Bug 26043

Summary: installation images not bootable on some computers
Product: Simply Linux Reporter: Ivan Zakharyaschev <imz>
Component: hardwareAssignee: Mikhail Efremov <sem>
Status: CLOSED WORKSFORME QA Contact: Andrey Cherepanov <cas>
Severity: major    
Priority: P3 CC: sem
Version: 6.0   
Hardware: all   
OS: Linux   
Bug Depends on: 22486    
Bug Blocks:    

Description Ivan Zakharyaschev 2011-08-13 04:03:55 MSK 
ftp://beta.altlinux.org/p6/simply/altlinux-6.0.0_beta20110811-simply-i586-ru-live-cd.iso
ftp://beta.altlinux.org/p6/simply/altlinux-6.0.0_beta20110620-simply-i586-ru-live-cd.iso

can't be booted by one computer, and the problem is not with the discs I have burnt (because they can be booted on another computer), and not that booting from CD is absolutely impossible on that computer (because it boots some other rescue CD).

So the problem is that the format of the images suggested at ftp://beta.altlinux.org/ doesn't include things necessary to boot on usch computers (BIOS).

Please produce installation images that are bootable on all computers that allow booting from CD (even a bit older ones).

Perhaps, the problem is like that discussed in http://lists.altlinux.org/pipermail/community/2002-April/472073.html ; there were suggested two workarounds/solutions there:

http://lists.altlinux.org/pipermail/community/2002-April/472091.html -- booting from a floppy

or

http://lists.altlinux.org/pipermail/community/2002-April/472350.html -- adding the booting floppy image to the CD image .

I havn't tried these options yet because there is no cdrom.img floppy image on the Simply Linux 6.0.0 beta CD; so, I'll need to extract it from other sources, perhaps older distros. (Or how do I read the necessary floppy image from the rescue CD that does boot on this computer?)

(Some info about the computer. Perhaps this will give an idea -- sorry, there is no motherboard or BIOS name here:

$ lspci 
00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (different version?) (rev c1)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 0 (rev c1)
00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 4 (rev c1)
00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 3 (rev c1)
00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 2 (rev c1)
00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 5 (rev c1)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 ISA Bridge (rev a4)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce2 SMBus (MCP) (rev a2)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)
00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller (rev a4)
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Ethernet Controller (rev a1)
00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AC97 Audio Controler (MCP) (rev a1)
00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 External PCI Bridge (rev a3)
00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce2 IDE (rev a2)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (rev c1)
01:07.0 Communication controller: ESS Technology ES2838/2839 SuperLink Modem (rev 01)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX 440 AGP 8x] (rev a4)
$ 

)
Comment 1 Ivan Zakharyaschev 2011-08-13 21:17:34 MSK 
I tried to figure out what the difference between the other bootable rescue disc and the Simply Linux disc not bootable by this computer is.

The Simply Linux disc (not bootable by this computer):

# isoinfo -i /dev/cdrom -d
CD-ROM is in ISO 9660 format
System id: 
Volume id: Simply Linux 6.0.0  (Flounder)
Volume set id: 
Publisher id: ALT Linux Team
Data preparer id: 
Application id: 
Copyright File id: 
Abstract File id: 
Bibliographic File id: 
Volume set size is: 1
Volume set sequence number is: 1
Logical block size is: 2048
Volume size is: 357119
El Torito VD version 1 found, boot catalog is in sector 47
Joliet with UCS level 3 found
Rock Ridge signatures version 1 found
Eltorito validation header:
    Hid 1
    Arch 0 (x86)
    ID 'ALT Linux Team'
    Key 55 AA
    Eltorito defaultboot header:
        Bootid 88 (bootable)
        Boot media 0 (No Emulation Boot)
        Load segment 0
        Sys type 0
        Nsect 4
        Bootoff 30 48
# 

The other disc -- bootable:

