GRUB2 doesn't boot from HFS+ partition

Hi,
I formatted my boot partition as HFS+. Now, GRUB2 won't boot anymore, it says "unknown filesystem" and drops me to a rescue shell. From there, I have tried running insmod with all kinds of filesystems (ext2, ext3, ext4, vfat, hfsplus, ...) and ext2 is the filesystem for which I do not get the "unknown filesystem" error.
How can I fix this? I have already added "insmod hfsplus" to my grub.cfg entries, but the problem obviously lies elsewhere.
Thanks!
(Btw, the entire setup was working correctly when my boot partition was formatted as ext2. When I changed the fs to HFS+, I just copied all files from /boot, did mkfs.hfsplus on the partition and copied the files back. Could this be a reason for this problem?)
Last edited by MrAllan (2012-08-05 21:34:36)

Actually, hfs+ is specifically cited in GRUB2's manual as a supported filesystem and a quick search indicates that people do successfully boot Linux from an hfs+ /boot using GRUB2.
I can't help solve your problem, though
Last edited by ZekeSulastin (2012-08-08 16:27:32)

Similar Messages

Can't boot from Ubuntu partition after upgrading to Yosemite

When i go to Disk Utility the Ubuntu partition appears as it always have, i had installed since Mavericks refind to boot from any partition. Now refind doesn't work and the alt/option key doesn't work either. Does anyone know a way to fix this?

A extensive report already written is in the Ubuntu stacks as
Dual boot Linux and Yosemite
Basically you need to follow http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/yosemite.html
wherein it explains that Yosemite is using a new LVM bootup from within the Recovery Partitions 10.10.
This messes up REFIT/REFIND tools which have previously installed Partition 1.S
See my current Table below , wherein << are my comments
Current GPT partition table:
#      Start LBA      End LBA Type
1             40       409639 EFI System (FAT)    << old preferred site for REFIT/REFIND tools
2         409640    154061023 Mac OS X HFS+ << main Mac partition
3      154061024    155330559 Mac OS X Boot << Recovery 10.10 , installed by Yosemite update, used to start MAC boot. BUT is not shown by Disk Utility, to prevent its naive deletion which would kill the MAC boot.
4      155330560    156598271 Mac OS X HFS+ << old Recovery 10.9, simply retained
5      157869786    228772129 Unknown << My Ubuntu partition
6      228772130    236765969 Linux Swap << which was shortened by 200 MB to make room for 7)
7      236765970    236974814 Mac OS X HFS+ << installation site of REFIND. Though 4) could have been used, there is a possibility that Apple might have future plans for this small 4) partition.
With 7) created (see detail below), my REFIND install command under MAC, within Downloads/refind-bin-0.8.3/ was:
sudo ./install.sh --alldrivers --ownhfs /dev/disk0s7
There was still required the edit if refind.conf.sample specified in Yosemite.html, which I named refind.conf.edit1
This was copied with:
sudo cp refind.conf.edit1 /Volumes/macefi/System/Library/CoreServices/refind.conf
macefi is my name for the MAC /dev/disk0s7 mount point, equivalent to /dev/sda7 under Linux
CAREFULLY do read Yosemite.html, as the instructions here are too terse by themselves!!!!
There are 2 routes to boot Ubuntu, and then creat 7) with GPARTED
a) If you can access the GRUB shell under an old REFIT/REFIND installation, partitions will be shown by:
grub> ls
Presence of a Linux file system can be confirmed by a command like:
grub> ls (hd0,gpt5)/
Output of
grub > ls (hd0,gpt5)/boot/grub/
should include a grub.cfg file. Then you can boot as usual with
grub > configfile (hd0,gpt5)/boot/grub/grub.cfg
After boot up, start GPARTED
b) Alternatively boot with the Ubuntu install disk, and choose the Demo option
Open a text console, and get admin proviledge with:
$ sudo su
# gparted
Using GPARTED, unmount if necessary any terminal SWAP partition, such as my 6) above
Then shrink the SWAP partition end by a trivial 200 MB,
Create a HFS+ partition in like my 7) for a coming REFIND installation
Note, that a file /etc/fstab contains a SWAP partition specification, which should be edited for automated SWAP start.
# sudo blkid /dev/sda7
will report the SWAP space specs LONG uuid code. This can be copied into memory by dragging the mouse over the uuid
Then SHIFT-CONTROL-C will copy it into memory.   Start an edit with:
$ sudo nano /etc/fstab
delete the old swap uuid, and paste in the replacement with
SHIFT-CONTROl-V
and swap should mount upon reboot, or with:
$ sudo swapon -a
Check with:
$ free
which should report none-zero swap space.

