I have differences in my installs on Laptop and Desktop?

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I’m upgrading my laptop and desktops from Leap 42.2 to 42.3

On my laptop (which appears to be working correctly), the Partitioner shows…

/dev/sda 465.76GB ST500LT012-1DG14
/dev/sda1 2.01GB Linux Swap Swap swap
/dev/sda2 10…00GB Linux Native XFS /
/dev/sda3 453.75GB Linux Native XFS /home

The above was how it was originally setup. Then there has appeared 5 tmpfs folders. Which I assume are temporary folders of some kind and can be deleted? Yes/No?

On my desktop, I had a hard disk crash, which is probably irrecoverable. But I had a spare 3TB Seagate Barracuda drive. Which I tested for 9hrs using Seagate’s own Test/Reformat Utils. Everything checked out fine. So I wiped the first sector using their tool and proceeded to reformat with Leap 42.3.

After finishing the install and trying to run, Leap 4.3 on the desktop all I see is “Loading Operating System …”. No Grub message or boot from the hard drive. What could or should I have done differently. Beside the above partitions I see a /boot/EFI partition being created, when trying to install, which I just accepted as part of the install I also saw (somewhere in the install) something about boot being protected. But don’t recall if that was optional. And finally, I never managed to get the WFi connected during the install. Wich seemed pretty easy on the laptop install. That is usually my biggest headache when doing any install.

My Desktop also had a similar setup to my Laptop when using Leap 42.2 I’m not sure what’s going on with all this. Any advice would be helpful.

#2

A few remarks, sorry.

When you want to show things like your partition table (or any other computer facts), please copy what you see on your terminal window complete, that is prompt, command, output, prompt, and paste that between CODE tags in your post. You get the CODE tags by clicking on the # button in the tool bar of the post editor.

This so that we can see the same as you saw. Without any alterations, or interpretation or conclusions from your side that may spoil the information we might need to help you.

For a a partition table this could be the command

fdisk -l

As you post now, we have to assume that it is correct (instead of being sure). It looks not that strange except that the root partition is XFS instead of the default Btrfs and it is a bit small (20GB being the default for a non Btrfs installation). But OTOH you have no complaints about this system, thus it is rather unimportant IMHO.

Then you talk about “5 tmpfs folders that have appeared”. Again, only a sort of conclusion you made, but no computer facts shown. But I assume you mean tmpfs file systems that are mounted. That is normal, your system most probably needs them, and if I were you I would not start any actions to try and remove/delete/whatever them. They will disappear at system shutdown in any case. And reappear at boot. That is what tmpfs file systems do :slight_smile:

And then you come to your real problem, which seems to be something like “no boot after installation” on another system… It is a pity that that, or similar, is not in the title of your thread, because that seems to be your real problem.

So please concentrate on the problem on that second system. Try inform us how you installed it, specially where you deviated from the defaults. When possible give us an

fdisk -l

of the system (e.g. by using a llfe/rescue system, etc.

#3

Thank you for your criticisms and observations. No offense taken. If I remember, I couldn’t cut and paste that partition structure, but I probably would have forgotten to paste it within a

 segment anyway, I mentioned the tmpfs partitions, because I've never seen them before. Ever. But agree they are probably not relevant. I did format everything using XFS simply because I didn't like all those additional files to understand, using Btrfs (or whatever it's called).

At the moment. I'm wiping my 3TB Seagate on my Desktop again. Because my first 9 hour test was just a test, and then I wiped the first sector. But I kind of feel the 42.3 install appeared to have parts of Windows still from the 3TB Seagate. I hadn't used it in a while and not sure what was on the drive. It would be helpful if somebody could give an example of what to expect the partition table should look like, using only swap/xfs. I was kind of expecting it to look similar to my Laptop only with a bigger partition sizes. I was surprised to see to see a vfat and /boot/EFI partition.

So I wait until this second "real" wipe has completed (currently 38% complete) and try another install. And see what happens. Will keep in touch.
#4

Hi
Sounds like your desktop system is UEFI capable? You need to confirm by checking in the BIOS, but suggest you stick with that if available rather than legacy boot.

If it’s UEFI, then would see something like;


lsblk

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 119.2G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   260M  0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2   8:2    0    40G  0 part /
├─sda3   8:3    0    75G  0 part /data
└─sda4   8:4    0     4G  0 part [SWAP]

fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 119.2 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 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
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: AA2EE39D-13A0-445D-87EF-2D9D2B33B2CB

Device         Start       End   Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048    534527    532480  260M EFI System
/dev/sda2     534528  84420607  83886080   40G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda3   84420608 241707007 157286400   75G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4  241707008 250069646   8362639    4G Linux swap
#5

Sorry. Please delete my previous post. I was not sure what I edited, and ran out of time.

