Help with HDD. Is it a Partitioning Problem?

[Qqmike]

... and, just to be clear, neither one of your laptops will boot up properly if the "bad" HDD is in it, right?

[Qqmike]

As I suspected: running UEFI with a MBR (or some hybrid) (not a GPT).

Is there anything I can do with Gdisk, Testdisk, or Fdisk to fix this?

-- fix what, exactly?

By switching the boot mode to Legacy, I can boot from a liveCD. I'll toy with it and run some tests with the suspect HDD plugged into the broken laptop.

Problem is, it seems to be the bad HDD -- it is the show-stopper for this "bad" laptop. Running Boot repair can also present problems. It should be run in UEFI mode, 64-bit (since your PC runs that way); if you boot in Legacy mode to try to fool Boot Repair, you might have a problem -- it might fool you back with some legacy fix that you don't want.

The problem is: if you replace the bad HDD into the bad laptop and boot up, there's an issue, right? Even though the bad laptop seems to boot OK without the bad HDD in it.

[technomancer]

I put the broken laptop back together (minus the suspect hard drive, with is still connected to my spare computer), and it does turn on. I tried to boot a liveCD from it, but the option to select a boot media cannot be found.

By switching the boot mode to Legacy, I can boot from a liveCD. I'll toy with it and run some tests with the suspect HDD plugged into the broken laptop.

[technomancer]

The $64000 question. The only thing I can think of at the moment is to run SMART for a longer test.


I'm not sure if a computer needs a hard drive to boot up -- I don't think it does, I think it will boot from a USB flash drive or CD/DVD running "live." I have built a new PC where the hard drive was attached by nothing on it, from the factory; it booted fine; recently I detached my drives to boot up and clear the CMOS--no problem. The "BIOS" or UEFI firmware would check for a HDD, not find one, and simply continue to boot up to whatever media is there.

You can try to boot the suspect computer to see if it WILL turn on. Maybe the power supply is gone or shaky. The suspect HDD is back in the suspect computer now, right? You could try booting without the HDD; then with the HDD -- but see my 2nd to last sentence below: You wouldn't want to mess around and cause further damage and lose data that you need.

I put the broken laptop back together (minus the suspect hard drive, with is still connected to my spare computer), and it does turn on. I tried to boot a liveCD from it, but the option to select a boot media cannot be found.

t's as if you may be booting by UEFI but with the legacy MBR (not the GPT). Again, though, it's all moot because your system did once work OK.

When I booted my bad computer (using it's battery alone - the battery's fine) and entered the boot settings (by pressing F12), here's what I see:

Boot Manager (after I press F12):



What I see when I select "Enter Setup:"



And what I see when I return to the Boot Manager's main screen, and select "Change Boot Setting:"



^^^The above results are from the first time I powered my broken laptop since Saturday. My suspect harddrive has been plugged into my spare laptop ever since.

Is there anything I can do with Gdisk, Testdisk, or Fdisk to fix this?

Thanks,
TM

[Qqmike]

I just looked and the people I know who might have ideas have looked at this thread -- except for one, so far.

[Qqmike]

What next?

The $64000 question. The only thing I can think of at the moment is to run SMART for a longer test.

I too am beginning to wonder if the problem began with something besides the hard drive. When I first tried to turn it on, the most I'd get was an occasional, single, glimmer of the power light. I honestly don't think my bootup would last enough to boot from a live CD.

I'm not sure if a computer needs a hard drive to boot up -- I don't think it does, I think it will boot from a USB flash drive or CD/DVD running "live." I have built a new PC where the hard drive was attached by nothing on it, from the factory; it booted fine; recently I detached my drives to boot up and clear the CMOS--no problem. The "BIOS" or UEFI firmware would check for a HDD, not find one, and simply continue to boot up to whatever media is there.

You can try to boot the suspect computer to see if it WILL turn on. Maybe the power supply is gone or shaky. The suspect HDD is back in the suspect computer now, right? You could try booting without the HDD; then with the HDD -- but see my 2nd to last sentence below: You wouldn't want to mess around and cause further damage and lose data that you need.

