[ubuntu-us-mi] cannot reboot/powercycle machine with external USB drive powered on

Discussion:

Robert Citek

2010-01-05 20:08:20 UTC

Hello all,

I have an Ubuntu machine (dual boots 8.10 and 9.04) that has an
external USB drive (Verbatim 1TB). If try rebooting or power-cycling
the machine with the drive powered on, the system does not complete
the boot process and drops me into a busybox shell.

That is, these steps work:

- power-off machine, power-off drive, power-on drive, power-on machine
- power-off machine, power-off drive, power-on machine, power-on drive
- power-off drive, power-off machine, power-on drive, power-on machine
- power-off drive, power-cycle machine, power-on drive
- power-off drive, reboot machine, power-on drive

This does not work:

- power-cycle machine with drive kept on
- reboot machine with drive kept on

I suspect that some signal is being sent to the drive during shutdown
that puts the drive into an unusable state that can only be reset by
power-cycling the drive. Is that correct?

If so, then I have two questions:

1) is there a way to prevent the drive from going into that state?
2) is there a way to resurrect the drive from that state without
power-cycling the drive?

Regards,
- Robert

Aaron VanSledright

2010-01-05 23:43:56 UTC

Permalink

Your BIOS is probably set to boot from a USB... and im guessing you dont
have an operating system on the drive :) Remove USB boot from your bios

Post by Robert Citek
Hello all,
I have an Ubuntu machine (dual boots 8.10 and 9.04) that has an
external USB drive (Verbatim 1TB). If try rebooting or power-cycling
the machine with the drive powered on, the system does not complete
the boot process and drops me into a busybox shell.
- power-off machine, power-off drive, power-on drive, power-on machine
- power-off machine, power-off drive, power-on machine, power-on drive
- power-off drive, power-off machine, power-on drive, power-on machine
- power-off drive, power-cycle machine, power-on drive
- power-off drive, reboot machine, power-on drive
- power-cycle machine with drive kept on
- reboot machine with drive kept on
I suspect that some signal is being sent to the drive during shutdown
that puts the drive into an unusable state that can only be reset by
power-cycling the drive. Is that correct?
1) is there a way to prevent the drive from going into that state?
2) is there a way to resurrect the drive from that state without
power-cycling the drive?
Regards,
- Robert
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--
Aaron VanSledright
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t jagoda

2010-01-06 01:13:44 UTC

Permalink

I had a problem similar on my old Dell XPS, with a USB-connected HP
Photosmart printer. USB wasn't in my boot order, and it would just sit at a
black screen until I turned off the printer, at which point XP would proceed
normal.

I just assumed it was an incompatibility at the BIOS level, and turned off
the printer.

On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 6:43 PM, Aaron VanSledright

Post by Aaron VanSledright
Your BIOS is probably set to boot from a USB... and im guessing you dont
have an operating system on the drive :) Remove USB boot from your bios

--
Aaron VanSledright
--
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ubuntu-us-mi at lists.ubuntu.com
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-mi

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Robert Citek

2010-01-06 15:53:47 UTC

Permalink

On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 6:43 PM, Aaron VanSledright

Post by Aaron VanSledright
Your BIOS is probably set to boot from a USB...

It is.

Post by Aaron VanSledright
and im guessing you dont have an operating system on the drive :)

I didn't, but I do now. I've removed the internal drive and now have
it booting exclusively from the external USB drive. As before, the
machine boots from the USB drive just fine if I power it on before the
machine starts. But it will not boot from a reboot nor from a
power-cycle of the machine, unless I power-cycle the drive off before
the machine starts its POST.

FWIW, booting and rebooting using a USB thumbdrive works just fine as
long as the Verbatim drive is not plugged in.

Post by Aaron VanSledright
Remove USB boot from your bios

Not really desirable, but would work, although I'm not sure how to
disable USB booting without disabling all USB functions.

Another idea would be taking the drive out of the enclosure and making
it an internal drive (downside: no portability).

What I am looking for is a tool that will configure the drive not to
get into whatever state it is in. I was hoping hdparm would work, but
none of the options I tried worked.

Regards,
- Robert

Robert Citek

2010-01-27 22:08:31 UTC

Permalink

Post by Robert Citek
What I am looking for is a tool that will configure the drive not to
get into whatever state it is in. ?I was hoping hdparm would work, but
none of the options I tried worked.

BTW, this is the drive:

http://www.verbatim.com/products/detail.cfm?product_id=A3271A07-1143-3415-5F0ACB9D7825CD34

My short-term solution has been to not reboot while remote.

Regards,
- Robert