# isoinfo -i /dev/cdrom -d
CD-ROM is in ISO 9660 format
System id: 
Volume id: GRTMPVOL_RU
Volume set id: GRTMPVOL_RU
Publisher id: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Data preparer id: MICROSOFT CORPORATION, ONE MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND WA 98052, (425) 882-8080
Application id: CDIMAGE 2.54 (01/01/2005 TM)
Copyright File id: 
Abstract File id: 
Bibliographic File id: 
Volume set size is: 1
Volume set sequence number is: 1
Logical block size is: 2048
Volume size is: 355758
El Torito VD version 1 found, boot catalog is in sector 19
NO Joliet present
NO Rock Ridge present
Eltorito validation header:
    Hid 1
    Arch 0 (x86)
    ID 'Microsoft Corporation'
    Key 55 AA
    Eltorito defaultboot header:
        Bootid 88 (bootable)
        Boot media 0 (No Emulation Boot)
        Load segment 0
        Sys type 0
        Nsect 4
        Bootoff 115 277
# 

I haven't yet understood what the difference is.
Comment 2 Ivan Zakharyaschev 2011-08-13 21:28:58 MSK 
(In reply to comment #1)

> I haven't yet understood what the difference is.

Here is a comparison of the isoinfo output for the two different discs:

$ diff isoinfo-slinux-beta20110810 isoinfo-bootable-rescue 
3,7c3,7
< Volume id: Simply Linux 6.0.0  (Flounder)
< Volume set id: 
< Publisher id: ALT Linux Team
< Data preparer id: 
< Application id: 
---
> Volume id: GRTMPVOL_RU
> Volume set id: GRTMPVOL_RU
> Publisher id: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
> Data preparer id: MICROSOFT CORPORATION, ONE MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND WA 98052, (425) 882-8080
> Application id: CDIMAGE 2.54 (01/01/2005 TM)
14,17c14,17
< Volume size is: 357119
< El Torito VD version 1 found, boot catalog is in sector 47
< Joliet with UCS level 3 found
< Rock Ridge signatures version 1 found
---
> Volume size is: 355758
> El Torito VD version 1 found, boot catalog is in sector 19
> NO Joliet present
> NO Rock Ridge present
21c21
<     ID 'ALT Linux Team'
---
>     ID 'Microsoft Corporation'
29c29
<         Bootoff 30 48
---
>         Bootoff 115 277
$ 

What is the thing with the SimplyLinux disc that can be not good for this computer?
Comment 3 Ivan Zakharyaschev 2011-08-14 00:47:06 MSK 
(In reply to comment #0)

> http://lists.altlinux.org/pipermail/community/2002-April/472350.html -- adding
> the booting floppy image to the CD image .

So, one of the possible workarounds would be to create a disc which would boot in the floppy-emulation mode (as suggested in the linked message). One would need to find or construct a suitable bootable floppy image then (which would either boot the installer or pass control to the CD's bootloader (isolinux)).

I did another workaround: installed Smart Bootmanager onto the hard drive (after moving GRUB--which boots an installed system--to a partition). This way there will always be an easy way to boot off a CD on this computer in future, without modifying the CDs themselves. Smart Bootmanager can be configured (during its run, on computer startup) to have a default choice and to boot it after a delay. So, the result is quite convenient.

And indeed, Smart Bootmanager did boot the live/installation CD.

Details:

Smart Bootmanager is referred to in http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/ISOLINUX#What_to_do_when_nothing_works...

Smart Bootmanager -- http://sourceforge.net/projects/btmgr/files/ (but it doesn't compile now...)

I did it in an old Ubuntu system (Ubuntu has a package with it):

apt-get install sbm
grub-install /dev/hda1
sbminst -d /dev/hda -b sbm-bak.dat
Comment 4 Ivan Zakharyaschev 2011-08-14 01:03:18 MSK 
(In reply to comment #3)

> I did it in an old Ubuntu system (Ubuntu has a package with it):
> 
> apt-get install sbm
> grub-install /dev/hda1
> sbminst -d /dev/hda -b sbm-bak.dat

It'd be convenient if ALT also had a package with it -- https://bugzilla.altlinux.org/show_bug.cgi?id=26048 .
Comment 5 Andrey Cherepanov 2012-01-10 13:54:39 MSK 
Ошибка переведена на релиз-менеджера Simply Linux.
Comment 6 Mikhail Efremov 2017-04-13 20:51:02 MSK 
Images are builded with different tools nowaday. hopefully the issue is not exist now.