A dead battery could mess things up, I would think. For one thing, the CMOS needs electical juice, right?

Boot Repair and GParted are not seeing it as we would want it to be seen! Again, I'm a little suspicious of the filesystem and how that thing is set up. It doesn't seem to be a regular, normal set up I'm used to, it "looks" complicated, BUT, again, it DID once work OK. gdisk, GParted, and now Boot Repair isn't seeing the whole deal as you'd expect it to be seen. Yet, you used a live DVD to look into the filesystem of Kubuntu (e.g., /usr/lib/grub).

there were tabs to set advanced options for GRUB too, but the tabs were grayed out.

Yeah, and those advance tabs include things about GRUB like "re-install GRUB."

It's as if you may be booting by UEFI but with the legacy MBR (not the GPT). Again, though, it's all moot because your system did once work OK.

I think TestDisk gave a brief message, like "bad sector." Though SMART didn't detect what we think of as bad sectors in the hardware. Just wondering if there is a "bad sector" (hardware or software-wise), if that is up front, like at the MBR, that would throw things off. Again, who knows.

Do you have backups of important data (on Windows and Kubuntu)? You wouldn't want to mess around and cause further damage and lose data that you need.

I'm just not sure.

[technomancer]

Would your spare computer boot from that suspect HDD?

Why did you remove the HDD from the first computer (the one with the problem) and put it in your spare computer? What happens if you return the suspect HDD to the first computer? will it boot up? will the first computer boot to a live DVD/CD (while the suspect HDD is hooked up to it)?

(TestDisk mentions "bad" GPT etc.. but gdisk is not even seeing it as a GPT (GPT Not present). "Now for the Gdisk Partition table:" there is none to list!)

My spare computer will not boot from it. My old one is in pieces (I yearn for the days when you only had to remove 1 screw to remove the hard drive, not 32 screws, the back, the keyboard, the motherboard....).

ee Indication that this legacy MBR is followed by an EFI header
https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitio...ypes-1.htmlNot really helpful.I don't think it matters how this was set up. The WinRETools, PBR image, the ee ID, all make sense (if you chase it down to figure it out, kind of unusual nowadays, but understandable). It does appear that you have a standard legacy MBR, not a GPT. But that doesn't help understand why all of a sudden this HDD is not booting.Boot Repair, as I've said, might--at least--say something helpful about this mess.(Or ... could it be some other hardware issue with this original suspect computer?)

I too am beginning to wonder if the problem began with something besides the hard drive. When I first tried to turn it on, the most I'd get was an occasional, single, glimmer of the power light. I honestly don't think my bootup would last enough to boot from a liveCD.

Also, new information: Before the failure, I closed the lid to put Kubuntu into sleep mode, and I left it for a couple days. If the battery died, would that screw it up?

I tried boot repair from a liveUSB. It did not detect the HDD when I tried to specify which volume to repair. I cannot give you a screenshot (there was no photoediting software packaged with Boot-repair-disk), but I can tell you that, in the Advanced Options, there was an MBR tab that gave me two options:

"Restore MBR of: [make a selection]"
and
"Partition booted by MBR [make a selection]"

Neither option listed my bad HDD. I ran it anyway, and GParted still says it has no partition table, and is made up of unallocated space.

Also, there were tabs to set advanced options for GRUB too, but the tabs were grayed out.

What next?

Thanks,
TM

[Qqmike]

Reading the Post #1 again ... did the power supply fail? Of course, the HDD is a prime suspect, but so far it has passed SMART quick tests (maybe try the longer tests? ). Memory is (usually) another suspect.

[Qqmike]

ee Indication that this legacy MBR is followed by an EFI header

https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitio...ypes-1.htmlNot really helpful.I don't think it matters how this was set up. The WinRETools, PBR image, the ee ID, all make sense (if you chase it down to figure it out, kind of unusual nowadays, but understandable). It does appear that you have a standard legacy MBR, not a GPT. But that doesn't help understand why all of a sudden this HDD is not booting.Boot Repair, as I've said, might--at least--say something helpful about this mess.(Or ... could it be some other hardware issue with this original suspect computer?)

