GNU bug report logs - #57802
MBR problem

Previous Next

Full log

View this message in rfc822 format

From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: "Brian C. Lane" <bcl <at> redhat.com>
Cc: tracker <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#57802: closed (MBR problem)
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2022 16:38:02 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Your message dated Wed, 14 Sep 2022 09:37:02 -0700
with message-id <YyIDLrtpto9j9cxo <at> ohop.brianlane.com>
and subject line Re: bug#57802: MBR problem
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #57802,
regarding MBR problem
to be marked as done.

(If you believe you have received this mail in error, please contact
help-debbugs <at> gnu.org.)


-- 
57802: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=57802
GNU Bug Tracking System
Contact help-debbugs <at> gnu.org with problems

[Message part 2 (message/rfc822, inline)]

From: Thomas <thomas.dejean <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-parted <at> gnu.org
Subject: MBR problem
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2022 13:31:41 +0200

[Message part 3 (text/plain, inline)]

Hello,

I discovered that Gparted writes to the MBR (0 to 446 sectors) when it is
empty.

Yesterday i used a live cd of ubuntu to delete a partition of my disk with
Gparted. And my pc didn't boot after that.

My os is a Fedora server installed in UEFI. Note that Grub is not installed
in the MBR or in the partition. I don't know how but it boots fine like
that.


So i had to delete the code Gparted writed in the MBR (0 to 446 sectors) to
boot again ("sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1").

I think Gparted should not touch the MBR (0 to 446 sectors) when it is not
ask by the user.


Thanks

Thomas

[Message part 4 (text/html, inline)]

[Message part 5 (message/rfc822, inline)]

From: "Brian C. Lane" <bcl <at> redhat.com>
To: 57802-close <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: 57802 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#57802: MBR problem
Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2022 09:37:02 -0700

On Wed, Sep 14, 2022 at 01:31:41PM +0200, Thomas wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I discovered that Gparted writes to the MBR (0 to 446 sectors) when it is
> empty.
> 
> Yesterday i used a live cd of ubuntu to delete a partition of my disk with
> Gparted. And my pc didn't boot after that.
> 
> My os is a Fedora server installed in UEFI. Note that Grub is not installed
> in the MBR or in the partition. I don't know how but it boots fine like
> that.
> 
> 
> So i had to delete the code Gparted writed in the MBR (0 to 446 sectors) to
> boot again ("sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1").
> 
> I think Gparted should not touch the MBR (0 to 446 sectors) when it is not
> ask by the user.

parted is not gparted (see https://gparted.org/), and parted only
writes the bootloader code when using a msdos disklabel. While it is
possible to use a msdos disklabel with UEFI, it should be using GPT.

I'm also not sure why a UEFI system wouldn't boot with the MBR written.
It should just ignore it and use the ESP partition.

Brian

-- 
Brian C. Lane (PST8PDT) - weldr.io - lorax - parted - pykickstart

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.