Installing from usbstick bug.

slacktroll · 10-22-2013, 02:14 PM

When installing slackware from usbstick using the usbboot.img lilo always says it finds a FAT32 partion in /dev/sd[x] (where x is often b) and hence add /dev/sdb1 as Windows Partion and lilo fails because no such partion exist after using dd to write the usb stick.

On some system it fails to even boot from the usb stick badly with something saying 'invalid partion table'

I know how to edit /mnt/etc/lilo.conf myself and run lilo from the chroot but it's abit annoying.

Did anyone else at all have this issue or is this just because of a faulty usb device?

volkerdi · 10-22-2013, 03:17 PM

This one was supposed to have been fixed by checking for an actual Windows partition with os-prober. Are you using a stick made with usbimg2disk.sh?

I'll take a look and see if I can spot a problem.

slacktroll · 10-23-2013, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by volkerdi

This one was supposed to have been fixed by checking for an actual Windows partition with os-prober. Are you using a stick made with usbimg2disk.sh?

I'll take a look and see if I can spot a problem.

used slackware-current/usb-and-pxe-installers/usbboot.img

Code:

dd if=usbboot.img of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
48+1 records in
48+1 records out
51332096 bytes (51 MB) copied, 11.1188 s, 4.6 MB/s

fdisk /dev/sdb
Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdb: 16.0 GB, 16000221184 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 15259 cylinders, total 31250432 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 identifier: 0x20ac7dda

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   ?  3224498923  3657370039   216435558+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb2   ?  3272020941   930513678   976730017   16  Hidden FAT16
/dev/sdb3   ?           0           0           0   6f  Unknown
/dev/sdb4        50200576   974536369   462167897    0  Empty

Partition table entries are not in disk order

This ntfs partion is found by liloconfig in the installer and it adds /dev/sdb1 as a windows partion in lilo.conf and lilo fails to install

It's really easy to fix by chrooting into /mnt in the installer and removing the /dev/sdb1 ntfs line in lilo.conf but for those how are new it might be horrible!

slacktroll · 10-23-2013, 04:49 AM

How to reproduce:

step 1:
dd if=usbboot.img of=/dev/sdx bs=512
step 2:
dd if=usbboot.img of=/dev/sdx bs=1M

perbh · 10-23-2013, 08:48 AM

The boot-image does not contain a partition table (eg. you don't have partitions on a CD).
'fdisk' is doing its best to decode where the partition table should be (if there was one).

You can find the same kind-of gruff if you (by mistake) do a 'fdisk /dev/sdx1' instead of 'fdisk /dev/sdx'

slacktroll · 10-23-2013, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by perbh

The boot-image does not contain a partition table (eg. you don't have partitions on a CD).
'fdisk' is doing its best to decode where the partition table should be (if there was one).

You can find the same kind-of gruff if you (by mistake) do a 'fdisk /dev/sdx1' instead of 'fdisk /dev/sdx'

The problem still exist because os-proper in the installer thinks there's a ntfs partion on /dev/sdb1 (the usb stick) and adds it to the lilo config and prevents lilo to run correctly