* Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot)
@ 2009-09-30 1:12 Daniel Mierswa
2009-09-30 6:20 ` Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko
2009-09-30 8:26 ` James Courtier-Dutton
0 siblings, 2 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Daniel Mierswa @ 2009-09-30 1:12 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: grub-devel
Hey list,
in January this year I got my hands dirty with a laptop and tried
booting it via USB stick. The thing is that, when installed to the MBR
of the stick, the BIOS just won't detect it and print "Operating system
not found" and skips to reading the MBR from HDD. If I install it into
the active boot partition of the stick, it will show me the "GRUB "
notification_string (boot/i386/pc/boot.S). I'm currently booting this
stick via syslinux which then loads a GRUB image I created with
lnxboot.img. However I find this very impractical, as I need to find the
UUID of the stick (which GRUB then sees as fd0) and load a configuration
which itself loads the real GRUB configuration. I received quite a few
help during that time of year by Robert and daChaac via IRC, and I also
posted this on help-grub@ but got no answer there. I bring this up
again, because someone else faced the same issue with another USB stick
(until that point I seemed to be the only one facing it). I "debug"ed as
good as I could by putting the output of the notification string in the
boot.S file to several places and reboot. It comes to the point where it
executes `jmp *(kernel_address)`.
If anyone has any idea how to go on with this issue, I'd welcome it.
Thanks in advance.
--
Mierswa, Daniel
If you still don't like it, that's ok: that's why I'm boss. I simply
know better than you do.
--- Linus Torvalds, comp.os.linux.advocacy, 1996/07/22
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread
* Re: Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot)
2009-09-30 1:12 Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot) Daniel Mierswa
@ 2009-09-30 6:20 ` Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko
2009-09-30 19:11 ` Daniel Mierswa
2009-09-30 8:26 ` James Courtier-Dutton
1 sibling, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko @ 2009-09-30 6:20 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The development of GRUB 2
Daniel Mierswa wrote:
> Hey list,
> in January this year I got my hands dirty with a laptop and tried
> booting it via USB stick. The thing is that, when installed to the MBR
> of the stick, the BIOS just won't detect it and print "Operating
> system not found" and skips to reading the MBR from HDD. If I install
> it into the active boot partition of the stick, it will show me the
> "GRUB " notification_string (boot/i386/pc/boot.S). I'm currently
> booting this stick via syslinux which then loads a GRUB image I
> created with lnxboot.img. However I find this very impractical, as I
> need to find the UUID of the stick (which GRUB then sees as fd0) and
> load a configuration which itself loads the real GRUB configuration. I
> received quite a few help during that time of year by Robert and
> daChaac via IRC, and I also posted this on help-grub@ but got no
> answer there. I bring this up again, because someone else faced the
> same issue with another USB stick (until that point I seemed to be the
> only one facing it). I "debug"ed as good as I could by putting the
> output of the notification string in the boot.S file to several places
> and reboot. It comes to the point where it executes `jmp
> *(kernel_address)`.
> If anyone has any idea how to go on with this issue, I'd welcome it.
> Thanks in advance.
>
This behaviour is probably caused by BIOS exposing first partition as a
disk. I would consider this a BIOS bug. A workaround could be following:
losetup /dev/loop0 /dev/sdb1
mount /dev/loop0 /mnt/usb
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/usb /dev/loop0
Don't forget to apply fezie's bugfix for root-directory
Does anyone know a better workaround?
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread
* Re: Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot)
2009-09-30 6:20 ` Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko
@ 2009-09-30 19:11 ` Daniel Mierswa
2009-10-01 8:22 ` Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko
0 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: Daniel Mierswa @ 2009-09-30 19:11 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: grub-devel
On 30.09.2009 08:20, Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko wrote:
> [...] A workaround could be following:
> losetup /dev/loop0 /dev/sdb1
Why do I need to create a loop device for the first partition?
> grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/usb /dev/loop0
This will give a GRUB error, saying that there's no matching device for
/dev/loop0 in my device.map. After removing the device.map and by
letting GRUB create it automatically, I get "Invalid device `/dev/loop0'."
> Don't forget to apply fezie's bugfix for root-directory
Yeah this is already applied since I tried to install it into the
primary partition via "--root-directory=/mnt/mount /dev/sdb1".
--
Mierswa, Daniel
If you still don't like it, that's ok: that's why I'm boss. I simply
know better than you do.
