Failed to find MBR identifier

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I’ve just heard about openSUSE Factory a few days ago, when openSUSE 13.2 Beta was posted on DistroWatch.

I downloaded and tried to install the Beta but failed with an error “Failed to find MBR identifier”. I did tried to download and run the live ISO of Factory Build and got the same error.

This time, I downloaded the current stable 13.1 KDE 64bit and tried to boot at it. I still got the same error: Failed to find MBR identifier.

http://s10.postimg.org/dqsg9suih/20140926_101331.jpg

My Laptop is ASUS-K55VD, with Windows 8.1 installed. I used to distro hop a lot trying to find a Linux distro to replace my current OS.
A few weeks ago, I installed Ubuntu 14.04 on this laptop. All seems to work just fine until I tried to copy a video file (1.5Gb) from my laptop to a USB flash drive.
Copying a video file from laptop to USB flash drive on Ubuntu only takes a few minutes to complete but after that, I can’t unmount the flash drive. Removing it will result on a corrupted file on flash drive.

I tried downloading and installing again Linux Mint 17 and I got the same problem. Although, copying this time is much slower compared to that in Ubuntu but still it takes forever to unmount the drive and always ended up with a corrupt file.

The same USB drive works fine under Windows. File copy from windows to flash drive with speeds 2-3mb/s… While in Ubuntu, it’s almost 80mb/s. Under LM17, it’s around 10mb/s. File copy under windows doesn’t end up with a corrupt file.

This time, I wanted to try openSUSE and will try if I won’t have problems with copying large files from laptop to USB flash drive. I’m not sure if the problem is common to Linux distros that’s when I wanted to try it on openSUSE. My target was openSUSE Factory as I want to be updated as possible (rolling release).

But I’m stuck with boot problems under openSUSE :frowning:

#2

Hello and welcome to these Forums.

Problems/question about openSUSE 13.2 belong in the Pre-release/Beta forums. That is the place where the other testers are. This is for the released and supported version (13.1 and 12.3 at the moment).

This thread will be moved there and is CLOSED for the moment.

#3

Moved from Install/Boot/Login and open again.

#4

How did you boot factory?

Looking at your screen image, it looks as if you may have booted from a USB drive. And I’m guessing that it is having trouble finding that USB drive.

If I am right, that you booted from a USB flash drive, then how did you prepare that drive?

#5

On 2014-09-26 10:26, hcvv wrote:
>
> hcvv;2666523 Wrote:
>>
>> This thread will be moved there and is CLOSED for the moment.
> Moved from Install/Boot/Login and open again.

Thanks.

> Copying a video file from laptop to USB flash drive on Ubuntu only takes
> a few minutes to complete but after that, I can’t unmount the flash
> drive. Removing it will result on a corrupted file on flash drive.

Guessing.

The write to flash disk finished (apparently) in the file browser, but
it is in fact cached in RAM by the kernel and slowly been written to the
external flash disk. Umount will either be delayed till the cache is
flushed, or fail till it finishes writing.

By removing the stick, of course you get a corrupted file. And possible
even a corrupted filesystem.

> The same USB drive works fine under Windows. File copy from windows to
> flash drive with speeds 2-3mb/s… While in Ubuntu, it’s almost 80mb/s.
> Under LM17, it’s around 10mb/s. File copy under windows doesn’t end up
> with a corrupt file.

And it is complete?

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

#6

I booted thru a USB Flash Drive using Universal USB Installer by pendrivelinux.com.The screenshot above was taken from booting openSUSE 13.1.I use the same USB Installer when booting or installing with Windows XP/7/8/8.1, Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, Scientific Linux, elementary OS and older version/snapshot of Sabayon Linux (latest release no longer works on my laptop via this USB Installer).The one’s not working on this USB Installer is openSUSE (Factory, 13.2 Beta and 13.1), Kali, Tails, and PCLinuxOS.A few minutes ago, I’ve just tested UNetbootin on openSUSE and still not works (problem was on UNetbootin and not related to openSUSE).

It got completed on all, as is file copy is complete as if it’s ready for unmounting (on Linux).Under Windows, I don’t unmount or safe eject flash drives. After copying, I usually eject it ASAP without any problems.If (under Linux) it’s still in the RAM and still not finished flushing to external drive, why marked the visual copy progress reached 100%? As if it’s already completed while it’s not. Why does it has to display such fake copy MB speed and reached 100% complete while it’s actually not yet completed copying on flash drive?I’ve been googling about disk caching on how to disable it under Linux, I did follow the guides but still ended up with a corrupt flash drive or not able to unmount or takes too long to unmount. What about in openSUSE, can that caching be disabled? As it just creates confusion or makes the visual copy progress useless.

#7

I would not trust that.

