Failed to boot Linux from external usb hard drive

it's_me_5 · 05-28-2012, 03:57 PM

Hello everyone,

I am unable to boot Linux which is installed on my external hdd (which is 1tb seagate expansion drive with usb 3.0, although my computer does not have a usb 3.0 port, all are usb 2.0). I am trying to solve this problem from about 20 days with no success at all. I have tried to install linux (Fedora 15, Ubuntu 10.04, Ubuntu 11.10) about 10 times on my hdd but each time it failed to boot except for once when, I don't know how but it booted Ubuntu 10.04-i386, but when I rebooted, it was the same problem. I have already tried several things like,

I have definitely changed the booting order to boot external device first.
I have also tried plop boot manager, which did not recognized my external hard drive as bootable.

Currently Ubuntu 11.10-desktop-i386 is installed on the external hard drive which is partitioned as follows:
1st partition is active, mounted as /boot, size - 1024MB, primary, ext4
2nd partition is mounted as / (root), size - 38.08 GB, primary, ext4
3rd partition is formatted as swap, size - 3.95 GB
4rth and 5th are NTFS and are logical
some unallocated space is left at the end.
I have installed the boot manager (grub) to /sdb (which was the external hard drive).
To check my installation, I made virtual box rawdisk of my external hdd and booted it in virtual machine. It was working therefore I think the installation was correct.Then I made a grub-rescue cd image in the virtual machine and burned it to a cd, on executing ls command from the cd running on my system, I noticed that only my internal hard drive and cdrom was listed, I confirmed this by checking the partition information.
I don't know, how is it possible, earlier I have successfully booted from usb flash drives with bt 5 or ubuntu 11.10 or puppy installed on it, therefore I know my system support booting from external drive.

Some details about my system:
it is Sony vaio vpceb44en which is an year old.
BIOS version/date : American Megatrends Inc. R1140Y8, 06-10-2010
I have Windows 7 installed on my internal hard drive.

I do not have any idea's left, so please help me,
Thanks in advance.

yancek · 05-28-2012, 04:11 PM

Use your Ubuntu (or any other Linux) Live CD. Boot it and go to the link below. Read the instructions in the link in the Description box. Download and run the bootinfoscript as instructed and post the output of the script, the results.txt file which provides detailed information on boot files and partitions. Obviously, you will need your external attached before running the script.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/

You do not indicate where you installed the Grub bootloader for Ubuntu, the script should provide that and other useful info.

it's_me_5 · 05-28-2012, 05:29 PM

Thank's for the reply.
This is the result I got after executing BootInfo Shell Scipt. Here /sda is the internal hard drive, /sdb is the flash drive (labled as FEDORA) from which I booted Ubuntu 11.10 live image and /sdc is the external hard drive.

Code:

                  Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

 => Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
 => Syslinux MBR (3.61-4.03) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
 => Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc and looks at sector 1 of 
    the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks 
    for (,msdos1)/grub on this drive.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /bootmgr /boot/bcd

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  Windows 7
    Boot files:        /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda4: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

sda5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sda5 starts 
                       at sector 2048.
    Boot file info:      Grub2 (v1.97-1.98) in the file /grub.iso looks at 
                       sector 1 of the same hard drive for core.img. core.img 
                       is at this location and looks in partition 256 for .
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sda6: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sda6 starts 
                       at sector 2048.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  SYSLINUX 4.03 2010-10-22 ........>..sr>.........q9...0...~.....~...f...M.f.f....f..0~....>E}.u......
    Boot sector info:  Syslinux looks at sector 3691720 of /dev/sdb1 for its 
                       second stage. SYSLINUX is installed in the  directory. 
                       The integrity check of the ADV area failed. No errors 
                       found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /syslinux.cfg /ldlinux.sys

sdc1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /grub/grub.cfg /grub/core.img

sdc2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  Ubuntu 11.10
    Boot files:        /etc/fstab

sdc3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

sdc4: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

sdc5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sdc5 starts 
                       at sector 63.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sdc6: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sdc6 starts 
                       at sector 63.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sda1               2,048    26,990,591    26,988,544  27 Hidden NTFS (Recovery Environment)
/dev/sda2    *     26,990,592    27,195,391       204,800   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3          27,195,392   237,167,279   209,971,888   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda4         237,168,640   625,139,711   387,971,072   f W95 Extended (LBA)
/dev/sda5         237,170,688   446,885,887   209,715,200   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda6         446,887,936   625,139,711   178,251,776   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS


Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 2031 MB, 2031091712 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 246 cylinders, total 3966976 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sdb1    *             63     3,966,975     3,966,913   b W95 FAT32


Drive: sdc _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204883968 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525164 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sdc1    *             63     2,104,514     2,104,452  83 Linux
/dev/sdc2           2,104,515    81,963,629    79,859,115  83 Linux
/dev/sdc3          81,963,630    90,237,104     8,273,475  82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdc4          90,253,166 1,871,601,663 1,781,348,498   f W95 Extended (LBA)
/dev/sdc5          90,253,168 1,564,403,115 1,474,149,948   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sdc6       1,564,405,760 1,871,601,663   307,195,904   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/loop0                                              squashfs   
/dev/loop1       bbca8193-c640-f147-8522-564af5d450f1   ext2       
/dev/sda1        B8A6FA13A6F9D23C                       ntfs       Recovery
/dev/sda2        C602782D02782519                       ntfs       System Reserved
/dev/sda3        0ED679CCD679B515                       ntfs       
/dev/sda5        6C10E09E10E0708E                       ntfs       New Volume
/dev/sda6        D49CF72E9CF70A2E                       ntfs       New Volume
/dev/sdb1        A001-33FE                              vfat       FEDORA
/dev/sdc1        98e36606-8d0b-47de-b01c-6ca8b7cb0077   ext4       
/dev/sdc2        76cb1419-b9e6-4e88-bc15-6f361de22fc6   ext4       
/dev/sdc3        991f3ee0-899f-4185-822c-351737079623   swap       
/dev/sdc5        D2F2A2E3F2A2CB55                       ntfs       Expansion Drive
/dev/sdc6        1E6C65ED6C65C05F                       ntfs       New Volume

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/loop0       /rofs                    squashfs   (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda3        /media/0ED679CCD679B515  fuseblk    (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions)
/dev/sdb1        /cdrom                   vfat       (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/sdc1        /media/98e36606-8d0b-47de-b01c-6ca8b7cb0077 ext4       (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
/dev/sdc2        /media/76cb1419-b9e6-4e88-bc15-6f361de22fc6 ext4       (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
/dev/sdc5        /media/Expansion Drive   fuseblk    (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions)
/dev/sdc6        /media/New Volume        fuseblk    (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions)


============================== sdb1/syslinux.cfg: ==============================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
default menu.c32
prompt 0
menu title UNetbootin
timeout 100

label unetbootindefault
menu label Default
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash -- persistent

label ubnentry0
menu label ^Help
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit  persistent

label ubnentry1
menu label ^Try Ubuntu without installing
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper  quiet splash -- persistent

label ubnentry2
menu label ^Install Ubuntu
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity  quiet splash -- persistent

label ubnentry3
menu label ^Check disc for defects
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz boot=casper integrity-check  quiet splash -- persistent

label ubnentry4
menu label Test ^memory
kernel /install/mt86plus
append initrd=/ubninit  persistent

label ubnentry5
menu label ^Boot from first hard disk
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit  persistent

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

================= sdb1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

            ?? = ??             ldlinux.sys                                    1
            ?? = ??             menu.c32                                       1
            ?? = ??             syslinux.cfg                                   1

============== sdb1: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============

 menu.c32                           :  COM32R module (v4.xx)

