[syslinux] Trying to boot a SSD of 500GB

[Renato]

Yes, I tried to dd the mbr.bin and use both --install and --stupid parameters.

The FAT32 partition is bootable.


Here is what I did:

$ sudo fdisk /dev/sda -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sda doesn't contain a valid partition table


$ sudo dd bs=440 count=1 conv=notrunc if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sda
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
440 bytes (440 B) copied, 0,0278105 s, 15,8 kB/s

$ sudo fdisk /dev/sda
Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or
OSF disklabel
Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x4492593f.
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable.

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite)

The device presents a logical sector size that is smaller than
the physical sector size. Aligning to a physical sector (or optimal
I/O) size boundary is recommended, or performance may be impacted.

Command (m for help): n
Partition type:
   p   primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
   e   extended
Select (default p): p
Partition number (1-4, default 1): 1
First sector (2048-976773167, default 2048):
Using default value 2048
Last sector, +sectors or +size{K,M,G} (2048-976773167, default 976773167):
Using default value 976773167

Command (m for help): t
Selected partition 1
Hex code (type L to list codes): b
Changed system type of partition 1 to b (W95 FAT32)

Command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-4): 1

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x4492593f

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048   976773167   488385560    b  W95 FAT32

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: If you have created or modified any DOS 6.x
partitions, please see the fdisk manual page for additional
information.
Syncing disks.

$ sudo mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.fat 3.0.26 (2014-03-07)

*** here I mounted /dev/sda1, copyed kernel, initrd, syslinux.cfg and
umounted ***

$ sudo syslinux -i /dev/sda1

$ sync
$ reboot

After rebooting I get from bios: "No bootable device -- insert boot
disk and press any key"

The BIOS has UFI, but I'm not using it (it's disabled).

But the strange is:  if I do exactly the same procedure on a flash
disk (4GB) and then a dd from the flash disk to the sata sdd, then the
sata SSD boots.


The physical sector size of the sata ssd is 4k, but the logical is
512.  Could this be the problem?

Thanks