New drive won't boot

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I just bought a new Seagate SATA 500 GB drive. It won’t boot on its own, returning the message “Grub loading stage 1.5…Grub loading, please wait…”, then the computer restarts at the BIOS.

I booted a live CD and got the following results…

# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00083dbf

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1            2048     4225023     2111488   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2   *     4225024     6344703     1059840   83  Linux
/dev/sda3         6344704    48275455    20965376   83  Linux
/dev/sda4        48275456   976773167   464248856    5  Extended
/dev/sda5        48277504    65165309     8443903   83  Linux

This looked quite normal, so thinking it must be a grub problem I did the following…

   GNU GRUB  version 0.97  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

  Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
   completions of a device/filename. ]

grub> find /boot/grub/menu.lst
 (hd0,1)

grub> root (hd0,1)
 Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

grub> setup (hd0)
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
 Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"...  17 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
 Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+17 p (hd0,1)/boot/grub/stage2
/boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.

grub> quit

It still won’t boot. So I installed another drive which does boot, with the following boot menu item…

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE Test
root (hd1,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-3.4.6-1.1-desktop root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST500DM002-1BD142_Z3T1A35S-part3 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST500DM002-1BD142_Z3T1A35S-part1 splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x31a
initrd /initrd-3.4.6-1.1-desktop-kdump

…and to my surprise the system started. So I surmised that the partition table on that drive must be damaged. I started Gparted from a CD and added a new partition at the end in order to force a table re-write. But Gparted reported…

Because of the partitioning, the boot loader cannot be installed properly.

I got essentially the same report when I ran YaST2 from a console on a live CD boot and asked for a new boot proposal. What exactly does the above error signify?

Thanks for any suggestions.

#2

Try putting the boot flag on sda4

#3

That made no difference. Now I assume that you mean remove the flag from sda2 and add it to sda4 NOT flag both partitions.

#4

Correct

But I note you said:

It won’t boot on its own
Does this mean you have another HD normally connected?
Was another HD connected at install?

#5

I normally run with only one drive, but SOMETIMES I do connect a second SATA or IDE drive. When I installed on the problem drive there was nothing else connected, the reason being that in the past I have had problems with installations that over-wrote my primary drive leading to hours of restoring from backups.

By the way I have tried the problem drive on different controller channels (primary and secondary) and by changing the hdx designation in the boot loader. I do have its /boot directory on a separate partition formatted as ext2 if that makes any difference.

#6

I do have its /boot directory on a separate partition formatted as ext2 if that makes any difference.

Which partition?
I don’t really recommend this approach

#7

Am 12.08.2012 13:16, schrieb ionmich:
> kernel /vmlinuz-3.4.6-1.1-desktop
Are you running Tumbleweed or 12.2?
In any case you should tell that, because then you are simply in the
wrong forum.
Tumbleweed experts are in the Tumblewed forum and questions about 12.2
belong to prerelease/beta.

–
PC: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.5 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

#8

sda2. And if I recall correctly it was one of the senior members of this forum who recommended that. I will try your recommendation the next time.

#9

12.2 RC2 is the installation I am trying to boot from the problem drive, but as it seemed to me to be a problem before the OS actually started I posted here. Feel free to move it. Since 12.2 RC2 started just fine from my 11.4 boot menu I was inclined to believe it to be a hardware confusion problem.

#10

It’s getting confusing
Too many ?'s un-answered

12.2 using grub or grub2?
Grub2 is default

Where did this come from:

root (hd1,1)

It suggests 2 HD’s

#11

Also:

if I recall correctly it was one of the senior members of this forum who recommended that
Senior? As in time served or as in ‘as old as the hills’.

I still don’t advise it…
But what do I know

#12

Am 12.08.2012 18:26, schrieb ionmich:
> but as it seemed to me to be a problem before the OS actually started
> I posted here. Feel free to move it. Since 12.2 RC2 started just fine
> from my 11.4 boot menu I was inclined to believe it to be a hardware
> confusion problem.
>
I cannot move anything being just a user as you, my thoughts go into the
direction to post at the place where you get the most specific and best
support from people using the same special version.

For example I have no experience whatsoever if Tumbleweed in any way has
a somewhat different boot process which could interfere here or whatever
else may make a difference even before the system starts or how it
updates its grub or anything else.

For 12.2 I know a bit more since I started to use it myself. Btw I also
have a separate /boot simply because I use LVM and you cannot boot a LVM
system with grub legacy without having a separate /boot with an
supported file system (I also use ext2 since there is no point in having
journaling on /boot but ext3/ext4 would of course also work).

Still I recommend to post to prerelease/beta (directly contact an admin
to move) to get the support from experienced beta testers.

I shot in the dark from my side is that it is nothing with your hardware
but the automatic update of the grub went bad.
It was maybe even grub’s failed update which affects your partition
table now.
My knowledge about these things or how to diagnose or repair them is not
deep so I cannot really help here and take it with a grain of salt what
I said.

–
PC: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.5 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

#13

Am 12.08.2012 18:56, schrieb caf4926:
> 12.2 using grub or grub2?
> Grub2 is default

From his first post
GNU GRUB version 0.97 (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

I also cannot find in the fdisk output a valid reason for a separate
/boot (at least no LVM partition there).

–
PC: oS 12.2 x86_64 | i7-2600@3.40GHz | 16GB | KDE 4.8.4 | GeForce GT 420
ThinkPad E320: oS 12.1 x86_64 | i3@2.30GHz | 8GB | KDE 4.8.5 | HD 3000
eCAFE 800: oS 12.1 i586 | AMD Geode LX 800@500MHz | 512MB | KDE 3.5.10

#14

I only use grub not grub2.

hd(1,1) is used in the choice on my 11.4 drive (320 GB) boot menu when both drives are running. I am able to start 12.2 RC2 on the 500 GB Seagate drive. When the Seagate drive is the only drive connected it is identified as (hd0.1) and does not start.

To re-state the problem, I can start 12.2 RC2 from my 11.4 boot menu on my 320 GB drive, but not when I remove the 320 GB drive and try to boot from the new Seagate 500 GB.

#15

You have a valid point. I will try re-partitioning the drive so that /boot is on the same partition as / and re-install. A lengthy and time consuming process at best. Better still I think I will wait until 12.2 final release is available so I don’t waste anyone’s time.

Thanks for the advice.