> > In message <BLU0-SMTP2805E16A0E7A33B925EDF458BB80 at phx.gbl>, > Ady <ady-sf at hotmail.com> wrote: > > >Now, to move forward with Clonezilla in your USB drive, we need to > >proceed with some steps that are not as simple as dd'ing an image. > > Apologies for my impertinence, but I have one question: Why? > > I was under the impression that we had reached an agreement under > which _you_ would perform all necessary bit-fiddling... insuring that > all steps are down exactly as you think best... and that THEN you would > give me an image that I could simply dd to a stick and try. Did we not > agree upon that? > > I am not trying to be difficult. I am genuinely concerned that there > will be some small/obscure aspect of one or more of the steps you ask > me to do in preparing a USB stick for the next desired test that I > will inadvertantly/unintentionally phuck up. In this area, you are > the expert, and you know what you are doing, whereas with respect to > all of this booting & BIOS stuff, my ignorance asymptotically approaches > infinity. > > I will send you an off-list e-mail, following this one, where I will give > you directions to a writable FTP directory on my server where you can > place test images for me to try (using dd). (Or alternatively, you may > continue to place them elsewhere and then send me links.) > > >I hope I was clear enough in the above instructions, as it would be > >relatively easy to confuse which files should be copied and ... > > This is my point. You gentlemen have all been most kind and diligent > in pursuit of answers to these problems. I don't want to be responsible > for screwwing up some small aspect of the next desired test, and thus > wasting your time with meaningless or misleading test results produced > from a test that I have screwed up somehow. > > >Then boot the USB drive (using F12 during POST as before). > > To be clear, I *have not* been using F12 during POST for any of my recent > tests. There has been no need to do so. > > In the case of the tests that have performed where there has been success > in booting, I have _only_ had the test USB stick attached, and no other > sticks or drives attached to the system, and the (successful) stick does > show up... as the *only* listed item... in the BIOS Boot Priority list. > Thus, it is unnecessary to go into the BIOS boot menu, because the BIOS > is seeing one and only one attached bootable device, so it just attempts > to boot that device. > > In the case of the tests that have performed where there has been failure, > the test stick does not, in general, even show up in the BIOS Boot Priority > list, so the BIOS never even attempts to boot the thing. (In some cases > there has been a failure when the stick *does* show up in the Boot Priority > list and *after* the SYSLINUX banner has been printed, but I have been > diligent in describing and reporting those.) > > If you think that it would help somehow for me to be making explicit boot > device selections using F12 then I will do so, in future. > > > Regards, > rfgI'll try to reply here to your last series of emails in this email thread. Although this may disrupt the different conversations, in this particular occasion I'd rather write once and (try to) make some coherent sense. Apologies for the long email. I am trying to cover different aspects with some hope that eventually it might result useful to other users with similar issues. *** The reason I asked you to use F12 to select the USB device is because I am trying to "skip" at least *some* potential difficulties with the BIOS boot priority settings (among others). And since some mainboards can list some USB drives as "HDD" instead of "USB-HDD" during the boot selection, I am trying to avoid some BIOS decisions. By using F12, you can try several times to re-boot the same USB drive and search the list of boot devices, instead of partially relying on other BIOS settings such as boot priority. For these tests, I would recommend setting the BIOS boot priority to "USB-HDD" as first boot device and "HDD" as second (and probably "disable" any other). And yet, for testing purposes I would still suggest going through F12, specially when some first test failed to boot the USB drive. If the first "automatic" boot failed, then reboot and use F12. If that fails, reboot and try F12 again, selecting a different category of boot type device. Although there are additional boot device options such as "USB-FDD" and others, I am currently discarding them for this mainboard and USB drives. Once this whole issue is solved, you might want to change to BIOS boot priority again according to your daily needs. *** Regarding the CHS issue, this is why my test.img used the "most-standard" values I could try as first attempt: Nx255x63 in MBR and VBR, with starting offset of 2048 for the (first-and-only) FAT32-LBA partition. Depending on your tests with it, I would had changed some parameter. Fortunately, no parameters need changing now, as your tests indicate that with such initial values Syslinux is booting correctly (remember the Syslinux version and copyright message included "EDD" when booting the USB drive with my test.img). *** Since you reported already being able to successfully boot this system with USB drives that were previously failing, I am discarding (for now) the possibility of a corrupt hardware (mainboard, USB drives, USB ports...). *** Not all USB ports are the same. For instance, in some mainboards the USB ports at the front of the computer case might be not recommended for booting purposes. At least for these tests, I would suggest to use always the same USB port where you have already seen success. For these tests, plug in just one USB drive, to the same USB port where you already succeeded. Keep other USB ports empty, and unnecessary drives disconnected (if possible). Once the current goal is accomplished, feel free to use other USB ports for booting or for whatever