Help with HDD. Is it a Partitioning Problem?

[technomancer]

Kubuntu 13.10 is the LiveCD I'm using. My hard drive dual boots Windows 8 and Kubuntu 15.04.

I remember having a heck of a time installing Kubuntu side-by-side with Windows 8, because 8 uses UEFI, and that screws it up somehow. What I do know is, when I start my computer, I'm taken to a GRUB menu. From there I can pick windows 8 if I wanted to.

Does that help us?

Whether I still used UEFI or not, I'm not sure. I set my computer up a while ago, so I'm afraid I don't remember. Is there anything I can do to find out?

[Qqmike]

I remember having a heck of a time installing Kubuntu side-by-side with Windows 8, because 8 uses UEFI, and that screws it up somehow. What I do know is, when I start my computer, I'm taken to a GRUB menu. From there I can pick windows 8 if I wanted to.

It does appear that your HDD passed the SMART test. You are testing what, both drives, sda, sdb, what?

Kubuntu 15.04: it should be 64-bit to be UEFI (since Windows is UEFI, you should also run Kubuntu UEFI).
When you installed Kubuntu 15.04, did you run the installer DVD/USB in UEFI mode? You should!

Install the Kubuntu OS in UEFI mode

--> Must be 64-bit Kubuntu OS for UEFI. I am using Kubuntu 14.04, 64-bit.

(Credit: I was lucky to be forewarned about this by another member, Ron Morse, at another forum, and given some tips and things to watch for.)

Important: You must make certain you are installing Kubuntu in UEFI mode.

I used a Live DVD Kubuntu installer.
Install the DVD in the optical drive, reboot the PC, enter UEFI(-BIOS) by pressing F2.
Under Advanced, find the ASUS boot menu, and the "boot override" menu under that.
The bootable devices will be listed.
Choose the one that corresponds to the Kubuntu UEFI choice.
Look for UEFI / FAT) or some reference to UEFI.
My Live Kubuntu DVD installer showed up twice in UEFI BIOS (under Boot Override) as a "normal" DVD writer, and also as:
UEFI (FAT) TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224DB (1028 MB) (= my Samsung DVD player).
Found out you may have to re-boot a time or two for this to appear correctly, so I think.
Select that option from the boot override menu.
The PC will re-boot, and you will see a text mode screen with a grub-like menu. Select install O/S. If, instead, you see the full graphical setup menu, the installer is probably in legacy BIOS mode so reboot, enter the UEFI setup, navigate to boot override and try again.

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post368216

If the HDDs are OK, that leaves the possibility of a bad partition/partition table, so it seems; and the problem seems to be sdb. gdisk should be able to help here -- read that link I gave on the 5 experiments, and maybe check the Rod Smith link about gdisk.

[Qqmike]

Whether I still used UEFI or not, I'm not sure. I set my computer up a while ago, so I'm afraid I don't remember. Is there anything I can do to find out?

From my previous post (above somewhere):

(/usr/lib/grub would tell you about this: if all you see is grub-pc, then you are booting BIOS+MBR; if you see anything like grubx64.efi[-signed], then you probably have UEFI.)

This is the /usr/lib/grub in your Kubuntu 15.04 OS we are talking about.

[Qqmike]

Here's another thing you can try to test what you have:

From a live Kubuntu DVD, run
sudo efibootmgr
and then run it again with -v:
sudo efibootmgr -v

You may have to install efibootmgr in the live session if it is not available there:
sudo apt-get install efibootmgr

the output should show you your UEFI booting setup: BootOrder and the details: the Bootxxxx's.

[Qqmike]

I'll have to be away now and then this morning.
So, do the efibootmgr thing.
Try to see if gdisk can get some info and maybe help fix a broken GPT.
Make sure you've already run SMART on all HDDs.

[technomancer]

I'll have to be away now and then this morning.
So, do the efibootmgr thing.
Try to see if gdisk can get some info and maybe help fix a broken GPT.
Make sure you've already run SMART on all HDDs.

Sure thing. Help me whenever you have time!

I ran efibootmgr, and here's the output:

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo efibootmgrFatal: Couldn't open either sysfs or procfs directories for accessing EFI variables.
Try 'modprobe efivars' as root.


kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo efibootmgr -v
Fatal: Couldn't open either sysfs or procfs directories for accessing EFI variables.
Try 'modprobe efivars' as root.

