solaris bootloader

hoffmanyew · 05-19-2005, 08:32 PM

Hello guys! Is there anyone out there know how to remove solaris bootloader? cause i want to use other distro and didn't manage to solaris bootloader. help please!

jlliagre · 05-19-2005, 08:50 PM

You can overwrite any bootloader by any other one.

hoffmanyew · 05-19-2005, 09:01 PM

i know that. but the thing is i can't remove it. any idea why and how to resolve this issue. errors state couldn't find mbr.

jlliagre · 05-19-2005, 09:08 PM

You cannot "remove" a bootloader, that doesn't make sense.
What you can do is overwrite it by something else.

Darin · 05-20-2005, 06:49 AM

Grab a linux CD such as a live cd (knoppix, slax, et all) or even the slackware install cd and issue the command:

Code:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdx bs=512 count=1

where X is the letter for the hard disk ie /dev/hda = IDE primary master /dev/hdb = IDE primary slave

Alternativly, you can boot up off a DOS disk with the fdisk utility on it and issue the DOS command:

Code:

fdisk /mbr

This is assuming you are talking about an x86 PC.

If you are still having problems, could you please explain more of what you are trying or have tried to do that isn't working?

keefaz · 05-20-2005, 02:12 PM

With your dd command, the partition table will be cleared

Quote:

An MBR has 3 parts:

1. (000000 - 0001bd) The boot code which is 446 bytes long
2. (0001be - 0001fd) The partition table which is 64 bytes long
3. (0001fe - 0001ff) The boot code signature of 55aa which is 2 bytes long and goes at the very end

see http://www.cpqlinux.com/mbr.html
Try this instead :

Code:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdx bs=446 count=1

Thats way you just overwrite the disk space where the bootloader is

jlliagre · 05-20-2005, 02:29 PM

And of course, this can be done under Solaris too, the device name is the only part differing:

Code:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/dsk/cx[ty]dzp0 bs=446 count=1

With
x = controler number (starting from 0)
y = target for SCSI and SCSI emulated drives
z = disk number on that controler (from 0 too)

It would help if you explain what you mean with:

Quote:

cause i want to use other distro and didn't manage to solaris bootloader.

Blanking the Solaris boot loader as suggested is very unlikely to fix the problem you are trying to share with us.

Maidros · 05-20-2005, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hoffmanyew
Hello guys! Is there anyone out there know how to remove solaris bootloader? cause i want to use other distro and didn't manage to solaris bootloader. help please!

You could easily boot with LILO or grub - installing them is very easy and there are quite a few threads describing how to boot using them.
Regards,
Maidros

JrLz · 05-20-2005, 09:26 PM

yup, just don't get why you want to remove it.....
you can easily rewrite it with your distro's one.....
you can boot your distro's installation right??

hoffmanyew · 05-21-2005, 08:03 AM

thanks for all your replies. i managed to used to freebsd cd to remove the bootloader. Apparently, the bootloader cannot be removed by using the windows fdisk /mbr or fixboot or fixmbr or even linux cd to remove it. So, i though of using freebsd to remove it by using sysinstall / removable tool (include in the cd) since i couldn't figure anyway to solve. Btw, i think freebsd and solaris are very closed to each others since both are from pure "unixing" and that's why the both cd can be used to repair the bootloader (i guess so).

jlliagre · 05-21-2005, 11:09 AM

I would be interested to know how you were unable to use the dd command to blank the mbr with either linux or solaris ...