else. *** Regarding some recent comments about using GParted Live, let me clarify that it is an excellent tool and that my prior suggestion for not using it was intended for "just for the moment". Since _you_ are making all these tests, while receiving different types of suggestions to go different ways, my intention was to avoid using different tools that act on the MBR. Different partitioning tools may have different "default" settings. In combination with different BIOS, we could go back to the initial CHS issues, or other unintended consequences. Using partitioning tools such as GParted might also alter the current MBR, depending on which action you apply. Since I provided a specific MBR ("altmbr.bin", first-and-only partition, no "active" flag, no remaining space) with specific values for the partition table, my suggestion not to use "GParted or any other partitioning tool at this opportunity" was intended towards keeping the test "intact". It is the only way as to reduce potential unwanted interactions from different partitioning tools. For example, the partition starting offset I used for my test.img was 2048, but some partitioning tools might change the value to 63 (or to others), depending on the user's options. I was trying to avoid this type of problem. But this does not mean that GParted is not good, or that you should not use it at all. If we know which values are successful, and which booting code works for you, we can go back and use GParted (or any partitioning tool that matches your needs). *** Many partitioning tools are not capable of writing actual booting code to the MBR. GParted can set the "active" (aka "boot") flag, but the booting code that GParted can write in the MBR is just "dummy", not bootable. Some users think that they can just use the GParted program so to make a USB drive bootable. By itself, it can't. An "actual" booting code for the MBR is not provided by GParted. *** Regarding the use of Windows, I can understand that you are not so comfortable with it. There is one advantage when using Windows in our current context: the Windows-based SYSLINUX installer can do certain things in one single command while the Linux-based SYSLINUX installers can't. This is also true the other way around; it just happens that the Windows-based SYSLINUX installer might be convenient for this particular case, while under Linux we need additional commands / steps / writing. ***>From your own reports, I am confident that you don't need to keeptrying different ISO images, dd'ing some additional distro, expanding additional archives. The initial problem has nothing to do with UBCD, nor Clonezilla Live, nor OpenELEC, nor... The problem is related to using an adequate partitioning (one) and a formatting tool (one), with the adequate values, together in combination with adequate BIOS settings. Mixing different partitioning tools (with different behaviors and default values) might sometimes corrupt the boot code or a mismatch between actual partitions and the partition table. This particular mainboard might be using different BIOS values than others, and there are several other alternative explanations for all these issues. Your last few tests suggest that we are on a good track now. *** Regarding my last instructions (instead of "just dd'ing"), there are several reasons. I have my own resources' limitations. Preparing special images with a size of several GB and uploading them in hopes they will work as expected is beyond my current possibilities. I am trying to be careful when writing instructions. I could make some mistake, or miss some step, but I am trying not to. If they are not clear enough, just ask. If you were to follow my instructions and you make some mistake or something goes wrong or the instructions are not clear, all you would have to do is to dd my test.img again and ask for directions. Actually following my last instructions would take you a few minutes, much less than preparing, uploading and downloading images. By writing instructions, they might be helpful to others too, in the event they find some similar issues. And more importantly, you (should) want to be able to eventually do it yourself, for whichever version of Clonezilla or any other tool, (over)writing any USB drive. These testing procedures are *not* going to be necessary in the future, once you know how to format the USB drives in a way that "just works". I would like to ask from you to _at least try_ my last instructions. They are about copying certain directories and files to your USB drive, overwriting certain files while not overwriting others. Use whichever OS you like. For convenience (and to avoid potential misunderstandings), I am repeating the text down here. *** After dd'ing my test.img to the USB drive, you would have one FAT32 partition of about 700MB. So: 1_ Expand the content of the Clonezilla Live zip archive in some temporal directory. 2_ Move *almost* all the resulting expanded content from the temporal directory to the FAT32 partition in the USB drive; with the *exception* of the following directories (and their contents, of course): 2a_ './isolinux/' 2b_ './syslinux/' Note that my test.img already contains a './syslinux/' directory with some files in it. 3_ Move (part of) the content of Clonezilla's temporal './syslinux/' directory to the equivalent './syslinux/' directory located in the FAT32 partition in the USB drive, with two *caveats*: 3a_ If the filename already exists in the destination directory, *keep it*, do *NOT* replace it with the one from Clonezilla. This is specially important for './syslinux/ldlinux.sys'. 3b_ The only file from Clonezilla's temporal directory that indeed should replace the one already placed in the USB drive is './syslinux/syslinux.cfg'. Then boot the USB drive (using F12 during POST as before). I would expect at least the initial Clonezilla boot menu to show up. *** Please let us know how it goes. Regards, Ady.
