I installed Debian on a USB HDD, but it only boots on 1 comp

[s3a]

I installed Debian on a USB HDD, but it only boots on one of my computers.

I have done this with other drives, and it works, but for this particular drive, on one computer it boots fine, but on the other, it shows me "GRUB" (without the quotes), without even having the ability to enter Grub commands / it's not even a (Grub) prompt!

I tried chrooting into it with a live DVD and doing stuff like update-initramfs -u and update-grub and grub-install /dev/sdX and grub-install --boot-directory=/boot/ /dev/sdX and setting the partition's UUID in /etc/fstab, but nothing seems to work!

One of the USB HDDs that works on both computers uses Btrfs and Bullseye, whereas the other one that works uses ext4 and buster.

The USB HDD that doesn't work uses Btrfs and Bullseye.

All HDDs are relying on the legacy BIOS.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do next? This issue is really weird (since I have other Debian installations on USB HDDs that work on both computers, as mentioned above).

Any input would be GREATLY appreciated!

[shep]

I suspect this is related to the BIOS settings and if secure boot is enabled.

[s3a]

Thanks for the response.

Maybe I'm missing something, but the reason why I don't think that's what it is is because the two USB HDDs that work on both computers are legacy / non-UEFI installations, yet they work on the computer that my other USB HDD doesn't work on, and all three Debian installations are legacy / non-UEFI installations.

P.S.
For what it's worth, the Btrfs + Buster system I have on the USB HDD that does work on both computers wasn't installed with the same (recent) installer; it was upgraded from a previous installation, and it used to use ext4, and I converted the filesystem to Btrfs (without reformatting from scratch).

[s3a]

Could it have something to do with the two drives that work on both computes being at most 2 TB (2 TB and 320 GB), and the one that works only on one computer being 5 TB?

I'm not very clear on this stuff, but in other words, could this have something to do with the msdos vs gpt partition tables? I ask because because I think GPT is for drives larger than 2 TB or something, but I don't recall ever being asked to choose this in the Debian installer, but it probably defaults to gpt for capacities greater than 2 TB or something like that?

If that could be it, then what would be some next stuff to check and/or do?

[s3a]

Actually, I found this ( https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... ost6019773 ).

So, it might just be the BIOS of the computer where the drive doesn't work being buggy or just not supporting my use case. But, since the hardware is too old, I guess it doesn't have the public keys for using Debian via UEFI (or however it works), so using UEFI is not a valid workaround (but I would probably have used UEFI to begin with, if my systems weren't too old to have the public keys for the Debian image signing or however it works).

So, my next thing to try is to try to boot some kind of mini operating system off of a small-capacity USB flash drive on the computer that the 5 TB HDD is not booting on, and tell it to boot my 5 TB HDD's OS, but I don't know what mini operating system software to put on my small-capacity flash drive. Does anyone know? (Ideally, I prefer something fully free as in freedom, like default Debian.)

[p.H]

Could it have something to do with the two drives that work on both computes being at most 2 TB (2 TB and 320 GB), and the one that works only on one computer being 5 TB?

Yes. Even though Int13 BIOS extensions support much bigger sizes, it has been reported that some BIOS are broken and cannot access disk areas beyond some limit, like 2TiB.

"GRUB" is printed by GRUB's boot image (in the MBR) before loading the core image. If the core image is loaded successfully, it should then print "loading" on the same line. So here the problem happens when loading the core image. If some parts of the core image are located beyond the BIOS limit, the boot will fail.

In such case, GRUB's core image and the disk area containing /boot must be located below the BIOS limit.

What is the partition layout of this drive (fdisk -l) ? Is there a "BIOS boot" partition ?
The report from bootinfoscript (package boot-info-script) may be helpful too.

(...) could this have something to do with the msdos vs gpt partition tables?

Not directly.

[s3a]

Thanks for the response.

