EFI bootloader for 32-bit UEFI

[RyoidenshiAokigahara]

Good time of day.
Firstly about device:
Lenovo Ideapad 100S, it has 64-bit Intel Atom (Z3735F) with 1.33Ghz, 2Gb RAM and 64Gb SSD.
Also there is preinstalled Windows 10.
Some prehistory:
The problem is with UEFI - it's 32-bit. I've tried many distros, mot most of them doesn't have even the bootia32.efi or have "old" kernel which doesn't work with my wifi, touchpad, and etc.
The one which was sucessfully installed on my laptop was the Parrot Security distro - it was installed and unpacked(or created, i don't know what's correct what distro does) the 32-bit EFI file into my EFI partition. While searching for a grub-customizer in Synaptic I found that there's also installed a grub-efi-ia32 package. But Parrot takes too much free space and it's sandbox give some problems to me (i'm novice in linux), that's why I deleted Parrot and started for search of another distro
Current problem:
Recently I've found MX Linux, checked ISO for a bootia32.efi and after succes I've tried to install for a 32-bit version. After booting into live I've clicked the "Install" shortcut and then MX said that I need to turn on the BIOS Legacy mode and I will be unable to install 32-bit MX until I do that. But I have no possibility to do that! All that's possible to change in my "bios" is just state of Secure Boot :lipsrsealed:
So after this fail I've decided to check for a 64-bit of MX. It were successfully installed without any warning messages about UEFI/BIOS. I'm agree to reboot after installation finished... and got "System boot failed" message from UEFI when tried to boot the MX. Later I've used the VisualBCD in Windows to check the content of EFI partition and found that MX installed just 64-bit EFI bootloader for me, but this one doesn't supported by my CPU.
Currently I have an AIO Boot tool on USB that allow me to boot system from a partition, so now I need to plug in my USB, boot from USB, choose the "boot from hard drive", choose the partition and just then I start the MX (and USB can be unpluged).
I've booted MX Linux in this way, remembered about grub-efi-ia32 package and installed it. This package replaced the already installed 64-bit GRUB and MX Boot Repair tool. But nothing changed Nothing new in EFI partition so I'm still unable to boot MX Linux without my USB with AIO Boot.

Also I've tried to check the 32-bit rEFInd, but it doesn't even see the 64-bit EFI bootloaders.

Is there anyway to solve this problem or I can just wait for updates of MX where may will be added the 32bit grub?
P.S: I'm a novice in linux, so please sorry for stupid actions/questions and etc.

[Gain]

I just run into the same issue today. Are there any work around available?

[uhtred]

I found this page very helpful https://itsfoss.com/check-uefi-or-bios/
Have a good read especially the Linux part. Hope it helps

[fehlix]

Lenovo Ideapad 100S, it has 64-bit Intel Atom (Z3735F) with 1.33Ghz, 2Gb RAM and 64Gb SSD.
Is there anyway to solve this problem or I can just wait for updates of MX where may will be added the 32bit grub?

I would probably use latest MX-183RC1, as it is better prepared for this case:
You can get it from here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/mx-lin ... s/Testing

How to install 32bit GRUB EFI bootloader on 64bit installed MX Linux:
Boot from MX LiveUSB
chroot-rescue into the installed system by running:

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sudo chroot-rescue-scan

select the listed installed system.
mount all partitions needed including the ESP/EFI partition with:

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mount -a

Install 32-bit GRUB EFI bootloader:

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grub-install  --force-extra-removable --target=i386-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=MX18.3 --recheck 

That's it.
If you have installed with MX182.. iso,
you would need to do some extra steps like mounting manual the ESP partition and installing chroot-rescue

EDIT: pre MX18.3 you need to manual mount ESP-partition to /boot/efi within the chrooted system

[rek769]

I have the same issue with a new Lenovo Thinkpad. When I chrooted into the installed system from a live boot an error was thrown after executing the commands (provided by fehlix) which said the /boot/efi directory was not found. System was installed in this case by allowing MX installer to use the entire hard drive to install.

Trying to boot from the installed system afterwards gives me the following (just like before):
alloc magic is broken at 0x2da11520: 16d844c Aborted. Press any key to exit.