Ronald F. Guilmette
2014-Jan-19 10:52 UTC
[syslinux] USB boot problems on Gigabyte GA-M55Plus-S3G
In message <BLU0-SMTP48EE10402F4B5AE9EC1E078BBB0 at phx.gbl>, Ady <ady-sf at hotmail.com> wrote:>Not all USB ports are the same. For instance, in some mainboards the >USB ports at the front of the computer case might be not recommended >for booting purposes. At least for these tests, I would suggest to >use always the same USB port where you have already seen success.I have been consistantly doing so from the outset, i.e. using only the ports on that are on the back of my system, i.e. that protrude from the I/O shield.>For these tests, plug in just one USB drive, to the same USB port >where you already succeeded. Keep other USB ports empty, and >unnecessary drives disconnected (if possible).I have been doing so, and shall continue.>Regarding some recent comments about using GParted Live, let me >clarify that it is an excellent tool and that my prior suggestion for >not using it was intended for "just for the moment".I understand.>Regarding the use of Windows, I can understand that you are not so >comfortable with it.That is an understatement. I was *already* quite reluctant to use Windows, except when necessary, even before we started all this, and these experiments have made me moreso. (I have gotten reasonably adept/comfortable with the Windows UI over the past couple of years, but I still vastly prefer a good old UNIX command line interface... something I've had more than 30 years experience with.)>>From your own reports, I am confident that you don't need to keep >trying different ISO images, dd'ing some additional distro, expanding >additional archives.Good.>The initial problem has nothing to do with UBCD, nor Clonezilla Live, >nor OpenELEC,Even I understood from the outset that the problem... whatever it is/was... had nothing specifically to do with those tools. That is why I came here, you know, as opposed to directing a bunch of questions to the producers of those tools.>This particular mainboard might be using different BIOS values than >others, and there are several other alternative explanations for all >these issues. Your last few tests suggest that we are on a good track >now.I have just a couple of questions. First, who exactly is Mr. Syslinux? Who is the primary developer/maintainer? Second, may I safely assume that the goal of what we have all been doing is to produce (at some point) a new version of Syslinux that will cater better to older motherboards and older Award BIOSes, such as what I have? Lastly, may I also safely assume that at some appropriate point in the future, Mr. Syslinux, or some close associate, will actively take steps to actively encourage the developers of UBCD, Clonezilla, and OpenELEC to incorporate the new "fixed" version of Syslinux into their future distributions, you know, so that other poor sods like me won't in future be beset by these issues? (For my part, *I* have already ordered a new/replacement motherboard, so all of this work we've done is not likely to benefit me directly. But I would like to think that it hasn't all been wasted effirt, and that _someone_ may benefit.))>I have my own resources' limitations. Preparing special images with a >size of several GB and uploading them in hopes they will work as >expected is beyond my current possibilities.Why? Are you on a dial-up line?>I would like to ask from you to _at least try_ my last instructions.I am willing to do so, but with the understanding (on everybody's part) that I really don't want to do any more of this, i.e. after this last test. I've tried to be helpful, but there is a limit. Following convoluted sets of technical instructions is not actually my idea of a good time. (And I don't really have any stake or personal interest in the outcome anymore either.)>After dd'ing my test.img to the USB drive, you would have one FAT32 >partition of about 700MB. So: > >1_ Expand the content of the Clonezilla Live zip archive in some >temporal directory.Ummm... Which version, exactly?>2_ Move *almost* all the resulting expanded content...I should be able to perform all of the moving & replacing of files that you requested directly on my FreeBSD system (using ntfs-3g) rather than on Windoze. Do you care, either way? Regards, rfg
> > >This particular mainboard might be using different BIOS values than > >others, and there are several other alternative explanations for all > >these issues. Your last few tests suggest that we are on a good track > >now. > > I have just a couple of questions. First, who exactly is Mr. Syslinux? > Who is the primary developer/maintainer? Second, may I safely assume > that the goal of what we have all been doing is to produce (at some > point) a new version of Syslinux that will cater better to older > motherboards and older Award BIOSes, such as what I have? Lastly, > may I also safely assume that at some appropriate point in the future, > Mr. Syslinux, or some close associate, will actively take steps > to actively encourage the developers of UBCD, Clonezilla, and OpenELEC > to incorporate the new "fixed" version of Syslinux into their future > distributions, you know, so that other poor sods like me won't in > future be beset by these issues? (For my part, *I* have already > ordered a new/replacement motherboard, so all of this work we've done > is not likely to benefit me directly. But I would like to think that > it hasn't all been wasted effirt, and that _someone_ may benefit.)) >"Mr. Syslinux" would be H. Peter Anvin (hpa), as the initial copyright line shows when booting Syslinux. Regarding UBCD, Clonezilla (and GParted) Live, I happen to know that they are working on improving bootability. Regarding improving Syslinux, feedback is the way. Other than that, it seems to me that in this particular case the issues are more related to how the partitioning and formatting (of the USB drive) are done. For such cases, we can try to help, but it does not depend on The Syslinux Project.