And, yes, it seems that /dev/sda1 is the BIOS Boot partition, as shown below, in the outputs you asked for.:

Code: Select all

root@debian:~# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 4.55 TiB, 5000981077504 bytes, 9767541167 sectors
Disk model: Basic           
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: AAC237DF-07FA-4FD8-8F6D-EEDB340239AC

Device       Start        End    Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sda1     2048       4095       2048    1M BIOS boot
/dev/sda2     4096    1003519     999424  488M Linux filesystem
/dev/sda3  1003520 9767540735 9766537216  4.5T Linux filesystem


Disk /dev/sdb: 698.64 GiB, 750156374016 bytes, 1465149168 sectors
Disk model: TOSHIBA MQ01ABD0
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x1844cb94

Device     Boot      Start        End    Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1  *          2048    1026047    1024000   500M  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb2          1026048 1047907064 1046881017 499.2G  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb3       1047908352 1049599999    1691648   826M 27 Hidden NTFS WinRE
/dev/sdb4       1049600000 1465147391  415547392 198.1G 83 Linux


Disk /dev/mapper/sda3_crypt: 4.55 TiB, 5000450277376 bytes, 9766504448 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 /dev/mapper/debian--vg-root: 3.64 TiB, 3998979457024 bytes, 7810506752 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 /dev/mapper/debian--vg-swap_1: 976 MiB, 1023410176 bytes, 1998848 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
root@debian:~# 
root@debian:~# bootinfoscript 

Boot Info Script 0.78      [09 October 2019]

Identifying MBRs...
Computing Partition Table of /dev/sda...
Computing Partition Table of /dev/sdb...
Searching sda1 for information... 
Searching sda2 for information... 
Searching sda3 for information... 
Searching sdb1 for information... 
Searching sdb2 for information... 
Searching sdb3 for information... 
Searching sdb4 for information... 

Finished. The results are in the file "RESULTS.txt"
located in "/root/".

root@debian:~# cd /root/
root@debian:~# ls
RESULTS.txt
root@debian:~# mv ./RESULTS.txt /home/user/Desktop/
root@debian:~# cat /home/user/Desktop/RESULTS.txt 
                 Boot Info Script 0.78      [09 October 2019]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

 => Grub2 (v2.00) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 2048 
    of the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and 
    looks for (,gpt2)/grub. It also embeds following components:
    
    modules
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    fshelp ext2 part_gpt biosdisk
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 => Windows 7/8/2012 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       BIOS Boot partition
    Boot sector type:  Grub2's core.img
    Boot sector info: 

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext2
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /grub/grub.cfg /grub/i386-pc/core.img

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       crypto_LUKS
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info: 

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows 8/2012: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sdb2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows 8/2012: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /bootmgr /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sdb3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows 8/2012: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sdb4: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       crypto_LUKS
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info: 

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sda: 4.55 TiB, 5000981077504 bytes, 9767541167 sectors
Disk model: Basic           
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sda1                   1 4,294,967,295 4,294,967,295  ee GPT


GUID Partition Table detected.

Partition  Attrs   Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors System
/dev/sda1                 2,048         4,095         2,048 BIOS Boot partition
/dev/sda2                 4,096     1,003,519       999,424 Data partition (Linux)
/dev/sda3             1,003,520 9,767,540,735 9,766,537,216 Data partition (Linux)

Attributes: R=Required, N=No Block IO, B=Legacy BIOS Bootable, +=More bits set

Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 698.64 GiB, 750156374016 bytes, 1465149168 sectors
Disk model: TOSHIBA MQ01ABD0
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sdb1    *          2,048     1,026,047     1,024,000   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sdb2           1,026,048 1,047,907,064 1,046,881,017   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sdb3       1,047,908,352 1,049,599,999     1,691,648  27 Hidden NTFS (Recovery Environment)
/dev/sdb4       1,049,600,000 1,465,147,391   415,547,392  83 Linux


