grub not installing on correct device

[Jarrett Drake]

Our sys admin is running into a host of issues with installing 1.2.1 alongside Windows 7 to our FRED, and most recently during the install process Grub was oddly set on /dev/sda instead of /dev/sdb which is where Linux was installed (see attached photo). After the 'fatal error' message went away, we were asked to select another device, and so chose /dev/sdb1. Still no luck, though. At reboot we got the black full screen grub rescue error message. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Jarrett

[Kam Woods]

Hi Jarrett -

The install procedure for BitCurator is the same as that for Ubuntu 14.04LTS; no changes have been made to the standard grub setup (or the install) aside from specifying a default user. (Just mentioning this if you don't get further answers here - the Ubuntu forums are more likely to provide help quickly).

Typically, dual-boot, dual-disk installs with Windows *do* change the MBR on the primary boot drive (generally /dev/sda). This is not odd; it is the default behavior (see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot, specifically: "...the only thing in your computer outside of Ubuntu that needs to be changed is a small code in the MBR (Master Boot Record) of the first hard disk, or the EFI partition. The boot code is changed to point to the boot loader in Ubuntu."

If your system is not set up that way (and it appears that it isn't), you can choose "Something Else" when you're at the "Installation Type" screen, and choose the correct layout for your machine.

Attached is a screenshot of my dual-boot, dual-disk (Windows 7 on /dev/sda and Ubuntu on /dev/sdb). BitCurator 1.2.1 installs cleanly on this machine over a previous 1.0, with /dev/sda selected for bootloader installation.

Please let me know if you have further questions!

Kam

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[Christie Peterson]

If you are able to get this installed alongside Windows on your FRED, I would be EXTREMELY interested in how you did it. I ran into exactly this same issue myself about six months ago and haven't resolved it, despite being in contact with Digital Intelligence about it.

The FRED comes factory loaded with two versions of Windows on it, and I suspect that the error comes from a conflict between Windows Bootloader (which gives the option to choose between the factory-installed OS's) and GRUB. So my next thing on my list of things to try was to completely wipe the hard drive and do a fresh install of just  Windows 7 followed by BC (and GRUB). However, since our FRED is in active use right now and since I was afraid this might cause major issues with the FRED hardware drivers, I was going to wait until we finished processing our current collection (and until I had time to deal with potentially needing to spend a lot of time on this) to try to do it.

For reference, here's the issue I submitted to Digtial Intelligence:

I have been attempting to set up a dual-boot installation of Ubuntu on a FRED without success. Attempts have included (in all cases I have been booting from CD to attempt the install):

Installing it alongside the existing Windows 7 and DOS partitions on the OS drive (SATA-1)

• The installer would not give me the option of installing it at this location -- it simply did not recognize that drive as existing

Installing it on a new hard drive inserted in the SATA slot where the database drive normally resides (SATA-2)

• I am unable to install GRUB (the Ubuntu default boot manager/loader) on any location, including where I want to install it (on the OS drive)

Installing it on a new hard drive inserted in one of the Hot Swap bays

• I got the same results as attempting to install it in the SATA drive bay as described above.
• I didn't really expect this to work, but figured it was worth a shot.

 

About a month ago, I had a problem with the Windows Boot Manager following an attempt to create a backup imaging of the Windows 7 install. So as a last-ditch attempt, I used the FRED factory image restoration disk to reinstall Windows 7 on the OS drive, hoping that might solve the issue. However, I have all the same results as above.

 

I realize this is likely an Ubuntu issue, but given the complexity of the hardware, I am hopeful that there is a known solution or work-around for this on the FRED.

And here's the response they gave me:

The top two SATA bays are on SATA3 controllers. If you do a search for SATA3 and Ubuntu installation you'll see the same problem that you're experiencing. I see some references regarding IDE or AHCI modes causing installation problems as well. 

I'm not sure how you'd get around this install issue. You could manually change the SATA data cable of the top OS bay to a SATA2 port on the motherboard, or maybe you're dealing with an IDE/AHCI SATA port configuration issue? Below is how we set the BIOS for our builds. Maybe check that these setting have not somehow been reset to their defaults? Or maybe try changing the AHCI settings to IDE temporarily?
1. Hit Delete to enter the BIOS setup.
2. Click the Exit/Advanced Mode button in the upper right corner and select Advanced Mode.
3. In the Advanced Menu/SATA Configuration set SATA Mode to "AHCI Mode" and Enable Hot Plug on the SATA 3G_4, 3G_5 and 3G_6 channels.
4. In the Advanced Menu/Onboard Devices Configuration disable the Marvell Storage OPROM.
5. Go to the Boot Menu/Boot Option Priorities set the boot order to:
Boot Option #1 - CD/DVD
Boot Option #2 - OS Drive
6. If the OS drive is not available in Boot Option #2, go into the Boot Menu/Hard Drive BBS Priorities and change Boot Option #1 to be your OS drive. You should now be able to select your OS hard drive as Boot Option #2 in step 5.
7. Save and exit.
The Hot Swap bay is USB3 on the host end, so that's why this bay will not work.

