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No bootable device - Clover Legacy BIOS


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Hi all,

 

I previously used Chameleon and now switched to Clover (Legacy BIOS, GPT) with El Capitan. Everything works perfect except I can only boot my system from Clover USB (MBR). without USB drive I get

 No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key   error. I have tried both boot0af and boot0ss options in Clover setup.

 

The only way to fix it is to set Clover partition as active by using fdisk, and HDD will then boot to Clover, but this method breaks my Windows 10 EFI installation, which is installed on the same drive. After that I need to repartition my hard drive and reinstall Windows and OS X from the scratch.

 

Is there any way I can get it to boot from my HDD?

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hello

 

what windows efi install ? u don't have uefi bios ..

 

first install os x then clover legacy in the os x partition ..

 

then install windows in the second partition .. 

 

prepare the partitions with disk util in os x .. second partition for windows format in fat .. then when u are in windows installer .. only format it for ntfs

 

is call hybrid gpt .. 

 

good hack

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what windows efi install ? u don't have uefi bios ..

Since my hard disk is GPT, I can only install Windows 10 x64 in EFI mode using Clover

 

 

first install os x then clover legacy in the os x partition ..  then install windows in the second partition ..   prepare the partitions with disk util in os x ..   second partition for windows format in fat .. then when u are in windows installer .. only format it for ntfs

is call hybrid gpt .. 

That's exactly how I do my installation except preparing the Windows partition with diskutil because I try to avoid a hybrid GPT as it slows down the system. Do you think that hybrid GPT/MBR is the only solution?

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@Damx,
 
My legacy BIOS laptop (see signature) has similar hardware to yours and uses legacy Clover installed in the EFI System Partition to triple boot UEFI Windows 10, Mavericks and El Capitan on a pure GPT Hard Disk (protective MBR not hybrid MBR).
 
What is the output of running the command diskutil list in terminal?
 
Can you upload your Clover install log?
 
Eg on my machine....

 

 

Clover EFI installer log - Sun Oct 18 15:42:02 AEDT 2015
Installer version: v2.3k r3292 EFI bootloader
======================================================
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Mavericks               124.4 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:         Microsoft Reserved                         134.2 MB   disk0s4
   5:       Microsoft Basic Data SHARED DATA             249.8 GB   disk0s5
   6:       Microsoft Basic Data WIN10_X64               92.8 GB    disk0s6
   7:                  Apple_HFS El_Capitan              31.6 GB    disk0s7
   8:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s8
======================================================
Backing up EFI files

Backing up stage2 file /Volumes/Mavericks/EFIROOTDIR/boot  to /Volumes/Mavericks/EFI-Backups/r3259/2015-10-18-15h42/boot
Backing up /Volumes/Mavericks/EFIROOTDIR/EFI folder to /Volumes/Mavericks/EFI-Backups/r3259/2015-10-18-15h42/EFI
No Active Partition

Stage 0 - Writting boot0af to /dev/disk0
//usr/local/bin/fdisk440 -u -f //usr/standalone/i386/boot0af -y /dev/disk0

Stage 1 - Writting boot1f32 to /dev/rdisk0s1
dd if=/dev/rdisk0s1 count=1 bs=512 of=/tmp/origbs
boot volume format is FAT32
cp /tmp/boot1f32 /tmp/newbs
dd if=/tmp/origbs of=/tmp/newbs skip=3 seek=3 bs=1 count=87 conv=notrunc
dd if=/tmp/newbs of=/dev/rdisk0s1

Stage 2 - Written boot6 (x64) to /Volumes/ESP/boot

Removing drivers64UEFI/VBoxHfs-64.efi driver because HFSPlus driver present
======================================================
Installing RC Scripts

Installing RC scripts on target volume '/'


======================================================
=========== Clover EFI Installation Finish ===========
======================================================

 

 

Notice there are no active partitions for a pure GPT drive.

PS Why are you using FDisk to manipulate your partitions?  It is designed for MBR disks so you should be using GPT FDisk aka "GDisk" instead....

 

 

fusion71aus-MacBook-Pro:~ fusion71au$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Mavericks               124.4 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:         Microsoft Reserved                         134.2 MB   disk0s4
   5:       Microsoft Basic Data SHARED DATA             249.8 GB   disk0s5
   6:       Microsoft Basic Data WIN10_X64               92.3 GB    disk0s6
   7:           Windows Recovery                         471.9 MB   disk0s7
   8:                  Apple_HFS El_Capitan              31.6 GB    disk0s8
   9:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s9
fusion71aus-MacBook-Pro:~ fusion71au$ sudo gdisk /dev/disk0
Password:
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1

Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

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

Command (? for help): v

No problems found. 13 free sectors (6.5 KiB) available in 2
segments, the largest of which is 7 (3.5 KiB) in size.

Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/disk0: 976773168 sectors, 465.8 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): ABA12A67-AB54-4E87-B1B6-C6C30F519742
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 976773134
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 13 sectors (6.5 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1              40          409639   200.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System Partition
   2          409640       243282135   115.8 GiB   AF00  Macintosh HD
   3       243282136       244551679   619.9 MiB   AB00  Recovery HD
   4       244551680       244813823   128.0 MiB   0C01  Microsoft reserved ...
   5       244813824       732633087   232.6 GiB   0700  SHARED DATA
   6       732633088       912936959   86.0 GiB    0700  Windows
   7       912936960       913858559   450.0 MiB   2700  
   8       913858560       975503591   29.4 GiB    AF00  El_Capitan
   9       975503592       976773127   619.9 MiB   AB00  Recovery HD

Command (? for help): i
Partition number (1-9): 1
Partition GUID code: C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B (EFI System)
Partition unique GUID: 895CF5E7-C789-4906-B18A-72857DC11AEC
First sector: 40 (at 20.0 KiB)
Last sector: 409639 (at 200.0 MiB)
Partition size: 409600 sectors (200.0 MiB)
Attribute flags: 0000000000000000
Partition name: 'EFI System Partition'

 

 

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Thank you, @fusion71au.


I have used fdisk because it fixed the issue before installing Windows. If no Windows is installed I had no problem starting the system from HDD after using fdisk. Of course you are right - it is designed for MBR, I just could not find other solutions. I also tried GParted but no result. 


 


The original installation procedure was very basic:


  • Boot from USB (MBR) and prepare the GPT partitions
  • Install OSX
  • Install Clover to EFI partition
  • Reboot and get 'No bootable device' error
  • Set EFI partition as active via fdisk and the system becomes bootable
  • Install Windows and the error comes back at the first restart during install
  • Use fdisk again - which fixed the error but Windows doesn't start at all and nothing helps (* Now I skip this step and use Clover USB instead to boot)

It looks like the BIOS is unable to boot this particular hard disk with GPT for some weird reason unless EFI partition is set active.


 


Clover install.log:


 


Clover EFI installer log - Tue Dec 22 19:57:43 ICT 2015


Installer version: v2.3k r3330 EFI bootloader


======================================================


/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):


   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER


   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *250.1 GB   disk0


   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1


   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh               207.4 GB   disk0s2


   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3


   4:         Microsoft Reserved                         16.8 MB    disk0s4


   5:       Microsoft Basic Data Windows                 41.8 GB    disk0s5


/dev/disk1 (external, physical):


   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER


   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *16.2 GB    disk1


   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 CLOVER USB              16.2 GB    disk1s1


======================================================


Backing up EFI files


 


Backing up stage2 file /Volumes/Macintosh/EFIROOTDIR/boot to /Volumes/Macintosh/EFI-Backups/r3330/2015-12-22-19h57/boot


Backing up stage2 file /Volumes/Macintosh/EFIROOTDIR/boot3 to /Volumes/Macintosh/EFI-Backups/r3330/2015-12-22-19h57/boot3


Backing up stage2 file /Volumes/Macintosh/EFIROOTDIR/boot6 to /Volumes/Macintosh/EFI-Backups/r3330/2015-12-22-19h57/boot6


Backing up /Volumes/Macintosh/EFIROOTDIR/EFI folder to /Volumes/Macintosh/EFI-Backups/r3330/2015-12-22-19h57/EFI


No Active Partition


 


Stage 0 - Writting boot0af to /dev/disk0


//usr/local/bin/fdisk440 -u -f //usr/standalone/i386/boot0af -y /dev/disk0


 


Stage 1 - Writting boot1f32alt to /dev/rdisk0s1


dd if=/dev/rdisk0s1 count=1 bs=512 of=/tmp/origbs


boot volume format is FAT32


cp /tmp/boot1f32alt /tmp/newbs


dd if=/tmp/origbs of=/tmp/newbs skip=3 seek=3 bs=1 count=87 conv=notrunc


dd if=/tmp/newbs of=/dev/rdisk0s1


 


Stage 2 - Written boot6 (x64) to /Volumes/EFI/boot


 


Removing drivers64/VBoxHfs-64.efi driver because HFSPlus driver present


 


Removing drivers64UEFI/VBoxHfs-64.efi driver because HFSPlus driver present


======================================================


Installing RC Scripts


 


Installing RC scripts on target volume '/'


 


======================================================


=========== Clover EFI Installation Finish ===========


======================================================


 


Thanks for GDisk instructions. Here is the output:


 


GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1


 


Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their


partition table automatically reloaded!


Partition table scan:


  MBR: protective


  BSD: not present


  APM: not present


  GPT: present


 


Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.


 


Command (? for help): v


 


No problems found. 1717 free sectors (858.5 KiB) available in 3


segments, the largest of which is 1376 (688.0 KiB) in size.