[Qqmike]

Would your spare computer boot from that suspect HDD?

Why did you remove the HDD from the first computer (the one with the problem) and put it in your spare computer? What happens if you return the suspect HDD to the first computer? will it boot up? will the first computer boot to a live DVD/CD (while the suspect HDD is hooked up to it)?

(TestDisk mentions "bad" GPT etc.. but gdisk is not even seeing it as a GPT (GPT Not present). "Now for the Gdisk Partition table:" there is none to list!)

[technomancer]

I think I don't understand--am not familiar with--the filesystem.

    Device Boot      Start         End     
Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdb1   *      
 [B]2048  1953525166[/B]   976761559+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

HPFS, exFAT.

Start & End => 1 TB = the entire HDD? -->
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, bytes

I think someone who knows the filesystem may have to have a look here.

gdisk does not see it as a GPT. I think we should accept that fact. That's how it was before, and that is OK.


No, nothing to do. It means wit would covert the MBR to a GPT for you--IF YOU WISH--but there's no room left at the end of the new GPT for the "secondary" partition table (which is a backup partition table for a GPT). It looks to me like there's no room left because all the room is used by sdb1: 1000204885504 bytes or so. So, no, don't delete anything, the issue is not relevant here.

TestDisk sees something similar to the above.

Then there's the Quick Intel scan:
Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB and that's confusing because of the sdc? and 500 GB? (not 1 TB?, as above)

All of a sudden, what is this sdc? not sdb? I don't think I understand the filesystem.

Is it a UEFI? Hard to tell! Where is the ESP? Where are the GRUB-EFI files? and so on.

But, this whole thing -- whatever it is -- was working before, then it quit working, according to Post #1. Now what to do?

I'm not sure. This makes you want to start totally from scratch, BUT there are definitely risks to doing that, of course.

If you had a live CD with Boot Repair on it, you could run it just to see what it would do and tell you.

Then you said:
When I print the partition table in Gdisk, I get this: etc.

But there's only one partition listed? and it is almost 1 TB? = the entire HDD? There should be MANY partitions on this disk--for Windows, for Linux.

We need someone who understands the filesystem you've used here to look at this. I'm really missing something big here.

Aw, heck. I shut my computer down to keep it from overheating. When I turned it back on, it switched the drive letter for my 1TB backup hardrive with my broken one.

So, here we go again.

THE ACTUAL RESULTS FOR MY BROKEN HDD

Gdisk:

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo gdisk /dev/sdcGPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.7


Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: not present


Creating new GPT entries.

Now for the Gdisk Partition table:

Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 122096646 sectors, 465.8 GiB
Logical sector size: 4096 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 5F58E782-7FD7-4B40-82F8-C573FDD60BD7
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 6, last usable sector is 122096640
Partitions will be aligned on 256-sector boundaries
Total free space is 122096635 sectors (465.8 GiB)


Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name

And Fdisk:

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc
Note: sector size is 4096 (not 512)


Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7600 cylinders, total 122096646 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 4096 = 4096 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3956b6f3


   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1               1   976773167  3907092668   ee  GPT

------
ALSO....

Here's what I get if I run TestDisk, and select Intel partition (what it auto detected):

Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 7600 255 63Current partition structure:
     Partition                  Start        End    Size in sectors


 1 P EFI GPT                  0   0  2 60801  80 63  976773167


Bad relative sector.

No partition is bootable

With a quick Intel scan:

 Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 7600 255 63     Partition               Start        End    Size in sectors
>  HPFS - NTFS             10 168 31    18 119 37     125440 [WINRETOOLS]
   HPFS - NTFS             18 119 38  3911 136  1   62542080 [OS]
   HPFS - NTFS           3911 136  2  3918 179 37     115200
   Linux Swap            3918 179 38  4058 193 39    2249984
   Linux                 4058 193 40  4525 156 47    7500032
   Linux                 4525 156 48  7394  59 25   46084352
   HPFS - NTFS           7394  59 26  7399 206 39      89600

   HPFS - NTFS           7399 206 40  7600  41 57    3218688 [PBR Image]

If I run Testdisk to search for an "EFI GPT" partition, here's what I get:

Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 7600 255 63Current partition structure:
     Partition                  Start        End    Size in sectors


Bad GPT partition, invalid signature.
Trying alternate GPT
Bad GPT partition, invalid signature.

