[SOLVED] trying to install from live xfce usb

[Shador]

Those files are not much help in this case unfortunately. More helpful would be a precise description of what's going on on your screen and what you're doing when booting so I can tell where it is failing and where to search for.
Please also run boot-info-script (salix repo or http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/) and upload its RESULTS.txt somewhere.

[pcbsd64]

When I try to boot from the usb stick it continues passed the grub error (like you said it would) and stops at a grub> prompt.
That's it.
When I boot from a usb stick created by unetbootin, I am instructed to press "ctrl D" several times during the boot process while *.salt files are loaded into memory.

Code: Select all

                  Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

 => Lilo is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
 => Lilo is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:
    Mounting failed:   mount: /dev/sda1 already mounted or sda1 busy

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ufs
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info:
    Mounting failed:   mount: /dev/sda1 already mounted or sda1 busy
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda2,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so


sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  SYSLINUX 3.84 3.84
    Boot sector info:  Syslinux looks at sector 1441464 of /dev/sdb1 for its
                       second stage. The integrity check of Syslinux failed.
                       According to the info in the boot sector, sdb1 starts
                       at sector 0. But according to the info from fdisk,
                       sdb1 starts at sector 2048.
    Operating System: 
    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg /syslinux.cfg /ldlinux.sys

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sda1    *          2,048   153,606,143   153,604,096  83 Linux
/dev/sda2         156,295,188   312,569,837   156,274,650  a5 FreeBSD
/dev/sda3         153,606,144   156,295,167     2,689,024  82 Linux swap / Solaris


Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 8029 MB, 8029470208 bytes
34 heads, 17 sectors/track, 27132 cylinders, total 15682559 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sdb1    *          2,048    15,681,535    15,679,488   b W95 FAT32


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/sda1        2d5bf810-19c4-44f7-bb61-104b38f9d769   ext4       
/dev/sda2                                               ufs       
/dev/sda3        db76bf64-b23a-4297-832f-3af092d7efdd   swap       
/dev/sdb1        32D1-773F                              vfat       SALIX

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/root        /                        ext4       (rw,noatime,barrier=1,data=ordered)
/dev/sdb1        /media/salixLive_xfce-13.37-64 vfat       (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal,uid=1000,shortname=winnt,utf8)


=========================== sdb1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# vim: syn=sh et sw=2 st=2 ts=2 tw=0:

# if your keyboard does not respond after choosing the language, change this variable to "true"
set weird_usb_keyboard=false
set cfgprefix="($root)$basedir/boot/grub"
set debug=
set locale_dir="$cfgprefix/locale"
set gfxpayload=keep
set autologin=autologin
export cfgprefix debug locale_dir weird_usb_keyboard

source ${cfgprefix}/include.cfg
loadsettings

export autologin debug fromiso gfxpayload ibus kb kbnum lang langnum locale memonly numlock passwd proxy runlevel synaptics custom

if [ "$skiplang" = "true" ]; then
  if [ -n "$kb" ]; then
    if [ -n "$locale" ]; then
      loadkeymap
      configfile ${cfgprefix}/boot.cfg
    fi
  fi
fi
configfile ${cfgprefix}/lang.cfg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

============================== sdb1/syslinux.cfg: ==============================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEFAULT grub2
PROMPT 0
NOESCAPE 1
TOTALTIMEOUT 1
ONTIMEOUT grub2
LABEL grub2
  SAY Chainloading to grub2...
  LINUX boot/grub2-linux.img
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

            ?? = ??             boot/grub/grub.cfg                             1
            ?? = ??             boot/initrd.xz                                 1
            ?? = ??             boot/vmlinuz                                   1

================= sdb1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

            ?? = ??             ldlinux.sys                                    1
            ?? = ??             syslinux.cfg                                   1

======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown BootLoader on sda2