> > >I would like to ask from you to _at least try_ my last instructions. > > I am willing to do so, but with the understanding (on everybody's part) > that I really don't want to do any more of this, i.e. after this last > test. I've tried to be helpful, but there is a limit. Following > convoluted sets of technical instructions is not actually my idea of > a good time. (And I don't really have any stake or personal interest > in the outcome anymore either.)I am doing this without any personal gain either. Regarding the technical instructions, we have been providing relatively simple ones. Unfortunately, only you can work on this particular system. We have added technical details so they can be useful to narrow down the problem, but IMHO the commands for you were relatively simple. I can understand that following technical instructions is not fun to most people. If you want to stop, nothing we can do about that. Regarding the hardware, my guess is that you could easily find some other mainboards where those USB drives in their current state won't be bootable. Some may, some won't. IMHO, partitioning and formatting the USB drive with an adequate set of values is probably a better way to solve this issue, whether for this mainboard or for others. This is why I said that you should want to be able to do an adequate partitioning and formatting by yourself, so then you could put in those USB drives whatever you would want, not just some isohybrid images.> > >After dd'ing my test.img to the USB drive, you would have one FAT32 > >partition of about 700MB. So: > > > >1_ Expand the content of the Clonezilla Live zip archive in some > >temporal directory. > > Ummm... Which version, exactly?You already mentioned having a Clonezilla Live 2.2.1-22 zip archive. You could use that one if you want.> > >2_ Move *almost* all the resulting expanded content... > > I should be able to perform all of the moving & replacing of files > that you requested directly on my FreeBSD system (using ntfs-3g) rather > than on Windoze. Do you care, either way? > >Note that I posted my instructions in a very "generic" way. You can use whatever method you want, as long as the USB drive is recognized by the OS and the FAT32-LBA filesystem is writable. If booting it then succeeds, I would also suggest using fdisk just to set (write) the "active" flag (nothing else) and test again. I know you were not successful with it before, but you were operating under some assumptions about the BIOS behavior that were inaccurate (according to your own reports), while the partitioning scheme of the USB drive was inadequate. Best Regards, Ady.
Ronald F. Guilmette
2014-Jan-19 23:29 UTC
[syslinux] USB boot problems on Gigabyte GA-M55Plus-S3G
In message <BLU0-SMTP48EE10402F4B5AE9EC1E078BBB0 at phx.gbl>, Ady wrote:>After dd'ing my test.img to the USB drive, you would have one FAT32 >partition of about 700MB. So:Someone in this thread said something about erasing or eliminating stuff from the USB stick first, so just to be on the safe side, before I dd'd your test.img file to my test stick (i.e. one of my 2GB Sandisk Cruzer Blades that was failing to boot Clonezilla even before I started this thread), I first dd'd /dev/zero to the stick until dd hit physical EOF on the stick.>1_ Expand the content of the Clonezilla Live zip archive in some >temporal directory. > >2_ Move *almost* all the resulting expanded content from the temporal >directory to the FAT32 partition in the USB drive; with the >*exception* of the following directories (and their contents, of >course): >2a_ './isolinux/' >2b_ './syslinux/'Note: I mis-spoke earlier when I made reference to using ntfs-3g to access the stick. (Duh!) As you say, once the stick has your test.img file on it, it contains a FAT32 filesystem, not NTFS. So I can access it from FreeBSD simply by mounting it with "-t msdosfs". Fdisk on FreeBSD appears to confirm that the stick is how you wished and expected it to be: ===================================================================******* Working on device /dev/da2 ******* parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are: cylinders=243 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl) parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are: cylinders=243 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl) Media sector size is 512 Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1 Information from DOS bootblock is: The data for partition 1 is: sysid 12 (0x0c),(DOS or Windows 95 with 32 bit FAT (LBA)) start 2048, size 1431552 (699 Meg), flag 0 beg: cyl 0/ head 32/ sector 33; end: cyl 89/ head 60/ sector 35 The data for partition 2 is: <UNUSED> The data for partition 3 is: <UNUSED> The data for partition 4 is: <UNUSED> ===================================================================>Note that my test.img already contains a './syslinux/' directory with >some files in it.Yes, and at the top level it apparently contains _only_ that.>3_ Move (part of) the content of Clonezilla's temporal './syslinux/' >directory to the equivalent './syslinux/' directory located in the >FAT32 partition in the USB drive, with two *caveats*: > >3a_ If the filename already exists in the destination directory, >*keep it*, do >*NOT* replace it with the one from Clonezilla. This is specially >important for >'./syslinux/ldlinux.sys'. > >3b_ The only file from Clonezilla's temporal directory that indeed >should >replace the one already placed in the USB drive is >'./syslinux/syslinux.cfg'.Below are directory listings of (a) /syslinux/ on the test stick after your test.img file has been copied to it and (b) /syslinux/ as it exists within the (unziped) clonezilla-live-2.2.1-22-amd64.zip file: (a) =========================================================================-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1652 Dec 11 02:08 cat.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24040 Dec 11 02:08 chain.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1256 Dec 11 02:08 cmd.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1500 Dec 11 02:07 config.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1592 Dec 11 02:08 debug.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1996 Dec 11 02:07 disk.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 173060 Dec 11 02:08 hdt.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1524 Dec 11 02:08 hello.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 3692 Dec 11 02:08 hexdump.c32 -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 122080 Jan 16 14:40 ldlinux.c32 -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 67072 Jan 16 14:40 ldlinux.sys -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 186452 Dec 11 02:07 libcom32.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 66548 Dec 11 02:07 libgpl.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 112908 Dec 11 02:08 liblua.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24056 Dec 11 02:08 libmenu.