Experience shows that the reliable way of generating an install USB is to directly copy the iso to the device. Back in the old days, there was a “rawrite.exe” on windows for this. Or use “dd” in an already installed linux. Note that you copy to the device itself, as in


# dd if=/path/to/iso-file of=/dev/sdX

where you replace the “X” by the letter for your USB device.

People routinely run into problems with other methods. They try “unetbootin” but install doesn’t work from the resulting USB. At one time, I tried “rufus”, but did not get a good USB for install.

I personally use:


# dd_rescue /path/to/iso  /dev/sdX

which does similar to the “dd” command above.

My guess is that the “Failed to find MBR identifier” is because of how you created the USB.

A few minutes ago, I’ve just tested UNetbootin on openSUSE and still not works (problem was on UNetbootin and not related to openSUSE).

It is known that USB drives prepared with UNetbootin give problems for installing opensuse. We always advise against it.

As far as the copying: If I am using “dd_rescue” to copy a live image to a USB, then I typically see it say 100% after a few seconds. But I don’t get the command prompt for another command until several minutes later. That’s while the “dd_rescue” command is waiting for the operating system to synchronize to the device (i.e. to flush the buffers). A full DVD installer copy, takes longer but also indicates it is complete several minutes before I get the next command prompt. You have to wait if you want a reliable copy.

#8

On 2014-09-27 07:06, KenWeiLL wrote:
>
> nrickert;2666569 Wrote:

>> from a USB flash drive, then how did you prepare that drive?

> I booted thru a USB Flash Drive using Universal USB Installer by
> pendrivelinux.com.

Don’t.

Just use the documented procedures, which you can find on the help links
of the official download page.

>robin_listas;2666593 Wrote:
>>> The same USB drive works fine under Windows. File copy from windows
>> to> flash drive with speeds 2-3mb/s… While in Ubuntu, it’s almost
>> 80mb/s.> Under LM17, it’s around 10mb/s. File copy under windows doesn’t
>> end up> with a corrupt file.And it is complete?–Cheers / Saludos,Carlos
>> E. R.(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)
> It got completed on all, as is file copy is complete as if it’s ready
> for unmounting (on Linux).Under Windows, I don’t unmount or safe eject
> flash drives. After copying, I usually eject it ASAP without any
> problems.If (under Linux) it’s still in the RAM and still not finished
> flushing to external drive, why marked the visual copy progress reached
> 100%? As if it’s already completed while it’s not. Why does it has to
> display such fake copy MB speed and reached 100% complete while it’s
> actually not yet completed copying on flash drive?I’ve been googling
> about disk caching on how to disable it under Linux, I did follow the
> guides but still ended up with a corrupt flash drive or not able to
> unmount or takes too long to unmount. What about in openSUSE, can that
> caching be disabled? As it just creates confusion or makes the visual
> copy progress useless.

What about paragraph breaks? This is very difficult to read.

You just have to umount and wait it out. That’s how things are in Linux.
Different. Welcome :slight_smile:

Yes, you can disable the cache. I will not tell you how. It renders the
entire system close to unusable. No, you can not disable or limit the
write cache on write to a certain device, such as external flash stick.
Wanted feature. Some year to come, perhaps. Maybe mount with “sync”
option, but it makes it terribly slow, so it is disabled by default.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

#9

@nrickert

I have experience with rawrite before but I ended up with problems on reusing my USB flash drive.
My USB flash drive capacity is 16Gb. When I used rawrite before to copy the ISO to the device, the device’s capacity changed to the ISO’s file size.
Say for example the ISO is 4Gb, my USB flash drive’s capacity will changed from 16Gb to 4Gb.

The problem I’ve had before was restoring my flash drive’s capacity back to 16Gb. Formatting the drive with the ISO copied as 4Gb resulted to a 4Gb USB flash drive. It took me some time to figure out how to format my flash drive back to 16Gb. I even forgot how I did it but I don’t want to get into that trouble again.

I think “dd” will do the same on my flash drive like what rawrite.exe does.

I’ll try burning to a DVD drive and see how it goes. It’s just that its faster installing and trying Live ISO via a USB flash drive then via a DVD drive.

@robin_listas

Sorry about the paragraph thing. I myself was confused how that happened.
I use paragraph breaks on my reply but after I submit my reply, all of the paragraphs were merged into 1 whole paragraph.
Probably it has something to do to my internet connection? I’m connecting via VPN over SSH tunnel to avail free internet connection from a mobile phone without load balance. The VPN probably trying to save bandwidth or disk space that it modifies my data? I don’t know. I’m not sure. But I did use paragraph breaks on my previous reply.

I just hope though that through this reply, it will have paragraph breaks as typed or encoded. Before submitting my reply, I Preview Post and all was fine. I just hope it stays this way after sending Submit reply.

With regards to disabling write cache, I checked on my Windows install and it was also enabled by default. I tried to disable it and it makes windows so slow on boot and shutdown. Enabling it back makes windows super fast on boot and shutdown. Now I understand why you said that it will make my system close to unusable.