[SOLVED] UEFI system booting from MBR partition table and GRUB legacy

I'm trying to understand once and for all the process by which Arch can be booted from a system with UEFI firmware and an MBR partition table. Some of the information on the wiki seems conflictual / non-nonsensical at times. Apologies in advance if this has been answered time and time again, but I did search around and all I found was fixes to get Arch to boot rather than comprehensive explanations of the boot process.
Now, the way I would imagine it works is that it's just completely identical to the way it would work with a BIOS firmware. The UEFI firmware detects an MBR partitioning scheme (or is configured to know it's an MBR partitioning scheme), activates some "legacy" mode and executes the MBR boot code, just like a BIOS firmware would.
The wiki however, says different. From the Macbook article: "Do not install GRUB onto /dev/sda !!! Doing so is likely to lead to an unstable post-environment."?
So what is there in the MBR boot sector? Nothing?
How does the firmware know what to boot if there's no 0xEF BIOS boot partition and no Grub stage 1 in the MBR boot sector?
Also, how does installing Grub stage 1 to a partition work? Does it have to be at the beginning of the partition? Wouldn't that overwrite some existing data?
I'm especially puzzled since many guides to installing Vista on a macbook recommend simply formatting as MBR, and installing as normal, which I suppose entails having the Windows installation process write its boot code to the MBR, ie the equivalent of installing grub stage 1 to /dev/sda rather than to the /boot partition, as the Macbook article suggests.
Any input is appreciated.
P.S. I realize it's probably simpler, if I just want to dual boot Windows and Arch, to install Windows 7 in UEFI-GPT mode, let it create the EFI System Partition, and then install GRUB 2 to that partition, but I'm still curious about the UEFI-MBR boot process.
Last edited by padavoine (2012-06-06 09:35:10)

