Arch Linux

iaw4

Member

Registered: 2014-11-28

Posts: 46

[Solved] syslinux to new drive? --- ERROR invalid media signature

I am trying to create a copy of a working arch install.  (actually, both are on USB sticks; both have only one partition, each, both ext4; they are of different sizes, though.   I know both of my little USB sticks use the MBR.)

I started with the rsync to copy the partition:

    # rsync -aAXv --exclude={"/dev/*","/proc/*","/sys/*","/tmp/*","/run/*","/mnt/*","/media/*","/lost+found"} /* /mnt/sdb1

I can see that my hierarchy has been properly recreated on /mnt/sdb1 (/mnt/sdb1/bin, /mnt/sdb1/boot, etc).  good.  I have also used fdisk to mark my /dev/sdb1 partition as active.  I have updated the UUIDs for the new blkid in /mnt/sdb1/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg and in /etc/fstab .

now I want to install a syslinux on it.  ideally, I would be running in my old (sda1) distro and write

    # syslinux -d /mnt/sdb1/boot/syslinux /dev/sdb

but this gives me a "syslinux: invalid media signature (not an FAT/NTFS volume)".  am I making a simple mistake here?

/iaw

Last edited by iaw4 (2014-12-05 01:26:38)

ukhippo

Member

From: Non-paged pool

Registered: 2014-02-21

Posts: 366

Re: [Solved] syslinux to new drive? --- ERROR invalid media signature

Have you tried following the manual install instructions from the wiki page for syslinux?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/sy … al_install

ANOKNUSA

Member

Registered: 2010-10-22

Posts: 2,141

Re: [Solved] syslinux to new drive? --- ERROR invalid media signature

You can also use "syslinux-install_update -i -a -m /dev/sdb." Syslinux is actually a set of multibple tools; just running "syslinux" won't install the bootloader you want:

Syslinux is a boot loader for the Linux operating system which operates off an MS-DOS/Windows FAT filesystem...

EXTLINUX  is a new syslinux derivative, which boots from a Linux ext2/ext3 filesystem...

So the string I mentioned above and the manual method ukhippo mentions are the most reliable methods, since you don't have to futz with a bunch of different tools to get it working.

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iaw4

Member

Registered: 2014-11-28

Posts: 46

Re: [Solved] syslinux to new drive? --- ERROR invalid media signature

(yes, I had tried it.)  here is what worked for me.

# syslinux-install_update -i -a -m
Syslinux BIOS install failed
# extlinux --install /mnt/sdb1/boot/syslinux
/boot/syslinux is device /dev/sdb1

and now the reboot came up.  yeah!!

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,426

Website

Re: [Solved] syslinux to new drive? --- ERROR invalid media signature

Please remember to mark your thread as [Solved] by editing your first post and prepending it to the title.

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