More notes to self.
Was just trying to reinstall grub on a disk on which I had accidentally trashed the partition table (It's the WRONG DISK Grommet !)
I noticed the following error when I ran grub-install :
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Sector 32 is already in use by FlexNet; avoiding it. This software may cause boot or other problems in future. Please ask its authors not to store data in the boot track..
I thought I would see what gives. Seems that this is related to Adobe DRM stuff. What I want to know is why this sort of thing is left lying around long after Windows/Adobe has gone. Despite formatting and partitioning, someone else's crap is still on MY disk. Unacceptable.
There are two ways to get shot.
1. A low level format / disk wipe - but I couldn't believe there wasn't another way.
2. Zero out the MBR and reinstall grub. Much better and as follows :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1661254
BACKUP FIRST :
sudo dd if=/dev/sda of=~/first_63_sectors bs=512 count=63
To zero all sectors do this (take a backup first !) :
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=62 seek=1
Or just the sector 32 :
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1 seek=32
Seems that there are several other programs that perform similar tricks.
To chroot and reinstall grub
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/sda1
sudo mount --bind /dev /media/sda1/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /media/sda1/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys /media/sda1/sys
sudo chroot /media/sda1
sudo update-grub
Job done. Roll a smoke and get a coffee.
Thanks, I had the same problem, now it's solved thanks again :)
ReplyDeleteI had this "chroot: failed to run command `/bin/bash': No such file or directory" when I run "sudo chroot /mnt".
ReplyDeleteHelp me please!
Assuming you have mounted the correct disk/partitions/directories then I guess the answer is that there must be something wrong with your installation somehow.
ReplyDeleteCan you boot with a live distro & have a look to see that everything is in place ?
Thanks a lot for this. I have been looking for how to rid off flexnet without wipe out disk almoust half a day (especially not to use low level formatting - quite danger operation).
ReplyDeleteif please anybody has further information how to check MBR/63 sectors if it is clean - I mean if it is without any other DRM or similar stupid stuff, please post it here. I would really much appreciate it.
Kind Regards,
Martin
Appreciate the instruction. I am a huge fan of dd now :)
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late response - trying to figure out to comment on your own post !!
ReplyDeleteMartin, just check the backup file and compare it with a newer version after zeroing the drive. Should find a new dd backup should show a pile of noughts ! If it is, no need to look further !
Lucid, thanks. Me too - neat tool that is often forgotten or overlooked.
B. Rgds
John
Where's the "grub-install /dev/sda" ? I don't see that in your list of commands. Shouldn't that be done just before update-grub? It seems like your MBR would still be a bunch of nulls after the above commands. Yet feedback comments don't mention any problems. What am I missing?
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeletefirst, note that there are TWO dd instructions - one to zero all bytes and the other JUST Sector 32. If you run the Sector 32 only one then you won't end up with a bunch of nulls......
Regards update-grub I can't honestly say as I am no expert in that field. Think it all depends on what is already installed in the boot sector/partition table.
I just did the above and it worked :-)
sudo update-grub
ReplyDeleteshould be replaced with
sudo grub-install /dev/sdX
"X" should be the correct one, such as "a".