Bug 700208 - Live CD Tools Live USB and Macbook Pro
Summary: Live CD Tools Live USB and Macbook Pro
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED INSUFFICIENT_DATA
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: livecd-tools
Version: 14
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Other
unspecified
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Brian Lane
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2011-04-27 19:16 UTC by gareth foster
Modified: 2011-12-21 22:17 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2011-12-21 22:17:28 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)


Links
System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Red Hat Bugzilla 693635 0 unspecified CLOSED Intel Mac and Live USB 2021-02-22 00:41:40 UTC

Internal Links: 693635

Description gareth foster 2011-04-27 19:16:53 UTC
Description of problem:
Hi,

See here for starters.

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=693635

Having followed the advice there, I set up a F14 Virtual Box, and made the Live USB stick.

It didn't seem to work though, and I couldn't boot from the stick. Again, see the other bug for details.

Comment 1 Brian Lane 2011-04-27 20:01:24 UTC
What does the directory tree on the USB look like? Is /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.efi present?

Comment 2 gareth foster 2011-04-27 20:07:03 UTC
I plugged it in just now, Finder says ...

"The disk you inserted is not readable by this computer".

Is that bad?

Comment 3 Brian Lane 2011-04-27 21:09:22 UTC
Yes.

Comment 4 gareth foster 2011-04-27 21:11:18 UTC
Okay, did I do something wrong, or are the instructions wrong on that other bug? Can this work through VirtualBox? Is there anything else I can do/check?

Comment 5 Brian Lane 2011-04-27 23:00:44 UTC
Those instructions should at least produce a readable usb stick. It may or may not work, depending on which Mac you have. I have no idea if it will work from VirtualBox. Does it show up as a valid device in VirtualBox?

Comment 6 gareth foster 2011-04-28 07:11:20 UTC
Yeah, it was mounted in OSX, so I unmounted it from there, then selected it in VirtualBox to make it available to F14, which then mounted it automatically. I ran the scripts on the other bug, and they reported as having worked.

Maybe I'll be able to see what's on it from the F14 VirtualBox?

Comment 7 Julio Biason 2011-05-02 13:00:57 UTC
Just to add something here, as I'm trying to do the same: I downloaded the Fedora 15 live CD and created the liveusb using livecd-tools in a Fedora 13 machine (my work computer).

The process completed without any issues. Once plugin the USB on the Mac, I also got the message that the disk was not readable. I ignored the message, rebooted with Alt pressed to show the system selection options (basically, Apple version of Grub) and the USB was shown there. Selecting it shows the USB grub (the real one this time) with a message saying that the system would boot up after 10 seconds. After those 10 seconds, the system freezes completely.

Just adding this here. Maybe the problem is actually the boot up sequence or (guessing) related with the "unreadable" problem (again, pure guess: Since OS X can't read it, maybe grub is also having issues reading the contents?)

Comment 8 gareth foster 2011-05-02 19:56:48 UTC
Hi,

Your problem sounds totally different to be fair, I'm using rEFIt, it doesn't sound like you are?

Comment 9 gareth foster 2011-05-02 19:57:44 UTC
That said, finding any old way to boot Fedora from USB on a Macbook would do for me  :)

Comment 10 Julio Biason 2011-05-02 21:12:51 UTC
(In reply to comment #8)
> Your problem sounds totally different to be fair, I'm using rEFIt, it doesn't
> sound like you are?

Actually no, I'm using the livecd-tools to create the LiveUSB from Fedora 15, nothing else. I guess the difference is that I'm using a Linux box to create the image instead of VirtualBox... erm... "box" ;)

I still have the "unreadable" message, though.

Comment 11 Brian Lane 2011-05-03 18:03:41 UTC
I'm not sure what's going on with the unreadable message, but the freeze is because the current F13 version of livecd-iso-to-disk doesn't understand the new f15 layout with only an initrd and no stage2.

Please try using this version - https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/livecd-tools-13.2-1.fc13 and leave feedback if it works.

Comment 12 Julio Biason 2011-05-04 20:08:26 UTC
Same results here: I updated livecd-tools (and python-imgcreate) on my Fedora 13, recreated the LiveUSB using the Fedora 15 LiveCD image; OS X still complains that it can't read the contents in the USB; booting shows grub but grub can't boot the system.

