Strange booting problem

[Rick Stevens]

On 06/30/2015 03:17 PM, jd1008 wrote:
> The link you refer to
> talks about the 2 bytes past byte 255, they they are
> bytes 256 and 257.

No, you set the block size to 2, so you are seeking (2 * 255) or 512
bytes into the disk.

> But I already indicated the 466 bytes are null... in another usb drive I
> tested,
> thus no boot signature - and yet, bios hung forever because that disk
> was 2nd
> in boot order after cd/dvd drive, and before internal HD.
>
> So, the laptop's BIOS is executing what? A good code for moving from disk
> to disk until it finds the bootable drive in the boot sequence specified?
> Clearly in this case - it does not do so.
> And yet, you insist it is not a flaw.
>
>
> On 06/30/2015 03:47 PM, Gordon Messmer wrote:
>> On 06/30/2015 02:28 PM, jd1008 wrote:
>>> I already explained to you
>>> 1. The disk is partitioned using fdisk.
>>> 2. I cleared the 446 bytes to nulls.
>>> 3. None of the partitions have a boot signature.
>>
>> The boot signature is at bytes 511 and 512, and you indicated that it
>> is present:
>> https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/users/2015-June/462295.html
>>
>> Those bytes indicate to BIOS that the disk contains boot code.  I
>> tested wiping those bytes and verified that SeaBIOS, at least, will
>> not attempt to run the boot sector of a disk after they are wiped.
>>
>>> You comment "bug" is not a word for "something I don't understand" or
>>> "something I don't like."
>>> is so totally irrelevant to what I have already reported wrt the
>>> drive at hand and the BIOS at hand.
>>> Such comments are sounding more and more like coming from an a*al
>>> attitude!!
>>
>> Computers are just machines that execute instructions.  They don't
>> reason.  They don't make decisions.  Their design may not always be
>> the one you like, but that's not the same as being "buggy".
>>
>> I'm trying to reasonably explain and demonstrate that you can predict
>> and control the computer's behavior, while you rant about Dell
>> "f***ing up."  I think your anger is unjustified, both toward your
>> system's vendor and toward me.  Maybe mellow out a little.
>


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