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24156 Dec 11 02:07 libutil.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 4660 Dec 11 02:08 linux.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2948 Dec 11 02:08 ls.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2432 Dec 11 02:08 meminfo.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 26568 Dec 11 02:08 menu.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1504 Dec 11 02:08 pwd.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 13768 Dec 11 02:08 rosh.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 56 Jan 16 14:27 syslinux.cfg -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 27076 Dec 11 02:08 vesamenu.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2460 Dec 11 02:08 whichsys.c32 ========================================================================= (b) =========================================================================-rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 24040 Dec 11 02:08 chain.c32 -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 43283 Aug 12 2012 drblwp.png -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 122080 Dec 11 02:07 ldlinux.c32 -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 186452 Dec 11 02:07 libcom32.c32 -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 24156 Dec 11 02:07 libutil.c32 -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 26140 Dec 26 03:25 memdisk -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 26568 Dec 11 02:08 menu.c32 -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 46464 Aug 12 2012 ocswp.png -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 6503 Jan 6 05:52 syslinux.cfg -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 27076 Dec 11 02:08 vesamenu.c32 ========================================================================= I elected to accomplish your step 3a by first cd'ing into the /syslinux/ directory of the unzipped Clonezilla and then executing the command: find * -print | cpio -pvm /mnt/syslinux where /mnt/syslinux is/was the /syslinux/ directory on the test stick. The results of doing this were as follows, which I hope is what you wanted: ========================================================================/mnt/syslinux/chain.c32cpio: chain.c32: File on disk is not older; skipping. /mnt/syslinux/drblwp.png /mnt/syslinux/ldlinux.c32cpio: ldlinux.c32: File on disk is not older; skipping. /mnt/syslinux/libcom32.c32cpio: libcom32.c32: File on disk is not older; skipping. /mnt/syslinux/libutil.c32cpio: libutil.c32: File on disk is not older; skipping. /mnt/syslinux/memdisk /mnt/syslinux/menu.c32cpio: menu.c32: File on disk is not older; skipping. /mnt/syslinux/ocswp.png /mnt/syslinux/syslinux.cfgcpio: syslinux.cfg: File on disk is not older; skipping. /mnt/syslinux/vesamenu.c32cpio: vesamenu.c32: File on disk is not older; skipping. ======================================================================== I elected to carry out your step 3b via the following command: find * -name syslinux.cfg -print | cpio -pvmu /mnt/syslinux Following these steps, the /syslinux/ directory on the stick is as follows: ============================================================================-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1652 Dec 11 02:08 cat.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24040 Dec 11 02:08 chain.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1256 Dec 11 02:08 cmd.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1500 Dec 11 02:07 config.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1592 Dec 11 02:08 debug.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1996 Dec 11 02:07 disk.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 43283 Aug 12 2012 drblwp.png -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 173060 Dec 11 02:08 hdt.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1524 Dec 11 02:08 hello.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 3692 Dec 11 02:08 hexdump.c32 -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 122080 Jan 16 14:40 ldlinux.c32 -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 67072 Jan 16 14:40 ldlinux.sys -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 186452 Dec 11 02:07 libcom32.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 66548 Dec 11 02:07 libgpl.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 112908 Dec 11 02:08 liblua.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24056 Dec 11 02:08 libmenu.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24156 Dec 11 02:07 libutil.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 4660 Dec 11 02:08 linux.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2948 Dec 11 02:08 ls.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 26140 Dec 26 03:25 memdisk -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2432 Dec 11 02:08 meminfo.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 26568 Dec 11 02:08 menu.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 46464 Aug 12 2012 ocswp.png -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1504 Dec 11 02:08 pwd.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 13768 Dec 11 02:08 rosh.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 6503 Jan 6 05:52 syslinux.cfg -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 27076 Dec 11 02:08 vesamenu.c32 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2460 Dec 11 02:08 whichsys.c32 ============================================================================>Then boot the USB drive (using F12 during POST as before). I would >expect at least the initial Clonezilla boot menu to show up.I umounted /mnt, removed the test stick and stuck it into one of the rear USB 2.0 ports on the GA-M55Plus-S3G, then powered that on. (No other mass storage devices were attached.) I forgot (the first time) to use F12 as you requested, so the system just booted normally. The Clonezilla boot menu *did* show up. I then went back and used F12 as you requested. In this case also, the Clonezilla boot menu *did* show up. I assume this all represents success. Are we done now? Regards, rfg P.S. It is my sincere hope that we did not go through all of this just so that you could tell me "Hey Ron! This is the (convoluted) procedure you must use if you want to boot Clonezilla, ever, on that motherboard." All these experiments will result in improvements to Syslinux that will, in due course, make it out to the developers of Clonezilla and UBCD and OpenELEC, yes?
