Bootloader confusion with Debian dual-boot

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1

I’m trying to set up a HP Chromebook 14A (YAHIKO-OPUT) to dual-boot Debian, using RW_LEGACY. I’ve enabled developer mode, installed RW_LEGACY, partitioned using chrx, and installed Debian Testing from a USB stick onto /dev/mmcblk0p7

It looks like I’ve either missed a step or done something wrong; when I boot the machine I start at the ‘developer mode’ screen. From there I go to the alternate bootloader, select edk2, and if I don’t touch anything it goes to grub which (from what I’ve read) won’t work. Instead, if I press ESC at the bootloader logo, I get the edk2 screen with options like Boot Menu and Boot Manager, but I can’t work out how to use that to boot my installed Debian.

But if I do use grub, I can manually load and run Debian from the grub console:

set root=(hd0,7)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.11.7-amd64 root=/dev/mmcblk0p7
initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.11.7-amd64
boot

So Debian is installed and works, but my bootloading is messed up. Have I missed a step, or am I misunderstanding something?

Ctrl-L doesn’t work for me on the developer mode screen, it gives me “something went wrong launching the alternate bootloader”. I’ve checked the firwmare log and it has “CBFS ERROR: ‘payload’ not found in ‘RW_LEGACY’”

I did try to use the Debian documentation (InstallingDebianOn/HP/Chromebook 14 - Debian Wiki) but that looks to be out of date.

2

you need to install the EFI bootloader to mmcblk0p12

3

Is this something that I should have done via the linux (Debian) installer, or is there some other tool that I should use?

Looks like I’m not up to speed with the EFI way of doing things, I’ve previously installed linux only with crusty old BIOS :slight_smile:

4

should have done in the installer, but can do it now if you boot into it, or boot a live USB and chroot into your install

5

I tried to manually fix it in the live Debian Testing, no joy. Also tried reinstalling Debian Testing being very careful with boot-related options, also no joy.

So I then decided to try installing Fedora 41, and that worked. The bootloader works as it should, I’m a happy person now :slight_smile:

Thanks for your help.

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