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#1 2021-07-22 22:10:22
- dakota
- Member
- Registered: 2016-05-20
- Posts: 417
[SOLVED] Chainloading Syslinux Fails to Boot
I have a hard disk with 4 partitions.
I use partitions 1/2 as my 'live' system and partitions 3/4 as my 'last known good state'. Before upgrading, I rsync partitions 1/2 to 3/4, then upgrade. If I have issues, I can boot into partitions 3/4 and fix the problem. This has worked well for the last several years.
Now, I would like to duplicate this setup to a different PC. However, when I select my backup partition from the Syslinux boot menu, I get "Booting..." and a flashing cursor, nothing more.
My system is up to date and I have no problem booting into partition 1.
Configuration
1. I got everything working on partitions 1/2
2. I copied partitions 1/2 on to 3/4 using rsync
3. I edited the fstab and syslinux.cfg files on both both partitions 1 and 3
4. I created a backup script that would exclude certain directories from being backed up in the future
lsblk -f
------------------------------
NAME FSTYPE FSVER LABEL UUID FSAVAIL FSUSE% MOUNTPOINTS
sda
├─sda1 ext4 1.0 7a33bc7f-6aff-4e5a-8a57-34f0ccfffffc 20.4G 26% /
├─sda2 ext4 1.0 0843168a-da52-4a30-b8f0-164bdf50982e 158.4G 14% /home
├─sda3 ext4 1.0 fd7c0846-ba25-4efa-8dd7-902e2774306b
└─sda4 ext4 1.0 1b00eea6-cd55-4538-85af-70eabf6b40cf
sr0 lsblk -l
------------------------------
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda 8:0 0 465.8G 0 disk
sda1 8:1 0 30G 0 part /
sda2 8:2 0 200G 0 part /home
sda3 8:3 0 30G 0 part
sda4 8:4 0 200G 0 part
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom cat /etc/fstab #partition 1
------------------------------
# Static information about the filesystems.
# See fstab(5) for details.
## <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
## /dev/sda1
UUID=7a33bc7f-6aff-4e5a-8a57-34f0ccfffffc / ext4 rw,relatime 0 1
## /dev/sda2
UUID=0843168a-da52-4a30-b8f0-164bdf50982e /home ext4 rw,relatime 0 2
## /dev/sda3
#UUID=fd7c0846-ba25-4efa-8dd7-902e2774306b / ext4 rw,relatime 0 1
## /dev/sda4
#UUID=1b00eea6-cd55-4538-85af-70eabf6b40cf /home ext4 rw,relatime 0 2
# This note should not appear on the mirrored backup drive.cat /etc/fstab #partition 3
------------------------------
# Static information about the filesystems.
# See fstab(5) for details.
## <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
## /dev/sda1
#UUID=7a33bc7f-6aff-4e5a-8a57-34f0ccfffffc / ext4 rw,relatime 0 1
## /dev/sda2
#UUID=0843168a-da52-4a30-b8f0-164bdf50982e /home ext4 rw,relatime 0 2
## /dev/sda3
UUID=fd7c0846-ba25-4efa-8dd7-902e2774306b / ext4 rw,relatime 0 1
## /dev/sda4
UUID=1b00eea6-cd55-4538-85af-70eabf6b40cf /home ext4 rw,relatime 0 2cat /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg #partition 1
