Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk

From	Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.user
Subject	Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk
Date	2017-12-03 18:40 +0100
Message-ID	<uSGpc-25Q-1@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	(2 earlier) <uS7hL-4Yw-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <uSnFU-6Gc-3@gated-at.bofh.it> <uSpeG-7LA-13@gated-at.bofh.it> <uSze1-5IT-3@gated-at.bofh.it> <uSAWu-6TZ-5@gated-at.bofh.it>
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On 12/03/2017 06:49 AM, Felix Miata wrote:

> Pascal Hambourg composed on 2017-12-03 10:49 (UTC+0100):
>
>> Felix Miata composed:
> ...
>> So I guess that the OP means that the core image of GRUB is in sda1, and
>> the boot image of GRUB is in the MBR of sda.
>   Based on OP's response to
>
> https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2017/11/msg00563.html
>
> in
>
> https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2017/11/msg00935.html
>
> I'm pretty sure that was not OP's intent, i.e., none of Grub at all in MBR.

Yes, no grub in mbr - unless installer insists.


> ...
>>> The option the OP chose is to intervene ab initio. When Grub is installed to an
>>> MBR primary partition, and the MBR contains legacy boot code, and a boot flag is
>>> appropriately set, and the same policy is maintained, a subsequent installation
>>> makes no attempt to usurp control from the first.
>> That does not match my experience. A subsequent installation does not
>> care about what kind of boot code is in the MBR nor whether a boot flag
>> is set....
>   Grub does not care about boot flags, but when depending on legacy (neutral[1])
> MBR code to locate the partition from which to boot, as was the apparent plan by
> the OP, it's crucial.
>
> The installers of most Linux distros default to installing Grub to the MBR. Some
> make it difficult to determine whether any other option even exists. It's been
> several months since I last installed Stretch. I don't remember how it presents
> bootloader installation location, or more importantly, if when partition is
> selected on a device with no installed operating systems, a separate action is
> required to ensure the MBR contains any boot code at all.
>
> [1]
> <https://old-en.opensuse.org/Bugs/grub#How_does_a_PC_boot_.2F_How_can_I_set_up_a_working_GRUB.3F>

FWIW, this done just now:

# gdisk /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.10

Partition table scan:
   MBR: protective
   BSD: not present
   APM: not present
   GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): b
Enter backup filename to save: mbrforgpt
The operation has completed successfully.

Command (? for help): q

# ls -l mbr*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 17920 Dec  4 05:47 mbrforgpt

# mc -v mbrforgpt
The above shows 0x55AA at +0x1FE (Boot signature [1]).
Also, the search for 'ERROR:' is not found in the entire 17920 bytes of 
file mbrforgpt.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record

Apparently, all is in readiness. It's simply that this PC is not loading 
the mbr or anything else from sda. Any other opinions?

Thread

BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-01 20:00 +0100
  Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2017-12-01 21:00 +0100
    Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-02 19:30 +0100
      Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2017-12-02 20:30 +0100
  Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2017-12-02 03:00 +0100
    Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-02 05:10 +0100
      Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2017-12-02 20:40 +0100
        Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-03 04:50 +0100
          Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-04 00:40 +0100
          Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2017-12-04 06:20 +0100
            Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2017-12-04 06:30 +0100
              Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-04 15:40 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2017-12-05 01:50 +0100
              Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2017-12-04 16:30 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2017-12-05 02:40 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2017-12-05 07:00 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2017-12-06 00:20 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2017-12-07 07:00 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2017-12-05 23:30 +0100
            Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-05 22:50 +0100
        Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-04 03:40 +0100
      Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Michael Lange <klappnase@freenet.de> - 2017-12-02 22:40 +0100
        Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2017-12-03 00:20 +0100
          Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Michael Lange <klappnase@freenet.de> - 2017-12-03 00:40 +0100
            Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> - 2017-12-03 05:50 +0100
          Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2017-12-03 11:00 +0100
            Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2017-12-03 12:50 +0100
              Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-03 18:40 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2017-12-03 19:10 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-03 20:40 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2017-12-03 20:20 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2017-12-03 22:00 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2017-12-03 23:00 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2017-12-03 23:50 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2017-12-04 00:50 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2017-12-05 00:50 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2017-12-05 03:40 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2017-12-06 23:20 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2017-12-07 00:10 +0100
                Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2017-12-07 21:50 +0100
                Re: (OT) BIOS Can Not Find Disk Felix Miata <mrmazda@earthlink.net> - 2017-12-08 00:10 +0100
      Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2017-12-03 11:10 +0100
        Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2018-02-21 04:10 +0100
          Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Pascal Hambourg <pascal@plouf.fr.eu.org> - 2018-02-21 23:20 +0100
            Re: BIOS Can Not Find Disk Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com> - 2018-02-22 02:20 +0100

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