--- Linus Torvalds, comp.os.linux.advocacy, 1996/07/22
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread
* Re: Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot)
2009-09-30 19:11 ` Daniel Mierswa
@ 2009-10-01 8:22 ` Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko
2009-10-01 13:05 ` Daniel Mierswa
0 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko @ 2009-10-01 8:22 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The development of GRUB 2
Daniel Mierswa wrote:
> On 30.09.2009 08:20, Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko wrote:
>> [...] A workaround could be following:
>> losetup /dev/loop0 /dev/sdb1
> Why do I need to create a loop device for the first partition?
>
To simulate brain damage of your BIOS
>> grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/usb /dev/loop0
> This will give a GRUB error, saying that there's no matching device
> for /dev/loop0 in my device.map. After removing the device.map and by
> letting GRUB create it automatically, I get "Invalid device
> `/dev/loop0'."
>
echo '(hd0) /dev/loop0' > /boot/grub/device.map
>> Don't forget to apply fezie's bugfix for root-directory
> Yeah this is already applied since I tried to install it into the
> primary partition via "--root-directory=/mnt/mount /dev/sdb1".
>
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread
* Re: Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot)
2009-10-01 8:22 ` Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko
@ 2009-10-01 13:05 ` Daniel Mierswa
0 siblings, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Daniel Mierswa @ 2009-10-01 13:05 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: grub-devel
On 01.10.2009 10:22, Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko wrote:
> To simulate brain damage of your BIOS
*shrug* I wonder how you can manage to simulate _that_ severe damage.
> echo '(hd0) /dev/loop0'> /boot/grub/device.map
D'oh, didn't think of hardcoding it, I thought GRUB detects it properly.
However, phcoder, there were some crackheads back in January taking some
time with that matter and I tried almost every hack discussed on the
net. And out of nothing comes you, applying yet another hack and it just
seems to work. You're a true hero. :D
However when doing "ls (hd0)" in the GRUB rescue shell that fires up,
I'm getting "Partition table". I guess this is part of the hack?
Is it possible to apply this workaround in the codebase so that others
with that broken BIOS (remember I have another MBR file of a guy who
reported identical behaviour) or is this something that should be left
to people with broken BIOS?
All in all, thank you very much, now that I have a rescue shell, I can
start playing.
--
Mierswa, Daniel
If you still don't like it, that's ok: that's why I'm boss. I simply
know better than you do.
--- Linus Torvalds, comp.os.linux.advocacy, 1996/07/22
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread
* Re: Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot)
2009-09-30 1:12 Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot) Daniel Mierswa
2009-09-30 6:20 ` Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko
@ 2009-09-30 8:26 ` James Courtier-Dutton
2009-09-30 19:10 ` Daniel Mierswa
1 sibling, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: James Courtier-Dutton @ 2009-09-30 8:26 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The development of GRUB 2
2009/9/30 Daniel Mierswa <impulze@impulze.org>:
> Hey list,
> in January this year I got my hands dirty with a laptop and tried booting it
> via USB stick. The thing is that, when installed to the MBR of the stick,
> the BIOS just won't detect it and print "Operating system not found" and
> skips to reading the MBR from HDD. If I install it into the active boot
> partition of the stick, it will show me the "GRUB " notification_string
> (boot/i386/pc/boot.S). I'm currently booting this stick via syslinux which
> then loads a GRUB image I created with lnxboot.img. However I find this very
> impractical, as I need to find the UUID of the stick (which GRUB then sees
> as fd0) and load a configuration which itself loads the real GRUB
> configuration. I received quite a few help during that time of year by
> Robert and daChaac via IRC, and I also posted this on help-grub@ but got no
> answer there. I bring this up again, because someone else faced the same
> issue with another USB stick (until that point I seemed to be the only one
> facing it). I "debug"ed as good as I could by putting the output of the
> notification string in the boot.S file to several places and reboot. It
> comes to the point where it executes `jmp *(kernel_address)`.
> If anyone has any idea how to go on with this issue, I'd welcome it.
> Thanks in advance.
>
Can you do a
fdisk -u -l /dev/sdb
or whatever device the usb stick is when plugged in.
If the first partition of the usb stick starts at sector less than 63,
grub has probably not been installed due to lack of embedded area.
Quite a few usb sticks start at sector 32 instead of sector 64.
A simple modification to get the first partition to start at sector 64
might help you.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread
* Re: Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot)
2009-09-30 8:26 ` James Courtier-Dutton
@ 2009-09-30 19:10 ` Daniel Mierswa
2009-10-01 8:49 ` James Courtier-Dutton
0 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: Daniel Mierswa @ 2009-09-30 19:10 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: grub-devel
On 30.09.2009 10:26, James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> Can you do a
> fdisk -u -l /dev/sdb
But of course.