Comment 13 Brian Lane 2011-05-04 20:36:58 UTC
How big is the gptmbr.bin file? On F14 mine looks like this:

-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 440 Aug 23  2010 /usr/share/syslinux/gptmbr.bin

There was a change in syslinux (I'm not sure when) so that it can be dd'd directly to the device. If the version you have is too long it could overwrite the partition table, resulting in grub booting but not being able to see the partitions.

Comment 14 Julio Biason 2011-05-04 21:03:22 UTC
Ok, I'm seriously confused now.

On my Fedora 13, the gptmbr.bin is only 424 bytes large. On the Fedora 15 I have on a VirtualBox (working without acceleration, which is the whole thing that brought me to try to create a LiveUSB), it have 440 bytes.

Checking the USB produced some weird results: First, there are two partitions there. The first one seems to be the /boot partition (no gptmbr.bin there). The second partition seems to be an Ubuntu image I tried to use without success.

Now, I thought anything on the USB would be removed when the --format option was on (the livecd-iso-to-disk also said it would install a new mbr, which I think would destroy any partitioning in it). I'll try to remove that partition (not sure how yet) and I'll try again.

Comment 15 Brian Lane 2011-05-04 22:31:58 UTC
well, shorter is better :) That's not the problem then. gptmbr.bin gets written to the first sector of the device, so you won't see it on the filestatem. There should only be 1 partition (a vfat partition) on the USB.

Comment 16 Julio Biason 2011-05-05 15:53:18 UTC
Ok, two tests today:

First, I used the OS X tool to completely erase the USB (which I *hope* removes the partition and everything else). After that, I tried (on the Fedora 13 box -- updated livecd tools):

sudo livecd-iso-to-disk --format --efi ./Fedora-15-Beta-x86_64-Live-Desktop.iso /dev/sdb

to create the LiveUSB for the OS X again. Again, same results: Grub shows up, I can press a key to select boot options but, once I selected anything, the boot process just stops.

Just out of the blue, I tried to boot Fedora 15 (using the GNOME3-Live-latest image from the gnome3.org site) using the LiveUSB. For that, I did:

sudo livecd-iso-to-disk --format ./GNOME30-Live-latest.iso /dev/sdb

Obviously, it didn't boot 'cause the MBR was still with the old information (and silly me for not getting that first). Before I realized what I did wrong, I downloaded the i686 version of the Fedora 15 Live CD. This time, I did

sudo livecd-iso-to-disk --format --reset-mbr ./Fedora-15-Beta-i686-Live-Desktop.iso /dev/sdb

The final result is that the work computer (an Athlon 64 X2) locks up before even showing Grub.

Comment 17 Brian Lane 2011-05-05 20:25:03 UTC
I don't know what's going on with your setup, I just confirmed that the latest F13 version works fine for me. I plug it into my macbook and reboot and it boots it without any intervention.

Comment 18 gareth foster 2011-05-07 16:59:14 UTC
For my part on this one, I tried it again in VirtualBox, and I noted that there was a LIVE disk mounted in Fedora after the tool had run. It then seems that when I try and eject it, no matter what I do, when I try and view it in OSX after unmounting, it's unreadable. If I go back to Fedora, it's still unreadable.

It's almost like it's failing to "commit" the changes to the USB stick properly.

VirtualBox bug? No idea, very annoying. It really is a git not having a working CD drive!

Comment 19 Baif 2011-05-09 09:42:28 UTC
Hi All, when you trying to load LiveCD on new MBP (i3 i5 i7), it seems that the boot camp or rEFIt supports/loads bootx64.efi ONLY.

You might copy the bootx64.efi from x64 CD, and copy your boot.conf to bootx64.conf in EFI directory.

PS: I haven't successfully run LiveCD with USB (Alpha nor Beta) on my MBP with i5.

Comment 20 Baif 2011-05-09 09:43:08 UTC
I think you might request for adding x64 EFI to i386 LiveCD/Install CDs.

Comment 21 Brian Lane 2011-05-09 15:45:09 UTC
EFI is 64 bit only. There is no utility in adding it to i386 based DVDs.

Let's try to keep this bug on topic though.

At this point it sounds to me like there is a problem with VirtualBox and the USB stick.


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