Problems with partitions

[verduz]

verduz@Verduz-EeePC:~$ sudo file -s /dev/sda4
/dev/sda4: BIOS (ia32) ROM Ext. (3*512)

verduz@Verduz-EeePC:~$ fsck -N /dev/sda4
fsck da util-linux 2.20.1
[/sbin/fsck.ext2 (1) -- /dev/sda4] fsck.ext2 /dev/sda4

[oshunluvr]

Any chance this is a newer computer running with UEFI turned off (BIOS compatibility or legacy boot mode)?

[SteveRiley]

@verduz: Is this an Asus Eee PC 1005 of some sort? If so, then I suspect that little 16MB partition is Asus's "Boot Booster" feature. Even though fdisk says it's an EFI system partition, that's only because the type code is set to ef. What's really there is a specialized filesystem that supports this feature. The firmware is regular old BIOS (not UEFI), modified to cache parts of the boot process to speed up subsequent starts. (source)

[SteveRiley]

Ah... I just noticed this in your earlier output:



It is an Eee PC! There we go, mystery solved

[mr_raider]

Ah... I just noticed this in your earlier output:



It is an Eee PC! There we go, mystery solved

I assume Ubuntu has no use for this partition and it only accelerates windows boot?

I guess this is cheaper than an sad still.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[SteveRiley]

I assume Ubuntu has no use for this partition and it only accelerates windows boot?

It's independent of the operating system. Boot Booster works at the firmware level, before the operating system loads. It shaves a few seconds off the time required for the firmware to initialize the hardware.

[verduz]

Yes, it's an Asus Eee PC Seashell and it has that Boot Booster feature. The BIOS seems a regular BIOS.
So is it "boosting" the boot of Kubuntu too?

[SteveRiley]

No. It's only boosting the hardware initialization. Normally, when a PC boots, the firmware probes for all the available hardware resources and then begins an initialization phase. From what I've read, Boot Booster stores the results of the probe, so that the firmware can skip this phase on subsequent boots and immediately begin initialization. All this happens before the operating system's boot loader starts.

[verduz]

Ok, thanks to everybody!
I'll enjoy my new Kubuntu.