We include a pre-built SUSE Linux installation if you wanted to dedicate a drive to it, but I think you're wanting to dual/multi boot. I don't have any experience in adding Linux to our existing dual boot build but maybe you can figure it out once you alleviate the hardware issue. 

Like I said, REALLY interested if you can figure this one out and document it.

Christie

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[Kam Woods]

My reading comprehension obviously failed me on that first email from Jarrett, because I missed the "FRED" part. Yes, the approach I described (bootloader installed to primary boot drive) will *not* work with a standard FRED setup.

I *do* have one of our FRED machines in the lab (an older one, with the two-line display on the Ultrabay) dual-booting BitCurator and the factory FRED Windows image, and yes, I placed a SATA II Seagate Barracuda 2TB drive in what would be the DB bay, swapped the cable, and installed BitCurator to that drive - leaving the Windows drive connected, but specifying that the bootloader would go on the Ubuntu drive - and then changing the primary boot drive to be the Ubuntu one in the BIOS. It works fine, but I did it months ago, and I can't remember everything I did.

We have a new FRED (the one with the UltraBay 3D) that I haven't tried this with, yet. I'd be happy to do the same with it on Monday or Tuesday (using a dedicated SATA III drive) and write a step sequence for others to follow.

Kam

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[Christie Peterson]

Thanks,  Kam. That would be very helpful!

Christie

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[Jarrett Drake]

Thanks Kam and Christie for your messages. We're going to try again tomorrow morning. Most odd about this issue with 1.2.1 is that we had successfully installed a previous BitCurator release alongside Windows 7 with the FRED without a problem. I'm sure there's a way to get this going, and I'll be sure to share the outcomes.

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[Jarrett Drake]

As I mentioned in another message, we simply wiped out the Windows partition on our FRED because we have no need for it with our use case; problem solved.

Jarrett

[Christie Peterson]

Hi Jarrett,

Good to hear that it was a software issue, not a hardware issue -- could you verify with your IT guy that he hasn't made any hardware modifications to the FRED to get Ubuntu to work on it?

Like I said in my earlier email, I'm going to try a clean install of just Windows 7 (not the windows/DOS dual-boot image that comes factory installed) followed by BC, though it'll be at least a few weeks before I can try. I'll report back on the attempt, and would appreciate hearing from anyone who's managed to get this configuration to work successfully in the meantime.

Cheers,

Christie

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[Kam Woods]

Hi all,

I've posted a very basic step-by-step picture guide of how to dual-boot BitCurator and the factory FRED Windows image, including BIOS setup and verification of the GRUB options and the final boot. This obviously doesn't cover all hardware setups, and was quick and dirty. I'd be happy to clean it up if people want it as a permanent reference. The guide can be found here:

http://www.digpres.com/BitCurator-DualBoot-HowTo.pdf

Regards,

Kam

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[Christie Peterson]

Thanks so much, Kam. I'll look through this and see if it solves my problem ASAP!

Christie

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[Christie Peterson]

Hi Kam,

I followed your instructions and they allowed me to install BC on our FRED without any other hardware or software adjustments. The only variation from the instructions I had to make was that on our slightly older model FRED, the windows partitions were on dev/sdb, and I installed BC on dev/sdc

Thanks again. This was very valuable!

Best,

Christie

[Christie Peterson]

Wanted to follow up on this to document a detail I just encountered. If you have two hard drives you're switching out (I have one SATA drive with BitCurator and one with the FTK database that I switch out in my second SATA slot depending on which system I'm using), you MUST have the FTK database drive (or whatever Windows expects in its place) inserted and available in order to run Windows Update successfully. 

You can successfully start up Windows and run it for imaging or anything else that doesn't involve FTK while the BitCurator drive in the second bay, but in order to get the updates to install you MUST have the one that Windows expects to be there.  I was going around and around trying to figure out why my Windows updates were failing, when I realized that I still had the BitCurator drive in my second SATA bay. Swapping the other one back in fixed the problem immediately.

Cheers,

Christie