But when plugging in with a USB flash drive on Windows, write-caching is disabled by default. On Linux, I think it’s enabled by default on all drives including USB flash drives.

I wonder how I’m able to disable write caching on all external drives by default while keeping write-caching enabled on the local drives.

#10

I have had that happen.

Usually, the partition table shows the smaller size but the full drive capacity is there if you zap the partition table and repartition. On one occasion, that did not fix the problem. But the drive capacity looked good on a different computer. So I rebooted, and all was fine. Apparently some information was cached inappropriately.

To zap the partition table, I sometimes use “gdisk”. The “r” command gets to a recovery menu. And in that menu, there is a “z” command to zap the partition table. This can clear out both GPT and traditional MBR partition tables.

#11

On 2014-09-28 00:26, KenWeiLL wrote:
>
> @nrickert
>
> I have experience with rawrite before but I ended up with problems on
> reusing my USB flash drive.
> My USB flash drive capacity is 16Gb. When I used rawrite before to copy
> the ISO to the device, the device’s capacity changed to the ISO’s file
> size.
> Say for example the ISO is 4Gb, my USB flash drive’s capacity will
> changed from 16Gb to 4Gb.

Yes. Expected. Do it.
Or buy smaller sticks, if you can find them.

> The problem I’ve had before was restoring my flash drive’s capacity back
> to 16Gb. Formatting the drive with the ISO copied as 4Gb resulted to a
> 4Gb USB flash drive. It took me some time to figure out how to format my
> flash drive back to 16Gb. I even forgot how I did it but I don’t want to
> get into that trouble again.

Just follow the instruction on the download link about how to restore
your stick to “normal”.

> I think “dd” will do the same on my flash drive like what rawrite.exe
> does.

Yes. That’s the way that the openSUSE install image is designed to work.
Any other method, you are on your own to solve it.

> @robin_listas
>
> Sorry about the paragraph thing. I myself was confused how that
> happened.
> I use paragraph breaks on my reply but after I submit my reply, all of
> the paragraphs were merged into 1 whole paragraph.
> Probably it has something to do to my internet connection? I’m
> connecting via VPN over SSH tunnel to avail free internet connection
> from a mobile phone without load balance. The VPN probably trying to
> save bandwidth or disk space that it modifies my data? I don’t know. I’m
> not sure. But I did use paragraph breaks on my previous reply.

Maybe forum server glitch.

> With regards to disabling write cache, I checked on my Windows install
> and it was also enabled by default. I tried to disable it and it makes
> windows so slow on boot and shutdown. Enabling it back makes windows
> super fast on boot and shutdown. Now I understand why you said that it
> will make my system close to unusable.

Yep. A modern operating systems is designed to have that cache.

> But when plugging in with a USB flash drive on Windows, write-caching is
> disabled by default. On Linux, I think it’s enabled by default on all
> drives including USB flash drives.

On ALL devices, no matter how they connect.

> I wonder how I’m able to disable write caching on all external drives by
> default while keeping write-caching enabled on the local drives.

There is no way to disable the write cache on a single device. You can,
however, mount it so that it immediately writes to disk. The effect is
somewhat similar.


mount -o nosync /dev/whatever /mnt/wherever

But the time taken to write everything will be slower than just letting
it be, and wait the “umount” to finish. And the manual warns:

+++················
sync All I/O to the filesystem should be done
synchronously. In case of media with limited
number of write cycles (e.g. some flash
drives) “sync” may cause life-cycle shortening.
················+±

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

#12

I’ve tried Win32DiskImager that does the same as rawrite.exe that copies the ISO on my USB flash drive booted it and it no longer displays the error.
But this time, it got stuck on the openSUSE startup screen.

I’ve read on some forums that Tails (Linux) won’t boot when booted from a SanDisk USB flash drive. I guess it goes the same with openSUSE, since my USB flash drive is a SanDisk Cruzer Switch.

Since I have no other options, decided to just burn the ISO on a DVD-R and booted with no problems. I haven’t tried the write-cache thing but as mentioned on previous posts that it’s enabled on all devices, then there’s nothing I can do about it.

Since this thread was supposed to be focused on “Failed to find MBR identifier” then I guess this can now be marked complete since I’m now able to boot on openSUSE via DVD. Only it’s not from a USB flash drive that I usually do.

#13

On 2014-09-29 03:56, KenWeiLL wrote:

> But this time, it got stuck on the openSUSE startup screen.
>
> I’ve read on some forums that Tails (Linux) won’t boot when booted from
> a SanDisk USB flash drive. I guess it goes the same with openSUSE, since
> my USB flash drive is a SanDisk Cruzer Switch.

I have no idea for that, but references to the issue should be
interesting, in order to investigate and add that info to the install page.

I use a variety of usb sticks, but the Sandisk units I have are used for
data, not booting.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

#14

Most of my installs are from a SanDisk Cruzer USB.