And after a quick search:

Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 7600 255 63     Partition               Start        End    Size in sectors
>P MS Data                   171264     296703     125440 [WINRETOOLS]
 P MS Data                   296704   62838783   62542080 [OS]
 P MS Data                 62838784   62953983     115200
 P Linux Swap              62953984   65203965    2249982
 P MS Data                 65203968   72703999    7500032
 P MS Data                 72704000  118788351   46084352
 P MS Data                118788352  118877951      89600

 P MS Data                118877952  122096389    3218438 [PBR Image]

Shall I delete the comment with the wrong specs on it?

Thank you for not jumping off a bridge (or throwing me off one). Yet.

TM

[Qqmike]

I think I don't understand--am not familiar with--the filesystem.

    Device Boot      Start         End     
Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdb1   *      
 [B]2048  1953525166[/B]   976761559+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

HPFS, exFAT.

Start & End => 1 TB = the entire HDD? -->
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, bytes

I think someone who knows the filesystem may have to have a look here.

gdisk does not see it as a GPT. I think we should accept that fact. That's how it was before, and that is OK.

Shall I delete the secondary partition?

No, nothing to do. It means wit would covert the MBR to a GPT for you--IF YOU WISH--but there's no room left at the end of the new GPT for the "secondary" partition table (which is a backup partition table for a GPT). It looks to me like there's no room left because all the room is used by sdb1: 1000204885504 bytes or so. So, no, don't delete anything, the issue is not relevant here.

TestDisk sees something similar to the above.

Then there's the Quick Intel scan:
Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB and that's confusing because of the sdc? and 500 GB? (not 1 TB?, as above)

All of a sudden, what is this sdc? not sdb? I don't think I understand the filesystem.

Is it a UEFI? Hard to tell! Where is the ESP? Where are the GRUB-EFI files? and so on.

But, this whole thing -- whatever it is -- was working before, then it quit working, according to Post #1. Now what to do?

I'm not sure. This makes you want to start totally from scratch, BUT there are definitely risks to doing that, of course.

If you had a live CD with Boot Repair on it, you could run it just to see what it would do and tell you.

Then you said:
When I print the partition table in Gdisk, I get this: etc.

But there's only one partition listed? and it is almost 1 TB? = the entire HDD? There should be MANY partitions on this disk--for Windows, for Linux.

We need someone who understands the filesystem you've used here to look at this. I'm really missing something big here.

[technomancer]

When I print the partition table in Gdisk, I get this:

Command (? for help): pDisk /dev/sdb: 1953525167 sectors, 931.5 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 99EC94F3-9872-4002-928D-D5BA18FA7A0B
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1953525133
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)


Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048      1953525166   931.5 GiB   0700  Microsoft basic data


Command (? for help): ?b       back up GPT data to a file
c       change a partition's name
d       delete a partition
i       show detailed information on a partition
l       list known partition types
n       add a new partition
o       create a new empty GUID partition table (GPT)
p       print the partition table
q       quit without saving changes
r       recovery and transformation options (experts only)
s       sort partitions
t       change a partition's type code
v       verify disk
w       write table to disk and exit
x       extra functionality (experts only)
?       print this menu

[technomancer]

I'm not sure now where we are at.

Here's the goal:
The original broken PC.
It has one or two HDDs?
What are the partitions of each HDD (using either fdisk or gdisk to enumerate sda1, sda2, ... sdb1, sdb2 ...)
gdisk should fix any broken GPT partitions/table.

