FOG 33b - installation - HP Elite 8300 SFF

[Alistair]

I need to state something clearly here: Both of these models, the USDT and the SFF, have MBR partitions.

How do I know that:
Windows Computer Management
Disk Management
Right click on Disk 0
Properties
Volumes
Partition style = MBR

The USDT had GPT before. Confirmed via Disk Management.
I used GParted Live Boot CD to delete ALL partitions on this USDT model leaving only unallocated space.
Having deactivated UEFI completely in the BIOS I reinstalled Windows 8.1 and ended up with an MBR partition/drive which can now pxe boot without any problem. I did not have time today to try capturing an imaging from this PC.

The other model is SFF. Yes it did appear to have an active “UEFI Boot Order” menu in the BIOS. But no it never had a GPT partition. It has ALWAYS been MBR - comfirmed via “Disk Management” as described above. This is the model I tried to capture an image from earlier today which failed. These are all facts.

But is there something I don’t understand here? Are you saying it is possible to have the primary partition as MBR and the disk still be GPT? Remember Windows “Disk Management” is telling me that Disk 0 is MBR. And Disk 0 is the entire drive which contains at least 2 partitions.

I thought GParted deleted everything. Is that assumption wrong?
Does sgdisk -Z /dev/sda remove more?

Tomorrow first thing I will try to take an image from the USDT model.

[Tom Elliott]

Yes and no.

GPT likes to leave stale elements. I, do however, believe even if it’s an intentional MBR/GPT structure, it’s still going to report as MBR on Windows Disk Management.

Running sgdisk -Z /dev/sda removes the entire partitioning table completely. It’s essentially turning the drive into an uninitialized drive.

I think this is why you’re seeing the issues you are. Just because Windows DiskManagement references it as MBR DOES NOT MEAN it is a pure MBR filestructure.

This is why the fixparts was suggested, it will find all GPT structures (whether real or just left over) and remove them. sgdisk -Z /dev/sda does this in one nice and neat little command rather than having fixparts try to guess what’s what.

[Junkhacker]

Gparted may have wiped the partitions but not the boot sector. I haven’t used Gparted in a while and i’m not sure how GPT aware it is. Tom, does it sound possible that fog is seeing leftover bits of the GPT information in the boot sector, and looking for GPT, when the partitions are actually MBR?

[Alistair]

I see. I’ll try taking an image anyway just to check if GParted did the job.

Exactly how and where do I use that syntax? Do I need to download a gsdisk ISO and burn a gsdisk boot CD?

[Alistair]

Tried imaging the USDT - Exactly the same problem. Now I must use this sgdisk syntax.
I’ll assume that I need to download an ISO of sgdisk and burn it to CD then boot off that. (I know: sgdisk not gsdisk)
Unless I’m told something else. Man I’m running out of time. The teachers come back Tuesday 22nd.

[Alistair]

I’m getting SystemRescueCD
It has GPTdisk 0.8.8 (the latest is 0.8.10)

[Alistair]

I confirmed that the BIOS has “EUFI Boot Order” completely disabled.
Booted from SystemRescue-CD. Ended up seeing the following:

root@sysresccd /root %

I typed:
sgdisk -Z /dev/sda

“Invalid partition data!”
“GPT data structures destroyed! You may now partition the disk using fdisk or other utilities.”

Somewhat confusing to see the line “Invalid partition data”. But the 2nd line gives the impression that the job is done.
I assume now that I will not create any partitions myself but allow the Win 8.1 DVD to do it for me.
Is that correct?

[Alistair]

It works. It’s taking an image!!

[Alistair]

The image is captured and present on fogserver. I’ll try deploying it tonight to another client.

Well now I’ve learnt something. MBR is not always MBR.
And deleting all partitions with GParted does not delete the Boot Sector.

Thanks for sticking with me on this Tom and JunkHacker.

[Tom Elliott]

Yes, sorry I didn’t get to respond sooner. I was driving in to work.

In the future, just understand that you didn’t need to download a rescue disk.

Where you go to schedule a task, you can choose advanced options and choose a download or upload task with the phrase Debug after it. It will boot the client system and drop the system into a terminal prompt screen where you can type commands. You didn’t have to download a CD to boot into to run the command.

[Alistair]

I used Clonezilla to take an image of fogserver now that everything is working. Task completed.
Rebooted fogserver
Tried to take an image of the new HP SFF and discovered that I’m back to PXE TFTP timeout on the client.
That issue was already resolved by using IP address 10.0.1.40 under DHCP scope option 066.
tftpd-hpa is already running on fogserver.
I’ll try rebooting fogserver again. No joy.
I’ll restart DHCP on server. No joy.
I don’t believe this!!

[Alistair]

I suspect the problem is the fogserver because after the reboot, the “Brightness Lock” settings were wrong.
I had set them 2 days ago to never turn off the screen with inactivity, and it worked. But after the Clonezilla imaging and reboot, the screen turned itself off after 10 minutes. Even though the settings are “never”.

status mysql = running
status tftpd-hpa = running

[Alistair]

I used Clonezilla before on the old HP version 32 fogserver without problem.

Can I check anything else on fogserver?

[Alistair]

Restarted DNS on server - No joy

I stopped tftpd-hpa and then started it. That fixed it. Now it’s working.

sudo stop tftpd-hpa
sudo start tftpd-hpa

What a relief.
Anyone have any idea why?

[BPSTravis]

Doesn’t seem like the hpa service is starting fully or is starting too soon.

You can always check the system logs and see if it’s providing any errors when it’s starting.

[Junkhacker]

[url]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/ubuntu-11-04-distro-that-just-works-heres-how.4378/#post-12571[/url] this might help

[Alistair]

Tom I need to use the following you suggested:
sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80 is the line in BootMenu.class.php that deals with how to pass to the harddrive. That said, not all systems like this method. If your systems are freezing. Try changing those lines to just say: exit.

Do I change all 3 places this text appears in the file?

There is additional text on these lines. Precisely which words do I replace with exit.
Is it only the words: “sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80” ?

I need an answer as soon as possible.

[Tom Elliott]

[url]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/fog-33b-installation-hp-elite-8300-sff.10315/page-3#post-25472[/url]

[Alistair]

Thanks and sorry. I thought that code was something to do with GPT.

[Alistair]

The new code worked. The old HPs are now going further after the pxe fog and booting into the OS.