9 replies to this topic

[ktp]

I have a new laptop with turbomemory (1 GB) built-in. It only works with Vista (readydrive, readyboost). XP ignores the device.
The problem is that grubinst no longer see my real hard disk (Partition magic, ptedit32 and XP/Vista disk management
have no problem). grubinst see (hd0) with 1075M as capacity. When I tried to install it refuse, need --skip-mbr-check.
Adding this option, got insufficient disk space.

Looks like grubinst need to be updated to support turbomemory :-), by only recognizing real HDD.

My grubinst_gui/grubinst are dated 29/8/2007.

[Bean123]

I have a new laptop with turbomemory (1 GB) built-in. It only works with Vista (readydrive, readyboost). XP ignores the device.
The problem is that grubinst no longer see my real hard disk (Partition magic, ptedit32 and XP/Vista disk management
have no problem). grubinst see (hd0) with 1075M as capacity. When I tried to install it refuse, need --skip-mbr-check.
Adding this option, got insufficient disk space.

Looks like grubinst need to be updated to support turbomemory :-), by only recognizing real HDD.

My grubinst_gui/grubinst are dated 29/8/2007.

First of all, you should use the most recent version which can be downloaded at

http://download.gna.org/grubutil/

Then, you can run the following command:

grubinst -t -v (hd0)

Please paste the output here.

[was_jaclaz]

Bean123, if you are NOT "the" Bean that so much contributed to grub4dos, WELCOME.

If you are him, WELCOME and it's a honour to have you among us.



jaclaz

[Bean123]

Bean123, if you are NOT "the" Bean that so much contributed to grub4dos, WELCOME.

If you are him, WELCOME and it's a honour to have you among us.



jaclaz

Thank you, tinybit point me to this thread.

[ktp]

First of all, you should use the most recent version which can be downloaded at

http://download.gna.org/grubutil/

Then, you can run the following command:

grubinst -t -v (hd0)

Please paste the output here.

Thank you, I downloaded the grubinst-1.1 2008-01-01 which is the latest version.
I tried grubinst_gui and same problem: It gives me (hd0) with 1075M while ptedit32 gives the correct size.



I did not dare to run the command grubinst -t -v (hd0) because I am afraid of causing potential error to my MBR since currently I really needed my laptop. The -t option is not found in the online help (?). Does -t means only test mode (no write) and hence safe to use ? If this is the case,
I will run the command without problem.

Usage:
grubinst [OPTIONS] DEVICE_OR_FILE

OPTIONS:

--help,-h Show usage information

--pause Pause before exiting

--version Show version information

--verbose,-v Verbose output

--list-part,-l List all logical partitions in DEVICE_OR_FILE

--save=FN,-s=FN Save the orginal MBR/BS to FN

--restore=FN,-r=FN Restore MBR/BS from previously saved FN

--restore-prevmbr,-r Restore previous MBR saved in the second sector
of DEVICE_OR_FILE

--read-only,-t do everything except the actual write to the
specified DEVICE_OR_FILE. (test mode)

--no-backup-mbr do not copy the old MBR to the second sector of
DEVICE_OR_FILE.

--force-backup-mbr force the copy of old MBR to the second sector
of DEVICE_OR_FILE.(default)

--mbr-enable-floppy enable the search for GRLDR on floppy.(default)

--mbr-disable-floppy disable the search for GRLDR on floppy.

--mbr-enable-osbr enable the boot of PREVIOUS MBR with invalid
partition table (usually an OS boot sector).
(default)

--mbr-disable-osbr disable the boot of PREVIOUS MBR with invalid
partition table (usually an OS boot sector).

--duce disable the feature of unconditional entrance
to the command-line.

--boot-prevmbr-first try to boot PREVIOUS MBR before the search for
GRLDR.

--boot-prevmbr-last try to boot PREVIOUS MBR after the search for
GRLDR.(default)

--preferred-drive=D preferred boot drive number, 0 <= D < 255.

--preferred-partition=P preferred partition number, 0 <= P < 255.

--time-out=T,-t=T wait T seconds before booting PREVIOUS MBR. if
T is 0xff, wait forever. The default is 5.

--hot-key=K,-k=K if the desired key K is pressed, start GRUB
before booting PREVIOUS MBR. K is a word
value, just as the value in AX register
returned from int16/AH=1. The high byte is the
scan code and the low byte is ASCII code. The
default is 0x3920 for space bar.

--key-name=S Specify the name of the hot key.

--floppy,-f if DEVICE_OR_FILE is floppy, use this option.

--floppy=N if DEVICE_OR_FILE is a partition on a hard
drive, use this option. N is used to specify
the partition number: 0,1,2 and 3 for the
primary partitions, and 4,5,6,... for the
logical partitions.

--sectors-per-track=S specifies sectors per track for --floppy.
1 <= S <= 63, default is 63.

--heads=H specifies number of heads for --floppy.
1 <= H <= 256, default is 255.