padavoine wrote:
CSM in UEFI firmwares do the exact same job as normal BIOS firmware.
So it's something specific to the Mac that it's able to boot from a partition's VBR while ignoring the MBR?
The reason that warning is given is because grub-legacy modifies more than just the MBR boot code region. It can overwrite some parts of GPT header.
Not true, the instruction is given in the context of an MBR format, not in the context of a GPT format, so there's nothing to overwrite and Stage 1.5 should be safely embeddable in the post-MBR gap.
In BIOS boot (normal case in non-UEFI firmwares or CSM in UEFI firmwares) does not read the partitition table (atleast it is supposed to be dumb in this regard), it simply launches whatever boot code exists in the 1st 440-byte of the MBR region.
So again, you're saying it's specific to the Mac UEFI that it lets you choose a partition whose VBR to load, regardless of what's in the MBR?
I haven't used Macs so I can't comment on Mac firmware behaviour. But normal BIOS firmwares (legacy and CSM) launch only the MBR boot code and not the partition boot code. We need some chainload capable boot manager in the MBR to launch the partition VBR.
grub-legacy does not know anything about GPT. So when you install grub-legacy to /dev/sda, it install the MBR boot code (stage1) and stage 1.5 code to the (supposed) post MBR gap. Since there is no actual post MBR gap in GPT (which has been taken over by the header and partition table), grub-legacy does not check for GPT and it assumes the post MBR gap actually exists which is invalid in case of GPT. grub-legacy embeds the stage 1.5 code in GPT header and table region (which grub assumes to be unused post MBR gap) and thus corrupts it.
0xEF is the MBR type code for UEFISYS partition. grub stage 1 (used in grub-legacy, not in grub2) is the 440-byte boot code stored in MBR for use in BIOS boot.
That's precisely my point: with neither proper executable code in the MBR (since grub was installed to a partition, not to the MBR) nor a UEFI system partition, what does the firmware default to, and how does it know what partition to boot from?
In that case it might fallback to UEFI Shell (if it exists) or give an error similar to the case where BIOS does not find any bootable code in 440-byte MBR region.
So even with bootcamp/CSM, the disk also needs to be MBR partitioned. So Macs use something called "Hybrid GPT/MBR" ( http://rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html ) where the MBR table is synced to match the first 3 partitions in the GPT table.
I know what Bootcamp does, and that's not what I was referring to. I was referring to standalone Vista installs. I wasn't puzzled at the fact that they were using MBR, I was puzzled at the fact that contrary to the recommendations for the standalone Arch install on the wiki (with MBR partitioning, not GPT), they didn't do anything to try and prevent Windows from writing to the MBR.
You can't prevent Windows from overwriting the MBR region. You have to re-install the bootloader (grub2/syslinux etc.) after installing Windows. That is the reason why it is recommended to install Windows first and linux later.
Thats not true. I actually find it is much easier to install Windows UEFI-GPT using USB rather than a DVD.
I haven't done it since the only UEFI system I own has no DVD drive, but I was under the impression that it was simply a matter of choosing DVD UEFI boot in the firmware's boot menu.
format the USB as FAT32 and extract the iso to it. That it.
No, thats not it, precisely, it doesn't work out of the box with a standard Windows install USB, you need to fiddle around:
2.3 Extract bootmgfw.efi from [WINDOWS_x86_64_ISO]/sources/install.wim => [INSTALL.WIM]/1/Windows/Boot/EFI/bootmgfw.efi (using 7-zip aka p7zip for both the files), or copy it from C:\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi from a working Windows x86_64 installation.
2.4 Copy the extracted bootmgfw.efi file to [MOUNTPOINT]/efi/microsoft/boot/bootmgfw.efi .
Most of the Windows isos already have /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI file, so no need to extract the bootmgfw.efi file.
There is no difference between in BIOS booting in UEFI firmwares and BIOS booting with legacy firmware.
There has to be a difference, at least in the Mac firmware (sorry, I keep switching), since legacy firmware, AFAIK, cannot chainload a bootloader in a partition's VBR without there being some sort of "stage1" code in the MBR.
No idea about Mac EFI. Apple made a spagetti out of UEFI Spec. To actually understand how Mac firmwares work, read the blog posts by Matthew Garrett of Redhat, about his efforts in getting Fedora to boot in Macs.

Booting from a partitioned drive

I have 1,5 TB drive and want to create 2 partitions. One for cloning using Super Duper and second back up by data files. Is this possible? Because I read that Apple doesn't officially support booting from Apple partition map on Intel Macs and doesn't allow to install the OS X.
Thanks,

Well, after using disc utility, I had a bad luck... kernel panic during the partition. And the computer panics anytime the drive is plugged in. Firewire and USB. I tried my other computer .... the same thing. That means the drive is dead!
Oh Well...
Here is the error:
Wed May 13 09:40:58 2009
panic(cpu 2 caller 0x001F9445): "jnl: mod block start: bufsize 512 not a multiple of block size 4096\n"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228.9.59/bsd/vfs/vfs_journal.c:2282
Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x8d8af2a8 : 0x12b4f3 (0x45b13c 0x8d8af2dc 0x1335e4 0x0)
0x8d8af2f8 : 0x1f9445 (0x46c6e4 0x200 0x1000 0x0)
0x8d8af348 : 0x332a34 (0x9e55d10 0x7ccc7a80 0x0 0x200)
0x8d8af3e8 : 0x33be77 (0xc140004 0x1 0x0 0x8d8af778)
0x8d8af7a8 : 0x33443e (0xc140004 0xa151804 0x0 0x0)
0x8d8af8b8 : 0x335ea6 (0x0 0xb6b0364 0x0 0x0)
0x8d8af9a8 : 0x1f5d9f (0xa97a258 0x1049d8c0 0xbffffdc4 0x0)
0x8d8af9f8 : 0x1df47f (0xa97a258 0x1049d8c0 0xbffffdc4 0x0)
0x8d8aff28 : 0x1dfb40 (0xadb7ba4 0x8d8aff48 0xb6b02a4 0x1)
0x8d8aff78 : 0x3df460 (0xadb7ba4 0xb6b0260 0xb6b02a4 0x0)
0x8d8affc8 : 0x1a0887 (0xb3d97a0 0x0 0x1a30b5 0xa25e640)
No mapping exists for frame pointer
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0xbffffe18
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: mount_hfs
Mac OS version:
9G55
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:37:00 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.9.59~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacPro3,1 (Mac-F42C88C8)
Message was edited by: Girshon Rutstein

