[gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[Grant]

LOL.  Except not really.  Am I totally screwed or is there some
little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
Everything was fine until it was rebooted.  Multiple reboots always
come back to:

Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:

Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[James Broadhead]

On 17 February 2012 20:47, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
> LOL.  Except not really.  Am I totally screwed or is there some
> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
> Everything was fine until it was rebooted.  Multiple reboots always
> come back to:
>
> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
>
> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.

This worked for me moderately well recently:
 http://superuser.com/questions/1078/harddrive-in-the-freezer-ever-work-for-you

... in that I was able to get enough files off it to putter along
until I could restore from backups.

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[imacake/LK]

On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 12:47:36PM -0800, Grant wrote:
> LOL.  Except not really.  Am I totally screwed or is there some
> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
> Everything was fine until it was rebooted.  Multiple reboots always
> come back to:
> 
> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
> 
> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.

Diskette is not HDD

A: looks too much windows-like. old system you said.. so OK.

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[Grant]

>> LOL.  Except not really.  Am I totally screwed or is there some
>> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
>> Everything was fine until it was rebooted.  Multiple reboots always
>> come back to:
>>
>> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
>>
>> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
>> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.
>
> Diskette is not HDD
>
> A: looks too much windows-like. old system you said.. so OK.

I think the BIOS can't find a HD at all so it's trying to boot from
the floppy drive which does not contain a floppy disk.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[Willie Matthews]

On Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:47:36 -0800
Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:

> LOL.  Except not really.  Am I totally screwed or is there some
> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
> Everything was fine until it was rebooted.  Multiple reboots always
> come back to:
> 
> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
> 
> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.
> 
> - Grant
> 

It could be the boot sector of the drive that is bad. You should boot
off a live CD and see how far you can get with the drive. If you can
read it with no problem reinstall grub and see how it does with the
boot afterwards.

-- 

Willie Matthews
matthews.willie@gmail.com

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[Paul Hartman]

On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 2:47 PM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
> LOL.  Except not really.  Am I totally screwed or is there some
> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
> Everything was fine until it was rebooted.  Multiple reboots always
> come back to:
>
> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
>
> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.

Things I would try:

Go into BIOS and make sure settings are still proper (sometimes it can
get wiped out and set to bad values)

Make sure BIOS can see the HDD manufacturer and model number etc.

If not, power off, re-seat the HDD cables and try again

If yes, boot from liveCD and use your favorite tools to examine the drive

If the drive is visible, partition table in-tact, then I would try to
chroot into your gentoo and reinstall your boot loader like in the
installation handbook

If drive is not visible, take it out and hook it up to another computer

If other computer can read it, maybe your motherboard/controller got
fried somehow

If other computer can't read it either... buy a new HDD and restore
from your most recent backup ;)

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[Grant]

>> LOL.  Except not really.  Am I totally screwed or is there some
>> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
>> Everything was fine until it was rebooted.  Multiple reboots always
>> come back to:
>>
>> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
>>
>> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
>> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.
>
> Things I would try:
>
> Go into BIOS and make sure settings are still proper (sometimes it can
> get wiped out and set to bad values)
>
> Make sure BIOS can see the HDD manufacturer and model number etc.
>
> If not, power off, re-seat the HDD cables and try again
>
> If yes, boot from liveCD and use your favorite tools to examine the drive
>
> If the drive is visible, partition table in-tact, then I would try to
> chroot into your gentoo and reinstall your boot loader like in the
> installation handbook
>
> If drive is not visible, take it out and hook it up to another computer
>
> If other computer can read it, maybe your motherboard/controller got
> fried somehow
>
> If other computer can't read it either... buy a new HDD and restore
> from your most recent backup ;)

Thank you everyone.  The system is remote so I will give this a try
ASAP.  BTW, this happened due to someone pushing the power button
during an eclean operation.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[Grant]

[snip]
>> Things I would try:
>>
>> Go into BIOS and make sure settings are still proper (sometimes it can
>> get wiped out and set to bad values)
>>
>> Make sure BIOS can see the HDD manufacturer and model number etc.
>>
>> If not, power off, re-seat the HDD cables and try again
>>
>> If yes, boot from liveCD and use your favorite tools to examine the drive
>>
>> If the drive is visible, partition table in-tact, then I would try to
>> chroot into your gentoo and reinstall your boot loader like in the
>> installation handbook
>>
>> If drive is not visible, take it out and hook it up to another computer
>>
>> If other computer can read it, maybe your motherboard/controller got
>> fried somehow
>>
>> If other computer can't read it either... buy a new HDD and restore
>> from your most recent backup ;)
>
> Thank you everyone.  The system is remote so I will give this a try
> ASAP.  BTW, this happened due to someone pushing the power button
> during an eclean operation.
>
> - Grant

I'm amazed but disconnecting and reconnecting the IDE and power cable
fixed it.  Which is your favorite tool for testing a HD's integrity
with and without S.M.A.R.T. support?

