Air-Boot failure message "Load Error!" when startup Ubuntu

[jwl]

Good Afternoon,

On my PC I have installed on disk 1 Windows 7 and EcomStation 2.2, I have a second disk for Archive, and now I installed a third disk 250GB, where I installed Ubuntu, this disk I have a Primary partition from 50 Gb (/) and a logical partition 186 (/home) end the rest for the swap file. I reinstalled with ecomstation air-boot but when I chose Linux i get the failure "Load Error! Iḿ still able to choose for W7 and Ecomstation. I can only start linux when I chose in the bios the disk with Linux to start up

I hope you can help, in the manual on page 28 I worked out the steps to replace Grub, also I repaired Grub then what was described on page 28 isn the solution for me. After that I had to reinstall Ubuntu.

Thanks already for suggestions

[Ben Rietbroek]

Hi jwl,

Let's first get your current situation clear:

The disks are as follows:
disk 1-> win7 and ecs
disk 2-> archive, no operating system
disk 3-> linux ubuntu

AirBoot is installed on disk 1.
BIOS boots disk 1.
AirBoot can boot win7 and ecs but fails with "load error" on ubuntu (disk 3).
You can boot ubuntu when you set BIOS to boot from disk 3.

Please first acknowledge the above interpretation of the situation.

I assume the "load error" is from AirBoot.
In that case it is unable to chainload Grub for some reason.
If the "load error" is from Grub, then it cannot find your linux partition.

Either way, we probably need to reinstall Grub, so have your linux install
cd ready. And let me know which version of ubuntu you are using.

Laters,

Ben.

[jwl]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for your reaction. I will try to answer in the best way, so as follow:

In Windows the disks are: Disk 0 Archive, no os (/dev/sdb

Disk 1 Ubuntu (disk in partitions see first message) (/dev/sd1)
Disk 2 Air-boot, Win 7 and eCs (/dev/sda)

The version from Ubuntu is the 14.04.1 and withe the other install I chosed for the loader the disc from Ubuntu /dev/sd1

I can start up Ubuntu by pressing F8 (Boot menu Asus M488AT-V EVO) and chose the disk from Ubuntu. To start up Windows or eComstation I wait for Air-boot and enter the system i want to boot. In airboot I see the linux partition.

Thanks for helping mee,

Best regards Wim

[Ben Rietbroek]

Replying to jwl:

Hi Ben,

Thanks for your reaction. I will try to answer in the best way, so as follow:

In Windows the disks are: Disk 0 Archive, no os (/dev/sdb

Why do you put /dev/sdb in braces when talking about Windows ?
Windows does not use /dev/sd? names and if you are refering to what
DFSee says, then the above makes no sense because Disk 0 is the
equivalent of /dev/sda in Linux terms and not /dev/sdb.

Disk 1 Ubuntu (disk in partitions see first message) (/dev/sd1)

This also makes no sense to me.
The term /dev/sd1 is not a partition because it misses the disk letter. So I gues you made a typo.
It is *very* important you do not make such typo's if we are going to reinstall Grub,
because typing 'a' instead of 'b' will select a different disk most probably overwriting
important data like partition tables.

Disk 2 Air-boot, Win 7 and eCs (/dev/sda)

Again, the Linux equivalent for the third disk is /dev/sdc and not /dev/sda.

Also note that /dev/sda refers to the first disk and /dev/sda1 to the first partition
on that disk. And what is the first disk is dependent on what you fiddle in the BIOS
when selecting another boot-disk and how the BIOS handles the number and ordering
of the remaining disks. And even Grub can reorder depending on how it is configured.

The version from Ubuntu is the 14.04.1 and withe the other install I chosed for the loader the disc from Ubuntu /dev/sd1

Again /dev/sd1 is a non-existant Linux device !

I can start up Ubuntu by pressing F8 (Boot menu Asus M488AT-V EVO) and chose the disk from Ubuntu. To start up Windows or eComstation I wait for Air-boot and enter the system i want to boot. In airboot I see the linux partition.

Ok, first we are *NOT* going to fiddle with this BIOS disk selection.
And to avoid numbering confusion I am going to talk about the FIRST, SECOND and THIRD disk.

We are going to use the following order:
FIRST disk -> AirBoot/Win7/eCS
SECOND disk -> Archive Disk -- NOT BOOTABLE, NO OS
THIRD disk -> Ubuntu

So if your BIOS has an option to order the disks, then order them as above.
If it has not, then boot the FIRST disk, the one with AirBoot/Win7/eCS end then
at the AirBoot press ESC to turn off the timer if it is enabled.

Then insert the Ubuntu install cd and press ctrl-alt-del and boot from the Ubuntu live cd.
Make sure you do not accidently boot from harddisk, especially not from the SECOND or THIRD
disk because that might reorder disks in BIOS.

When booted from the live CD open a terminal and maximize its window.
At the $ prompt give the following commands:
fdisk -l > layout.dsk
blkid >> layout.dsk

Now insert a usb stick and copy the file called layout.dsk to the usb stick.
It is in /home/ubuntu I guess.
You can then shutdown the live session.

Then mail the layout.dsk file to: rousseau.ecsdev-at-gmail.com

Thanks for helping mee,

Best regards Wim

It is essential you understand the difference between /dev/sda and /dev/sda1
/dev/sda refers to the *whole* disk while /dev/sda1 refers to the first partition on that disk.
Wanting to install something on /dev/sda1 (partition) but mistakingly typing /dev/sda (disk)
is analogus to wanting to redecorate a room but you mistakenly redecorate the whole house.

When I receive the layout.dsk file I'll see if I can write a script you can execute under the live
Ubuntu cd to reinstall Grub so chainloading Grub from AirBoot will work.

I think the problem is that Grub is configured for Ubuntu being on the FIRST disk, which is true
when booting that disk directly from BIOS but not true when AirBoot is booted from BIOS.
That's why we want a fixed disk order so we can install Grub with the correct configuration.

Tip:
If you want a Linux version with a more conventional Desktop, then try Linux Mint Cinnamon.
​http://www.linuxmint.com/
​http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2714
These are also live cd's so you can see what Mint Cinnamon is like without having to install it.

Regards,

Ben.

[Ben Rietbroek]

* This issue is assumed to be fixed *

There is a new release of AiR-BOOT which should fix this issue.
It can be downloaded here: ​https://github.com/rousseaux/netlabs.air-boot/releases

If this specific issue is *not* fixed, then please create a *new* ticket
here, ​http://trac.netlabs.org/air-boot/newticket, describe the problem you
are experiencing and insert a *reference* to this issue if you think it is
related.

Happy booting,

Ben.