Boot from 2nd partition on mini

I have a new mac mini with os x server on it. It has two partitions and I tried to install mac os x onto the other partition so I could boot from that. I have an apple external dvd drive attached to the mini.
Everything went well, it allowed me to install to the partition I wanted. Then when it does a reboot it will not boot with the mac os x disk in the dvd drive and if I take it out it boots back to mac os x server partition. If I hold down the Option Key at the start it does not show me the partition with the os x on it.
Using finder I can see a bunch of pkg files in a folder called Mac OS X install Data on the partition I want to use. Is there a way of getting these to install?
Sorry if this is a dumb question but I am fairly new to macs.
Thanks.

rchealey wrote:
Curiously when you boot from this partition, you get virtually the exact same experience as you do when booting from the recovery partition except that the recovery partition tends to suggest that it will download and install Lion, whereas booting from the partition containing the install doesn't mention download.
That's normal behavior. The Recovery HD only has enough code to go to Apple's servers and DL the installer; whereas, the InstallESD contains everything. Do note, however, that running either will check Apple's servers for additional components, whatever those might be. Thus, Internet access is required to do either.

Boot from second partition on usb hard drive

I have a time machine external usb drive. I have created a second partition of 8GB on this drive and restored OS X Install ESD 10.7.5 to this second partition so that I can easily rebuild if necessary. I would like to be able to boot from this second partition. When I hold down Option key at startup, I see the external drive as an option, but the iMac wants to boot from the Time Machine Backup partition, rather than the Lion Partition. It doesn't give me the choice of the second, bootable partition on this drive. Is it possible to do this?
[Mac 24" early 2009, running 10.7.5 Lion]

rchealey wrote:
Curiously when you boot from this partition, you get virtually the exact same experience as you do when booting from the recovery partition except that the recovery partition tends to suggest that it will download and install Lion, whereas booting from the partition containing the install doesn't mention download.
That's normal behavior. The Recovery HD only has enough code to go to Apple's servers and DL the installer; whereas, the InstallESD contains everything. Do note, however, that running either will check Apple's servers for additional components, whatever those might be. Thus, Internet access is required to do either.

Help: Boot from Tiger partition

Some odd issues on PowerMac Quad running 10.5.1. Any help/advice gratefully received.
Two partitions on the primary drive: Alpha and Tiger-Boot. Alpha is the first partition and is the Leopard boot partition. Tiger-Boot is the second partition - 90Gb - and was cloned from the original Tiger 10.4.11 boot partition before Leopard.
1. SysPref. Startup drives listed as Alpha 10.5.1 and Tiger-Boot 10.4.11.
Choosing Tiger-Boot and restarting doesn't boot from Tiger-Boot but reverts to Alpha. ???
2. Startup holding down <Option> key. Internal Alpha and Tiger-Boot listed but Tiger-Boot cannot be chosen.
3. Startup holding down <Option> key. Internal Alpha and Tiger-Boot listed but not the external drive .... PowerMac refuses to recognize drive as a boot drive but an Intel Mac does. Test was using so this may be the issue here.
4. Decided to reboot from the Tiger Install DVD. Kernel Panic on the gray Apple logo screen just before the rotating spokes logo appears. Completely reproducible even after reseting PRAM (have to go into open Firmware to eject the DVD).
Any thoughts before I spend time on telephone w/Apple?
Thank you.