#!/bin/bash
# a small shell script to:
# 1) make a simple asm program
# 2) compile that program with `nasm'
# 3) convert resulting .bin to a .img with `dd'
# 4) boot the reulting "hello.img" with qemu/kvm
# I think this qualifies as a bootloader, sort of
# sincerely hope it helps address Mr. Guilmette curiousity
# -chris graff
printf '
BITS 16
jmp main
nop
main:
mov ax, 07C0h
add ax, 288
mov ss, ax
mov sp, 4096
mov ax, 07C0h
mov ds, ax
call PrintHelloWorld
jmp .InfiniteLoop
.InfiniteLoop:
jmp .InfiniteLoop
HelloWorld db "Hello World Bootloader !!", 0x0d, 0x0a, 0x00
PrintHelloWorld:
mov si, HelloWorld
call PrintStr
ret
PrintStr:
push ax
mov ah, 0Eh
.loop:
lodsb
cmp al, 0x00
je .done
int 10h
jmp .loop
.done:
pop ax
ret
times 510-($-$$) db 0
dw 0xAA55
' > hello.asm
nasm -f bin -o hello.bin hello.asm
dd status=noxfer conv=notrunc if=hello.bin of=hello.img
kvm hello.img
On Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 5:29 PM, Ronald F. Guilmette
<rfg at tristatelogic.com>wrote:
>
> In message <BLU0-SMTP48EE10402F4B5AE9EC1E078BBB0 at phx.gbl>, Ady
wrote:
>
> >After dd'ing my test.img to the USB drive, you would have one FAT32
> >partition of about 700MB. So:
>
> Someone in this thread said something about erasing or eliminating
> stuff from the USB stick first, so just to be on the safe side, before
> I dd'd your test.img file to my test stick (i.e. one of my 2GB
> Sandisk Cruzer Blades that was failing to boot Clonezilla even
> before I started this thread), I first dd'd /dev/zero to the stick
> until dd hit physical EOF on the stick.
>
> >1_ Expand the content of the Clonezilla Live zip archive in some
> >temporal directory.
> >
> >2_ Move *almost* all the resulting expanded content from the temporal
> >directory to the FAT32 partition in the USB drive; with the
> >*exception* of the following directories (and their contents, of
> >course):
> >2a_ './isolinux/'
> >2b_ './syslinux/'
>
> Note: I mis-spoke earlier when I made reference to using ntfs-3g to
> access the stick. (Duh!) As you say, once the stick has your test.img
> file on it, it contains a FAT32 filesystem, not NTFS. So I can access
> it from FreeBSD simply by mounting it with "-t msdosfs".
>
> Fdisk on FreeBSD appears to confirm that the stick is how you wished
> and expected it to be:
>
> ===================================================================>
******* Working on device /dev/da2 *******
> parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are:
> cylinders=243 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl)
>
> parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
> cylinders=243 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl)
>
> Media sector size is 512
> Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1
> Information from DOS bootblock is:
> The data for partition 1 is:
> sysid 12 (0x0c),(DOS or Windows 95 with 32 bit FAT (LBA))
> start 2048, size 1431552 (699 Meg), flag 0
> beg: cyl 0/ head 32/ sector 33;
> end: cyl 89/ head 60/ sector 35
> The data for partition 2 is:
> <UNUSED>
> The data for partition 3 is:
> <UNUSED>
> The data for partition 4 is:
> <UNUSED>
> ===================================================================>
> >Note that my test.img already contains a './syslinux/'
directory with
> >some files in it.
