From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1NN9ZR-00019d-H2 for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:34:57 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 7035BE0826; Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:34:24 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-pw0-f47.google.com (mail-pw0-f47.google.com [209.85.160.47]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2EF80E0826 for ; Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:34:24 +0000 (UTC) Received: by pwi1 with SMTP id 1so4591132pwi.26 for ; Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:34:23 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :date:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; bh=NhZYth4rKN1aSOUbeZrzzZN8AXbbbrYvnao2o3oRDQg=; b=OoDLdtV/lrNbwtEmxr2y4S+Xn8gSJlxXujfpXUxUfqayKc+vrGlaUn5EhCb7T/tv69 0vA1y0n4RC+pjmjf4jL0NAfWiTyI1ZGwhDLdnuCfG3NbCQ3Q41zvuCVRlBB2VYqxkpCi +K4hqblCcfiOfGkI/Gx5u4MTA7oJMcJI7hd3Q= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=VXxaEgGCBEHJd/V/a90B/JAupSbTdOu6s5yrm3GnKGPE85lg1reJZDEshOnxdwWCeE RQt0Kwv+BLn+WtzyvQR6E6evsAdxn48NsvoOV9iNDOLv9xMLgtlZrcorbr518zq5xUVU F9ktnLQ2zfDKQy1R0ogOmC2E4XPXiULJ4qX2k= Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.141.90.9 with SMTP id s9mr1461696rvl.126.1261506863580; Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:34:23 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <49bf44f10912211859s2b5fc9acjce63625535ec3154@mail.gmail.com> References: <20091219105915.1c9bc778@digimed.co.uk> <49bf44f10912190850x91498c0r397e6034d0454f9e@mail.gmail.com> <1261248443.17869.5.camel@centar> <49bf44f10912201356n4bdb055ave6a0253efdf7a239@mail.gmail.com> <20091220233005.GA25658@princeton.edu> <49bf44f10912210901s1613e10bo6b91839cf47a84e0@mail.gmail.com> <20091221183131.GA19697@princeton.edu> <49bf44f10912211203y5e6acd2ib2b3c0fbb0e050cc@mail.gmail.com> <49bf44f10912211859s2b5fc9acjce63625535ec3154@mail.gmail.com> Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:34:23 -0800 Message-ID: <49bf44f10912221034s5c3eef26j41fdc8e060bb7695@mail.gmail.com> Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale From: Grant To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Archives-Salt: e04cfb2a-0940-42c5-9ae8-7cc10c7c1dc9 X-Archives-Hash: 7901097fd6e2bfd1218e527770e5bd02 >>>> New problem: Booted into DSLinux, my HD does not appear so I can't >>>> wipe it. =A0blkid and fdisk -l only show the USB stick assigned to >>>> /dev/sda which is how I accidentally wiped it in the first place. >>>> I'll try another distro on the USB stick. >> >> DSLinux couldn't find my HD because it needs the "sata" boot parameter >> explicitly passed. =A0However, after doing that it crashes while loading >> the sata module. =A0This is discussed online with no solution presented. >> >>> If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight) >>> rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD >>> is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable >>> hardware. >>> >>> Something like DBAN or SysResCD will have a better chance of >>> supporting a wider array of hardware. >> >> The problem with those two is I need something that can install to the >> HD after wiping it. =A0I also need something that can install on a 512MB >> USB key since my 8GB key does not seem to be bootable. =A0DSLinux was a >> flop as described above, so I'm downloading Puppy Linux now. =A0It's >> about 100MB, and it has the "Puppy Universal Installer" which should >> install to my HD. =A0Hopefully it fares better with my SATA hardware >> than DSLinux did. >> >> Also, in case it helps anyone in the future, unetbootin has a very >> annoying habit of failing to download the selected ISO, returning no >> error, and in fact reporting installation success. =A0The symptom of >> this is a boot menu with only "Default" available, which goes nowhere. >> =A0The solution is to download the ISO manually and point unetbootin to >> it. >> >> I'll report back with Puppy Linux results. > > Puppy Linux has wiped the HD and installed to /dev/sda3, but I can't > get it to install GRUB to /dev/sda1. =A0I get: > > I couldn't mount '/dev/sda1' read-write! > > Working on it.... OK, finally got this working. To fix the above problem I just needed to create the filesystem. I had another problem where the kernel file was not being installed, but I just needed to mount the USB key and point the installer to the files on /mnt/sdb1 to fix that. I'm going to keep Puppy Linux on this USB key and use it to quickly wipe and install when I sell a laptop. Here is a summary for those looking to boot from, wipe from, and install from a USB key: 1. Use unetbootin to install your distro of choice on the USB key. Puppy Linux works well if your USB key is low-capacity since it only requires around 100MB, and it includes a hard disk installation routine. If the USB key fails to boot, consider these 4 possibilities: 1a. If the unetbootin installation procedure executes really quickly, it may not be downloading the ISO. In this case, it does not produce an error and in fact reports installation success. Download the ISO manually and point unetbootin to it. 1b. Assuming /dev/sdb is your USB key: 'cfdisk /dev/sdb' and select type LBA FAT32 'mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n USBKEY /dev/sdb1' 'dd if=3D/usr/share/syslinux/mbr.bin of=3D/dev/sdb' 'sync' 1c. Make sure your BIOS is set to boot from a USB key before anything else. 1d. Some USB keys are not bootable. 2. Once booted to the USB key, use 'fdisk -l' to be sure the hard disk has been detected and assigned to /dev/sda. Use the following to wipe the hard disk: dd if=3D/dev/zero of=3D/dev/sda bs=3D4096 3. Use 'fdisk /dev/sda' to partition your hard disk, and mke2fs to create the filesystems. Puppy Linux also provides gparted for this. 4. Use the booted distro's installation routine to install to the hard disk= . 4a. If installing Puppy Linux, be sure to mount your USB key and point the installation routine to the files there when prompted. Done, and thanks for everyone's help. - Grant