I tried 'sudo modprobe efivars' and got nothing. I'm not sure what that means, but I'll google around in the meantime.


Thanks again,
TM

[Qqmike]

This is a bit confusing. Your efibootmgr output seems to indicate that you do NOT have UEFI! If you had UEFI, I'm pretty sure the command would work; and I believe I recall that the output you got indicates you would not have UEFI.

From the live Kubuntu DVD, can you mount and access your Kubuntu 15.04 partition and inspect
usr/lib/grub
and see what's there? (see one of my above posts on this ...)

Suspicion: Your Windows is UEFI, BUT maybe, perhaps, I hope not! ... when you installed Kubuntu 15.04, you inadvertently installed it in the older "BIOS" mode, not in the UEFI mode.

Rod Smith talks about this problem, and he indicates how one might fix it, I don't recall those details, though.
This:
Oops: Converting a Legacy-Mode Install to Boot in EFI Mode
http://www.rodsbooks.com/linux-uefi/#oops

BUT, we are not sure yet.

Check /usr/lib/grub that is in your installed Kubuntu 15.04.

And you can read my post above somewhere, where I explain how to run the Kubuntu DVD installer in UEFI mode.

Something is goofy here.
I mean, IF you have a GPT (for that Kubuntu partition), and IF it is damaged, then gdisk "should" be able to detect it and fix it (as per the experiments I linked to and as per Rod Smith's web site where he explains how to run gdisk).
You were running your computer OK. The problem just started. Even if you did install Kubuntu 15.04 the wrong way (in BIOS mode, not in UEFI mode), it WAS working OK until now.

[technomancer]

This is a bit confusing. Your efibootmgr output seems to indicate that you do NOT have UEFI! If you had UEFI, I'm pretty sure the command would work; and I believe I recall that the output you got indicates you would not have UEFI.

From the live Kubuntu DVD, can you mount and access your Kubuntu 15.04 partition and inspect
usr/lib/grub
and see what's there? (see one of my above posts on this ...)

Suspicion: Your Windows is UEFI, BUT maybe, perhaps, I hope not! ... when you installed Kubuntu 15.04, you inadvertently installed it in the older "BIOS" mode, not in the UEFI mode.

Rod Smith talks about this problem, and he indicates how one might fix it, I don't recall those details, though.
This:
Oops: Converting a Legacy-Mode Install to Boot in EFI Mode
http://www.rodsbooks.com/linux-uefi/#oops

BUT, we are not sure yet.

Check /usr/lib/grub that is in your installed Kubuntu 15.04.

And you can read my post above somewhere, where I explain how to run the Kubuntu DVD installer in UEFI mode.

Something is goofy here.
I mean, IF you have a GPT (for that Kubuntu partition), and IF it is damaged, then gdisk "should" be able to detect it and fix it (as per the experiments I linked to and as per Rod Smith's web site where he explains how to run gdisk).
You were running your computer OK. The problem just started. Even if you did install Kubuntu 15.04 the wrong way (in BIOS mode, not in UEFI mode), it WAS working OK until now.

Oh boy. Well, I cannot mount nor navigate the HDD....unless I do so with Testdisk. So, here's a screenshot of what's in /usr/lib/grub:



There is also a folder called "grub-installer" and "grub-legacy." I can copy most of the contents to my backup hardrive and get back to you if you need something in particular.

Also, when it was working, I remember it saying, "booting in insecure mode." It would pass and start without a problem. It is described here:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/54944...e-mode-message

Does that help narrow it down? All I remember is having a heck of a time getting it to dualboot, and then after plenty of searching online, I fixed it. It has worked for over a year now, until Sunday morning.

What shall I do next?

Thanks,
TM

[technomancer]

Update: I tried searching for an "EFI GPT" partition table with the testdisk supplied with Kubuntu 13.10 (as opposed to Hiren's Boot CD), and it found the following:



I noticed that the entries for MS Data are actually for my Linux installation:



Is my computer mistaking my Linux installation for Windows 8?

Also, before I switched to Kubuntu, I used Sabayon Linux. And, even before I got Kubuntu to work, I reinstalled several times. I don't know if that changes anything, but it's worth saying.

Also, I had a look at QqMike's link:

Rod Smith talks about this problem, and he indicates how one might fix it, I don't recall those details, though.
This:
Oops: Converting a Legacy-Mode Install to Boot in EFI Mode
http://www.rodsbooks.com/linux-uefi/#oops

I'll burn a copy of rEFInd just in case.

