grub i386-pc bios gpt posable

kleinde66 · 10-04-2023, 06:16 PM

good evening
i have an old laptop 2008 acer aspire 7720.
it ran crunchbang 11 fine but i had it on a ms dos partition.
i re partitioned the hdd gpt so i could install other iso's.
am i going to have to go back to ms dos partitioned ?

GlennsPref · 10-04-2023, 06:44 PM

Hi, I think it should be fine to use GPT. I think it is tidier aswell, easier to manage multiple partitions.

All the best.

kleinde66 · 10-04-2023, 08:25 PM

i went back in the install with the live iso .
the directory /boot/grub
does not contain i386-pc dir
but it is in the directory /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc
so i copied /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc to /boot/grub

Code:

sudo grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda
sudo: grub-install: command not found

ls of the bin dir gives me

Code:

grub-editenv
grub-file
grub-fstest
grub-glue-efi
grub-kbdcomp
grub-menulst2cfg
grub-mkfont
grub-mkimage
grub-mklayout
grub-mknetdir
grub-mkpasswd-pbkdf2
grub-mkrelpath
grub-mkrescue
grub-mkstandalone
grub-mount
grub-ntldr-img
grub-render-label
grub-script-check
grub-syslinux2cfg

grub-install does not exist

so i'm lost at this point

colorpurple21859 · 10-04-2023, 08:44 PM

What distro are you currently using? It may be grub2-install or you may to actually need to be root to run grub-install. A side note, to install grub in legacy mode on a gpt drive a 1mb partition flagged bios-grub is needed.

chrisretusn · 10-04-2023, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kleinde66

good evening
i have an old laptop 2008 acer aspire 7720.
it ran crunchbang 11 fine but i had it on a ms dos partition.
i re partitioned the hdd gpt so i could install other iso's.
am i going to have to go back to ms dos partitioned ?

No, you will need to install a BIOS Boot Partition.

https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/ma...S-installation

This is my current setup note partition 4.

Code:

# gdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.9.1

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 1953525168 sectors, 931.5 GiB
Model: WDC WD10EZEX-22M
Sector size (logical/physical): 512/4096 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): E307DE8A-10A1-4215-9A8C-1F81F2F84C8A
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1953525134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 3437 sectors (1.7 MiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1        17045504       211453951   92.7 GiB    8300  Linux filesystem
   2            2048        17043455   8.1 GiB     8200  
   3       211453952      1953523711   830.7 GiB   8300  Linux filesystem
   4        17043456        17045503   1024.0 KiB  EF02

If you are lucky you will have a free space to add one, cgdisk is useful in this case. My setup again with cgdisk.

Code:

# cgdisk /dev/sda

                                        cgdisk 1.0.9.1

                                     Disk Drive: /dev/sda
                                  Size: 1953525168, 931.5 GiB

Part. #     Size        Partition Type            Partition Name
----------------------------------------------------------------
>           1007.0 KiB  free space
   2        8.1 GiB     Linux swap
   4        1024.0 KiB  BIOS boot partition
   1        92.7 GiB    Linux filesystem          Linux filesystem
   3        830.7 GiB   Linux filesystem          Linux filesystem
            711.5 KiB   free space

    [ Align  ]  [ Backup ]  [  Help  ]  [  Load  ]  [  New   ]  [  Quit  ]  [ Verify ]
    [ Write  ]

                             Create new partition from free space

kleinde66 · 10-04-2023, 09:41 PM

at this point i will reinstall it if i need too.
crunchbang++12 witch should be the debain 12 iso with open box configured.
i will work on it tomorrow and post back.

kleinde66 · 10-07-2023, 10:09 AM

good day

Click image for larger version

Name: 2023-10-07_10-46.png
Views: 17
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ID: 41803

as you can see , in the above pic.

i have install cbpp11 = no boot device -- insert boot disk and press any key

i have install cbpp12 = no boot device -- insert boot disk and press any key

i have install debian-live-12.1.0-amd64-lxde.iso = no boot device -- insert boot disk and press any key

the next thing is to go back to msdos partitioning ?

hopefully some one has an answer to this problem.

bios + gpt install

or maybe this bios just don't work with grub and gpt.

colorpurple21859 · 10-07-2023, 11:02 AM

You may need to set the bootflag on the protective mbr partition with this:

Code:

parted /dev/sda disk_set pmbr_boot on

kleinde66 · 10-07-2023, 12:27 PM

thank you colorpurple21859 it worked!
should it be left on or changed to off ?

colorpurple21859 · 10-07-2023, 12:43 PM

Leave it if it’s working.

Petri Kaukasoina · 10-08-2023, 08:14 AM

You made the EF02 partition 1000 times larger than required.