'Error occurred while installing GRUB' during oS 11.4 installation, Error 25, ASUS EFI BIOS

[ratzi]

Hi all,

I'm just setting up a newly assembled PC, with an Intel Core i5-2500, 8GB RAM, and the motherboard
ASUS P8H67-V (Intel H67 chipset) with ASUS EFI BIOS (EZ MODE).

Size of HD is 2 TB - Hitachi HDS723020BLA 642, which still should have a physical block size of 512 bytes.

In 2 (conventional) PCI slots expansion cards are plugged:
a Firewire card,
and and an ADAPTEC AHA-2940/2940U2W SCSI controller.

OS setup / partitioning:

My plot was to create a triple boot: Windows7 (64 bit), openSUSE 11.4 (64 bit), and openSUSE 12.1 (64 bit).

I first installed Windows7, in a newly created partition of the size of only 128 GB.

Then I used the partitioner on an openSUSE-12.1-live-CD to create the following further partitions in that order:
1.2 TB earmarked for dual use openSUSE/Windows and afterwards formatted NTFS using Windows7
32 GB swap (Linux)
64 GB ext3 (for / of oS 11.4)
176 GB ext3 (for /home of oS 11.4)
64 GB ext3 (for / of oS 12.1)
176 GB ext3 (for /home of oS 12.1)

OK, the installer deleted the first 176 GB partition, made / and /home from it,
and I had to re-create the last four ext3 partitions in the desired size.

All went smoothly until I tried to install oS 11.4 x86_64 from DVD.

In the summary given by the installer prior to execution,
I got the warning

The bootloader is installed on a partition that does not lie entirely below 128 GB.

I checked the boot loader configuration to find that
'Boot from Extended Partition' was checked.

That I changed to
'Boot from Master Boot Record',
which is the setup I'm used to.

The installer proceeds, copies the software to the HD,
but then stops with the error message

Error occurred while installing GRUB
GNU GRUB version 0.97 (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)
grub> setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 --force-lba (hd0)(hd0,5)
Error 25: Disk read error
grub> quit

I have been offered to 'retry the boot loader configuration',
which I did: now I chose the originally proposed option
'Boot from Extended Partition'.

Effect:

Error occurred while installing GRUB
GNU GRUB version 0.97 (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)
grub> setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 --force-lba (hd0,3)(hd0,5)
Error 25: Disk read error
grub> quit

A bit strange:

Switching back to
'Boot from Master Boot Record',
and looking at the
'Boot Loader Options',
I find that
'Write generic Boot Code to MBR'
is not checked !

I had a look at

http://forums.opensuse.org/content/1...dual-boot.html

but at least the partitioner (through YaST on oS 12.1 live CD) and the partitioner during installation of oS 11.4
do NOT list any 100 MB EFI partition preceding the 'Microsoft reserved' partition,
where the latter in my case by the Windows installer has been given a size of only 100 MB.

I don't intend to give up installing openSUSE.
I would be glad for advice.
Mike

[gogalthorp]

"The bootloader is installed on a partition that does not lie entirely below 128 GB." is just warning for those with older BIOS that may have problems with this.

you can control what a where grub/generic are put if at all from the installer.

The question is which OS do you want to control the boot?

If you use EFI that could be a major problem with 11.4 and a hassle with 12.1 note 12.2 should correct these problems with EFI

[hcvv]

OK, the installer deleted the first 176 GB partition, made / and /home from it,

This must mean that the installer offered you that as a proposal. You then did not change that to fit in your original plan, but told the installer to go for it. Do not blame the installer please.

The bootloader is installed on a partition that does not lie entirely below 128 GB.

This is only a warning. Some older BIOSes (almost extinct now) can not handle such a situation. My assumption is this has nothing to do with your problem

BTW, it would help if you posted the output of

fdisk -l

What you tell now

1.2 TB earmarked for dual use openSUSE/Windows and afterwards formatted NTFS using Windows7
32 GB swap (Linux)
64 GB ext3 (for / of oS 11.4)
176 GB ext3 (for /home of oS 11.4)
64 GB ext3 (for / of oS 12.1)
176 GB ext3 (for /home of oS 12.1)

is just explanation, not computer facts.

