Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

kjozsa · 2011-08-13 06:54:48

I used a HP 8560w notebook for these experiments. Replacing its original HDD with a new Kingston V+100 SSD and using no other operating system, going with a single-device BTRFS looked like an experimental but challenging idea.

I followed the guide here precisely: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … Btrfs_root and everything went fine and without errors except I cannot boot the SSD directly. The bios claims there's no operating system installed. However, having the Archboot cd in the drive, it boots fine using its bootloader choosing 'Boot other OS' from the menu.

I invested several hours to this single issue now with a number of other attempts to get the SSD boot in other ways (using GPT, using grub2 instead of syslinux, separating /boot, etcetc) but did not see it boot ever, only chainloading from a bootcd, so it's the exact same result as going with a single-device BTRFS. On this last attempt I started from scratch and followed any single step of the guide mentioned above (and no other) so you can see clearly what has been done.

What's a strange symptom is that while having the SSD in that notebook I can not even enter the BIOS or choose the Boot devices menu (pressing F10 and F9 respectively on boot). It dumps me at a white System Diagnostics screen and exiting that the boot process tries to continue. While I had the HDD installed, I remember though having no UEFI enabled in the BIOS, it was set to use the legacy boot mode (as it calls).

I suspect the problem is not a configuration error but rather the notebook's BIOS (which looks strange enough itself alone even in normal use). Anyone has any success stories with a similar setup, or any ideas what can cause this problem?

kjozsa · 2011-08-15 10:00:54

Some clarification: it's certainly possible to enter the BIOS setup if the laptop was just turned on. It's not possible anymore though once it failed to boot from the SSD claiming no OS being installed.

Do I think correctly that the Syslinux setup must be correct if it's possible to boot the SSD chainloading the bootmanager using a bootcd (with the "Boot other OS" menu)? What could be possibly missing from this setup?

.:B:. · 2011-08-15 15:19:22

I had exactly the same issue with my Probook 5320m after wiping Windows and installing Arch on it. It would boot from the USB installer, and from there I could point GRUB to the HD install, which would boot fine. It took me a BIOS update to fix that issue, might be worth looking into for you as well.

And use that Edit button please. Bumping topics isn't appreciated.

Last edited by .:B:. (2011-08-15 15:20:17)

kjozsa · 2011-08-15 15:28:24

I think that's a good idea, I also had checked it after a couple of hours of fighting with this issue. I pulled the bios update successfully but unfortunately it did not helped the situation..

It's nice to know that it got fixed for you, thanks for reporting it. If I can make sure my configuration is right and this is a BIOS issue, I can use my bootcd to boot and wait patiently while the manufacturer fixes their part.

.:B:. · 2011-08-15 15:35:08

I also tried switching to UEFI and back, for what it's worth, didn't change anything. Could you dd the install from the SSD to the HD, put the HD back in and see if that works?

kjozsa · 2011-08-15 15:37:41

No, unfortunately I can either use the 2.5" HDD in my notebook or the SSD.. but I can try coming around that using my home server maybe.. hmn..

gtklocker · 2011-08-15 20:07:19

Oh, I'm having the same problem with my laptop (HP 6735s), I'm on the latest BIOS but it doesn't work. :\

kjozsa · 2011-08-16 07:03:58

gtklocker wrote:

Oh, I'm having the same problem with my laptop (HP 6735s), I'm on the latest BIOS but it doesn't work. :\

you tried it with GPT or else? nice to see an other HP owner in the club I also thought of contacting their tech support, maybe it's worth a round..

kjozsa · 2011-08-16 08:04:49

upstream issue here

skodabenz · 2011-08-16 10:23:37

www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/bios.html

kjozsa · 2011-08-16 10:35:22

skodabenz thanks, I was aware of this writing. Still, I think that's something which should get fixed if possible (on the side it can be fixed ofc).

Teho · 2011-08-17 21:39:22

I have similar problems with ext4 and MBR on HP Elitebook 8560w (SSD&HDD). I tried grub, grub2-efi and syslinux but couldn't get it boot correctly. However after a lot of frustration I installed openSUSE and it seems to work perfectly which leads me to believe that it's mistake on my part. Where could the problem be? It could be that the only similarity is bad desing from manufacturer's part (no bios "without" a hard drive... what?) but I don't know

Last edited by Teho (2011-08-18 00:10:47)

kjozsa · 2011-09-06 08:38:38

I have been using the approach of booting the Arch install cd bootloader and choosing "Boot other OS" successfully for about 3 weeks. Starting from yesterday morning my machine stopped booting it, after choosing "Boot oher other OS", all I see is "Booting..." and a wait for ever. I pulled my SSD and put it into my old HP notebook, a 8510w and it booted flawlessly on the first run, directly from the disk.

This kinda proves for me that the SSD was indeed set up correctly for direct boot and the HP bios seems to be the one to blame here.. and God knows what could have happened that it now couldn't even get booted chainloading from the CD - shame on you, HP

Last edited by kjozsa (2011-09-06 14:02:01)

davidgurvich · 2011-09-06 14:18:33

What does the BIOS see the SSD as? Have you enabled/disabled AHCI/NUM LOCK in the BIOS? I had an odd experience where I couldn't boot until NUM LOCK was disabled in the BIOS.

kjozsa · 2011-09-06 14:48:03

I have AHCI on (of course) and numlock off (I hate it anyway). This numlock issue sounds like fun too..

nahant · 2011-12-26 15:50:32

I had the same problem getting a HP laptop (HP 620) to boot from a GPT partition. It turned out, the HP BIOS requires a bootable (boot flag set) MBR partition.

GPT uses a protective MBR that contains a single primary fake partition. However e.g. parted does not mark this partition bootable.

Simply using fdisk, ignoring its warning about GPT partitioning and marking the partition in the protective MBR bootable (option "a" in fdisk) did the job in my case.

Output of "fdisk -l" after marking the partition in the protective MBR bootable:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
big1 * 1 6291455 3145727+ ee GPT

I checked using dcfldd that fdisk modifies nothing else but the first 512-byte sector. So the GPT partitioning remains intact.

ryosaeba83 · 2012-05-26 08:14:11

Thanks nahant, this solved my issue as well on a hp elitebook 8460p.
I also found the same information here: http://www.linlap.com/wiki/hp+elitebook+8460p

Arch Linux

#1 2011-08-13 06:54:48

Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#2 2011-08-15 10:00:54

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#3 2011-08-15 15:19:22

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#4 2011-08-15 15:28:24

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#5 2011-08-15 15:35:08

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#6 2011-08-15 15:37:41

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#7 2011-08-15 20:07:19

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#8 2011-08-16 07:03:58

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#9 2011-08-16 08:04:49

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#10 2011-08-16 10:23:37

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#11 2011-08-16 10:35:22

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#12 2011-08-17 21:39:22

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#13 2011-09-06 08:38:38

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#14 2011-09-06 14:18:33

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#15 2011-09-06 14:48:03

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#16 2011-12-26 15:50:32

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

#17 2012-05-26 08:14:11

Re: Booting SSD with whole-device BTRFS woes on new HP notebook

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