Been trying to get MX installed on this machine since yesterday. 64-bit versions also give me similar issues. Would like to use a 32-bit system anyway since the client needs Firefox 52ESR for JAVA support.

Install has been tried with GPT and MBR tables. With GPT I have created the 100Mb efi partion and set appropriate flags. System install does not show this partition (usually sda1) as available for boot (but does show it available for SWAP). The oly option I have for boot is "root". I surmise this could be the crux of the problem...

MBR places grub on sda but still wont boot.

I've followed instructions here for both 32 and 64 bit attempts:
https://mxlinux.org/wiki/system/uefi/

(FWIW, PCLinuxOS installed with no issues but I much prefer MX Linux for my clients who are generally Linux newbies.)

...any help greatly appreciated.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

With GPT I have created the 100Mb efi partion and set appropriate flags.

Which flags did you set, exactly?

Can we please see the output of this command from the live system:

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parted --list

Are you sure the laptop has 32-bit UEFI firmware? I'm pretty sure all new Lenovo laptops have 64-bit firmware.

[fehlix]

I have the same issue with a new Lenovo Thinkpad. When I chrooted into the installed system from a live boot an error was thrown after executing the commands (provided by fehlix) which said the /boot/efi directory was not found. System was installed in this case by allowing MX installer to use the entire hard drive to install.

Please use latest MX Linux ISO and during LiveBoot do update to latest mx-installer:

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sudo apt update

and

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sudo apt install mx-installer

This will make sure the generated /etc/fstab file will contain an entry for /boot/efi, so the mount -a will
mount properly when chroot'ed.
In addition, do post "Quick System Info" found in the menu. Just hit paste to insert the already copied system info text in to a new post.
Thanks

[rek769]

I used boot and esp flags.

Your comment about the 64-bit UEFI firmware must be correct. I just re-installed the 64-bit version with a proper EFI partition (esp and boot flags...like usual) and it worked!

So, next problem is how to get a 32-bit Firefox to work...

[fehlix]

What we actually have is this:
You want to have a 32bit MX Linux 386 ISO installed onto System with 64bit UEFI Firmware.
And you got this message when you start the installer:

32bitOS64bitUEFI-Error-Bug.png

"You are running 32bit OS started in 64bit UEFI mode, the
system will not be able to boot unless you select Legacy Boot or
similar ar restart....."

And when you look onto the MX wiki you read again this:
"32-bit installation requires UEFI with Legacy BIOS"
Now what? Can we do somthing about it?

Yes, we can! Actually, this is not valid any longer. You can install 32-bit MX-Linux onto a System with 64bit UEFI firmware. So in this sense is a limitation by the MX installer itself, which is not needed (an installer bug).

Quick Fix:
How to install 32bit MX Linux on a 64bit UEFI system

When booted life update und install the required 64bit-efi libs:

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sudo apt update

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sudo apt install grub-efi-amd64-bin

als perhaps install the also latest installer:

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sudo apt install mx-installer

When the installer shows the "wrong" above warning, do proceed,
do manual add partitions for ESP (fat32), root, swap. Mark ESP-partition with boot+esp flag.
EDIT: Do create a new GPT partition table before adding partitions.
Install and do select without GRUB, as the installer will not allow you to install into UEFI mode.
when finished don't reboot yet,
run
chroot-rescue-scan into the installed system.
mount the esp-partiotin (e.g. /dev/sda1):

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mkdir /boot/efi
mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /boot/efi

and install GRUB 64bit for the 32bit MX Linux:

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grub-install  --no-nvram --force-extra-removable --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=MX --recheck 

If that works and you got no error.
rerun this with also populating the UEFI-bootmenu (efivars)

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grub-install  --force-extra-removable --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=MX --recheck 

If you got on error about missing x86_64-efi modules, then you might need also reinstall again the missing 64bit:

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apt update

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apt install grub-efi-amd64-bin

After having installed the 64bit grub-efi do create the boot menu with:

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update-grub

Exit the chroot, and reboot.

EDIT: adjusted the description of the issue

[Head_on_a_Stick]

So, next problem is how to get a 32-bit Firefox to work...

Why do you need 32-bit Firefox? MX supports multiarch, if that's what you mean, see the Debian guide:

https://wiki.debian.org/Multiarch/HOWTO

@fehlix: the OP says they have now installed the 64-bit version of MX.