After update didn't boot anymore (USB)

Ulrich · 2012-07-19 11:16:44

Hi,

i've got a problem. A few days ago, i installed a Arch on USB-Stick. I did it via aif install script. Basic installation, just left out swap partition so partition 1 is /boot and partition 2 is root. Everything went well, no problems at all. I uses grub over syslinux.

Until i did an update yesterday. I don't know wether there was grub on the updatelist, too, but i saw there the linux-kernel on it. I don't think so, cause in chroot "grub --version" says Grub 0.97. Problem now is, it even doesn't get into grub.
My laptops sayd no boot medium found, virtualbox for example says "Cannot get disk parameters".

I then booted from archlinux-2011.08.19-netinstall-i686 cd and made filesystemchek and looked in fdisk - everythings fine. After mount and a chroot i did try to reinstall grub but it failed. After exit of chroot i did there a 'grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda" which made a little change: in virtualbox it still doesn't anything but on laptop it says:
"GRUB Loading stage 1.5.

GRUB loading, please wait...
Error 15"

Following that i did kind of what https://wiki.archlinux.de/title/GRUB#GR … stallieren says:
"mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
mount -o bind /proc /mnt/proc
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount -o bind /sys /mnt/sys
chroot /mnt /bin/bash
grub-install /dev/sda
grub <-- *
"
* In grub i did "root (hd0,0)" and "setup (hd0)" but after that menu.lst was missing. Glad i did an update of grub folder and could easy restore that file. Now it boots again but i fear that out of nothing it someday won't boot anymore.

Anyone an Idea, what could have caused it, that i had not only to reinstall MBR but also to reinstall grub itself?

Thanks, Ulrich

Ulrich · 2012-07-22 08:00:52

It happened again yesterday, i don't know why, but it happened again.
This Time it seems it was only MBR, cause i only did reinstall that and it booted again.

Still i don't like that and fsck.ext4 found two Errors in second partition (/).

Has still no one an idea?

DSpider · 2012-07-22 08:11:22

Maybe it's one of those cheap no-name USB sticks. Or it could be the BIOS, sometimes booting it, sometimes not. Next time use the F12 key and select the boot device. I hear that it's more reliable. Also, if you say you installed Arch on a USB stick, I hope you remembered to add the "usb" hook in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and that you remembered to re-generate your initramfs image after editing this file.

Ulrich · 2012-07-22 08:45:08

It's kind of no-name i think, a "Lexar Media, Inc." 16 GB Flash Drive. Primarily i boot on a Samsung N140 and there set that recognized USB device as first in boot order.
Shure i added the usb-hook, in stock initramfs that wasn't included and therefore no "/" partition could be found to mount. I knew that was comming but didn't find an aif-option for that using configuration file.

I doubt, is it a good idea to add "sync" option for mount? On the one hand, it doesn't cache anymore, which i think is better than "you never know" but how about lifespan of the drive?

DSpider · 2012-07-22 09:14:41

Instead of setting the USB stick to be first in the boot order, which is basically temporary until you unplug it, set the BIOS to boot from "Removable Devices" first, then "Internal Drive" second, then "Optical Media" third (if there's a CD/DVD/BluRay drive present).

PS: Lexar is not "no-name". -__-

Arch Linux

#1 2012-07-19 11:16:44

After update didn't boot anymore (USB)

#2 2012-07-22 08:00:52

Re: After update didn't boot anymore (USB)

#3 2012-07-22 08:11:22

Re: After update didn't boot anymore (USB)

#4 2012-07-22 08:45:08

Re: After update didn't boot anymore (USB)

#5 2012-07-22 09:14:41

Re: After update didn't boot anymore (USB)

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