Anyone with ASUS Z97M-Plus MB and Fedora 20? I can't boot from DVD!!

terry-duell · 12-15-2014, 06:36 PM

Hello All,
Some months ago I installed a new MB (Asus Z97M-Plus) with new disc and installed Fedora 20 from DVD.
For the first time since I have had the need to boot from DVD (use F8 to get a boot menu and choose the optical drive) but it failed, falling back to booting the main disc.
I have had an ongoing conversation on an Asus help site, and the advice is that with the CSM (Compatibility Support Module) default settings, optical discs with either the old boot structure or with the new EFI boot structure will be booted.

Not so here...bootable DVDs that boot OK on an old (pre UEFI MB) system are not seen.
I have been able to boot DVDs with the EFI boot structure after setting 'fast boot' to 'Off'.

Anyone with this MB and Fedora 20 have similar problems?
Have you solved it, and how?

Any other advice welcome.

Cheers,
Terry

business_kid · 12-16-2014, 10:50 AM

I would be more suspicious of the dvd than the motherboard.
It won't boot, and you have cleaned it, I presume. Have you a linux installed? If so, how does it respond to

sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sr0

Does it time the thing, or throw an error?

terry-duell · 12-18-2014, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

I would be more suspicious of the dvd than the motherboard.
It won't boot, and you have cleaned it, I presume. Have you a linux installed? If so, how does it respond to

sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sr0

Does it time the thing, or throw an error?

Sorry for the delay in responding, I have much bigger issues...power on gives a screen "Please press DEL or F2 to enter setup" with no response!
Finally got the system to boot OK after a complete strip down and rebuild, so no idea what went wrong...but to get back to the subject, all the DVDs that won't boot in my Fedora system can be put into my laptop and boot OK.
Haven't got around to pursuing this further at the moment, too much to catch up on. Hopefully I can get back to the DVD problem in a day or so and will report back.
Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Terry

terry-duell · 12-19-2014, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

I would be more suspicious of the dvd than the motherboard.
It won't boot, and you have cleaned it, I presume. Have you a linux installed? If so, how does it respond to

sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sr0

Does it time the thing, or throw an error?

OK, just tried that, here is what it says using a DVD with the old boot structure, which isn't seen during boot (ie doesn't show up on the boot menu)...

Code:

terry@localhost ~]$ sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sr0

/dev/sr0:
 Timing cached reads:   26742 MB in  2.00 seconds = 13382.73 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  26 MB in  3.00 seconds =   8.66 MB/sec

and here is what is says when I use a DVD with EFI boot structure, which does boot...

Code:

[terry@localhost ~]$ sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sr0

/dev/sr0:
 Timing cached reads:   10772 MB in  2.00 seconds = 5387.84 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  26 MB in  3.00 seconds =   8.66 MB/sec

Looks like both are read, but only the latter boots on this machine.
As I have said, I have my BIOS set to use the default CSM settings, which ASUS say will boot both structures...elsewhere maybe, but not here!
I never had any problem booting DVDs with the old boot structure when using my previous MB (pre UEFI).
Any other suggestions as to what might be causing the failure to boot?

Cheers,
Terry

syg00 · 12-19-2014, 12:25 AM

The F20 image should (automagically) boot in either situation.
I don't use DVDs, but have you tried just dd'ing the iso to a USB and see if that works ?. Should boot both/either non-UEFI and UEFI m/board.

terry-duell · 12-19-2014, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

The F20 image should (automagically) boot in either situation.
I don't use DVDs, but have you tried just dd'ing the iso to a USB and see if that works ?. Should boot both/either non-UEFI and UEFI m/board.

The F20 image boots OK, it uses the EFI structure.
Just to be clear , it is other bootable DVDs that aren't recognised on this system, Rescatux-0.32b2 is an example of an image with the old boot structure (and the DVD referred to in an earlier post) which fails on my Fedora 20 system but boots OK on other (non UEFI) systems.
I haven't tried dd'ing the iso to a USB. Not quite sure how I should do that.
I was under the impression that putting a bootable iso onto a USB stick involved more than just dd'ing the file.
Would it be necessary to remove any other files from the USB stick for this to work...i.e is it a destructive method?
dd'ing the iso to a USB doesn't answer the basic question of what is causing the inability to boot old boot structure DVDs from the optical drive.
Cheers,
Terry

syg00 · 12-19-2014, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terry-duell

The F20 image boots OK, it uses the EFI structure.
Just to be clear , it is other bootable DVDs that aren't recognised on this system,

Not clear at all to me - reading the thread says F20 DVDs are now no longer bootable (as well).