------------------------------
# Config file for Syslinux -
# /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
#
# Comboot modules:
# * menu.c32 - provides a text menu
# * vesamenu.c32 - provides a graphical menu
# * chain.c32 - chainload MBRs, partition boot sectors, Windows bootloaders
# * hdt.c32 - hardware detection tool
# * reboot.c32 - reboots the system
#
# To Use: Copy the respective files from /usr/lib/syslinux to /boot/syslinux.
# If /usr and /boot are on the same file system, symlink the files instead
# of copying them.
#
# If you do not use a menu, a 'boot:' prompt will be shown and the system
# will boot automatically after 5 seconds.
#
# Please review the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Syslinux
# The wiki provides further configuration examples
DEFAULT arch
PROMPT 0 # Set to 1 if you always want to display the boot: prompt
TIMEOUT 50
# You can create syslinux keymaps with the keytab-lilo tool
#KBDMAP de.ktl
# Menu Configuration
# Either menu.c32 or vesamenu32.c32 must be copied to /boot/syslinux
UI menu.c32
#UI vesamenu.c32
# Refer to http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Doc/menu
MENU TITLE Arch Linux
#MENU BACKGROUND splash.png
MENU COLOR border 30;44 #40ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR title 1;36;44 #9033ccff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR sel 7;37;40 #e0ffffff #20ffffff all
MENU COLOR unsel 37;44 #50ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR help 37;40 #c0ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout_msg 37;40 #80ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout 1;37;40 #c0ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR msg07 37;40 #90ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR tabmsg 31;40 #30ffffff #00000000 std
# boot sections follow
#
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
#
#-*
LABEL arch
MENU LABEL Arch Linux
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sda1 rw
INITRD ../intel-ucode.img,../initramfs-linux.img
#LABEL arch
# MENU LABEL Arch Linux
# COM32 chain.c32
# APPEND hd0 0
LABEL archfallback
MENU LABEL Arch Linux Fallback
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sda1 rw
INITRD ../intel-ucode.img,../initramfs-linux-fallback.img
LABEL archlts
MENU LABEL Arch Linux LTS
LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux-lts
APPEND root=/dev/sda1 rw
INITRD ../intel-ucode.img,../initramfs-linux-lts.img
LABEL archbackup
MENU LABEL Arch Linux Backup
COM32 chain.c32
APPEND hd0 3
#LABEL windows
# MENU LABEL Windows
# COM32 chain.c32
# APPEND hd0 1
LABEL hdt
MENU LABEL HDT (Hardware Detection Tool)
COM32 hdt.c32
LABEL reboot
MENU LABEL Reboot
COM32 reboot.c32
LABEL poweroff
MENU LABEL Poweroff
COM32 poweroff.c32Selecting "Arch Linux Backup" should bring up the Syslinux boot menu found on hard drive 0, partition 3... but it never appears.
cat /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg #partition 3
------------------------------
# Config file for Syslinux -
# /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
#
# Comboot modules:
# * menu.c32 - provides a text menu
# * vesamenu.c32 - provides a graphical menu
# * chain.c32 - chainload MBRs, partition boot sectors, Windows bootloaders
# * hdt.c32 - hardware detection tool
# * reboot.c32 - reboots the system
#
# To Use: Copy the respective files from /usr/lib/syslinux to /boot/syslinux.
# If /usr and /boot are on the same file system, symlink the files instead
# of copying them.
#
# If you do not use a menu, a 'boot:' prompt will be shown and the system
# will boot automatically after 5 seconds.
#
# Please review the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Syslinux
# The wiki provides further configuration examples
DEFAULT arch
PROMPT 0 # Set to 1 if you always want to display the boot: prompt
TIMEOUT 50
# You can create syslinux keymaps with the keytab-lilo tool
#KBDMAP de.ktl
# Menu Configuration
# Either menu.c32 or vesamenu32.c32 must be copied to /boot/syslinux
UI menu.c32
#UI vesamenu.c32
# Refer to http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Doc/menu
MENU TITLE Arch Linux
#MENU BACKGROUND splash.png
MENU COLOR border 30;32 #40ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR title 1;36;32 #9033ff66 #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR sel 7;37;40 #e0ffffff #20ffffff all
MENU COLOR unsel 37;32 #50ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR help 37;40 #c0ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout_msg 37;40 #80ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout 1;37;40 #c0ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR msg07 37;40 #90ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR tabmsg 31;40 #30ffffff #00000000 std
# boot sections follow
#
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
#
#-*
LABEL arch
MENU LABEL Arch Linux
COM32 chain.c32
APPEND hd0 0
LABEL archbackup
MENU LABEL Arch Linux Backup
LINUX /boot/vmlinuz-linux
APPEND root=/dev/sda3 rw
INITRD /boot/initramfs-linux.img
#LABEL windows
# MENU LABEL Windows
# COM32 chain.c32
# APPEND hd0 1
LABEL hdt
MENU LABEL HDT (Hardware Detection Tool)
COM32 hdt.c32
LABEL reboot
MENU LABEL Reboot
COM32 reboot.c32
LABEL poweroff
MENU LABEL Poweroff
COM32 poweroff.c32cat /root/backup_mirror.sh #the backup script
------------------------------
#!/bin/bash
echo "mounting backup partitions..."
mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/mirror
mount /dev/sda4 /mnt/mirror/home
echo "backing up with rsync..."
rsync -aAXHzz --progress --delete --exclude={"/dev/*","/proc/*","/sys/*","/tmp/*","/run/*","/mnt/*","/media/*","/lost+found","/etc/fstab","/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg"} / /mnt/mirror/
echo "unmounting backup partitions..."
umount /mnt/mirror/home
umount /mnt/mirror
echo "all done..."I installed and edited the bootloader (with partition 1 mounted and me chrooted into it) using:
# syslinux-install_update -iam
# nano /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfgFrom the Syslinux boot menu, "Hardware Detection Tool", "Reboot", and "Poweroff" all work, so I think the C32 module is being loaded. Also, I have checked that chain.32 exists in my boot directory.
ls /boot
------------------------------
total 105404
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jul 21 12:07 .
drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 Jul 18 14:11 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 34628070 Jul 21 12:07 initramfs-linux-fallback.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10135735 Jul 21 12:07 initramfs-linux.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 29783254 Jul 21 12:07 initramfs-linux-lts-fallback.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9764620 Jul 21 12:07 initramfs-linux-lts.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4769792 Jun 8 11:31 intel-ucode.img
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 21 22:21 syslinux
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9604224 Jul 21 12:07 vmlinuz-linux
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9224128 Jul 21 12:07 vmlinuz-linux-ltsls /boot/syslinux
------------------------------
total 2388
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 21 22:21 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jul 21 12:07 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1588 Jul 17 21:16 cat.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 25080 Jul 17 21:16 chain.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1228 Jul 17 21:16 cmd.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3660 Jul 17 21:16 cmenu.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1464 Jul 17 21:16 config.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4236 Jul 17 21:16 cptime.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4500 Jul 17 21:16 cpu.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1748 Jul 17 21:16 cpuid.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2748 Jul 17 21:16 cpuidtest.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1572 Jul 17 21:16 debug.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4200 Jul 17 21:16 dhcp.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2956 Jul 17 21:16 dir.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2000 Jul 17 21:16 disk.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8684 Jul 17 21:16 dmi.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12500 Jul 17 21:16 dmitest.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3236 Jul 17 21:16 elf.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2724 Jul 17 21:16 ethersel.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10476 Jul 17 21:16 gfxboot.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1576 Jul 17 21:16 gpxecmd.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 167012 Jul 17 21:16 hdt.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3672 Jul 17 21:16 hexdump.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1784 Jul 17 21:16 host.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1744 Jul 17 21:16 ifcpu64.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4112 Jul 17 21:16 ifcpu.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4228 Jul 17 21:16 ifmemdsk.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1872 Jul 17 21:16 ifplop.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1648 Jul 17 21:16 kbdmap.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4856 Jul 17 21:16 kontron_wdt.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 119668 Jul 17 21:16 ldlinux.c32
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 60416 Jul 17 21:16 ldlinux.sys
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5076 Jul 17 21:16 lfs.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 169824 Jul 17 21:16 libcom32.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 67544 Jul 17 21:16 libgpl.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 102512 Jul 17 21:16 liblua.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23948 Jul 17 21:16 libmenu.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23896 Jul 17 21:16 libutil.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4668 Jul 17 21:16 linux.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2964 Jul 17 21:16 ls.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6880 Jul 17 21:16 lua.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10896 Jul 17 21:16 mboot.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2456 Jul 17 21:16 meminfo.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 26180 Jul 17 21:16 menu.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3312 Jul 17 21:16 pci.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1269898 Jul 17 21:16 pci.ids
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3492 Jul 17 21:16 pcitest.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2964 Jul 17 21:16 pmload.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1640 Jul 17 21:16 poweroff.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3120 Jul 17 21:16 prdhcp.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1476 Jul 17 21:16 pwd.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12416 Jul 17 21:16 pxechn.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1352 Jul 17 21:16 reboot.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13952 Jul 17 21:16 rosh.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1608 Jul 17 21:16 sanboot.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3020 Jul 17 21:16 sdi.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 14800 Jul 17 21:16 sysdump.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Jul 17 21:16 SYSLINUX_AUTOUPDATE
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8836 Jul 17 21:16 syslinux.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2729 Jul 21 22:21 syslinux.cfg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2936 Jul 17 21:16 vesa.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2172 Jul 17 21:16 vesainfo.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 26728 Jul 17 21:16 vesamenu.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1840 Jul 17 21:16 vpdtest.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2460 Jul 17 21:16 whichsys.c32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3560 Jul 17 21:16 zzjson.c32I noticed that the "Hardware Detection Tool" shows only 1 partition, so I checked with gdisk, but everything looks good to me.