00000000  eb 3c 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00  |.<..............|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  12 00 02 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000020  00 00 00 00 00 16 1f 66  6a 00 51 50 06 53 31 c0  |.......fj.QP.S1.|
00000030  88 f0 50 6a 10 89 e5 e8  c0 00 8d 66 10 cb fc 31  |..Pj.......f...1|
00000040  c9 8e c1 8e d9 8e d1 bc  00 7c 89 e6 bf 00 07 fe  |.........|......|
00000050  c5 f3 a5 be ee 7d 80 fa  80 72 2c b6 01 e8 60 00  |.....}...r,...`.|
00000060  b9 01 00 be be 8d b6 01  80 7c 04 a5 75 07 e3 19  |.........|..u...|
00000070  f6 04 80 75 14 83 c6 10  fe c6 80 fe 05 72 e9 49  |...u.........r.I|
00000080  e3 e1 be a2 7d eb 4b 31  d2 89 16 00 09 b6 10 e8  |....}.K1........|
00000090  2e 00 bb 00 90 8b 77 0a  01 de bf 00 c0 b9 00 ae  |......w.........|
000000a0  29 f1 f3 a4 fa 49 74 14  e4 64 a8 02 75 f7 b0 d1  |)....It..d..u...|
000000b0  e6 64 e4 64 a8 02 75 fa  b0 df e6 60 fb e9 50 13  |.d.d..u....`..P.|
000000c0  bb 00 8c 8b 44 08 8b 4c  0a 0e e8 5a ff 73 2a be  |....D..L...Z.s*.|
000000d0  9d 7d e8 1c 00 be a7 7d  e8 16 00 30 e4 cd 16 c7  |.}.....}...0....|
000000e0  06 72 04 34 12 ea f0 ff  00 f0 bb 07 00 b4 0e cd  |.r.4............|
000000f0  10 ac 84 c0 75 f4 b4 01  f9 c3 2e f6 06 b0 08 80  |....u...........|
00000100  74 22 80 fa 80 72 1d bb  aa 55 52 b4 41 cd 13 5a  |t"...r...UR.A..Z|
00000110  72 12 81 fb 55 aa 75 0c  f6 c1 01 74 07 89 ee b4  |r...U.u....t....|
00000120  42 cd 13 c3 52 b4 08 cd  13 88 f5 5a 72 cb 80 e1  |B...R......Zr...|
00000130  3f 74 c3 fa 66 8b 46 08  52 66 0f b6 d9 66 31 d2  |?t..f.F.Rf...f1.|
00000140  66 f7 f3 88 eb 88 d5 43  30 d2 66 f7 f3 88 d7 5a  |f......C0.f....Z|
00000150  66 3d ff 03 00 00 fb 77  9d 86 c4 c0 c8 02 08 e8  |f=.....w........|
00000160  40 91 88 fe 28 e0 8a 66  02 38 e0 72 02 b0 01 bf  |@...(..f.8.r....|
00000170  05 00 c4 5e 04 50 b4 02  cd 13 5b 73 0a 4f 74 1c  |...^.P....[s.Ot.|
00000180  30 e4 cd 13 93 eb eb 0f  b6 c3 01 46 08 73 03 ff  |0..........F.s..|
00000190  46 0a d0 e3 00 5e 05 28  46 02 77 88 c3 52 65 61  |F....^.(F.w..Rea|
000001a0  64 00 42 6f 6f 74 00 20  65 72 72 6f 72 0d 0a 00  |d.Boot. error...|
000001b0  80 90 90 90 90 90 90 90  90 90 90 90 90 90 00 00  |................|
000001c0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
000001e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 80 00  |................|
000001f0  01 00 a5 fe ff ff 00 00  00 00 50 c3 00 00 55 aa  |..........P...U.|
00000200


=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

  No volume groups found
mdadm: No arrays found in config file or automatically



[Shador]

More helpful would be a precise description of what's going on on your screen and what you're doing when booting so I can tell where it is failing and where to search for.

Boot sector info: Syslinux looks at sector 1441464 of /dev/sdb1 for its
second stage. The integrity check of Syslinux failed.
According to the info in the boot sector, sdb1 starts
at sector 0. But according to the info from fdisk,
sdb1 starts at sector 2048.

Could there possibly be some problem with the partitioning? Maybe erasing the partition table and recreating the stick from scratch works?

The *.live file is in the root of the usb stick.

What about its content? Could you post it as well.

[pcbsd64]

I did erase the partition table, then followed the extract to usb and install-on-USB.sh instructions.

contents of the *.live file

Code: Select all

ident_content=b65ce261d1dd96eaf10a5a63c21d8308
basedir=/
iso_name=salixlive-xfce-13.37-64.iso


[pcbsd64]

When I try to boot from the usb stick it continues passed the grub error (like you said it would) and stops at a grub> prompt.
That's it.

After the grub error it says "Searching for a device to boot from" " checking memdisk" "checking hd0"

[Shador]

contents of the *.live file

OK, seems to be fine.

I did erase the partition table, then followed the extract to usb and install-on-USB.sh instructions.

How did you recreate it? What tool(s)?

After the grub error it says "Searching for a device to boot from" " checking memdisk" "checking hd0"

Anything else afterwards? If you're getting that far the error about prefix should be still the normal, unrelated one.