Thank you for your criticisms and observations. No offense taken. If I remember, I couldn’t cut and paste that partition structure, but I probably would have forgotten to paste it within a

 segment  anyway, I mentioned the tmpfs partitions, because I've never seen them  before. Ever. But agree they are probably not relevant. I did format  everything using XFS simply because I didn't like all those additional  files to understand, using Btrfs (or whatever it's called).

At the moment. I'm wiping my 3TB Seagate on my Desktop again. Because my  first 9 hour test was just a test, and then I wiped the first sector.  But I kind of feel the 42.3 install appeared to have parts of Windows  still from the 3TB Seagate. I hadn't used it in a while and not sure  what was on the drive. It would be helpful if somebody could give an  example of what to expect the partition table should look like, using  only swap and /home / formatted with xfs. I was kind of expecting it to  look similar to my Laptop only with a bigger partition sizes. I was  surprised to see to see a vfat and /boot/EFI partition. Has anything  changed since 42.2?

So I wait until this second "real" wipe has completed (currently 38%  complete) and try another install. And see what happens. Will keep in  touch.

I'm not using a rescue disk at all. I'm doing a direct  install from the install DVD. Both the laptop and the desktop didn't  have anything recoverable on either of them worth using. It's the  damaged hard drive from the desktop which had all the important  information on it. Which from first looks, looks irrecoverable or  expensive to recover (but that's another story).
#6

When you have a system that uses EFI boot, you need that vfat file system for /boot/EFI.

Install, when you prefer ext4 or xfs above btrfs, that is fine.

Try the installation, take notes where you deviated from the defaults (always handy when you have to ask here) and then report what you see as precise as possible.

I understand that it is not always possible to copy/paste, or, as a second best, to take screen shots or photos, but it is by far the best way to inform others here.

#7

Why?

Even with x TB disks, IMHO there shouldn’t be any need to use the disk manufacturer’s tools (usually needed to handle the things the Redmond folks do . . . ) to erase anything on the disk given that, anything *NIX (including Linux) will be loaded on the thing.

#8

I checked it with Seagate Tools to be sure it was a good drive, because it as quite old and not used for a while. But it passed with flying colors. What happened was I was unaware that over 2TB, I needed that boot/EFI vFat partition for booting from. In my initial trial I removed that partition, and wondered why I couldn’t get past the “Loading Operating System…” message. I tried to install with various methods, but all failed because I had deleted that partition. I couldnt boot from the hard drive OR the DVD. It was only solved wiping the first sector of the hard disk and trying to install again and allowing the /boot/EFI vFat partition to stand, that I could re-install from the DVD.

So now I tried installing with the vFat, Swap, XFS /, XFS /home, which looks like a normal setup, to me. These all failed to install properly, whether I used Leap or Tumbleweed. It starts off writing correctly, as far as I can tell with about 52 minutes to install to complete. But in every case after just a few minutes the time to complete jumps to >2hrs to install, and if I let it run, I appear to get some files failing to install (starting art korg). Again it seems to be the same with the either Tumbleweed or Leap. I checked the iso’s online without any errors. Eventually there are so many errors (not coninuously), I had to abort the install.

I’ve probably spent more than 15hrs at this point. I’ve run out of options as far as I can see at his point. I think it has something to do with the 3TB drive. I’m going to try to buy a 2TB drive today, and see it that solves the problem.

One other thing. When booting the Desktop, I get more than a screenful of error messages, which go by quite fast. But it eventually ends with an OK and it continues. On the Laptop, I get 2 or 3 messages, which don’t seem to effect the performance of the Laptop. I’m going to replace that Desktop memory with a spare set of memory to see if that helps.

Any further suggestions are welcome.

#9

OK are you sure you boot the installer in EFI mode NOT legacy? it should create or use by default the EFI boot partition format it will also mark it as a EFI boot and mount it at /boot/efi. Doing it by hand can be done but you must be sure the EFI boot partition is marked correctly as a EFI boot. Also since you wiped the disk be sure it is using GPT and not old DOS partitioning.

#10

Ok. After another day of heartache. I’ve have something to add.

  1. I did find out that my install DVD was corrupted. I’ve no idea how that happened. Not a great start and not hard to correct. So I downloaded and checked the install disk (Leap 42.3) thoroughly. And it appears to be 100% perfect. It fixed also all the long installs of 2hrs plus.

  2. I bought a new 2TB drive. When I swap out the 3TB drive to the 2TB drive, install works just fine. So there is definitely something wrong with the install, even If I accept all the defaults during the install onto the 3TB drive. I even was able to select XFS for both / and /home, and swap was swap. 3 partitions total. (for the 2TB drive but not for the 3TB, and have it work).

  3. But this new install disk still or even if I try to “fine tune” it to /boot/EFI (vfat), or even if I try to “not to fine tune it” it and accept the defaults nothing worked. I would have expected the defaults (including /boot/EFI) to have worked. But they didn’t create a bootable hard drive.

