[Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Hello Peter & Jeremy, I've found an ordinary desktop PC (with Phoenix Award BIOS 6.00PG) that won't boot off a USB stick created by livecd-tools-024 with syslinux (tested both versions 3.75 and 3.81). The boot process drops to the "boot:" prompt with an error message: could not find kernel ima

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Tue, Jun 02, 2009 at 09:26:41AM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: On Tue, Jun 02, 2009 at 02:40:38AM +0200, Bernie Innocenti wrote: On 06/01/09 08:39, H. Peter Anvin wrote: I need much more details; *all* Award BIOSes make in the past 10-12 years have version number 6.00PG. Ouch, I no longer

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

El Sat, 29-08-2009 a las 15:17 +0200, Jonas Smedegaard escribió: > BTW, are all these details about USB booting being collected somewhere > on a wiki page? it would be great if someone could expand this paragraph: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Soas#Boot This page is not even linked from it:

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

resending to list via my proper email: On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 10:15, Bernie Innocenti wrote: > >> >> it would be great if someone could expand this paragraph: >> >> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Soas#Boot >> >> This page is not even linked from it: >> >> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

El Sat, 29-08-2009 a las 10:25 -0400, Luke Faraone escribió: > > Well, the USB format idea was left unimplemented as we (I) couldn't > get it working, but we should probably take a look at makebootfat to > achieve the same goals. Or just use parted instead of fdisk to wipe the MBR and create it

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

[dropping fedora list which flat out drops unsubscribed mail anyway] On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 11:18:00AM -0700, H. Peter Anvin wrote: Bernie Innocenti wrote: El Sat, 29-08-2009 a las 10:25 -0400, Luke Faraone escribió: Well, the USB format idea was left unimplemented as we (I) couldn't get it

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 07:25, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: > makebootfat not only formats with disk geometry that *is* right, but also > use a handcrafted MBR which has a higher chance of *looking* right by > various BIOSes - both when looking for USB-FDD, USB-ZIP and USB-HDD. Now, by *right*, do we

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 07:36:05AM -0400, Luke Faraone wrote: On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 07:25, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: makebootfat not only formats with disk geometry that *is* right, but also use a handcrafted MBR which has a higher chance of *looking* right by various BIOSes - both when looki

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 09:32:48AM -0700, H. Peter Anvin wrote: On 08/30/2009 06:21 AM, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: Please read the following: http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/doc-makebootfat.html#7 If you, after reading above, still feel that your questions are relevant (hint: I don't), then p

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 10:31:07AM -0700, H. Peter Anvin wrote: On 08/30/2009 10:15 AM, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: So if I have now triggered your interest in this technique, Peter, then perhaps we will see interesting funky tricks in syslinux in the future? Well, this is really independent

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 03:21:18PM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 07:36:05AM -0400, Luke Faraone wrote: On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 07:25, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: makebootfat not only formats with disk geometry that *is* right, but also use a handcrafted MBR which has a hi

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

El Sun, 30-08-2009 a las 09:20 -0700, H. Peter Anvin escribió: > On 08/30/2009 04:41 AM, Luke Faraone wrote: > > On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 07:25, Jonas Smedegaard > > wrote: > > > > makebootfat not only formats with disk geometry that *is* right, but > > also use a ha

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Hi Jonas, On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 6:21 AM, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: > On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 07:36:05AM -0400, Luke Faraone wrote: > >> On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 07:25, Jonas Smedegaard wrote: >> >> makebootfat not only formats with disk geometry that *is* right, but also >>> use a handcrafted M

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 10:10:09AM -0700, H. Peter Anvin wrote: On 08/30/2009 10:05 AM, Dan Krejsa wrote: Well, to begin with, neither the makebootfat documentation nor the source code seem to make any mention of aligning disk and filesystem data structures consistent with the erase block siz

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

El Sun, 30-08-2009 a las 20:12 +0200, Jonas Smedegaard escribió: > Yes, the name of the tool is misleading: It works with other fs types > too - its main purpose it partitioning, not fs formatting. I > succesfully booted USB sticks formatted as ext2 (as far as I recall - I > last worked with i