 


Command (? for help): p


Disk /dev/disk0: 488397168 sectors, 232.9 GiB


Logical sector size: 512 bytes


Disk identifier (GUID): 8C354856-D3BA-4EA3-BC8D-B0D6A69DBB13


Partition table holds up to 128 entries


First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 488397134


Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries


Total free space is 1717 sectors (858.5 KiB)


 


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


   1              40          409639   200.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System Partition


   2          409640       405504895   193.2 GiB   AF00  Macintosh


   3       405504896       406774431   619.9 MiB   AB00  Recovery HD


   4       406775808       406808575   16.0 MiB    0C01  Microsoft reserved ...


   5       406808576       488396799   38.9 GiB    0700  Basic data partition


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@Damx,

 

What do you see on the screen when you try booting from your hard disk only?

 

Is there are blinking underscore on the top left of the screen?  Do you see any numbers or text?

 

I noticed that you installed Clover with the "alternate booting PBR" (boot1f32alt) so you should try pressing the number <6> when you see the blinking underscore to reach the second stage boot file. 

 

If you don't see anything on the screen, you can try formatting the EFI partition with the terminal command

sudo newfs_msdos -v EFI -F 32 /dev/rdisk0s1

and reinstall Clover in legacy mode with the standard PBR (boot1f32) into the EFI System Partition.  Try boot0af first, then boot0ss if  that doesn't work. 

 

Also have a look at the troubleshooting section in the Clover wiki and finally ask @Slice and the Clover developers in the Clover General Discussion after you have tried the above troubleshooting.

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Thank you, @fusion71au.

 

When the system starts I see 'No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key' right after the bios screen, there is no blinking underscore nor characters. An alternative PBR was only installed as an option - I tried the standard one before.

 

I have tried before all the guides you mentioned, as well as I have read the Clover Wiki troubleshooting. To be on a safe side I have just formatted the EFI partition once again and reinstalled Clover with no positive result. 

 

The key thing here is that if I set the EFI partition active, it will boot from HDD without an issue. This makes me think that the problem is somewhere around this, I just need to find a way to set it active without affecting my Win10 boot. I might be wrong.

 

Can you please share your gdisk -i option on EFI partition? I would like to see which flags you have there. 

 

Let me ask the guys in Clover Discussion section and I will report the results.

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Having made all backups today I reinstalled the system from scratch to reproduce the situation.

 

Step 1

  • Start from Install USB, deleted all partitions and set new GPT.
  • Install OS X.
  • Install Clover to ESP with boot0af.

Result: HDD Boot = No bootable device.

 

fdisk output (no active partitions):

 

fdisk: 1> p
Disk: /dev/rdisk0	geometry: 30401/255/63 [488397168 sectors]
Offset: 0	Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  488397167] <Unknown ID>
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

 

 

 

Step 2

  • Install Windows 10 EFI from Clover.
  • Set ESP active via fdisk f 1

Result: HDD boot = success, Windows start = Error 0xc000000e.

 

fdisk output (ESP is active):

 

fdisk: 1> p
Disk: /dev/rdisk0	geometry: 30401/255/63 [488397168 sectors]
Offset: 0	Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  488397167] <Unknown ID>
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused   

 

 

 

Step 3

  • Set Windows partition active via fdisk f 4

Result: HDD boot = success, Windows start = success.

 

fdisk output (no active partitions):

 

fdisk: 1> p
Disk: /dev/rdisk0	geometry: 30401/255/63 [488397168 sectors]
Offset: 0	Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  488397167] <Unknown ID>
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused   

 

 

 

All above is FYI, no action required. I have no clue - how and why, but that's what it is. )) And obviously it is not a Clover issue but smth specific to my HDD/BIOS.

 

@Damx,

 

Well done on finding a solution/workaround to your issue :).  @Rod Smith mentions in this article that some legacy BIOSes won't boot from a GPT disk unless there's

 

"one MBR partition that's marked as bootable/active to boot in BIOS mode. Since the protective MBR's single EFI GPT (0xEE) partition is not normally flagged in this way, the affected firmware won't boot from GPT disks"

 

Even though the protective MBR partition spans the entire disk, it seems like you have been able to set the active flag to the unused MBR partition slot for Windows :P.

 

Out of curiosity, does Windows Disk Management show any active partition for your GPT disk?  Does system info show that you are booting in UEFI mode or legacy mode?

 

Eg1 Windows 10 booting in legacy mode from a hybrid MBR/GPT hard disk (disk 2) with Active Windows Partition

 

 

 

post-846696-0-33165200-1452598102_thumb.png

fdisk: 1> p
Disk: /dev/rdisk2	geometry: 14593/255/63 [234441648 sectors]
Offset: 0	Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>
 2: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  117226568] HFS+        
*3: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 117899264 -  116541440] HPFS/QNX/AUX
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused 

 

 

Eg2 Windows10 booting in UEFI mode from a Protective MBR/GPT hard disk (disk 2) with No Active Partition

 

 

 

post-846696-0-94536700-1452598182_thumb.png

 

 

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