============================= sdc1/grub/grub.cfg: ==============================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  set have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function recordfail {
  set recordfail=1
  if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}

function load_video {
  insmod vbe
  insmod vga
  insmod video_bochs
  insmod video_cirrus
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,msdos2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 76cb1419-b9e6-4e88-bc15-6f361de22fc6
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  insmod part_msdos
  insmod ext2
  set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 98e36606-8d0b-47de-b01c-6ca8b7cb0077
  set locale_dir=($root)/grub/locale
  set lang=en_IN
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
if background_color 44,0,30; then
  clear
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then
  if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
    if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
      if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
        set linux_gfx_mode=keep
      else
        set linux_gfx_mode=text
      fi
    else
      set linux_gfx_mode=text
    fi
  else
    set linux_gfx_mode=keep
  fi
else
  set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	recordfail
	set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 98e36606-8d0b-47de-b01c-6ca8b7cb0077
	linux	/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=76cb1419-b9e6-4e88-bc15-6f361de22fc6 ro   quiet splash vt.handoff=7
	initrd	/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	recordfail
	insmod gzio
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 98e36606-8d0b-47de-b01c-6ca8b7cb0077
	echo	'Loading Linux 3.0.0-12-generic ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=76cb1419-b9e6-4e88-bc15-6f361de22fc6 ro recovery nomodeset 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 98e36606-8d0b-47de-b01c-6ca8b7cb0077
	linux16	/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 98e36606-8d0b-47de-b01c-6ca8b7cb0077
	linux16	/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sdc1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

               =                grub/core.img                                  1
               =                grub/grub.cfg                                  1
               =                initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic                    1
               =                vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic                       1

=============================== sdc2/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sdb2 during installation
UUID=76cb1419-b9e6-4e88-bc15-6f361de22fc6 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /boot was on /dev/sdb1 during installation
UUID=98e36606-8d0b-47de-b01c-6ca8b7cb0077 /boot           ext4    defaults        0       2
# swap was on /dev/sdb3 during installation
UUID=991f3ee0-899f-4185-822c-351737079623 none            swap    sw              0       0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

xz: (stdin): Compressed data is corrupt
/home/ubuntu/bootinfoscript: line 1646: [: 2.73495e+09: integer expression expected
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in

yancek · 05-28-2012, 07:25 PM

If you look at the sdc1 grub.cfg file, you can see your menuentry for Ubuntu is (hd1, msdos1). That would be the second drive first partition which should be your boot partition on "sdb", or "sdb1". You need to use your Live CD and mount that partition and modify the entry to (hd2, msdos1) and reboot. If you successfully boot to Ubuntu, run sudo update-grub.

This may be caused by your having a flash drive plugged in during the install or using a flash to install Ubuntu?? Take a look at the Ubuntu link below under Reinstall Grub from Live CD, specifically item number 6.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...rom_the_LiveCD

it's_me_5 · 05-29-2012, 09:01 AM

I tried the things you said,

Quote:

Take a look at the Ubuntu link below under Reinstall Grub from Live CD, specifically item number 6.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...rom_the_LiveCD

I tried reinstalling grub2 by mounting the filesystem from Ubuntu 11.10 live image installed on a flash drive but it did not worked.

Quote:

You need to use your Live CD and mount that partition and modify the entry to (hd2, msdos1) and reboot.

I tried changing (hd1,msdos1) to (hd2,msdos1) in grub.cfg but still was unable to boot.
Here I think (hd1,msdos1) was correct because while booting I keep only internal (hd0) and external (hd1) hard drives connected no other flash drive is connected,

Quote:

This may be caused by your having a flash drive plugged in during the install or using a flash to install Ubuntu??

The installation was done from CD, no other flash drive was connected during installation.

the 2 main things I unable to understand are:
why ls command (executed from grub rescue CD) does not list the external hard drive? (it list other devices like flash drive, cdrom)
when I am able to run the OS installed on external hdd on virtual box by making a rawdisk of the external hdd then why is it not working on the actual system? (the virtual box also has an internal hdd, that is, the situation is similar to the actual situation)

yancek · 05-29-2012, 11:50 AM

Take a look at the pcworld site below. According to that, usb 3.0 has backward compatibility with USB 2.0; you need a new cable and new host adapter (or, one of the Asus or Gigabyte motherboards. I don't have any usb 3 devices so I have no idea if this is your problem.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/18656...y_arrives.html