Strange booting problem

[Rick Stevens]

On 06/24/2015 05:47 PM, jd1008 wrote:
>
>
> On 06/24/2015 06:40 PM, Rick Stevens wrote:
>> On 06/24/2015 05:36 PM, jd1008 wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On 06/24/2015 06:25 PM, Rick Stevens wrote:
>>>> On 06/24/2015 05:07 PM, jd1008 wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 06/24/2015 05:57 PM, Rick Stevens wrote:
>>>>>> On 06/24/2015 04:25 PM, jd1008 wrote:
>>>>>>> Laptop: Dell Latitude E6510.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> OS: F20 with all updates
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Grub installed on sda.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Power up ,and after bios's internal works, I do not get the grub
>>>>>>> menu.
>>>>>>> All I get is an empty screen with the underscore cursor blinking at
>>>>>>> upper left corner.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Reboot.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Press F12 to get the BIOS boot menu.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Select Internal HDD
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Boots just fine.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Looks like the BIOS' concept of the primary boot drive is different
>>>>>> than "internal HDD". Check the boot order on the BIOS.
>>>>> Boot order is
>>>>> 1. CD drive
>>>>> 2. USB drive
>>>>> 3. Internal Drive
>>>>> 4. Network
>>>>
>>>> Ok, so do you have a CD in the drive or a USB drive plugged in? If
>>>> so, it's going to try to boot from them first.
>>>
>>> OK, so how long before bios times out and move on
>>> to the internal HD? The usb drive, which is
>>> NOT bootable, has no booter installed, and
>>> neither one of it's partitions are bootable:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> # fdisk -l /dev/sdb
>>>
>>> Disk /dev/sdb: 1.8 TiB, 2000398933504 bytes, 3907029167 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
>>> Disklabel type: dos
>>> Disk identifier: 0x1bc5003b
>>>
>>> Device    Boot      Start        End     Blocks  Id System
>>> /dev/sdb3            2048 3890251950 1945124951+ 83 Linux
>>> /dev/sdb4      3890288670 3907029166    8370248+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
>>
>> It's irrelevant. You might get a "No OS found" message after a while,
>> but it's going to keep trying to boot that as long as it's plugged in.
>>
>> If you MUST leave that plugged in, then change the boot order to:
>>
>>     CD-->HDD-->USB-->Network
>>
>> and I'll bet it works.
> Well, that is strange!!! It really says that BIOS is busted
> and does not have the good sense to realize the drive is not
> bootable - just as in the case of having an audio CD in the
> CD drive, and it ignores the presenc of the audio CD and
> moves on to the next item (USB drive), which is also not
> bootable, and none of it's partitions are marked bootable.
>
> I think that what I will resort to is unplugging the usb drive
> for the first few seconds to let the BIOS select internal HD
> and start the boot, then plugin in the USB drive.
> Sometimes, I do need to boot from a USB drive.

I, also, occasionally need to boot off USB, but I have my boot
sequence set up as I mentioned. On the rare occasions I have to boot
from USB, THEN I use the F12 (or whatever) to select the boot drive.
This is basic engineering practice: Default to normal, provide a way to
bypass it when needed.
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- Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, AllDigital    ricks at alldigital.com -
- AIM/Skype: therps2        ICQ: 226437340           Yahoo: origrps2 -
-                                                                    -
-        Is it progress if a cannibal uses a knife and fork?         -
-                                  -- Stanislaw J. Lec               -
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