GRUB2 survives deleting & preventing booting to live CDs

figleaf · #1 29th September 2012, 07:01 PM

I installed Fedora 18 Alfa DVD on my Asus 1015PX netbook. I was surprised there was no longer an option to encrypt hard drive during installation. There were no packages such as a browser, text editor, music player, etc. Very few utilities. No SELinux policy, no firewall, no gparted, etc.

So, I tried to boot to a live PartedMagic CD to use Erase Disk to shred my hard drive and then install Hanthana, a Fedora remix. However, my netbook will no longer boot to live CDs even boot CDs. GRUB2 automatically booted to Fedora 18.

Yesterday, I paid a repairman to remove my harddrive. He connected it via USB to his laptop, deleted the partitions and then used CCleaner to make one wipe of zeros. He reinstalled my harddrive and reassembled my netbok and left. My netbook still won't boot to live CDs. After I turn on my netbook, there is a POST message:

"GRUB loading. Welcome to GRUB. Error: unknown filesystem. Entering rescue mode."

How come GRUB2 was not deleted? How to delete GRUB2?

I entered dd to delete hard drive but GRUB2 does not know the dd command.

Only CD my netbook will boot to is SeaTools for Seagate hard drives. My netbook won't boot to Hitachi Feature Tools, Hiren's Boot CD, etc. I couldn't get the touchpad to work in SeaTools. SeaTools detected:

Motherboard primary/secondary IDE Controller. Unknown controller.
320 GB BIOS Drive 0x80 SN: uknown.
NTFS (320 GB) No name.
Other Non-Seagate drives: 320 GB Toshiba MTK3265GSX.

Is SeaTool's detection normal? Do I need to pay the repairman again to remove my hard drive? How should he proceed?

b4time · #2 29th September 2012, 08:22 PM

my guess and this is just a guess as I still consider my self a beginner is that he did not wipe the boot partition so the system is reading the grub entry in the boot sector and looking for the os that was instaled before he wiped the drive..what os came with the netbook?windows 7 can fix this with ease.Some one here must know of a boot disk that will wipe your whole harddrive.As far as boot disks go they all should boot because the netbook should read from the cd or dvd first before the boot sector,If not check your bios setting for the boot order.Also fedora 18 is in development not ready for release as far as I know(but I really don't keep up with releases) try 17.some links that might help but the disks are command line are in the links below.If it was me first I would check the bios then download fedora17 and try to install that which should clear up the grub problem.It should over write the grub entry if I'm not mistaken.Try the live cd fedora 17.hopefully someone who knows more will come along.

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=o...w=1600&bih=766

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=o...w=1600&bih=766

jpollard · #3 29th September 2012, 08:45 PM

Actually, he didn't erase the device, but likely put one partition on there and wiped that.

Both miss the boot.

***Dan*** · #4 29th September 2012, 09:32 PM

Pull the HDD, again, attach it via usb to another system. Boot that system with either Gparted liveCD, or Hirens, and delete all partitions on the drive, and then remove/overwrite the MBR as well. Then re-insert the drive back into your netbook. Boot again and see what you've got for choices.

Then:

Contact the technician/repairman you used yesterday, and demand a refund. Any tech worth his salt should have not only done that, but fully known that he needed to. He also should have bloody well tested it before he left.

figleaf · #5 29th September 2012, 10:19 PM

He did delete all of Fedora's partitions and then used CCleaner to write zeros one time on the entire drive. Regardless whether there is an OS on the harddrive, the pc should be able to boot to live CDs including boot CDs. GRUB2 should not be interferring with booting to live CDs.

GRUB2 has option to boot to an ISO on the harddrive. GRUB does not. I think GRUB2 is trying to boot to an ISO on the harddrive though I did not configure GRUB2 to do this nor is there an ISO on the harddrive.

***Dan*** · #6 29th September 2012, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by figleaf

He did delete all of Fedora's partitions and then used CCleaner to write zeros one time on the entire drive. Regardless whether there is an OS on the harddrive, the pc should be able to boot to live CDs including boot CDs. GRUB2 should not be interferring with booting to live CDs.

GRUB2 has option to boot to an ISO on the harddrive. GRUB does not. I think GRUB2 is trying to boot to an ISO on the harddrive though I did not configure GRUB2 to do this nor is there an ISO on the harddrive.

*Sigh!*

He tried to use a Windows® tool on a Linux® installation. I'm quite sure all partitions got zeroed. The Master Boot Record, however, did not.

Let me get some screen grabs from gparted, and I'll show you what to look for.

sidebrnz · #7 29th September 2012, 10:40 PM

OK, if you don't want to try what Dan suggested, here's another possibility. When you turn the netbook on, there should be an option to access the Boot Manager, possibly by pressing F12. That should allow you to tell it to boot from a Live CD running GParted so that you can wipe all the partitions off of the hard drive and blank the MBR. Yes, I understand that the repairman zeroed out the drive, but it's quite possible that CCleaner doesn't get the MBR. Either that, or boot a Fedora Live CD and use dd to zero things out; a quick search of the forums here will tell you how to do it.

figleaf · #8 30th September 2012, 01:52 PM

The boot order in the BIOS is always first CD-ROM, second USB, third harddrive. Installing Fedora 18 Alfa DVD didn't change boot order. Boot order also gives option to disable hard drive which I tried. If there was a Fedora boot partition left on my hard drive, disabling the harddrive from the boot order should skip the hard drive. However, POST still gave GRUB2 error message.