[please_try_again]

http://forums.opensuse.org/content/1...dual-boot.html

but at least the partitioner (through YaST on oS 12.1 live CD) and the partitioner during installation of oS 11.4
do NOT list any 100 MB EFI partition preceding the 'Microsoft reserved' partition,
where the latter in my case by the Windows installer has been given a size of only 100 MB.

Did you install Windows in UEFI mode? Is the UEFI BIOS actually used? If the BIOS switches automatically between UEFI and Legacy mode, you have to make sure that the UEFI boot device has boot priority (it means calling the BIOS setup with the CD/DVD inserted just before booting). Windows and openSUSE 12.1 install DVDs - I don't know about 11.4 - include the two kinds of setups, which appear as two CD/DVD devices in UEFI BIOS. If you see Grub mentioned during openSUSE setup, you are not running UEFI setup, meaning your HD is MBR partitonned and not GUID. For openSUSE 12.1 you should see ELILO, not Grub. You can install grub2-efi later (and you should if you want to multiboot with Windows). The article you refered to explains how. In openSUSE 12.2, you should be able to install grub2-efi directly (I saw the option but didn't try).

Although you can perfectly install Windows and Linux in Legacy BIOS mode, I suggest blanking the MBR and reinstalling Windows in UEFI mode if you want to enjoy UEFI and GPT. It might be necessary to install Windows several times. In my case, on a blank HD (without MBR), Windows 7 installed in legacy BIOS mode. This was wrong. And the people I paid to build the computer were not able to do it either, so that I finally ended up doing it myself. On the second attempt to install Windows in UEFI mode, it will complain that it cannot be installed on a MBR partitioned disk (which is true), but offer to delete the partition ... and if you do so, it does create a GPT with an EFI partition. Strange .. but it's Windows. Once you have a GPT and EFI partition, you can install openSUSE (Fedora or Ubuntu) in UEFI mode, provided you give boot priority to the UEFI device (as I explained before - but it is important). I have no idea if it works with 11.4, but with ELILO being still buggy in 12.1, I doubt it will be better in 11.4.

[ratzi]

Dear Hank,

OK, the installer deleted the first 176 GB partition, made / and /home from it,

This must mean that the installer offered you that as a proposal. You then did not change that to fit in your original plan, but told the installer to go for it. Do not blame the installer please.

I did change that, and I did exactly the *same* during previous installations of older versions of openSUSE, with success then.
Specifically this doesn't pose a problem, as long as Mount points / and /home are set.

Don't think that this is my first installation of a version of openSUSE ...

Dear gogalthorp,
Dear Hank,

do you think that using ELILO (available in oS 11.4 installer) could solve the problem ?

Yours
Mike

[ratzi]

Dear please_try_again,

I roughly understand what you mean.

It'll take a few hours to respond because this may not only mean the need to re-install openSUSE ...

Thank you
Mike

[please_try_again]

Dear gogalthorp,
Dear Hank,

do you think that using ELILO (available in oS 11.4 installer) could solve the problem ?

If fdisk -l ouptput looks like this:

fdisk -l

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14536 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9080940a

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1  4294967295  2147483647+  ee  GPT

the answer is YES and you don't have the choice.

Otherwise the answer is NO and you don't have the choice.

In your case, it should be NO since I suspect that you don't have a GUID partition table (as you mentioned that you don't have an EFI partition).

[please_try_again]

Dear please_try_again,

I roughly understand what you mean.

It'll take a few hours to respond because this may not only mean the need to re-install openSUSE ...

Thank you
Mike

If you manage, I will add your mainboard to the UEFI compatibility list - it unfortunately doesn't seem to work with all mainboards. I would like to ask the version of your BIOS too.

Do you need 11.4 on this machine? Wouldn't it make more sense to install 12.2, even a Milestone version? (I'm sure your feedback will be greatly appreciated).

[ratzi]

Dear please_try_again,

OK I said bye bye to the hours of work already spent.
I deleted *all* partitions on the HD again using the oS 12.1 i686 live CD and parted
(oS = openSUSE here).

With the 64 bit windows7 DVD inserted, I entered basic BIOS setup (ASUS EZ screen),
and changed the boot order as illustrated by you in the 1st photo in

http://forums.opensuse.org/content/1...i-booting.html

I re-installed windows7.

