Re: efivarfs_set_variable: writing to fd 8 failed
[ Re-adding the cc to the debian-efi list - please respond there
too... ]
On Sat, Jan 04, 2020 at 10:55:51PM +0000, junky@mail.sheugh.com wrote:
>> On Sat, Dec 28, 2019 at 03:39:32PM +0000, junky@mail.sheugh.com wrote:
>> >Dear Maintainer,
>> >
>> >Subject: efivarfs_set_variable: writing to fd 8 failed
>> >Package: shim-signed-common
>> >Version: 1.33+15+1533136590.3beb971-7
>> >Severity: normal
>> >
>> >Dear Maintainer,
>> >
>
>> >I have an SSD and a 10Tb HGST hard drive
>>
>> OK. The error here is not from failing to write to the hard
>> disk. grub-install is trying to write a UEFI boot variable, and that's
>> what is failing. This would suggest the UEFI variable storage on your
>> computer is full. This normally lives in NVRAM, not on disk. What
>> computer are you using, out of interest? There have been quite a few
>> bugs found over recent years with various systems not managing this
>> storage space well :-(.
>>
>That machine is home built using an MSI "Carbon" motherboard.
>It has an AMD Ryzen processor and an AMD Graphics card
>It's running headless which makes checking things a bit problematic.
>
>The machine runs Debian|Stable with linux kernel 4.9.0
>
>After doing some checks, I find I never installed and SSD to
>that machine, hence no NVRAM. I seem to recall following a bunch
>of instructions on how to use gparted to set up a boot sector
>on the hard drive. I had not thought that important when I wrote
>the bug report, else I would have checked.
Sorry, I possibly wasn't clear enough. For UEFI, the NVRAM is normally
an entirely separate set of storage (typically a flash chip) managed
by the motherboard's firmware. It's nothing to do with your SSD or
hard drive, it's more like an updated version of how BIOS settings
used to be stored.
One possible culprit here could be error logs stored in
/sys/fs/pstore/ taking up lots of space. Could you check and see if
you have any files there please?
--
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK. steve@einval.com
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me
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