--start-sector=B specifies hidden sectors for --floppy=N.

--total-sectors=C specifies total sectors for --floppy.
default is 0.

--lba use lba mode for --floppy. If the floppy BIOS
has LBA support, you can specify --lba here.
It is assumed that all floppy BIOSes have CHS
support. So you would rather specify --chs.
If neither --chs nor --lba is specified, then
the LBA indicator(i.e., the third byte of the
boot sector) will not be touched.

--chs use chs mode for --floppy. You should specify
--chs if the floppy BIOS does not support LBA.
We assume all floppy BIOSes have CHS support.
So it is likely you want to specify --chs.
If neither --chs nor --lba is specified, then
the LBA indicator(i.e., the third byte of the
boot sector) will not be touched.

--install-partition=I Install the boot record onto the boot area of
-p=I partition number I of the specified hard drive
or harddrive image DEVICE_OR_FILE.

--boot-file=F,-b=F Change the name of boot file.

--load-seg=S Change load segment for boot file.

--grub2,-2 Load grub2 kernel g2ldr instead of grldr.

--output,-o Save embeded grldr.mbr to DEVICE_OR_FILE.

--edit,-e Edit external grldr/grldr.mbr.

--skip-mbr-test Skip chs validity test in mbr.

--copy-bpb Don't copy bpb of the first partition to mbr.

[Bean123]

Thank you, I downloaded the grubinst-1.1 2008-01-01 which is the latest version.
I tried grubinst_gui and same problem: It gives me (hd0) with 1075M while ptedit32 gives the correct size.



I did not dare to run the command grubinst -t -v (hd0) because I am afraid of causing potential error to my MBR since currently I really needed my laptop. The -t option is not found in the online help (?). Does -t means only test mode (no write) and hence safe to use ? If this is the case,
I will run the command without problem.

yes, -t is test mode, it won't write to your disk.

i can see the problem from ptedit output, there are only 8 sector free space before the first partition, this is too small, grub4dos mbr would need at least 16 sectors.

[ktp]

Here are the results:

grubinst -t -v (hd0)

Start sector: 0x0

Image type: MBR2

Partition table

  bt  h0  s0  c0  fs  h1  s1  c1	  base	  leng

  00  01  01  00  27  03  C8  FF		 8	BB87F8

  80  00  C1  FF  07  03  C8  FF	BB8800   36BD860

  00  00  C1  FF  07  03  C8  FF   4276060   20EF100

  00  00  C1  FF  0F  03  C8  FF   6365160   C6B4D40

Partition list

 #  id	  base	  leng

 0  27		 8	BB87F8 (6001M)

 1  07	BB8800   36BD860 (28027M)

 2  07   4276060   20EF100 (16862M)

 3  0F   6365160   C6B4D40 (101738M)

 4  07   6365168   C6B4D38 (101738M)

grubinst: Bad partition table, if you're sure that the partition list is ok, please run this program again with --skip-mbr-test option.

What I would expect that grubinst_gui instead of saying (hd0) is 1075M, it should display same value as ptedit32 (152267M) which is the real size of my HDD0. Do not know where grubinst_gui get this value, but it is apparently the size of the turbomemory (1 GB) used to cache the HDD (readyboost/readydrive under Vista). I am running XP.
Then of course later problem with lacking space for grub4dos, it is ok.

[tinybit]

grubinst listed the correct size of each partition on the drive.

So maybe grubinst made a mistake in calculation on the size of the drive.

But it is not a serious problem. The size of the whole drive does not matter. Grubinst only installs a few (upto 63)sectors onto the first track, the 'MBR track', of the drive.

Normally the track size should be 63 sectors. This is somewhat a 'de facto' standard. The boot code of grub4dos will store here in the 'MBR track', occupying 17 sectors at this moment, but the sectors occupied can increase aperiodically until all the 63 sectors run out. If there is no enough room, grub4dos cannot be installed on the MBR track(And the partition table may then be considered bad).

[tinybit]

@bean,

In my point of view, the -t switch for --read-only should be deleted. See this,

--read-only,-t do everything except the actual write to the
specified DEVICE_OR_FILE. (test mode)

--time-out=T,-t=T wait T seconds before booting PREVIOUS MBR. if
T is 0xff, wait forever. The default is 5.

Both have a -t switch. This could confuse the user.


And, in the case when sectors-per-track is too small, the --skip-mbr-test switch should be disabled(ignored), because this is dangerous(the partition data will wipe!) if the user force the write.

Do a further test on each primary partition, and see if there are any start-sector values less than the size needed for installing grldr boot code. If yes, the --skip-mbr-test switch should be disabled, and the user should be warned when using this switch.

[ktp]

grubinst listed the correct size of each partition on the drive.

So maybe grubinst made a mistake in calculation on the size of the drive.

I assume you mean grubinst_gui made a mistake. grubinst is fine.