Thanks again,
TM

[Qqmike]

I took it apart, removed the CMOS, and put it together again.

That would have also cleared the UEFI boot variables, but upon re-booting, you UEFI firmware should re-detect your OSs.

Assuming your HDDs are OK (you have two, correct: sda and sdb?), I remain concerned that a GPT is damaged.

Your original post is still concerning: the beep, why it didn't boot, etc.

Your /usr/lib/grub (in Kubuntu 15.04) is confusing, also: it has BOTH the i386-pc (which is NOT UEFI) and the x84_64-efi[-signed] which is UEFI.
efibootmgr is confusing.
gdisk is confusing (seemingly indicating a broken GPT or no GPT?).

Your MS Data partition you just posted and are concerned about looks OK to me: it looks like the partition for your personal /home data used with your Kubuntu 15.04 root partition.

--> Where is the output of gdisk showing BOTH drives and ALL partitions?
sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda
and
sudo gdisk -l /dev/sdb

That should show ALL partitions clearly labeled as to what they are--Windows or Linux. Like sda1, sda2, etc., and sdb1, sdb2, etc.


Re-install GRUB ...

One thing you can try (even though there seems to be missing pieces to this puzzle) is to TRY to re-install GRUB, and I'm assuming you have the newer UEFI GRUB, sometimes written as GRUB2-EFI.
And, you might get some messages by doing so. Two ways:

Yourself, manually, like I did here:

Re-install GRUB2 from Live DVD/USB flash drive
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post374017

or, using Boot Repair:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

Depends on how comfortable you feel with this. Most people nowadays probably just use Boot Repair, it has a good track record, it does produce some output that you can access and copy. I keep a copy of Boot Repair handy (CD and/or USB).

==> Why not try to re-install GRUB just to see how far you get -- (and who knows, that has fixed problems far more perplexing than yours.

- - - - - >

Btw, have you tried to re-boot the computer to see again the problem and the beeping etc.?

[Qqmike]

Just more questions, as I re-read this thread:

Also, when it was working, I remember it saying,
"booting in insecure mode."

That's OK -- it just means you have disabled Secure Boot.

     Device Boot      Start         End     
Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdb1          
    1   976773167  3907092668   ee  GPT

That looks like 500 GB (976773167 * 512), the entire HDD, in just the one sdb1? That's not right.


Question, too:

What is in sda1?


And I'm reminded of this comment made awhile back:

If the HDDs are OK, that leaves the possibility of a bad partition/partition table [sdb], so it seems; and the problem seems to be sdb. gdisk should be able to help here -- read that link I gave on the 5 experiments, and maybe check the Rod Smith link about gdisk.

[Qqmike]

Actually, what is in sda1 and in sda2?

(Keep trying to re-install GRUB using Boot Repair, though.)

[Qqmike]

I think we have too many loose ends here!

re-install GRUB ...

what's in sda1 and sda2? ...

what happened to your efforts to use gdisk to repair the GPT of sdb? as in this:
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...417#post372417 ...

I'm posting this so we have a record of this summary, waiting to see if you have any luck with Boot repair.

[technomancer]

Actually, what is in sda1 and in sda2?

(Keep trying to re-install GRUB using Boot Repair, though.)

sda and sda1 are the hardrives in my spare computer (which runs on Windows 7), which is the one I'm running the Kubuntu LiveCD off of.

sdc is a backup hardrive I bought for storage.

sdb is the hard drive I pulled from my broken laptop, which is hooked up via a SATA-to-USB cable.

As for boot repair....will that work on a HDD that doesn't appear to have a partition table?




Shall I go ahead with Gdisk/Testdisk to recover the tables first?

Thanks,
TM

[technomancer]

I think we have too many loose ends here!

re-install GRUB ...

what's in sda1 and sda2? ...

what happened to your efforts to use gdisk to repair the GPT of sdb? as in this:
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...417#post372417 ...

I'm posting this so we have a record of this summary, waiting to see if you have any luck with Boot repair.

I followed the instructions to install and run boot-repair:

[COLOR=#333333][FONT=UbuntuMono]sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair[/FONT][/COLOR][FONT=inherit][/FONT]sudo apt-get update [COLOR=#333333][FONT=UbuntuMono]sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repair[/FONT][/COLOR]

Everything works fine, except for the apt-get install part. it says:

E: Unable to locate package boot-repair

I'll continue to work on it.