After Lucid installation, my puter won't boot.

[srs5694]

If you want to debug it, you should post the output of the Boot Info Script, along with the output of "sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda". Please post both between [code] and [/code] strings for legibility.

Alternatively, you could use the "z" option on gdisk's experts' menu to destroy the GPT and MBR data structures and start over again with an MBR partitioning scheme rather than GPT. Although GPT will soon be necessary for many disks, MBR is still (barely) adequate for a 2TB drive, and since your BIOS is so flaky with GPT, it might be simpler to just skip it for the time being.

[kjurkic]

Just for the sake of closure.

I ended up using a 1TB boot disk, and 3x2TB for the rest, so I still have almost 7TB of storage capacity. This is the backup server for a small LAN, and this is JBOD, not RAID of any sort.

I have neither the time nor inclination to go deep on this (I calculate that I burned over 30hrs getting nowhere), and I would guess that by the next release, or at worst the next LTS release, they will have addressed this problem.

Thank you both for the help; always appreciated

best regards
Ken

[argibbs]

I'd like to also refer back to a previously-mentioned issue: If you follow my procedure and successfully install Ubuntu but still have problems, you may need to set the active/bootable flag on the GPT protective partition in the MBR. To do this:

1. Boot an emergency disc, such as Parted Magic or System Rescue CD.
2. Launch a shell.
3. Type "fdisk /dev/sda".
4. Type "p" to view the MBR partition table. It should show one partition, with "ee" in the "Id" column. This is normal, even though you created several GPT partitions.
5. Type "a" and enter "1" (or whatever the partition number is) when prompted.
6. Type "p" again. You should now see an "*" under the "Boot" column.
7. Type "w" to save the changes.
8. Remove the emergency CD and reboot. You should not need to re-install.

These steps are only necessary with some buggy BIOSes. Some Intel BIOSes are known to be buggy and require this workaround.

Was trying to install Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick) on a Intel D510MO motherboard and a large 2 TB HDD. The Ubuntu installer was correctly partitioning the disk using GPT, but the machine would refuse to boot with a message like "Boot error - no boot disk found".

Because I wasn't trying to install multiple distros, I didn't need to mess around with partitions as discussed earlier in this thread; I just booted into the Ubuntu installer from a USB stick, and installed to the HDD telling it to "Use the entire disk". Then after install completed, I rebooted back into the ubuntu installer, went to 'Try Ubuntu', pulled up a terminal and carried out the commands above. Then rebooted again, pulled the USB stick and the machine booted off the hard drive first time. Job done. Thank you for the neat trick - finding your post was a needle in the internet haystack but it worked like a charm.

Bit shonky that the Intel BIOS doesn't adhere to the GPT spec, but nice that the fix was possible. Thanks!

[witnessmenow]

I just want to say thanks very much to srs5694. I followed the first instructions and it didnt work, but the second set worked a charm.

Like the above poster I have a D510MO and i could not get it too boot

[vladstudio]

1. Boot an emergency disc, such as Parted Magic or System Rescue CD.
2. Launch a shell.
3. Type "fdisk /dev/sda".
4. Type "p" to view the MBR partition table. It should show one partition, with "ee" in the "Id" column. This is normal, even though you created several GPT partitions.
5. Type "a" and enter "1" (or whatever the partition number is) when prompted.
6. Type "p" again. You should now see an "*" under the "Boot" column.
7. Type "w" to save the changes.
8. Remove the emergency CD and reboot. You should not need to re-install.

srs5694 - you saved my day! I mean literally, I spent a whole day trying to figure out why Ubuntu won't boot. Thank you, from Russia with love!
For anyone with same problems - Intel D510MO motherboard, Seagate 2TB hard drive. Tried Ubuntu 10.10, Ubuntu 10.4, desktop, server. Any version installed successfully, then a black screen with "no bootable device insert boot disk and press any key".
Problem solved by following srs5694's two posts.
Thank you thank you thank you!

[srs5694]

I'm glad my advice is continuing to be useful!

FWIW, last night I did some experiments with an Intel motherboard and UEFI booting. This is an option with many Intel boards released in the last couple of years; check the "Boot" menu in the BIOS setup screen. The Ubuntu 11.04 alpha 2 release installs nicely on such boards in UEFI mode, which obviates the need to modify the MBR's EFI protective partition. I don't believe that Ubuntu 10.10 includes the necessary UEFI boot support, though. My suspicion is you could coax it into working by putting a suitable (U)EFI-enabled version of GRUB on a USB flash drive, but I've not tested that. You can tell whether you're booting the installer in BIOS or (U)EFI mode by the boot loader used by the install disc. The BIOS boot loader is flashier and has more options; the (U)EFI boot loader is GRUB 2.

If anybody cares to try a UEFI installation, be sure to either select the option to have the installer use the whole disk or do manual partitioning and set aside one FAT partition of 100 to 200 MiB as an "EFI boot partition". (The Ubuntu installer makes this partition only 20 or 30 MiB, IIRC, when it creates it automatically. This works, but Windows and Mac OS both create bigger partitions, so my inclination is to make it bigger in case that extra space becomes necessary in the future.)

[Yahoé]

Even though this is solved, I used it to guide myself with installing 12.04 on a gpt disk with a regular non UEFI bios.

500 GB HD, USB official Precise amd64 release:

*Try Ubuntu
*Using Gparted
*Create new gpt partition table
*Create new partition 1MB no file format, set flag to bios_grub
*Create new partition at the end of the drive 4 GB linux-swap
*Create new partition 350 MB ext2, set flag to boot
*Create new partition 10 GB ext4
*Create new partition with the rest of the disk ext4
*Launch Ubuntu installer
*Manual partitioning. First 1 MB partition is ignored, 2nd 350 MB is /boot, 3rd 10 GB is /, 4th is /home
*Went on with installation
*Completed successfully

Computer is running like a charm!

[oldos2er]

Old thread closed.