I just did an install of opensuse 13.1 on a new disk and when it boots i get the message “multiple active partitions” then it tells me to reboot. I have installed with GRUB2 and reinstalled with the older GRUB but i still get the same issue. I tried reinstalling with multiple different options but i still get the same error. This is the only disk in the computer. Any ideas how to fix this?
UEFI or BIOS?
Also if you can boot to a live Linux cd/dvd can you show us as root
fdisk -l
That is a lower case L not a one
Sound like you did a mbr install and you have multiple partitions marked as boot
If you are not dual booting you may set teh MBR to contain grub. That should eliminate the problem since grub mbr does not rely on boot flags.
Boot the install media. If you used the install DVD, then boot into rescue mode. If you installed from live media, then get a terminal prompt, and use the “su” command to become root.
As root, in a terminal, run “fdisk” on your hard drive. That’s probably
fdisk /dev/sda
though it is possible that the hard drive will be “/dev/sdb”.
You should see something like this:
# fdisk -l /dev/sdd
Disk /dev/sdd: 4041 MB, 4041211904 bytes, 7892992 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 label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xa893698d
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 4084 12275 4096 ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sdd2 * 12276 1929215 958470 83 Linux
/dev/sdd3 1929216 7890944 2980864+ 83 Linux
Note that the above is “fdisk” on a live KDE install USB for 13.1. That’s not important here. The last few lines are the partitions. Notice the “Boot” column. That tells me that the second partition is marked as active. I expect that you will see two or more “*” there. That’s your problem. So you need to turn off the active flag for all partitions except the real boot partition.
To turn off the active flag for partition 2, in the above listing, I would use:
# fdisk /dev/sdd
Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.23.2).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdd: 4041 MB, 4041211904 bytes, 7892992 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 label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xa893698d
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 4084 12275 4096 ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sdd2 * 12276 1929215 958470 83 Linux
/dev/sdd3 1929216 7890944 2980864+ 83 Linux
Command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-3, default 3): 2
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdd: 4041 MB, 4041211904 bytes, 7892992 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 label type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xa893698d
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 4084 12275 4096 ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sdd2 12276 1929215 958470 83 Linux
/dev/sdd3 1929216 7890944 2980864+ 83 Linux
Command (m for help): w
In the above: the “p” command prints (displays) the partition table.
the “a” command toggles (or flips) an active bit.
When I used the “a” command, it asked me which partition. I entered “2” (without the quotes). I then used “p” again to print the revised partition table. Finally, the “w” command writes the changes and quits. I did not do that. I instead used the “q” command to quit without writing.
I hope that helps. Ask if you still have questions.
Boot with GParted (or partitioner of your choice).
It will probably show either 2 partitions with “boot” flags or 2 partitions with “active” flags, depending on the partitioner you use.
Leave the flag turned on for the correct boot partition, turn the other flag off.
-fb
Did another reinstall and seemed to have fixed the issue. I unchecked the automatically configure box at the start of the install and when i got the the partition part i did an edit and told it to use the whole drive. When i did that i noticed it deleted 4 partitions and gave me 3 this time instead of 4. All is working fine now. Thanks.