As for dd'ing to a USB, yes everything on the USB will be destroyed - I keep a couple just for this, and dd whatever image I want to boot. See the Fedora wiki for info.

business_kid · 12-19-2014, 03:41 AM

So now it's clear.

You, sir, have no problem. You are in the process of realizing what a huge PITA UEFI really is. Non uefi capable dvds will never boot with uefi switched on. I hope you can switch it off, and live a normal life. At least you can boot a dvd with uefi, which is more than my system will do if I switch on uefi.

terry-duell · 12-19-2014, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

Not clear at all to me - reading the thread says F20 DVDs are now no longer bootable (as well).

As for dd'ing to a USB, yes everything on the USB will be destroyed - I keep a couple just for this, and dd whatever image I want to boot. See the Fedora wiki for info.

I don't think I have ever said that F20 DVDs are now no longer bootable...I just reviewed my posts in this thread and can't see where, but that may be domestic blindness.

I'll check the Fedora wiki for info on how to dd an image to USB, however, the MB manufacturer says all DVD should boot, and I don't like unresolved problems.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Terry

terry-duell · 12-19-2014, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

Not clear at all to me - reading the thread says F20 DVDs are now no longer bootable (as well).

OK, I think I can now see why this is so...the thread title?
Interestingly, I never really felt that the problem could be anything other than hardware or the BIOS, but after some too-ing and fro-ing on an ASUS web site, the advice was that it was linux problem, and I should ask on a linux forum if similar issues have been seen.
I should have thought a bit more about how I put the question I guess, but I did say that EFI DVDs were bootable.

Cheers,
Terry

terry-duell · 12-19-2014, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

So now it's clear.

You, sir, have no problem. You are in the process of realizing what a huge PITA UEFI really is. Non uefi capable dvds will never boot with uefi switched on. I hope you can switch it off, and live a normal life. At least you can boot a dvd with uefi, which is more than my system will do if I switch on uefi.

The MB BIOS is set to "Other OS", which the ASUS people say the equivalent of security switched off, and they also say that with the BIOS CMS default settings (which I have) it will boot EFI and pre EFI boot structures.

My suspicion is that it is MB/BIOS problem, but very hard to nail that down.

I'll have to get a USB stick and do as was suggested earlier, and put the iso on that and see if that boots.

Cheers,
Terry

terry-duell · 12-19-2014, 05:30 PM

An update.
I dd'ed the rescatux iso onto a USB stick as per Fedora wiki.
I took the USB to my laptop (pre UEFI) and it boots OK.
Inserted USB into my Fedora 20 box, powered on, held F8 (gets to a boot order menu), and the USB not is on the list, so not being seen by the MB.
To recap, the rescatux iso is pre EFI boot structure, the MB bios is set to "Other OS" instead of "Windows UEFI", Compatibility Support Module settings are defaults, which are "Launch CSM, Enabled", "Boot Device Control, UEFI and Legacy OPROM", "Boot from Storage Devices,Legacy OPROM first".
Looks like the BIOS doesn't actually do what they say it will do.

Cheers,
Terry

business_kid · 12-20-2014, 03:02 AM

Often there's a network boot option in the bios, and usb can be bundled in there. Check it.
Even my Samsung, which has a lock and chain around it's UEFI crap (with the key given to m$) has a network boot option.

terry-duell · 12-20-2014, 03:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

Often there's a network boot option in the bios, and usb can be bundled in there. Check it.
Even my Samsung, which has a lock and chain around it's UEFI crap (with the key given to m$) has a network boot option.

Yes, there is a network boot option, part of the Compatibility Support module, which only has the choices [Legacy OPROM first, UEFI driver first, Ignore], and I have it set to Legacy OPROM first. I don't see any option to lump USB in with that.

Cheers,
Terry

business_kid · 12-21-2014, 03:06 AM

In your honour, I farted about with my Samsung laptop which is the most linux unfriendly thing I have encountered. You get a usb option this way.
1. Switch off
2. Insert the usb key
3. switch on and invoke whatever key gives you boot options. It's supposed to be F9, but it actually is F10 on this box. F2 is also worth trying. With a usb key p[resent, a boot to usb option appears. I am not sure a reboot is enough, but it seems to be.