  4. How to I check whether the 3TB drive is using GPT or DOS, and how to change it, if it’s DOS?

#11
  1. How to I check whether the 3TB drive is using GPT or DOS, and how to change it, if it’s DOS?
fdisk -l

will show you.

#12

DOS is the old partition ie max of 4 primary partitions one can be extended also limit of 2 TB for the drive size. GPT is the new way with mostly unlimited number of partitions.If you boot the installer in EFI mode the defaults should be correct for EFI boot you should not have to do anything at least on a blank disk. fdisk -l will tell you the partitioning type or most any other partitioning utility program. Wiping the first track wipes ALL partitioning tables and other info. For EFI boot the disk must be GPT no matter the size. You can not just make a FAT format partition for EFI boot it must also be marked as a EFI boot type.

#13

For EFI Boot how do you set it to GPT, because Partitioner is stating its vfat for the Boot-EFI partition? I don’t find any way to change that. I’ve now tried for days now and almost every possible combinations. From accepting the defaults and everything I tried doesn’t work. The only thing I haven’t tried is that my DVD Writer is fallty. So I tried a Windows 10 install and it worked fine. I really don’t understand how to set the partions to GPT?

#14

You do not set the partitions to GPT. You use either an MS-DOS (also often called MBR) partition table. After you have decided what partition table type you use, you can start defining the partitions in them.

It seems that you think you can change the type of a partition t o GPT (from vfat). That efi partition (mounted as /boot/efi in openSUSE) will always be vfat.

Do not confuse “Partition table” type with “partition” type.

#15

Hi
I use fdisk for dos type, gdisk for gpt type… it’s the device not the partition…

UEFI (gpt) type;


 gdisk -l /dev/sda

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.8

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

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 468862128 sectors, 223.6 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): A4F7E63F-07D2-453F-B464-AB8CADFB3AF4
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 468862094
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048          534527   260.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System
   2          534528        84420607   40.0 GiB    8300  Linux filesystem
   3        84420608       452085759   175.3 GiB   8300  
   4       452085760       468862094   8.0 GiB     8200  Linux swap

 lsblk

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 223.6G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   260M  0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2   8:2    0    40G  0 part /
├─sda3   8:3    0 175.3G  0 part /data
└─sda4   8:4    0     8G  0 part [SWAP]

Legacy (dos) type;


 fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 14.9 GiB, 16013942784 bytes, 31277232 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
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x1fae9e4c

Device     Boot   Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1  *       2048  1050623  1048576  512M 83 Linux
/dev/sda2       1050624 17827839 16777216    8G 82 Linux swap / Solaris
 
fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 298.1 GiB, 320072933376 bytes, 625142448 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
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x0f44805f

Device     Boot    Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1           2048  83888127  83886080    40G 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2       83888128 625142447 541254320 258.1G 83 Linux

lsblk

NAME             MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda                8:0    0  14.9G  0 disk 
├─sda1             8:1    0   512M  0 part /boot
└─sda2             8:2    0     8G  0 part [SWAP]
sdb                8:16   0 298.1G  0 disk 
├─sdb1             8:17   0    40G  0 part /
└─sdb2             8:18   0 258.1G  0 part /data
#16

Note that the EFI boot partition above is type EF00

That is the partition type NOT the file system which is FAT and the disk partitioning is GPT

If you boot the installer in EFI mode not legacy then all is preset assuming the disk is partitioned as GPT not DOS. You can change the partitioning type using a utlity such as gparted. Note that it will make all info on the drive go away since it is a different partitioning scheme and uses a different partition table then the old DOS.

#17

This looks like useful information I could compare to or to quote mine here. However, after the install, the system hangs “loading operating system…” when trying to boot. So is there any way I can get this info from the install disk. I could also quote you what Partitioner looks like when doing the install (but it looks normal to me). /boot/efi is VFAT, /swap is SWAP, / & /home are XFS, which are being freshly formatted… That’s it. Anything else from the install that might be helpful?

#18

How to boot the DVD in EFI mode? I would have thought that would have been automatically detected? Because the /home partition is set as approx 2.8TB of the 3TB drive. Changing the formatting of / and /home from XFS to anything else has exactly the same results. If it would help I could quote Partitioner during the install. But it won’t be neatly formatted by <code> </code> because it’s on another machine (of course), but I can type it in here, if it would be any help?

#19

It should be an option in the UEFI boot menu. How to get it depends on the machine. F9 or F10 or F12 at boot are common but other keys could used. Consult the computer or mother board or UEFI/BIOS documents. The DVD boots in either mode so you have to chose. Often there is a default setting also in the UEFI

#20

Can gparted be run from the install disk, because remember I can’t access the hard drive. It hangs at “Loading Operating System…” How to prove the the disk I cannot access is using GPT and not DOS? I would imagine it is using GPT, but how to find that out.

Win10 installs straight out of the box. Even the WIFI works. Which I always seem to have major problems with openSUSE installs. But that’s for another thread.