I re-booted from oS 12.1 i686 live CD.

Besides, with this 32 bit CD of oS inserted, the UEFI entry is not shown by the BIOS.
Booting from the oS 12.1 64 bit installer DVD, the UEFI entry is shown by the BIOS,
like with the 64 bit windows7 DVD.

If fdisk -l ouptput looks like this ...

Hmmm,
things don't seem to look that good.
Proceeding in the way described above,
I got the same kind of partitions as before - no UEFI partition.
See yourself:

linux:/media/USB_2GB/00_Linux # 
linux:/media/USB_2GB/00_Linux # parted
GNU Parted 2.4
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print                                                            
Model: ATA Hitachi HDS72302 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End    Size   Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  106MB  105MB  primary  ntfs         boot, type=07
 2      106MB   275GB  275GB  primary  ntfs         type=07

(parted) quit                                                             
linux:/media/USB_2GB/00_Linux # 
linux:/media/USB_2GB/00_Linux # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc8bb1497

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048      206847      102400    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2          206848   536872959   268333056    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdb: 2004 MB, 2004877312 bytes
129 heads, 32 sectors/track, 948 cylinders, total 3915776 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes                                                                                       
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x419d0d69                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          32     3915775     1957872    6  FAT16
linux:/media/USB_2GB/00_Linux # 
linux:/media/USB_2GB/00_Linux #

Current BIOS version is 0716, which shipped with the motherboard (MB).

I'll now make a backup of this using the tools that came with the MB,
and look if ASUS has a newer/updated BIOS version.

It wouldn't probably make sense to explicity create a GPT partition table
using the parted command mklabel gpt.
Or would it ??

Would it make sense to delete all partitions again and to install 64 bit oS 12.1 first ?
Would then possibly a UEFI partition be created ?

There's work ahead ...

Until later
Mike

[ratzi]

Hi again,

I postponed the BIOS backup and update,
but came forward a giant leap.

It wouldn't probably make sense to explicity create a GPT partition table
using the parted command mklabel gpt.
Or would it ??

I know now, that yes, it would.
But that would only be the 1st step of the solution, because there are more things to do.

In order to avoid introducing errors, I went another way:

I deleted all partitions again.
Then I first installed oS 12.1 64 bit instead of Windows7.

Et voila:
Booting from the oS 12.1 64 bit installer DVD before all else I read
ELILO boot ...

Fine.

During the installation I then get

Suggested Partitioning
* Set disk label of /dev/sda to GPT
* Create boot volume /dev/sda1 (156.88 MB) with vfat
* Create swap volume /dev/sda2 (2.01 GB)
* Create root volume /dev/sda3 (20.00 GB) with ext4
* Create volume /dev/sda4 (1.80 TB) for /home with ext4

Aha, set disk label of /dev/sda to GPT ...

Given 8 GB of RAM I usually would choose a different swap size,
but for convenience I left all these settings as they were, at least for now.

I proceed with the installation and finally oS 12.1 64 bit boots from HD without problems.

parted und fdisk now give:

iHost:~ # 
iHost:~ # parted
GNU Parted 2.4
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) print                                                            
Model: ATA Hitachi HDS72302 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number  Start   End     Size    File system     Name     Flags
 1      1049kB  165MB   164MB   fat16           primary  boot
 2      165MB   2319MB  2155MB  linux-swap(v1)  primary
 3      2319MB  23.8GB  21.5GB  ext4            primary
 4      23.8GB  2000GB  1977GB  ext4            primary

(parted) quit                                                             
iHost:~ # 
iHost:~ # fdisk -l

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sda: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1  3907029167  1953514583+  ee  GPT
iHost:~ # 
iHost:~ #

Very nice !

Seems that it can work, if the programmers of an OS just want to,
which in the case of Windows 7 doesn't seem to be so.

OK, now I'll temporarily delete the oS 12.1 partitions again,
while leaving disk label/partition table as GPT,
and leaving the fat16 UEFI boot partition as is.

Then I'll try to install Windows 7 and see what that does.

Reason: experience usually was that installing Windows first leads to less problems for a multiboot.

I'll come back then.