Strange booting problem

[jd1008]

On 06/25/2015 11:22 AM, Gordon Messmer wrote:
> On 06/24/2015 05:47 PM, jd1008 wrote:
>> 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.
>
> That's not how BIOS booting works.
>
> Each device in the boot order is searched for boot loader code. If 
> code is found, control is handed off, and that code is expected to 
> boot the system.  There's no timeout, because BIOS is no longer in 
> control of the system.
>
> The bootable flag isn't used by the BIOS at all.  It's used by DOS 
> boot loaders to determine which partition to continue boot from.
>
> Your USB drive appears to have boot code of *some* kind in the MBR. 
> Your BIOS isn't broken.  Dell did not "f*** up".  You just need to 
> clear the boot sector.  You can do that with:
>     dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=446 count=1
>
> Standard disclaimers apply: Back up your data first.  Double check the 
> command before following advice from some rando on the internet.  etc.
>
>> 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.
>
> You could do that, or you could change the boot order to boot HDD 
> before USB, and use F12 when you need to boot USB.
>
> Otherwise, you can't do a remote reboot because you won't be there to 
> unplug the USB drive.
>
Thanx Gordon . -but
I bought the usb drive brand new and had not installed anything
on it. Just partitioned it and used it.
So, how could it contain any boot code?
Is this what manufacturers do by default? I had not encountered
this issue you raise before.
Also Re: dd: The drive is THE backup drive for the laptop :)
So, I do not have a 3rd drive to back it up to.