[Bug 1899308] Re: failure to boot groovy daily (again)

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

sudidus wrote:
> Later on, in the HH series, you can revert back from 'nopersistent' and
> let the system create an ext4 partition again (in a USB drive behind the
> image of the iso file), 

So the software in the ISO fiddles with the USB stick partitioning ?
That would be a prime suspect for MBR addiction.

How does the stick look in partition editors after this happened ?
Is still a GPT recognized ? Did it mutate to MBR ("dos") ?

If this "persistent" feature stems from the time of Ubuntu ISOs with
ISOLINUX isohybrid, then it had to deal with a MBR partition table and
had to ignore the invalid GPT.
Is it now able to handle the new and neat GPT ?

> 2. I think USB pendrives are not well standardized. They are tested to
> work as data storage devices with Windows and MacOS.

Their only job is to take storage blocks (usually 512 byte per block) and
to give their unaltered content back on demand.
Partitioning and other boot lures are in the data of these blocks.

Problems arise if the USB stick cannot communicate properly with the
computer or the operating system. In my case a "USB 3.0" stick appears
useless at two USB 3 sockets, where an old stick from 2005 does work fine.

> It is also my experience that booting is more
> likely to succeed via USB2 ports than via USB3 ports,

If the port belongs to the main board, then the firmware should be able to
operate it. Less likely if the port belongs to an add-on card.
Hubs add complexity. (But are fine to protect the computer's sockets from
wear-off.)

Have a nice day :)

Thomas

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to cd-boot-images-amd64 in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1899308

Title:
  failure to boot groovy daily  (again)

Status in Ubuntu CD Images:
  Fix Released
Status in cd-boot-images-amd64 package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  This is either a duplicate or return of
  - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-cdimage/+bug/1883040
  - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-cdimage/+bug/1886148

  Most probably "groovy daily won't boot anymore on some older BIOS
  boxes" or the 1883040 bug, as it's impacting only my older slow boxes
  (but it's also different).

  thumb-drive has been successfully used in QA live & install tests,
  however it won't boot on

  hp dc7700 (c2d-e6320, 5gb, nvidia quadro nvs 290)
  hp dc7900 (c2d-e8400, 4gb, intel 4 series integrated i915)

  The last timing issue also impacted d755-5 (older dell optiplex 755)
  when dc7700 was impacted, but that booted successfully this ISO.

  I see thumb-drive flash as it tries to boot, eventually it stops
  flashing, but no boot. At least 6 attempts made to boot, thumb-drive
  being tested on another 2x d755 boxes..

  (ISO written by mkusb/dus & gnome-disks [#11] is identical)

  ** Expected result

  It boots & is usable

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