"...PowerMac refuses to recognize drive as a boot drive but an Intel Mac does..."
USB drive? PPC Macs cannot boot from USB drives regardless of the OS. Also, if the partition "scheme" is not correct, you might not be able to boot any Mac. A PPC Mac needs an "APM" partition and an Intel Mac needs a "GUID" partition. AFAIK, you cannot have both on the same drive.

Can't boot from recovery partition in Mountain Lion

I've installed Mountain Lion on two different boxes so far: a 20" iMac at home and a Mac Mini at work. Both had up to date Lion installations prior to the upgrade. After installing Mountain Lion I am not able to boot in to the recovery partition on either one. Whether I hold down Command-R to go directly to the recovery parittion, or simply hold down Option to get a choice of boot devices, I am taken directly to the login screen.
The recovery partition is there on both boxes, and I can mount it and examine it using 'diskutil' from the command line. I created a USB image of the recovery partition on the iMac, and the Startup Disk control panel allowed be to select it as a boot device, but the box (both boxes, actually; I also tried it on the Mini) booted directly to the login screen.
I honestly don't know whether I could boot to the recovery partition prior to upgrading to Mountatin Lion or not. When I first installed Lion on the iMac I did not get a recovery paritition, but Apple sent me a USB drive and after cleaning up the disk (getting rid of an unused Boot Camp partition) I was able to get a clean install with a functioning recovery paritition. However I never booted from it after confirming that it worked.
Anyone else see anything like this? Or have an idea how to fix it?
- Larry

Ok but you can get the Option key to work.
There is a utility to Rebuild the recovery HD partition.
Look here first.
Removing and rebuilding a malfunctioning Recovery HD partition « Der Flounder
Then in that article a link to download or find the Recovery HD utility on the Apple website.
But that was originally for Lion. So you may have to rebuild the Lion R-HD then Reinstall Mt Lion over the top of your current install of Mt Lion for it to make the Mt Lion R-HD.
Depending on the age of your Mac's you may also be able to use the Online (Internet) Recovery HD system. To get to that with a R-HD partition on the system, even if that R-HD partition sin't working, you hold down Command+Option+r keys when starting the system (And yes with the USB keyboard attached).

Macbook Pro doesn't boot from hard disk

I recently applied an open firmware password to our Macbook Pro.
A co-worker tried to boot via the t-funtion which obviously doesn't work when the open firmware password is active. He forget to contact me so he tried to get it to work using some startup shortcuts. The folowing he had done:
* starting up while holding shift;
* starting up while holding command + option + P + R;
* having the accu out for a while
* starting up while holding shift and let the Mac on for a night
It seems that starting up from the Macintosh HD seems somehow blocked. THe system hangs on the Apple grey splashscreen with the loading icon turning.
I tried the following:
* Tried resetting PRAM using Option + Command + P + R (didn't hear any chimes);
* Trying to reset Open Firmware Password using Option + Command + O + F (nothing happens)
The most promising solution came when holding down the Option key: I got the lock and entered my Open Firmware Password. I was able to boot from the install disc. In the disc utility I verified the hard disk and repaired some permissions. I didn't get error messages. THen I used the startup utility and selected the hard drive as startup disk.
But when I restart the computer, it still hangs on the splash screen. So for now i've run out of ideas.
Message was edited by: StefSOFT
Message was edited by: StefSOFT

With intel Mac they changed to EFI firmware so a lot has changed. From reading this I think if you can get to install disk utilities then why not uncheck +Require password to change Open Firmware settings+ on Firmware Password Utility and that should free up the troubleshooting steps you list above that are blocked. Reinstall of OSX seems logical to attempt. Sadly without further testing could be hardware issue too, need to contact apple authorized service provider in this eventuality. One thing to bear in mind was whether your co-worker altered the firmware in any way, this might invalidate Apple One-Year Limited Warranty, AppleCare Protection Plan, or other AppleCare agreement.

Can't boot from Windows partition or any external drives...?

My iMac just stopped booting from both my boot camp partition, and any external drives. I tried booting from a bootable flashdrive with drive genius installed, but it just booted OS X. Despite holding TAB, it just boots normally, as if I wasnt even holding it. I also tried installing rEFit, but OS X still ignores it and just boots normally. What's going on?!