>
> Yes, and at the top level it apparently contains _only_ that.
>
> >3_ Move (part of) the content of Clonezilla's temporal
'./syslinux/'
> >directory to the equivalent './syslinux/' directory located in
the
> >FAT32 partition in the USB drive, with two *caveats*:
> >
> >3a_ If the filename already exists in the destination directory,
> >*keep it*, do
> >*NOT* replace it with the one from Clonezilla. This is specially
> >important for
> >'./syslinux/ldlinux.sys'.
> >
> >3b_ The only file from Clonezilla's temporal directory that indeed
> >should
> >replace the one already placed in the USB drive is
> >'./syslinux/syslinux.cfg'.
>
> Below are directory listings of (a) /syslinux/ on the test stick after
> your test.img file has been copied to it and (b) /syslinux/ as it
> exists within the (unziped) clonezilla-live-2.2.1-22-amd64.zip file:
>
> (a)
>
=========================================================================>
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1652 Dec 11 02:08 cat.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24040 Dec 11 02:08 chain.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1256 Dec 11 02:08 cmd.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1500 Dec 11 02:07 config.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1592 Dec 11 02:08 debug.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1996 Dec 11 02:07 disk.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 173060 Dec 11 02:08 hdt.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1524 Dec 11 02:08 hello.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 3692 Dec 11 02:08 hexdump.c32
> -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 122080 Jan 16 14:40 ldlinux.c32
> -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 67072 Jan 16 14:40 ldlinux.sys
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 186452 Dec 11 02:07 libcom32.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 66548 Dec 11 02:07 libgpl.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 112908 Dec 11 02:08 liblua.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24056 Dec 11 02:08 libmenu.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24156 Dec 11 02:07 libutil.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 4660 Dec 11 02:08 linux.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2948 Dec 11 02:08 ls.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2432 Dec 11 02:08 meminfo.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 26568 Dec 11 02:08 menu.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1504 Dec 11 02:08 pwd.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 13768 Dec 11 02:08 rosh.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 56 Jan 16 14:27 syslinux.cfg
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 27076 Dec 11 02:08 vesamenu.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2460 Dec 11 02:08 whichsys.c32
>
=========================================================================>
> (b)
>
=========================================================================>
-rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 24040 Dec 11 02:08 chain.c32
> -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 43283 Aug 12 2012 drblwp.png
> -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 122080 Dec 11 02:07 ldlinux.c32
> -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 186452 Dec 11 02:07 libcom32.c32
> -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 24156 Dec 11 02:07 libutil.c32
> -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 26140 Dec 26 03:25 memdisk
> -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 26568 Dec 11 02:08 menu.c32
> -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 46464 Aug 12 2012 ocswp.png
> -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 6503 Jan 6 05:52 syslinux.cfg
> -rw-r--r-- 1 rfg rfg 27076 Dec 11 02:08 vesamenu.c32
>
=========================================================================>
> I elected to accomplish your step 3a by first cd'ing into the
/syslinux/
> directory of the unzipped Clonezilla and then executing the command:
>
> find * -print | cpio -pvm /mnt/syslinux
>
> where /mnt/syslinux is/was the /syslinux/ directory on the test stick.
> The results of doing this were as follows, which I hope is what you
> wanted:
>
>
========================================================================>
/mnt/syslinux/chain.c32cpio: chain.c32: File on disk is not older;
> skipping.
> /mnt/syslinux/drblwp.png
> /mnt/syslinux/ldlinux.c32cpio: ldlinux.c32: File on disk is not older;
> skipping.
> /mnt/syslinux/libcom32.c32cpio: libcom32.c32: File on disk is not older;
> skipping.
> /mnt/syslinux/libutil.c32cpio: libutil.c32: File on disk is not older;
> skipping.
> /mnt/syslinux/memdisk
> /mnt/syslinux/menu.c32cpio: menu.c32: File on disk is not older; skipping.
> /mnt/syslinux/ocswp.png
> /mnt/syslinux/syslinux.cfgcpio: syslinux.cfg: File on disk is not older;
> skipping.
> /mnt/syslinux/vesamenu.c32cpio: vesamenu.c32: File on disk is not older;
> skipping.
