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Thread: Fix rEFit start menu showing 3 icons for linux and how to sync GPT/MBR?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    142
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    Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa

    Fix rEFit start menu showing 3 icons for linux and how to sync GPT/MBR?

    I installed Ubuntu along MacOS X on MacBook Air 5,1, see my thread. I have a problem with my startup menu in rEFIt and need help to fix it.

    Three icons show up for linux at startup, and I get default icons, no tux icon. It seems that the problem has to do because the GPT and MBR are not synced. Thats what I get in the rEFIT tool menu:

    photo.jpg


    I partitioned my hard disk in MacOSX but during installation I went to Gparted in Ubuntu and am wondering if thats the cause that rEFIT does not recognize linux in the GPT table?How can I fix this?

    thanks for any help
    .

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    142
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    Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa

    Re: Fix rEFit start menu showing 3 icons for linux and how to sync GPT/MBR?

    Has anyone installed a dual boot MacOS/linux with a extra /home partition in linux?

    In this thread I saw its only possible to have 4 partition in a hybrid MBR/GPT table, 2 are gone for MacOSX, two left for linux. Since, I installed 3 partitions for linux: a SWAP, /(root) and /home I guess this is why I can't sync the table.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    142
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    Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa

    Re: Fix rEFit start menu showing 3 icons for linux and how to sync GPT/MBR?

    Any help please?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
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    Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

    Re: Fix rEFit start menu showing 3 icons for linux and how to sync GPT/MBR?

    Hi could you please boot in to OSX and open a terminal and include in your next post the outputs from the following
    Code:
    sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
    and
    Code:
    sudo gpt -r -vv show disk0
    MacBook Pro 10,1 retina

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    142
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    Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa

    Re: Fix rEFit start menu showing 3 icons for linux and how to sync GPT/MBR?

    Code:
    Disk: /dev/disk0geometry: 14751/255/63 [236978176 sectors]Signature: 0xAA55
             Starting       Ending
     #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     1: EE    0   0   1 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>
    *2: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  195549456] HFS+        
     3: 82 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 195960832 -    7811072] Linux swap  
     4: 83 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 203771904 -   13672448] Linux files*
    Code:
    gpt show: disk0: mediasize=121332826112; sectorsize=512; blocks=236978176gpt show: disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0
    gpt show: disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
    gpt show: disk0: Sec GPT at sector 236978175
          start       size  index  contents
              0          1         MBR
              1          1         Pri GPT header
              2         32         Pri GPT table
             34          6         
             40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
         409640  195549456      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
      195959096       1736         
      195960832    7811072      3  GPT part - 0657FD6D-A4AB-43C4-84E5-0933C84B4F4F
      203771904   13672448      4  GPT part - 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4
      217444352   19531776      5  GPT part - 0FC63DAF-8483-4772-8E79-3D69D8477DE4
      236976128       2015         
      236978143         32         Sec GPT table
      236978175          1         Sec GPT header

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
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    8,627
    Distro
    Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

    grub twice?

    I had a problem like that a while back and it was caused by me having grub installed twice, once in the mbr for my hard disk (sda for me) and again in the actual Linux partition (sda4 for me). I solved it by deciding which one to keep and then nuking the other with dd. I'm not comfortable or knowledgeable enough to suggest details since dd can make quite a mess but only the first 446 bytes needed to be cleared.

    Be sure to have working backup copies before experimenting.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    142
    Distro
    Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa

    Re: grub twice?

    yep thats what probably happened, first install I let Ubuntu choose default for installing GRUB in the advanced partition manager window because I had no clue. The system did not boot correctly, so I reinstalled Ubuntu with GRUB this time on the /(root) partition, then it worked, still works, but could not sync partition tables. So I guess this may be part of the problem. I checked some threads but am quite scared to mess around with this kind of thing, especially that I like to know before Im doing...

    Does anyone happen to know if using dd could then make even OSX unbootable anymore, or is there no fear of loosing OSX recovery partition and its "safe" to try this, worst case I would have to reinstall OSX from a USB stick?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
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    Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

    Re: Fix rEFit start menu showing 3 icons for linux and how to sync GPT/MBR?

    A bigger mistake in dd could render things unbootable. If I were more knowledgeable about grub, I could make a better recommendation. Do a lot of searching and reading, there's also a way of using dd to back up what you erase so you could put it back later if you realise that it was the wrong one.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    142
    Distro
    Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa

    Re: Fix rEFit start menu showing 3 icons for linux and how to sync GPT/MBR?

    I was wondering if it wouldn't be more safe (but more work) to delete rEFIt and the Ubuntu partition using disk utility, reinstall OSX, reinstall rEFIT and then Ubuntu with Grub on the root partition?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
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    Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

    Re: Fix rEFit start menu showing 3 icons for linux and how to sync GPT/MBR?

    I'm really sorry for not replying sooner. I wasn't notified of any replies - something I'll look into.
    All I can really say is that your MBR and GPT agree. They are not out of sync. Obviously the GPT has one extra partition (5) but that's only because the MBR can only contain 4 as a maximum. The start and end sectors agree completely, so that is not causing you any problem.
    MacBook Pro 10,1 retina

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