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/mapper/debian--vg-root 95b1136e-14e0-433b-9a86-2ab65facb0e2   btrfs      
/dev/mapper/debian--vg-swap_1 ae9ad0b5-0d18-41b4-a07a-8cfce6b3587b   swap       
/dev/mapper/sda3_crypt tpd49d-igUd-octp-hdvX-DyaX-ZVuK-q0Lw89 LVM2_member 
/dev/sda1                                                          
/dev/sda2        b67242ff-3a02-49b1-a15b-f7c58249b58f   ext2       
/dev/sda3        645fe3e3-ad17-490f-9a37-29e0082bfd9f   crypto_LUKS 
/dev/sdb1        22AEA1EEAEA1BB25                       ntfs       System Reserved
/dev/sdb2        7ABEA4D0BEA4866B                       ntfs       
/dev/sdb3        EAE8D752E8D71C1F                       ntfs       
/dev/sdb4        43d28c63-7331-4a24-8bf9-859669e66628   crypto_LUKS 

========================= "ls -l /dev/disk/by-id" output: ======================

total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 May 28  2021 ata-HL-DT-ST_DVDRAM_GT70N_KYZCAB35317 -> ../../sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 May 28  2021 ata-TOSHIBA_MQ01ABD075_92MGC0NTT -> ../../sdb
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 ata-TOSHIBA_MQ01ABD075_92MGC0NTT-part1 -> ../../sdb1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 ata-TOSHIBA_MQ01ABD075_92MGC0NTT-part2 -> ../../sdb2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 ata-TOSHIBA_MQ01ABD075_92MGC0NTT-part3 -> ../../sdb3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 ata-TOSHIBA_MQ01ABD075_92MGC0NTT-part4 -> ../../sdb4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 dm-name-debian--vg-root -> ../../dm-1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 dm-name-debian--vg-swap_1 -> ../../dm-2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 dm-name-sda3_crypt -> ../../dm-0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 dm-uuid-CRYPT-LUKS2-645fe3e3ad17490f9a3729e0082bfd9f-sda3_crypt -> ../../dm-0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 dm-uuid-LVM-RSsQ4oxCCgseUj5NhHfai0Tl8krXISBa1H7vejlnQfJT4N6cUxQsXlrfdaZYwHnI -> ../../dm-1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 dm-uuid-LVM-RSsQ4oxCCgseUj5NhHfai0Tl8krXISBaapQtJCvwaM2SwEt674oiMNdOQHEAd2eR -> ../../dm-2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 lvm-pv-uuid-tpd49d-igUd-octp-hdvX-DyaX-ZVuK-q0Lw89 -> ../../dm-0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 May 28  2021 usb-Seagate_Basic_NABCW89Z-0:0 -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 usb-Seagate_Basic_NABCW89Z-0:0-part1 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 usb-Seagate_Basic_NABCW89Z-0:0-part2 -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 usb-Seagate_Basic_NABCW89Z-0:0-part3 -> ../../sda3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 May 28  2021 wwn-0x5000039443a86298 -> ../../sdb
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 wwn-0x5000039443a86298-part1 -> ../../sdb1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 wwn-0x5000039443a86298-part2 -> ../../sdb2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 wwn-0x5000039443a86298-part3 -> ../../sdb3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 May 28  2021 wwn-0x5000039443a86298-part4 -> ../../sdb4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 May 28  2021 wwn-0x5001480000000000 -> ../../sr0

========================= "ls -R /dev/mapper/" output: =========================

/dev/mapper:
control
debian--vg-root
debian--vg-swap_1
sda3_crypt

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/mapper/debian--vg-root /                        btrfs      (rw,relatime,compress=zstd:3,space_cache,autodefrag,subvolid=256,subvol=/@rootfs)
/dev/sda2        /boot                    ext2       (rw,relatime,stripe=4)


============================= sda2/grub/grub.cfg: ==============================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  set have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
   set default="${next_entry}"
   set next_entry=
   save_env next_entry
   set boot_once=true
else
   set default="0"
fi