I tried more CDs. DBAN booted. DBAN did not detect any partitions. DBAN took six hours to write zeros. No more POST GRUB2 error message.
However, not getting any POST message. My BIOS is set to disable quiet BOOT. Disabling quiet boot gives POST.

After turning Asus netbook, error message: Primary Master Drive ATAPI incompatible, press F1 to resume. However, my Toshiba MK326GSX is ATAPI, not IDE.

Still cannot boot to live CDs. Either get "reboot or select proper boot device" or CD starts booting and then stops. For example,
F Secure Rescue CD's error: Disk error 01, AX=0/0/0/0/, drive 80.

Tried to reflash BIOS but flashdrive with bootable BIOS won't boot. Tried ALT F2 when starting netbook up which is Asus' Easy Flash but error message: cannot read 1015PE.ROM file on flashdrive.

Could GRUB2 or a firmware rootkit be in RAM memory and interfere with booting?

Should I repost this in another forum category in this forum for help with hardware?

stoat · #9 30th September 2012, 05:19 PM

First, don't repost this. It's fine right here, and starting another version will make the confusion worse, not better. It's against the posting rules, too.

Next, if the DBAN disk booted, and the SeaTools CD booted, then any good disk should boot. Right? It's not GRUB. It's not BIOS. Something else is wrong with the disks that don't boot. They might just be of poor optical quality, for example. It happens. It's happened to me anyway.

Next, since the GRUB messages are gone, DBAN did its work and wiped the entire drive.

I don't really know with certainty what is wrong. Sorry. But I would try burning another copy of that remix that you want to install on another machine using the best blank disks you can get. Then try again booting the busted machine with it, and maybe get it installed.

***DBelton*** · #10 30th September 2012, 07:33 PM

Just wondering..

in your BIOS, do you have Boot Booster enabled? You need to disable it, save your BIOS settings, then when it boots, select your boot menu, and choose the CD drive from the list. (it will probably be shown as USB:xxxxxxxx )

Here's a note about Boot Booster from Asus:

Quote:

Step 1 : Generally, you need to disable the Boot Booster function in the BIOS settings.

About the Boot Booster
The Boot Booster function in BIOS setup helps shorten your Eee PC boot-up time. However, you MUST disable this BIOS item before you change any Eee PC components or perform system recovery from the external optical drive.

b4time · #11 30th September 2012, 07:33 PM

Just a few tips .I burn my OS disks at 4 times speed never higher they just don't work for me.I also check my iso md5sum sha1 sum or what ever measure the distro is using to produce a good cd.I also check the disk after it is burned to make sure it's correct.If your other machine is windows there are directions to check it on that OS.The programs to check the iso are free for windows.

figleaf · #12 1st October 2012, 09:32 PM

I don't have boot booster enabled. After troubleshooting this for several days, I read a tutorial to press F9 to reset the CMOS back to the factory settings. That partially solved booting to a live CD but not to booting to a live flashdrive. Live CDs booted but they were missing packages they had.

I ran tests on UBCD and Hiren's Boot CD. Nauratil Software System Information (NSSI) in both UBCD and Hiren's Boot CD detected a virus in memory. I removed the battery and power cord, held down the power button for one minute, reflashed the BIOS and retested. Nauratil in UCBD livd CD still detected a virus in memory. Firmware rootkit could be in my external DVD player, removable media, BIOS and HPA in hard drive.

When I turn on my computer and it boots to my hard drive, a blank screen no longer comes up. Instead, there is an error message: "invalid partition table." DBAN zeroed my hard drive. I did not install a partition. This firmware rootkit is installing a hidden partition or a HPA on my hard drive.
Parted Magic does not detect a partition.

I need to use linux live rescue CDs to scan my memory. Anyone know of one that has a GUI?

sidebrnz · #13 1st October 2012, 09:55 PM

With the computer turned off, disconnect the external DVD drive and make sure there's no removable media installed. Reboot using a CD (If, that is, you have an internal drive.) or a USB key and run the tests again. This should give you a much better idea of just where the virus/rootkit is.

***DBelton*** · #14 2nd October 2012, 02:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by figleaf

I need to use linux live rescue CDs to scan my memory. Anyone know of one that has a GUI?

There is a linux GUI on the Hirens boot CD. Just select rescue linux from the main menu.

Edit:

I misread what you were wanting. You can boot any of the Fedora livecd's and select memtest from the boot menu, I believe. That will run your memory test for you.

Sideburnz has a very good suggestion. It is possible that a bootloader got installed on to your external hard drive, and your machine is trying to boot from it. Remove all of your external drives as he suggested and try booting.

b4time · #15 2nd October 2012, 04:23 AM

This is what your looking for.I never used this but is is gui and comes from a Kaspersky but it does not seem to be a boot disk.

http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses...?qid=208280748

This seems to be their boot disk or the page I posted has a link to it should have a gui as well.

http://www.freewarelinker.com/kaspersky-rescue-disk

good luck these rottkits can be a real pain to get rid of.

just so you know there is a flash for your cd/dvd drive as well.there should be anyway.Some sort of firmware should be supplied by the maker.