Strange booting problem

[jd1008]

On 06/24/2015 07:13 PM, Rick Stevens wrote:
> 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.
That works too.
But my BIOS is broken and I am surprised that Dell
f***** up on this.