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
  menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
  menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}
function load_video {
  if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
    insmod all_video
  else
    insmod efi_gop
    insmod efi_uga
    insmod ieee1275_fb
    insmod vbe
    insmod vga
    insmod video_bochs
    insmod video_cirrus
  fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
   font=unicode
else
insmod lvm
insmod btrfs
set root='lvmid/RSsQ4o-xCCg-seUj-5NhH-fai0-Tl8k-rXISBa/1H7vej-lnQf-JT4N-6cUx-QsXl-rfda-ZYwHnI'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint='lvmid/RSsQ4o-xCCg-seUj-5NhH-fai0-Tl8k-rXISBa/1H7vej-lnQf-JT4N-6cUx-QsXl-rfda-ZYwHnI'  95b1136e-14e0-433b-9a86-2ab65facb0e2
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 95b1136e-14e0-433b-9a86-2ab65facb0e2
fi
    font="/@rootfs/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
  set lang=en_CA
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ] ; then
  set timeout=30
else
  if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
    set timeout_style=menu
    set timeout=5
  # Fallback normal timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
  # unavailable.
  else
    set timeout=5
  fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod lvm
insmod btrfs
set root='lvmid/RSsQ4o-xCCg-seUj-5NhH-fai0-Tl8k-rXISBa/1H7vej-lnQf-JT4N-6cUx-QsXl-rfda-ZYwHnI'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint='lvmid/RSsQ4o-xCCg-seUj-5NhH-fai0-Tl8k-rXISBa/1H7vej-lnQf-JT4N-6cUx-QsXl-rfda-ZYwHnI'  95b1136e-14e0-433b-9a86-2ab65facb0e2
else
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 95b1136e-14e0-433b-9a86-2ab65facb0e2
fi
insmod png
if background_image /@rootfs/usr/share/desktop-base/homeworld-theme/grub/grub-4x3.png; then
  set color_normal=white/black
  set color_highlight=black/white
else
  set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
  set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
	set gfxpayload="${1}"
}
set linux_gfx_mode=
export linux_gfx_mode
menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-95b1136e-14e0-433b-9a86-2ab65facb0e2' {
	load_video
	insmod gzio
	if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
	insmod part_gpt
	insmod ext2
	set root='hd0,gpt2'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt2  b67242ff-3a02-49b1-a15b-f7c58249b58f
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root b67242ff-3a02-49b1-a15b-f7c58249b58f
	fi
	echo	'Loading Linux 5.10.0-6-amd64 ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-5.10.0-6-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/debian--vg-root ro rootflags=subvol=@rootfs  quiet
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initrd.img-5.10.0-6-amd64
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Debian GNU/Linux' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-95b1136e-14e0-433b-9a86-2ab65facb0e2' {
	menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 5.10.0-6-amd64' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-5.10.0-6-amd64-advanced-95b1136e-14e0-433b-9a86-2ab65facb0e2' {
		load_video
		insmod gzio
		if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
		insmod part_gpt
		insmod ext2
		set root='hd0,gpt2'
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt2  b67242ff-3a02-49b1-a15b-f7c58249b58f
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root b67242ff-3a02-49b1-a15b-f7c58249b58f
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux 5.10.0-6-amd64 ...'
		linux	/vmlinuz-5.10.0-6-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/debian--vg-root ro rootflags=subvol=@rootfs  quiet
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/initrd.img-5.10.0-6-amd64
	}
	menuentry 'Debian GNU/Linux, with Linux 5.10.0-6-amd64 (recovery mode)' --class debian --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-5.10.0-6-amd64-recovery-95b1136e-14e0-433b-9a86-2ab65facb0e2' {
		load_video
		insmod gzio
		if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
		insmod part_gpt
		insmod ext2
		set root='hd0,gpt2'
		if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,gpt2 --hint-efi=hd0,gpt2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,gpt2  b67242ff-3a02-49b1-a15b-f7c58249b58f
		else
		  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root b67242ff-3a02-49b1-a15b-f7c58249b58f
		fi
		echo	'Loading Linux 5.10.0-6-amd64 ...'
		linux	/vmlinuz-5.10.0-6-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/debian--vg-root ro single rootflags=subvol=@rootfs 
		echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
		initrd	/initrd.img-5.10.0-6-amd64
	}
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Windows 10 (on /dev/sdb1)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-22AEA1EEAEA1BB25' {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ntfs
	set root='hd1,msdos1'
	if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd1,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1  22AEA1EEAEA1BB25
	else
	  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 22AEA1EEAEA1BB25
	fi
	parttool ${root} hidden-
	drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
	chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
  source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sda2: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