Are you getting something like this:

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   echo "Error: Could not find the root device!"
   echo "We've been searching for:"
   echo "  identfile: $ident_file"
   echo "  identcontent: $searched_ident_content"
   echo

or this:

Code: Select all

   echo "Using as root device: ${newroot}"

I've got no idea what you're seeing and I can't guess (nor easily reproduce because there are that many machines and setups) what's going wrong because that's neither common nor straightforward. That's exactly why I've written the memdisk script in a manner that allows one to check what's going on and especially to print out what is failing! Given my past experiences with your reports it seems there is more information as expected.
So here comes a kind request to also provide this to me.

[pcbsd64]

I use gparted to create a partition table and then format a fat32 partition on the usb stick. I notice that there is always a 1Mb space preceding the fat partition when using gparted. Maybe this causes the 2048 offset seen by syslinux. Can I edit syslinux.cfg to work around this?

My wife has openSUSE on her computer with a YAST partition tool and my daughter dual boots Fedora and Windows, so I could use other means of formatting the usb stick.

I was able to use the pause/break key to stop the boot process so that I could copy the screen that was rapidly scrolling by. This is what I saw:

Code: Select all

error: "prefix" is not set
Searching the device to boot from
*Checking: (memdisk)...
*Checking: (hd0)...
ident_content: b65ce261d1dd96eaf10a5a63c21d8308
using as root device: (hd0)
grub>


That's exactly why I've written the memdisk script in a manner that allows one to check what's going on and especially to print out what is failing! Given my past experiences with your reports it seems there is more information as expected.
So here comes a kind request to also provide this to me.

I am not sure how to use memdisk_grub.cfg? other than that it runs during the boot process and gives an output to the screen.

[pcbsd64]

Boot sector info: Syslinux looks at sector 1441464 of /dev/sdb1 for its
second stage. The integrity check of Syslinux failed.
According to the info in the boot sector, sdb1 starts
at sector 0. But according to the info from fdisk,
sdb1 starts at sector 2048.

Could there possibly be some problem with the partitioning? Maybe erasing the partition table and recreating the stick from scratch works?

After using YAST Partitioner to format my usb stick and re-extracting the *iso and re-installing syslinux and grub, the Boot Info Summary of Results.txt doesn't contain
a sdb1 section.

I notice that the sdb1 fat partition I was deleting was 7.47Gb while the one I created was 7.48Gb with the YAST Partitioner, accounting for the previously unused 1Mb preceding the partition, I assume.

Unfortunately the boot results were the same.

[pcbsd64]

Just for a sanity check I downloaded and created a live usb from the slackellive-kde-4.8.2-64.iso.
It booted.

I checked md5 for salixlive-xfce-13.37-64.iso

Code: Select all

chris[salixlive]$ md5sum salixlive-xfce-13.37-64.iso
7d9c11a65aa35a1713826d4521e6db83  salixlive-xfce-13.37-64.iso

which agrees with the md5sum here

I could download Salix64 KDE 13.37 CD ISO and see if it works.

[Shador]

I notice that the sdb1 fat partition I was deleting was 7.47Gb while the one I created was 7.48Gb with the YAST Partitioner, accounting for the previously unused 1Mb preceding the partition, I assume.

I never assumed the gap is the problem, it is completely normal.

According to the info in the boot sector, sdb1 starts
at sector 0. But according to the info from fdisk,
sdb1 starts at sector 2048.

The disparity regarding the start sector was what actually seemed weird.

I am not sure how to use memdisk_grub.cfg? other than that it runs during the boot process and gives an output to the screen.

Not at all. That file is actually embedded into the grub2-linux.img and thus the actually executed version can't be easily modified without rebuilding that file.

using as root device: (hd0)
grub>

It seems weird that it stops there without any message. Could you try those commands at the 'grub>' prompt:

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ls
ls (hd0)
ls (hd0)/
ls (hd0)/boot/grub/i386-pc
ls (hd0)/boot/grub/grub.cfg
echo $root
echo $prefix
configfile (hd0)/boot/grub/grub.cfg

Please copy the output except for the long listing with i386-pc. Just check whether there's plenty of files like *.mod, *.lst, ... in that dir.

Just for a sanity check I downloaded and created a live usb from the slackellive-kde-4.8.2-64.iso.
It booted.

The point is they're both using SaLT and are completely identical except for the package selection to my knowledge. But the boot process does not leave the identical part. So maybe something went wrong during extracing or installing the Xfce Live edition on the usb?