>
========================================================================>
> I elected to carry out your step 3b via the following command:
>
> find * -name syslinux.cfg -print | cpio -pvmu /mnt/syslinux
>
> Following these steps, the /syslinux/ directory on the stick is as follows:
>
>
>
============================================================================>
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1652 Dec 11 02:08 cat.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24040 Dec 11 02:08 chain.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1256 Dec 11 02:08 cmd.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1500 Dec 11 02:07 config.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1592 Dec 11 02:08 debug.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1996 Dec 11 02:07 disk.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 43283 Aug 12 2012 drblwp.png
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 173060 Dec 11 02:08 hdt.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1524 Dec 11 02:08 hello.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 3692 Dec 11 02:08 hexdump.c32
> -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 122080 Jan 16 14:40 ldlinux.c32
> -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 67072 Jan 16 14:40 ldlinux.sys
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 186452 Dec 11 02:07 libcom32.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 66548 Dec 11 02:07 libgpl.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 112908 Dec 11 02:08 liblua.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24056 Dec 11 02:08 libmenu.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24156 Dec 11 02:07 libutil.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 4660 Dec 11 02:08 linux.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2948 Dec 11 02:08 ls.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 26140 Dec 26 03:25 memdisk
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2432 Dec 11 02:08 meminfo.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 26568 Dec 11 02:08 menu.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 46464 Aug 12 2012 ocswp.png
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1504 Dec 11 02:08 pwd.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 13768 Dec 11 02:08 rosh.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 6503 Jan 6 05:52 syslinux.cfg
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 27076 Dec 11 02:08 vesamenu.c32
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 2460 Dec 11 02:08 whichsys.c32
>
>
============================================================================>
> >Then boot the USB drive (using F12 during POST as before). I would
> >expect at least the initial Clonezilla boot menu to show up.
>
> I umounted /mnt, removed the test stick and stuck it into one of the rear
> USB 2.0 ports on the GA-M55Plus-S3G, then powered that on. (No other mass
> storage devices were attached.)
>
> I forgot (the first time) to use F12 as you requested, so the system just
> booted normally.
>
> The Clonezilla boot menu *did* show up.
>
> I then went back and used F12 as you requested.
>
> In this case also, the Clonezilla boot menu *did* show up.
>
> I assume this all represents success.
>
> Are we done now?
>
>
> Regards,
> rfg
>
>
> P.S. It is my sincere hope that we did not go through all of this just so
> that you could tell me "Hey Ron! This is the (convoluted) procedure
you
> must
> use if you want to boot Clonezilla, ever, on that motherboard."
>
> All these experiments will result in improvements to Syslinux that will, in
> due course, make it out to the developers of Clonezilla and UBCD and
> OpenELEC,
> yes?
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>
>
> Fdisk on FreeBSD appears to confirm that the stick is how you wished > and expected it to be: > > ===================================================================> ******* Working on device /dev/da2 ******* > parameters extracted from in-core disklabel are: > cylinders=243 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl) > > parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are: > cylinders=243 heads=255 sectors/track=63 (16065 blks/cyl) > > Media sector size is 512 > Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1 > Information from DOS bootblock is: > The data for partition 1 is: > sysid 12 (0x0c),(DOS or Windows 95 with 32 bit FAT (LBA)) > start 2048, size 1431552 (699 Meg), flag 0 > beg: cyl 0/ head 32/ sector 33; > end: cyl 89/ head 60/ sector 35 > The data for partition 2 is: > <UNUSED> > The data for partition 3 is: > <UNUSED> > The data for partition 4 is: > <UNUSED> > ===================================================================>> I forgot (the first time) to use F12 as you requested, so the system just > booted normally. > > The Clonezilla boot menu *did* show up. > > I then went back and used F12 as you requested. > > In this case also, the Clonezilla boot menu *did* show up. > > I assume this all represents success. > > Are we done now? >It's up to you. You should note that your 2GB USB drive only has 1 partition of 700MB. Don't you want to be able to use the whole drive? And what about the other 2 USB drives? And what about using these drives for something else than Clonezilla?> P.S. It is my sincere hope that we did not go through all of this just so > that you could tell me "Hey Ron! This is the (convoluted) procedure you must > use if you want to boot Clonezilla, ever, on that motherboard."As you already noticed, Clonezilla Live requests an already-formatted media. It's own scripts should be able to go on from that point. So you shouldn't need to go through all these steps each time you want to update Clonezilla Live. What you need is a drive with an adequate partitioning scheme. Even if you find that an updated Clonezilla Live can't successfully boot (which might happen), the problem should be solved with just one command. But since we are currently not in such situation, I am leaving the issue for another time and another email thread, _if_ such problem presents itself. Having the whole drive usable and bootable is not the same as updating Clonezilla Live. Solving the former is not something that you need to do each time you want to update Clonezilla Live.> > All these experiments will result in improvements to Syslinux that will, in > due course, make it out to the developers of Clonezilla and UBCD and OpenELEC, > yes?I happen to know that at least part of those projects are (almost always) working on improving bootability. Regards, Ady.