   0.320837021 = 0.344496128    grub/grub.cfg                                  4
   0.321322441 = 0.345017344    grub/i386-pc/core.img                          2
   0.016121864 = 0.017310720    vmlinuz-5.10.0-6-amd64                        11
   0.330078125 = 0.354418688    initrd.img-5.10.0-6-amd64                     32

======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown BootLoader on sda3

00000000  4c 55 4b 53 ba be 00 02  00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00  |LUKS..........@.|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000020  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00000040  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  73 68 61 32 35 36 00 00  |........sha256..|
00000050  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000060  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  b8 4d c4 d4 9f 81 e2 6c  |.........M.....l|
00000070  1a b9 7f f7 24 96 1b 28  f4 13 74 5e 52 3f 0e 99  |....$..(..t^R?..|
00000080  0d b2 c5 96 d8 40 aa b4  9d 61 d1 b9 93 25 e0 97  |.....@...a...%..|
00000090  28 6e ae 8a d3 b8 d9 a4  d9 43 86 3b 4f cb 83 a3  |(n.......C.;O...|
000000a0  90 be e7 3e 8c 9a da 95  36 34 35 66 65 33 65 33  |...>....645fe3e3|
000000b0  2d 61 64 31 37 2d 34 39  30 66 2d 39 61 33 37 2d  |-ad17-490f-9a37-|
000000c0  32 39 65 30 30 38 32 62  66 64 39 66 00 00 00 00  |29e0082bfd9f....|
000000d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
000001c0  8a da db 8f 46 21 7d a6  88 df 8e 69 61 ad 45 d6  |....F!}....ia.E.|
000001d0  6f c1 d0 4d 7b 64 d7 14  16 a7 a2 b9 a3 55 f6 bf  |o..M{d.......U..|
000001e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00000200

Unknown BootLoader on sdb4

00000000  4c 55 4b 53 ba be 00 02  00 00 00 00 00 00 40 00  |LUKS..........@.|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000020  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00000040  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  73 68 61 32 35 36 00 00  |........sha256..|
00000050  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000060  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  c6 c0 5b df 8c fc 0e 66  |..........[....f|
00000070  96 5b f5 3d af c6 47 f7  c6 40 36 8b 4c 48 f9 11  |.[.=..G..@6.LH..|
00000080  80 91 da 34 ee 65 7f f5  aa fe 67 9a 93 37 0a 20  |...4.e....g..7. |
00000090  16 00 95 bc 5b d0 19 f6  ee 48 c0 b9 53 43 c9 10  |....[....H..SC..|
000000a0  97 73 5c e7 68 d8 ee e9  34 33 64 32 38 63 36 33  |.s\.h...43d28c63|
000000b0  2d 37 33 33 31 2d 34 61  32 34 2d 38 62 66 39 2d  |-7331-4a24-8bf9-|
000000c0  38 35 39 36 36 39 65 36  36 36 32 38 00 00 00 00  |859669e66628....|
000000d0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
000001c0  78 12 c0 0c 3c 74 56 af  7e d8 f5 19 51 4b 2b 8b  |x...<tV.~...QK+.|
000001d0  0a 0d 91 a7 e0 82 1e c5  90 1a 7f be 52 82 e0 9e  |............R...|
000001e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
*
00000200


=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

/usr/sbin/bootinfoscript: line 2553: 7810506752S: value too great for base (error token is "7810506752S")

root@debian:~# 

P.S.
For what it's worth, the computer that I ran the above commands on has an internal 750 GB drive.

[p.H]

According to the report, GRUB's core image is in the BIOS boot partition which is located at the very beginning of the drive, well within any known BIOS limit, so the drive size should not matter here. However the display of "GRUB" only without "loading" means that something goes wrong when loading or executing the core image.

Maybe the BIOS does not handle correctly the different physical and logical sector sizes. Can you show the output of fdisk -l for the two USB drives which boot properly on this machine ?

[s3a]

Ah, yes.