I got the feeling that you removed the offending/bad HDD and put it into another computer? If so, to test it with SMART? And if so, shouldn't we put it back into the broken computer now? try to boot that computer again? and then see if you are able to boot by live DVD/CD's and get information (like run gdisk, fdisk, efibootmgr, etc.).

Btw, the Boot repair should be installed to a live CD/USB, unless you have a SEPARATE HDD (inside the broken computer) containing a Linux OS where you can install it and run it and "see" the HDD you are trying to fix.

Ok, I'll try to summarize everything I've found so far. I'm kinda lost, so some of this might be useless to us, but I'll at least get it all on one page. Here is where I'm at:

The broken laptop has its only HDD removed. It is now plugged into my spare computer via SATA-to-USB. The spare computer retains its original harddrive.

I tested the offending drive with SMART, and it seems to have passed.

This is what happens when I run Fdisk:

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204885504 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525167 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x99f107fd


   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *        2048  1953525166   976761559+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

I run gdisk on it, and here's the output:

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo !!sudo gdisk /dev/sdb
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.7


Partition table scan:
  MBR: MBR only
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: not present




***************************************************************
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory. THIS OPERATION IS POTENTIALLY DESTRUCTIVE! Exit by
typing 'q' if you don't want to convert your MBR partitions
to GPT format!
***************************************************************




Warning! Secondary partition table overlaps the last partition by
33 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.

Shall I delete the secondary partition?

------------

ALSO....

Here's what I get if I run TestDisk, and select Intel partition (what it auto detected):

kubuntu@kubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdb

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204885504 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525167 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x99f107fd


   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *        2048  1953525166   976761559+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

With a quick Intel scan:

Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 7600 255 63     Partition               Start        End    Size in sectors
>  HPFS - NTFS             10 168 31    18 119 37     125440 [WINRETOOLS]
   HPFS - NTFS             18 119 38  3911 136  1   62542080 [OS]
   HPFS - NTFS           3911 136  2  3918 179 37     115200
   Linux Swap            3918 179 38  4058 193 39    2249984
   Linux                 4058 193 40  4525 156 47    7500032
   Linux                 4525 156 48  7394  59 25   46084352
   HPFS - NTFS           7394  59 26  7399 206 39      89600
   HPFS - NTFS           7399 206 40  7600  41 57    3218688 [PBR Image]

If I run Testdisk to search for an "EFI GPT" partition, here's what I get:

Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 7600 255 63Current partition structure:
     Partition                  Start        End    Size in sectors


Bad GPT partition, invalid signature.
Trying alternate GPT
Bad GPT partition, invalid signature.

And after a quick search:

Disk /dev/sdc - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 7600 255 63     Partition               Start        End    Size in sectors
>P MS Data                   171264     296703     125440 [WINRETOOLS]
 P MS Data                   296704   62838783   62542080 [OS]
 P MS Data                 62838784   62953983     115200
 P Linux Swap              62953984   65203965    2249982
 P MS Data                 65203968   72703999    7500032
 P MS Data                 72704000  118788351   46084352
 P MS Data                118788352  118877951      89600
 P MS Data                118877952  122096389    3218438 [PBR Image]

I hope this helps. In the meantime, I'll read over your experiments again. I'm having trouble understanding it. I'm sorry, but I'm still learning. Thank you for your help and patience so far. :-)

TM

[Qqmike]

I'm not sure now where we are at.

Here's the goal:
The original broken PC.
It has one or two HDDs?
What are the partitions of each HDD (using either fdisk or gdisk to enumerate sda1, sda2, ... sdb1, sdb2 ...)
gdisk should fix any broken GPT partitions/table.

I got the feeling that you removed the offending/bad HDD and put it into another computer? If so, to test it with SMART? And if so, shouldn't we put it back into the broken computer now? try to boot that computer again? and then see if you are able to boot by live DVD/CD's and get information (like run gdisk, fdisk, efibootmgr, etc.).

Btw, the Boot repair should be installed to a live CD/USB, unless you have a SEPARATE HDD (inside the broken computer) containing a Linux OS where you can install it and run it and "see" the HDD you are trying to fix.