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 21:37, Mitch Bradley wrote: > >> On a side note, which filesystem should be chosen in order to minimize >> wearing to USB sticks? >> > My vote would be squashfs. What about for the writable part of the filesystem, since squashfs is read-only? -- Luke Faraone http://l

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 09:33:22PM -0400, Bernie Innocenti wrote: El Sun, 30-08-2009 a las 20:12 +0200, Jonas Smedegaard escribió: Yes, the name of the tool is misleading: It works with other fs types too - its main purpose it partitioning, not fs formatting. I succesfully booted USB sticks f

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Luke and Sasha are working on a new USB format that they feel will allow more machines to boot and support VM + Stick http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick/USB_format Perhaps the issue you are running into (which we have definitely seen before) is related to some of the ones they are look

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Mon, Jun 01, 2009 at 11:38:05AM -0400, Caroline Meeks wrote: I've found an ordinary desktop PC (with Phoenix Award BIOS 6.00PG) that won't boot off a USB stick created by livecd-tools-024 with syslinux (tested both versions 3.75 and 3.81). The boot process drops to the "boot:" prompt with a

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Mon, Jun 01, 2009 at 09:38:23AM -0700, H. Peter Anvin wrote: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick/USB_format I don't understand why 128 heads. 64 heads is the more compatible version. I simply chose the largest possible power of two. As you point out, 64 is actually better because

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 13:57, Sascha Silbe < sascha-ml-ui-sugar-de...@silbe.org> wrote: > Part of me also wonders if using EXTLINUX might not be easier for you, >> too. >> > Part of our problem is that we don't know what quirks actually exist in > real hardware, so we're trying to come up with so

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: RIPEMD160 On Mon, Jun 01, 2009 at 02:19:54PM -0400, Luke Faraone wrote: >On Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 13:57, Sascha Silbe < >sascha-ml-ui-sugar-de...@silbe.org> wrote: > >> Part of me also wonders if using EXTLINUX might not be easier for you, >>> too. >>> >> Pa

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

I believe the U3 crudware gets around the Windows limitation by pretending to be a hub, presenting 3 or 4 logical volumes to Windows from a single USB key. I know there is a Windows-only installer which is difficult to get rid of (you have to give U3 piles of personal information for the "right" to

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Sascha Silbe wrote: > BTW: How does Windows handle USB sticks with "unknown" > formatting? I'd guess it offers to format them for you. (I want to say I have seen this recently, which means it was probably some time I was using my ext2-formatted usb stick.) -- Matthew Please do not quote my e-

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On 06/01/09 08:39, H. Peter Anvin wrote: > I need much more details; *all* Award BIOSes make in the past 10-12 > years have version number 6.00PG. Ouch, I no longer have access to it. I asked the owner to let me know. > Also look for how you have configured your BIOS... some Award BIOSes > have

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On 06/02/09 03:43, H. Peter Anvin wrote: > Bernie Innocenti wrote: >> Disk /dev/sdb: 2055 MB, 2055208960 bytes >> 221 heads, 2 sectors/track, 9081 cylinders > > I don't know where fdisk, the Linux kernel, or whatever come up with > these kinds of geometries. They're almost universally non-bootabl

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: RIPEMD160 On Tue, Jun 02, 2009 at 02:40:38AM +0200, Bernie Innocenti wrote: >On 06/01/09 08:39, H. Peter Anvin wrote: >> I need much more details; *all* Award BIOSes make in the past 10-12 >> years have version number 6.00PG. > >Ouch, I no longer have acces

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On 06/02/09 07:10, H. Peter Anvin wrote: > Bernie Innocenti wrote: >> Ok, I wiped mbr and made fdisk create a new one: >> >> Disk /dev/sdb: 2055 MB, 2055208960 bytes >> 64 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1011 cylinders > ^^ > > Equally weird. The only "standard" ones are 64 hea