Here's fdisk -l from the 320 GB USB HDD's OS.:

Code: Select all

root@debian:~# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sdb: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: ST1000DM003-1SB1
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 /dev/sda: 111.79 GiB, 120034123776 bytes, 234441648 sectors
Disk model: SPCC Solid State
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 /dev/sdc: 298.06 GiB, 320044269568 bytes, 625086464 sectors
Disk model: My Passport 071A
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xa9b6b173

Device     Boot   Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1  *       2048    999423    997376   487M 83 Linux
/dev/sdc2       1001470 625084415 624082946 297.6G  5 Extended
/dev/sdc5       1001472 625084415 624082944 297.6G 83 Linux


Disk /dev/mapper/sdc5_crypt: 297.57 GiB, 319513690112 bytes, 624050176 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 /dev/mapper/secondary--debian--os--vg-root: 281.93 GiB, 302719696896 bytes, 591249408 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 131072 bytes / 131072 bytes


Disk /dev/mapper/secondary--debian--os--vg-swap_1: 15.64 GiB, 16789798912 bytes, 32792576 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 /dev/mapper/secondary--debian--os--vg-swap_ssd: 33 GiB, 35433480192 bytes, 69206016 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 /dev/loop0: 64.77 MiB, 67915776 bytes, 132648 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 /dev/loop1: 73.97 MiB, 77565952 bytes, 151496 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 /dev/loop2: 337.71 MiB, 354111488 bytes, 691624 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 /dev/loop3: 215.46 MiB, 225923072 bytes, 441256 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 /dev/loop4: 99.47 MiB, 104304640 bytes, 203720 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 /dev/loop5: 55.42 MiB, 58114048 bytes, 113504 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 /dev/loop6: 98.96 MiB, 103772160 bytes, 202680 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 /dev/loop7: 156 KiB, 159744 bytes, 312 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 /dev/loop8: 99.15 MiB, 103964672 bytes, 203056 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 /dev/loop9: 337.7 MiB, 354107392 bytes, 691616 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 /dev/loop10: 162.87 MiB, 170778624 bytes, 333552 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 /dev/loop11: 303.07 MiB, 317796352 bytes, 620696 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 /dev/loop12: 55.45 MiB, 58142720 bytes, 113560 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 /dev/loop13: 65.1 MiB, 68259840 bytes, 133320 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 /dev/loop14: 156 KiB, 159744 bytes, 312 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 /dev/sdd: 1.36 TiB, 1500301909504 bytes, 2930277167 sectors
Disk model: BUP Slim SL     
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 /dev/mapper/encYes: 1.36 TiB, 1500285132288 bytes, 2930244399 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
root@debian:~# 

And, I remember the 2 TB USB HDD also having the same logical and physical sector sizes (of 512 bytes) (unlike the 5 TB USB HDD).

I was unable to find a way to make them match in the Debian installer.

P.S.
The computer that I ran this from was from the computer that the 5 TB HDD doesn't boot from (via the 320 GB HDD OS).

Also, for what it's worth, the 120 GB SSD and 1 TB HDD are internal drives on this computer, and the 120 GB SSD is used as an LVM (write-through) cache drive for the 320 GB USB HDD's OS. That, and I have a 1.5 TB external USB HDD actually being used as a typical external HDD. ;P

Edit:
The loop stuff are possibly from the fact that I have snapd installed.

[p.H]

And, I remember the 2 TB USB HDD also having the same logical and physical sector sizes (of 512 bytes) (unlike the 5 TB USB HDD).

I do not have a better explanation in mind. You can try to check it if you have spare USB drives with 512 (should work) and 4096-byte (should fail) physical sector sizes. No need to install a whole system, just GRUB with

Code: Select all

grub-install --boot-directory=/some/dummy/directory /dev/sdX

I was unable to find a way to make them match in the Debian installer.

Match the physical and logical sector sizes ? You can't. They are hardware features advertised by the drive embedded controller.

Are these native USB drives or SATA drives within an enclosure with a USB to SATA bridge ?
I think I have seen a USB to SATA bridge which did not properly translate the logical/physical sector sizes to the host.