...wow....nevermind, i just realized that i was hitting tab not option...good lord...ive been running boot camp for a long time too...alright well...thanks anyway lol

Bootcamp Win7 - won't boot from Windows partition or even from the Win7 install DVD

Late 2011 Mac Mini / Lion / Win 7 64-bit Home Premium.
Incumbent Windows partition has happily run for heavy gaming (World of Warcraft) for some eight months. Now it stops on boot-up before the Windows logo is displayed, with a very dark blue blank screen. Attempts to boot from the Windows Install DVD yield the same result, portending that there is more than a corrupt MBR at work here. I have reset PRAM and SMC, just for good measure. There have been no recent changes to hardware / peripherals.
Rebuilding the Windows partition with Bootcamp stops at same Dark Blue Screen of Death. Will start Windows sometimes from first switch-on / dead cold Mini, but then not again in the same day. OS X Lion mode runs perfectly, booting up as usual with no quirks or delays.
Hardware? Seems unlikely, except for that suspicion of starting from the dead-cold start.

Do not use a USB3 flash drive. Only USB2 flash drives are supported by Windows installers. Depending on whether your Mac came with a built-in Optical drive or not, you may also need a physical DVD.
Please see How to install Windows using Boot Camp - Apple Support and Boot Camp 5.1: Frequently asked questions - Apple Support.

Macbook Pro won't boot from any partition, at all

I tried updating an Early 2008 Intel-based Macbook pro to a clean install of Mavericks with a bootable USB drive, once in the startup manager, it would show the USB as an "EFI BOOT". and trying to access the EFI BOOT just gives me a prohibited sign
The boot copy of Mavericks was installed with Disk Utility, so it shouldn't have had any problems.
So I thought, "I'll completely erase the HD and try again". Did that, and still, "EFI BOOT".
Next thing I did was ditch the USB method, and go for brute force, booted the Mac in Target Disk Mode, and through firewire I was able to install Mavericks into the HD of that Mac, using my brother's Early 2008 intel-based Macbook pro. The clean install worked, it made the recovery partition with no problem. Next thing I know, upon booting the laptop, after restarting it from Target Disk Mode, the darn computer decides to give me the "no boot device found" dreaded Question-Mark-on-a-folder sign. So I restarted the thing to the Startup Manager, and both partitions showed up, I tried both partitions, and no luck, same Question Mark Sign-Thing, not even the recovery booted.
So on target disk mode again, I made 2 partitions, one with a bootable mavericks EDM, and the other one, free space, Mac OS Journaled, ready for the OS installation. So that it would install it by itself, to itself. Upon restarting and accessing the Startup Manager, the bootable partition I had created, was seen, but clicking on it would just give me the question mark.
I shrank the partition on the other macbook to make a bootable firewire device on the other mac, and that partition also said "EFI BOOT" when clicked on.
I burned a recovery DVD to boot from it, and it won't boot from it. Every time I try to boot from something, all I get is the question-mark-on-a-folder-sign.
I disassembled the laptop, got the HD out, tried installing straight into it via USB, and was not able to access it using an external HD case, the power light comes on, and right back off.
PRAM and SMC have been Reset.
any ideas?

When I removed it, it was to install mavericks into it, via usb, with the other macbook, through disk utility, but disk utility was unable to read it then.
And yes, I am able to boot from that HD, on the other macbook, either through firewire or USB... I've verified that it is working fine, no sounds, no clicks, no scratching noises.

Mac doesn't boot from start volume - blinking folder with question mark

Hi,
my iMac with Snow Leopard 10.6.6 issn't booting anymore from the Hard Drive. It shows a blinking folder with a question mark. After starting, before the folder appears, I hear a two or three times "clack" sound with a following silent speed down of a fan.
So I started from the installation DVD. On the "Choose Startup Disk" Menu there appears only the DVD and network. In Terminal by using "df" i only see my external Hard Disk, the DVD, and some /private/var folders. By listing the "/Volumes" directory only the external disk and the DVD appear.
I tried to restore a Time Machine backup from the external disk. After choosing the backup in the dialog "Select for Destination" it says "Searching for disks" but it doesn't find any after waiting some minutes. It also shows "This disk does not have enough space to restore your system" but there issn't any disk selected.
For me it looks like the Hard Drive with my system is dead. Does anybody has another idea what I can try?

