[IAEP] Unbootable machine

[Bernie Innocenti]

On 06/02/09 07:10, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Bernie Innocenti wrote:
>> On 06/02/09 03:43, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
>>> Bernie Innocenti wrote:
>>>> Disk /dev/sdb: 2055 MB, 2055208960 bytes
>>>> 221 heads, 2 sectors/track, 9081 cylinders
>>> I don't know where fdisk, the Linux kernel, or whatever come up with
>>> these kinds of geometries.  They're almost universally non-bootable.
>>
>> Ok, I wiped mbr and made fdisk create a new one:
>>
>> Disk /dev/sdb: 2055 MB, 2055208960 bytes
>> 64 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1011 cylinders
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> Equally weird.  The only "standard" ones are 64 heads, 32 sectors and
> 255 heads, 63 sectors.

Indeed, repartitioning the USB stick with 32 sectors and 255 heads fixed
boot for a previously unbootable computer.

Thanks, Peter.  I think we should document this tip in the Sugar on a
Stick wiki page and perhaps change the Fedora livecd-iso-to-disk script
to create the MBR with parted rather than fdisk.

-- 
   // Bernie Innocenti - http://codewiz.org/
 \X/  Sugar Labs       - http://sugarlabs.org/