gptfdisk /dev/sda
------------------------------
Command (? for help): i
Partition number (1-4): 1
Partition GUID code: 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 (Linux filesystem)
Partition unique GUID: 9B3367E1-C8F7-4890-8760-B565F28590DC
First sector: 2048 (at 1024.0 KiB)
Last sector: 62916607 (at 30.0 GiB)
Partition size: 62914560 sectors (30.0 GiB)
Attribute flags: 0000000000000004
Partition name: ''
Command (? for help): i
Partition number (1-4): 2
Partition GUID code: 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 (Linux filesystem)
Partition unique GUID: D383EEF3-69AF-49D1-B8C8-BB1767BB9F85
First sector: 62916608 (at 30.0 GiB)
Last sector: 482347007 (at 230.0 GiB)
Partition size: 419430400 sectors (200.0 GiB)
Attribute flags: 0000000000000000
Partition name: ''
Command (? for help): i
Partition number (1-4): 3
Partition GUID code: 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 (Linux filesystem)
Partition unique GUID: CA27A61C-E0E2-4A03-8C53-E0A7448E4F59
First sector: 482347008 (at 230.0 GiB)
Last sector: 545261567 (at 260.0 GiB)
Partition size: 62914560 sectors (30.0 GiB)
Attribute flags: 0000000000000000
Partition name: ''
Command (? for help): i
Partition number (1-4): 4
Partition GUID code: 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4 (Linux filesystem)
Partition unique GUID: 1B937146-425C-472F-8DD6-A77BB5A4F49E
First sector: 545261568 (at 260.0 GiB)
Last sector: 964691967 (at 460.0 GiB)
Partition size: 419430400 sectors (200.0 GiB)
Attribute flags: 0000000000000000
Partition name: ''Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Last edited by dakota (2021-07-23 14:32:52)
"Before Enlightenment chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment chop wood, carry water." -- Zen proverb
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#2 2021-07-22 22:54:25
- progandy
- Member
- Registered: 2012-05-17
- Posts: 5,321
Re: [SOLVED] Chainloading Syslinux Fails to Boot
I haven't used bios chainloading for a long time, but don't you have to install syslinux into the bootrecord of the third partition as well?
| alias CUTF='LANG=en_XX.UTF-8@POSIX ' | alias ENGLISH='LANG=C.UTF-8 ' |
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#3 2021-07-22 23:39:04
- dakota
- Member
- Registered: 2016-05-20
- Posts: 417
Re: [SOLVED] Chainloading Syslinux Fails to Boot
Humph. Well, I certainly didn't do that. 
It's been a long time since I set up my original system and I've forgotten how I did it, but what you say certainly makes sense. I'll give it a try in the morning when I head back to work.
Volume Boot Record - Wikipedia
Cheers,
"Before Enlightenment chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment chop wood, carry water." -- Zen proverb
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#4 2021-07-23 14:32:32
- dakota
- Member
- Registered: 2016-05-20
- Posts: 417
Re: [SOLVED] Chainloading Syslinux Fails to Boot
Yep. That was the problem. 
I arch-chrooted in to partition 3, installed the bootloader with...
# syslinux-install_update -iam... but then the system wanted to load partition 3 and I couldn't chainload back to partition 1. (I probably shouldn't have used the -a option).
Anyway, once I used parted to set the legacy_boot flag on partition 1 (and remove it from partition 3) everything worked as I expected.
Thanks for your help!
Cheers,
"Before Enlightenment chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment chop wood, carry water." -- Zen proverb
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