unfortunately I can't start the single user mode. It is always booting from the installation DVD. I tried mouse clicked at boot to eject it, but it doesn't work. Also I can't come to the Startup Volume menu by holding the option key. I always come to the installation menu. There I can't eject the disk from Disk Utility, because it is working on it. I also can't eject it using the eject key on the keyboard in the Startup Disk menu. From the Terminal I can't access my Hard Disk from /Volumes and therefore also can't access my user's home directory.

Satellite P25-607 - Doesn't boot from recovery CD

My situation, I am trying to return my computer P25-607 to "new" condition using the Recovery CD.
My problem is, the BIOS does not seem to recognize the CD drive.
In Bios (version 1.8) it shows boot order of
1) CD
2) Removable Media
3) +HDD
4) Network Boot
The only one that is expandable and populated with a device is the Hard Drive.
The CD/DVD drive works under windows XP.
I can open the setup program select the option for an as new install, the program then reboots the computer.
I am presuming it is trying to boot to the CD but it does not, I am guessing because the BIOS is not "seeing" a CD Drive.
I have tried putting the files from the CD on to an external USB HDD (which the bios does see) and using that to install but that didnt work.
I tried to update to a newer bios 2.1 in the hope that it may recognize the drive but to install the bios requires an Floppy drive or Bootable CD drive, I have neither.
So.
Any ideas for a work around?
I have available to me an external Hard Drive enclosure, other laptops WinXP and Win7, one desktop (not sure if it has a floppy drive in it, and I am not at home right now so cant check), I also have partition magic, and the P25 is currently bootable into a very slow laggy virus infested windows XP media center edition.
Just thinking out loud.
If the desktop had a floppy, would it be possible rig it up as an external floppy using the usb hard drive enclosure?
Or how about pull the CD/DVD drive out and put it in the USB external enclosure.....
I have read this thread: http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=53138
But there has to be an easier way, because my comp is bootable into XP and has a functioning CD/DVD drive it is just not bootable.
Any Ideas would be appreciated.
Message was edited by: FreeFlyFreak
EDIT:
http://laptopforums.toshiba.com/t5/General-Technology/cannot-boot-from-cd-dvd-drive/td-p/8863
OK this thread gives me hope, a similar problem with a solution in post number 5, it sounds like he was able to boot from an external cd drive using the recovery CD and then reimage the drive from there by putting the disk into the internal drive.
Message was edited by: FreeFlyFreak

OK I solved my own problem.
If anyone has this problem in the future try my solution.
You need an external USB floppy drive, a floppy disk and the files contained from this link (RAR file needs expanding)
[http://www.mediafire.com/file/3ioz2mwwe0g/Toshiba restore boot floppy.rar]
Make floppy bootable, put files on floppy.
Set boot order to CD > Floppy> HD > Network.
Boot from floppy, with restore CD in drive.
IMPORTANT. At each computer reboot, reset boot order as shown above.
The computer will reboot approx 3 times, each time reset boot order to CD FDD HD Netwk
Eventually on approx the 4th time the computer will boot from the CD and start Ghosting the drive using the recovery CD.
At that point remove the FDD.
After ghosting the computer will reboot and boot from the HDD as a clean install.

BE6000 Boot from SCU Partition on Flexfalsh to run server diagnostics.

Hey,
I notice that the BE6000s have the "Onboard SCU Storage Support" BIOS option is set to "Disabled" making it impossible to boot from the Flexflash SCU partition to run diagnostics before deployment. If I set this to "Enabled", run my diagnostics, and then set it back to "Disabled" am I breaking some special "BE Rule"? Or is it recommended that I download the latest version of the SCU ISO and boot using the KVM virtual media?
Thanks,
Joey

Always good to state on the latest FW and no you not breaking any it is good to make sure all is 100%
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GRUB2 doesn't boot from HFS+ partition

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