Disk /dev/usb1: 1041 MB, 1041961984 bytes
33 heads, 61 sectors/track, 1010 cylinders, total 2035082 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
> If the first partition of the usb stick starts at sector less than 63,
> grub has probably not been installed due to lack of embedded area.
Yes I've seen that by searching the web. If that's the case grub-install
would complain that it cannot embed core.img into the header, wouldn't
it? Either way I've checked the size of core.img:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23784 2009-09-30 20:59 /mnt/root/boot/grub/core.img
So it would require ~50 Sectors, since the partition starts at sector 62
it _should_ work, no? I think i can remember setting a different
sectors/track (above 63) back in the days but it didn't change any
behaviour on boot.
--
Mierswa, Daniel
If you still don't like it, that's ok: that's why I'm boss. I simply
know better than you do.
--- Linus Torvalds, comp.os.linux.advocacy, 1996/07/22
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread
* Re: Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot)
2009-09-30 19:10 ` Daniel Mierswa
@ 2009-10-01 8:49 ` James Courtier-Dutton
2009-10-01 13:05 ` Daniel Mierswa
0 siblings, 1 reply; 9+ messages in thread
From: James Courtier-Dutton @ 2009-10-01 8:49 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: The development of GRUB 2
2009/9/30 Daniel Mierswa <impulze@impulze.org>:
> On 30.09.2009 10:26, James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
>>
>> Can you do a
>> fdisk -u -l /dev/sdb
>
> But of course.
>
> Disk /dev/usb1: 1041 MB, 1041961984 bytes
> 33 heads, 61 sectors/track, 1010 cylinders, total 2035082 sectors
> Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0x00000000
>
> Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
>
From that, you do not appear to have a partition table, therefore you
will not have an embedded area at all, and so grub will not install.
usb sticks can be formatted in two ways.
1) with a partition sector and partitions like a Hard Disk.
(embedded area exists)
2) with no partition sector and no partitions like a Floppy Disk. (no
embedded area exists)
You will probably have to add partitions to your flash disk so that
grub can be installed on it.
WARNING: Changing partitions will wipe all the usb stick contents and
possibly your Hard Disk contents (if you mistype the device name)
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread
* Re: Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot)
2009-10-01 8:49 ` James Courtier-Dutton
@ 2009-10-01 13:05 ` Daniel Mierswa
0 siblings, 0 replies; 9+ messages in thread
From: Daniel Mierswa @ 2009-10-01 13:05 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: grub-devel
On 01.10.2009 10:49, James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> From that, you do not appear to have a partition table, therefore you
> will not have an embedded area at all, and so grub will not install.
I'm sorry to cause confusion like that, but I erased the partition table
(and the MBR for that matter) to show you how the BIOS detects the stick
geometry.
> usb sticks can be formatted in two ways.
> 1) with a partition sector and partitions like a Hard Disk.
> (embedded area exists)
> 2) with no partition sector and no partitions like a Floppy Disk. (no
> embedded area exists)
Yes, the layout which was tried looks like the below (1), I did not give
(2) a shot yet, since this would force me to have a disk layout that
seems utterly pointless for this matter (I think).
Disk /dev/usb: 1042 MB, 1042284544 bytes
33 heads, 61 sectors/track, 1011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2013 * 512 = 1030656 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7867a96c
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/usb1 * 1 1011 1017541 83 Linux
Sorry again for the confusion.
phcoder might be on to something though, please also see his recent mail
in this thread.
--
Mierswa, Daniel
If you still don't like it, that's ok: that's why I'm boss. I simply
know better than you do.
--- Linus Torvalds, comp.os.linux.advocacy, 1996/07/22
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 9+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2009-10-01 13:05 UTC | newest]
Thread overview: 9+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2009-09-30 1:12 Faulty BIOS or GRUB issue (USB Stick won't boot) Daniel Mierswa
2009-09-30 6:20 ` Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko
2009-09-30 19:11 ` Daniel Mierswa
2009-10-01 8:22 ` Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko
2009-10-01 13:05 ` Daniel Mierswa
2009-09-30 8:26 ` James Courtier-Dutton
2009-09-30 19:10 ` Daniel Mierswa
2009-10-01 8:49 ` James Courtier-Dutton
2009-10-01 13:05 ` Daniel Mierswa
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