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ASROCK motherboard, Cannot boot if USB drive connected
I am running Slackware64 14.2, kernel 4.4.75. I have a relatively new ASRock 970M Pro3 motherboard (bought 6 months ago, but not used until now).
If I have a USB drive connected, I cannot boot. I get the error
In examining the Bios, I don't even see USB as a possible boot option (image). The BIOS shows boot option 1 as the DVD, option 2 as the Samsung hard drive and option 3 disabled.
This LQ thread mentioned there might be issues with ASROK http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...3/#post5639598
Does anyone have any ideas on fixing this? This seems like incredibly stupid behavior for a motherboard as people leave USB drives connected for all kinds of reasons -- in my case, for backups.
20170715_223733_resized.jpg
If I have a USB drive connected, I cannot boot. I get the error
error: no such device: 83880a6f-3e10-4c41-b4a1-1e5fd5ef026a
Entering rescue mode...
grub rescue >In examining the Bios, I don't even see USB as a possible boot option (image). The BIOS shows boot option 1 as the DVD, option 2 as the Samsung hard drive and option 3 disabled.
This LQ thread mentioned there might be issues with ASROK http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...3/#post5639598
Does anyone have any ideas on fixing this? This seems like incredibly stupid behavior for a motherboard as people leave USB drives connected for all kinds of reasons -- in my case, for backups.
20170715_223733_resized.jpg
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SOLUTION
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3 Main reasons this can happen:
- Drive is under-powered at boot - happens especially with portable drives that pull their power from the USB port but I'm guessing yours has external power.
- Corruption somewhere on the drive file structure - worth at least a scan and repair but is sometimes fixed by wiping, reformatting and starting fresh.
- Early sign of drive failing - not necessarily the disk but the controller board in the enclosure.
If you want a quick fix, check your BIOS for an option to disable boot from USB, then the computer will ignore it. You'll need to reset if you do want to boot and you may well be covering up one of the above problems which isn't great if you're relying on this drive for back-up.
You can also disable fast boot in grub which will allow a verbose boot up on the screen which may give some more insight into why (or at least where) the fault is occurring in the process.
- Drive is under-powered at boot - happens especially with portable drives that pull their power from the USB port but I'm guessing yours has external power.
- Corruption somewhere on the drive file structure - worth at least a scan and repair but is sometimes fixed by wiping, reformatting and starting fresh.
- Early sign of drive failing - not necessarily the disk but the controller board in the enclosure.
If you want a quick fix, check your BIOS for an option to disable boot from USB, then the computer will ignore it. You'll need to reset if you do want to boot and you may well be covering up one of the above problems which isn't great if you're relying on this drive for back-up.
You can also disable fast boot in grub which will allow a verbose boot up on the screen which may give some more insight into why (or at least where) the fault is occurring in the process.
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ASKER
MASQ:
nobus:
Despite all of the above, I got it working! MASQ's suggestion to try another USB drive worked. That got me to thinking. So, I saved off all the files from the WD Elements USB and zeroed the boot sector `dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdb bs=512 count=1`. I then re-formatted the drive the NTFS With Windows. I then plugged the drive back into the Linux box and rebooted. Behold! It booted successfully. I then copied all the files back to the drive and tried the reboot again. It still booted OK.
So, there must be something on out-of-the-box WD Elements USB drives that appears boot-like. And perhaps, as nobus opined, if this ASROCK MB is one of those that "put automatic any usb drive first in boot priorities", then the MB could have very well thought this was a bootable USB and "automatically" booted from it.
If so, this is a VERY BAD IDEA. I can think of no good reason to automatically put USBs as first boot priority (you should always be able to manually set that if so desired in the BIOS), and I can think of lots of excellent reason to NEVER do such a thing, including this several days waste of time, not to mention that just because one has an apparently bootable USB attached does not mean ipso facto the user must certainly want to boot from it.
I will avoid ASROCK motherboards in the future.
Thanks for you help on this one.
If you want a quick fix, check your BIOS for an option to disable boot from USB, then the computer will ignore it.As I've mentioned a couple of times, there is no BIOS option whatsoever for booting from USB. That BIOS screen-shot I posted initially show the only options: UEFI Built-in shell (whatever that is), AHCI DVD, AHCI Hard Drive; and not shown but listed under boot option 2 is UEFI DVD. No USB, period!
nobus:
when you looked at the bios - was the usb drive connected? if not it won't show that optionI tried this every way I could think of: boot to BIOS with USB connected, boot to BIOS with USB not connected, then connect after entering BIOS and selecting 'Boot'; same as last, but selecting something other than 'Boot', the connecting USB, then selecting 'Boot'. Nothing, never showed up.
i know some board put automatic any usb drive first in boot prioritiesThat might be what's happening here ... see below.
in such cases, look igf there is a bios update, and check if it adresses the boot problemAs I mentioned, I do have the latest BIOS update.
Despite all of the above, I got it working! MASQ's suggestion to try another USB drive worked. That got me to thinking. So, I saved off all the files from the WD Elements USB and zeroed the boot sector `dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdb bs=512 count=1`. I then re-formatted the drive the NTFS With Windows. I then plugged the drive back into the Linux box and rebooted. Behold! It booted successfully. I then copied all the files back to the drive and tried the reboot again. It still booted OK.
So, there must be something on out-of-the-box WD Elements USB drives that appears boot-like. And perhaps, as nobus opined, if this ASROCK MB is one of those that "put automatic any usb drive first in boot priorities", then the MB could have very well thought this was a bootable USB and "automatically" booted from it.
If so, this is a VERY BAD IDEA. I can think of no good reason to automatically put USBs as first boot priority (you should always be able to manually set that if so desired in the BIOS), and I can think of lots of excellent reason to NEVER do such a thing, including this several days waste of time, not to mention that just because one has an apparently bootable USB attached does not mean ipso facto the user must certainly want to boot from it.
I will avoid ASROCK motherboards in the future.
Thanks for you help on this one.
>> I will avoid ASROCK motherboards in the future << no real need to
probably they thought (in older days) if you cannect an usb device, you wanted to boot from it - or disconnect it when not neeeded( that's what i still do)
probably they thought (in older days) if you cannect an usb device, you wanted to boot from it - or disconnect it when not neeeded( that's what i still do)
ASKER
That is the latest kernel available in the latest release (14.2) of Slackware. Nevertheless, I don't think it related to the OS. I've tried boot from a DVD and have the same problem.
David Favor: your post gave me high hopes, but when I tried it, even with different USB drives, I never saw any USB device show up in the list :( Which seems to be an issue as well: how could someone deliberately boot from USB as a priority? Seems like ASROCK is a poor choice for motherboards.
It's too late to return this MB and I hate to have to worry about brand names when plugging in USB drives. I do have the latest BIOS firmware update. Other ideas or am I at a dead end?