write to the firmware. There were 2 similar topics recently. In one of the cases it was some acer laptop that needed bootloader installation without writing to efi and then separately something else, in the other case it was a hybrid device and the efi was 32 bit and efibootmgr could not work with it because it expects 64 bit efi.

That said, i am unsure how you should proceed. I guess try to google everything for that particular model with keywords like uefi, dual boot, grub, linux install. You are probably not the first to try.

bdbenton · 7 November 2023 12:47

Here is my output from “efibootmgr -v”

It doesn’t seem to throw errors like in the other thread.

BootCurrent: 0008
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0005,0006,0007,0008,0009
Boot0000  Setup	FvFile(721c8b66-426c-4e86-8e99-3457c46ab0b9)
      dp: 04 06 14 00 66 8b 1c 72 6c 42 86 4e 8e 99 34 57 c4 6a b0 b9 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0001  Boot Menu	FvFile(126a762d-5758-4fca-8531-201a7f57f850)
      dp: 04 06 14 00 2d 76 6a 12 58 57 ca 4f 85 31 20 1a 7f 57 f8 50 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0002  Diagnostic Splash Screen	FvFile(a7d8d9a6-6ab0-4aeb-ad9d-163e59a7a380)
      dp: 04 06 14 00 a6 d9 d8 a7 b0 6a eb 4a ad 9d 16 3e 59 a7 a3 80 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0003  Rescue and Recovery	FvFile(665d3f60-ad3e-4cad-8e26-db46eee9f1b5)
      dp: 04 06 14 00 60 3f 5d 66 3e ad ad 4c 8e 26 db 46 ee e9 f1 b5 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0004  Startup Interrupt Menu	FvFile(f46ee6f4-4785-43a3-923d-7f786c3c8479)
      dp: 04 06 14 00 f4 e6 6e f4 85 47 a3 43 92 3d 7f 78 6c 3c 84 79 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0005* USB CD	VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,86701296aa5a7848b66cd49dd3ba6a55)
      dp: 03 0a 24 00 d2 38 78 bc 82 0f 60 4d 83 16 c0 68 ee 79 d2 5b 86 70 12 96 aa 5a 78 48 b6 6c d4 9d d3 ba 6a 55 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0006* USB FDD	VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,6ff015a28830b543a8b8641009461e49)
      dp: 03 0a 24 00 d2 38 78 bc 82 0f 60 4d 83 16 c0 68 ee 79 d2 5b 6f f0 15 a2 88 30 b5 43 a8 b8 64 10 09 46 1e 49 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0007* ATA HDD0	VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,91af625956449f41a7b91f4f892ab0f600)
      dp: 03 0a 25 00 d2 38 78 bc 82 0f 60 4d 83 16 c0 68 ee 79 d2 5b 91 af 62 59 56 44 9f 41 a7 b9 1f 4f 89 2a b0 f6 00 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0008* USB HDD	VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,33e821aaaf33bc4789bd419f88c50803)
      dp: 03 0a 24 00 d2 38 78 bc 82 0f 60 4d 83 16 c0 68 ee 79 d2 5b 33 e8 21 aa af 33 bc 47 89 bd 41 9f 88 c5 08 03 / 7f ff 04 00
Boot0009* PCI LAN	VenMsg(bc7838d2-0f82-4d60-8316-c068ee79d25b,78a84aaf2b2afc4ea79cf5cc8f3d3803)
      dp: 03 0a 24 00 d2 38 78 bc 82 0f 60 4d 83 16 c0 68 ee 79 d2 5b 78 a8 4a af 2b 2a fc 4e a7 9c f5 cc 8f 3d 38 03 / 7f ff 04 00

To clarify, I’m trying to install it as my sole OS. My drive has already been cleared multiple times during installation attempts, am running Manjaro off a flashdrive and this is the only OS on the machine right now. Just trying to get it installed on bare metal to run without the flashdrive.