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[James Broadhead]

On 23 February 2012 21:29, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
> [snip]
>
> I'm amazed but disconnecting and reconnecting the IDE and power cable
> fixed it.  Which is your favorite tool for testing a HD's integrity
> with and without S.M.A.R.T. support?

[I] gnome-extra/gsmartcontrol [1]
     Available versions:  (~)0.8.6 {debug}
     Installed versions:  0.8.6(16:47:27 13/02/12)(-debug)
     Homepage:            http://gsmartcontrol.berlios.de/
     Description:         Graphical user interface for smartctl

[1] "sunrise" /var/lib/layman/sunrise

Is a great (and sorely needed) frontend for smartmontools - it even
colours lines in red when they indicate imminent failure!

Make sure that you have read the Google paper before trusting SMART
too far though -- they found (among other things) that it only
accurately predicts failure in 50% of cases.

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[Alan McKinnon]

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:55:21 +0000
James Broadhead <jamesbroadhead@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 23 February 2012 21:29, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
> > [snip]
> >
> > I'm amazed but disconnecting and reconnecting the IDE and power
> > cable fixed it.  Which is your favorite tool for testing a HD's
> > integrity with and without S.M.A.R.T. support?
> 
> [I] gnome-extra/gsmartcontrol [1]
>      Available versions:  (~)0.8.6 {debug}
>      Installed versions:  0.8.6(16:47:27 13/02/12)(-debug)
>      Homepage:            http://gsmartcontrol.berlios.de/
>      Description:         Graphical user interface for smartctl
> 
> [1] "sunrise" /var/lib/layman/sunrise
> 
> Is a great (and sorely needed) frontend for smartmontools - it even
> colours lines in red when they indicate imminent failure!
> 
> Make sure that you have read the Google paper before trusting SMART
> too far though -- they found (among other things) that it only
> accurately predicts failure in 50% of cases.
> 

That's a fair trade in my book, seeing as without it I could 
manage to accurately predict failure in 0% of cases.

Now to get the managers to understand that it's 50%, not 100% and stop
the endless whinging when SAN drives fail without prior SMART alerts

While on the topic, has anyone heard of research into false positives
wrt S.M.A.R.T?

-- 
Alan McKinnnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[Grant]

>> [snip]
>>
>> I'm amazed but disconnecting and reconnecting the IDE and power cable
>> fixed it.  Which is your favorite tool for testing a HD's integrity
>> with and without S.M.A.R.T. support?
>
> [I] gnome-extra/gsmartcontrol [1]
>     Available versions:  (~)0.8.6 {debug}
>     Installed versions:  0.8.6(16:47:27 13/02/12)(-debug)
>     Homepage:            http://gsmartcontrol.berlios.de/
>     Description:         Graphical user interface for smartctl
>
> [1] "sunrise" /var/lib/layman/sunrise
>
> Is a great (and sorely needed) frontend for smartmontools - it even
> colours lines in red when they indicate imminent failure!

That sounds good but I shy away from GUI tools.  How does everyone go
about using smartctl for monitoring?  Maybe just 'smartctl -a
/dev/sda' emailed daily?

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] "Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?

[Volker Armin Hemmann]

Am Samstag, 25. Februar 2012, 21:14:21 schrieb Grant:
> >> [snip]
> >> 
> >> I'm amazed but disconnecting and reconnecting the IDE and power cable
> >> fixed it.  Which is your favorite tool for testing a HD's integrity
> >> with and without S.M.A.R.T. support?
> > 
> > [I] gnome-extra/gsmartcontrol [1]
> >     Available versions:  (~)0.8.6 {debug}
> >     Installed versions:  0.8.6(16:47:27 13/02/12)(-debug)
> >     Homepage:            http://gsmartcontrol.berlios.de/
> >     Description:         Graphical user interface for smartctl
> > 
> > [1] "sunrise" /var/lib/layman/sunrise
> > 
> > Is a great (and sorely needed) frontend for smartmontools - it even
> > colours lines in red when they indicate imminent failure!
> 
> That sounds good but I shy away from GUI tools.  How does everyone go
> about using smartctl for monitoring?  Maybe just 'smartctl -a
> /dev/sda' emailed daily?
> 
> - Grant

cat /etc/smartd.conf

/dev/sdb -m root@localhost -d ata -a -o on -S on -s (S/../../4/17|L/../(01|
15)/./20)
/dev/sdc -m root@localhost -d ata -a -o on -S on -s (S/../../4/17|L/../(01|
15)/./20)
/dev/sdd -m root@localhost -d ata -a -o on -S on -s (S/../../4/17|L/../(01|
15)/./20)
/dev/sde -m root@localhost -d ata -a -o on -S on -s (S/../../4/17|L/../(01|
15)/./20)
/dev/sdf -m root@localhost -d ata -a -o on -S on -s (S/../../4/17|L/../(01|
15)/./20)
/dev/sdg -m root@localhost -d ata -a -o on -S on -s (S/../../4/17|L/../(01|
15)/./20)
/dev/sdh -m root@localhost -d ata -a -o on -S on -s (S/../../4/17|L/../(01|
15)/./20)


postfix dumps all those mails into my mailbox

-- 
#163933