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On 06/02/09 13:48, Bernie Innocenti wrote: > On 06/02/09 07:10, H. Peter Anvin wrote: >> Bernie Innocenti wrote: >>> Ok, I wiped mbr and made fdisk create a new one: >>> >>> Disk /dev/sdb: 2055 MB, 2055208960 bytes >>> 64 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1011 cylinders >> ^^ >> >>

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Bernie Innocenti wrote: > Hello Peter & Jeremy, > > I've found an ordinary desktop PC (with Phoenix Award BIOS 6.00PG) that > won't boot off a USB stick created by livecd-tools-024 with syslinux > (tested both versions 3.75 and 3.81). > > The boot process drops to the "boot:" prompt with an error

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Caroline Meeks wrote: > Luke and Sasha are working on a new USB format that they feel will allow > more machines to boot and support VM + Stick > > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick/USB_format > > Perhaps the issue you are running into (which we have definitely seen > before) is relat

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Bernie Innocenti wrote: > Disk /dev/sdb: 2055 MB, 2055208960 bytes > 221 heads, 2 sectors/track, 9081 cylinders I don't know where fdisk, the Linux kernel, or whatever come up with these kinds of geometries. They're almost universally non-bootable. -hpa -- H. Peter Anvin, Intel Open So

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Bernie Innocenti wrote: > On 06/02/09 03:43, H. Peter Anvin wrote: >> Bernie Innocenti wrote: >>> Disk /dev/sdb: 2055 MB, 2055208960 bytes >>> 221 heads, 2 sectors/track, 9081 cylinders >> I don't know where fdisk, the Linux kernel, or whatever come up with >> these kinds of geometries. They're al

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Bernie Innocenti wrote: >> >> Equally weird. The only "standard" ones are 64 heads, 32 sectors and >> 255 heads, 63 sectors. > > Shouldn't fdisk guess these values automagically? > And, more importantly, who are we going to blame if it doesn't? ;-) > I don't know. It might be an fdisk issue; L

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Jonas Smedegaard wrote: >> >>> Also look for how you have configured your BIOS... some Award BIOSes >>> have USB-ZIP, USB-HDD, USB-FDD configurations; you generally want USB-HDD. > > In my (older non-Sugar) experience, USB-HDD is best, then USB-ZIP, and > if none of those options are available th

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On 06/02/09 07:10, H. Peter Anvin wrote: > Bernie Innocenti wrote: >> On 06/02/09 03:43, H. Peter Anvin wrote: >>> Bernie Innocenti wrote: Disk /dev/sdb: 2055 MB, 2055208960 bytes 221 heads, 2 sectors/track, 9081 cylinders >>> I don't know where fdisk, the Linux kernel, or whatever come u

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On Thu, Jun 04, 2009 at 03:57:05PM +0200, Bernie Innocenti wrote: Thanks, Peter. I think we should document this tip in the Sugar on a Stick wiki page and perhaps change the Fedora livecd-iso-to-disk script to create the MBR with parted rather than fdisk. You could also just tell fdisk what t

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

On 06/04/09 20:51, H. Peter Anvin wrote: > Bernie Innocenti wrote: >>> >>> Equally weird. The only "standard" ones are 64 heads, 32 sectors and >>> 255 heads, 63 sectors. >> >> Indeed, repartitioning the USB stick with 32 sectors and 255 heads fixed >> boot for a previously unbootable computer. >>

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Bernie Innocenti wrote: >> >> Equally weird. The only "standard" ones are 64 heads, 32 sectors and >> 255 heads, 63 sectors. > > Indeed, repartitioning the USB stick with 32 sectors and 255 heads fixed > boot for a previously unbootable computer. > 32x255? That's an odd mix? Does 32x64 work o

Re: [Sugar-devel] Unbootable machine

Bernie Innocenti wrote: > > Sorry, I mistyped the numbers. It was really 255 heads, 63 sectors: > > (parted) p > Model: LEXAR JD EXPRESSION (scsi) > Disk /dev/sdb: 123,86,26 > Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B > BIOS cylinder,head,sector geometry: 123,255,63. Each cylinder is 8225kB. >