Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>>>> New problem: Booted into DSLinux, my HD does not appear so I can't
>>>> wipe it.  blkid and fdisk -l only show the USB stick assigned to
>>>> /dev/sda which is how I accidentally wiped it in the first place.
>>>> I'll try another distro on the USB stick.
>>
>> DSLinux couldn't find my HD because it needs the "sata" boot parameter
>> explicitly passed.  However, after doing that it crashes while loading
>> the sata module.  This is discussed online with no solution presented.
>>
>>> If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight)
>>> rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD
>>> is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable
>>> hardware.
>>>
>>> Something like DBAN or SysResCD will have a better chance of
>>> supporting a wider array of hardware.
>>
>> The problem with those two is I need something that can install to the
>> HD after wiping it.  I also need something that can install on a 512MB
>> USB key since my 8GB key does not seem to be bootable.  DSLinux was a
>> flop as described above, so I'm downloading Puppy Linux now.  It's
>> about 100MB, and it has the "Puppy Universal Installer" which should
>> install to my HD.  Hopefully it fares better with my SATA hardware
>> than DSLinux did.
>>
>> Also, in case it helps anyone in the future, unetbootin has a very
>> annoying habit of failing to download the selected ISO, returning no
>> error, and in fact reporting installation success.  The symptom of
>> this is a boot menu with only "Default" available, which goes nowhere.
>>  The solution is to download the ISO manually and point unetbootin to
>> it.
>>
>> I'll report back with Puppy Linux results.
>
> Puppy Linux has wiped the HD and installed to /dev/sda3, but I can't
> get it to install GRUB to /dev/sda1.  I get:
>
> I couldn't mount '/dev/sda1' read-write!
>
> Working on it....

OK, finally got this working.  To fix the above problem I just needed
to create the filesystem.  I had another problem where the kernel file
was not being installed, but I just needed to mount the USB key and
point the installer to the files on /mnt/sdb1 to fix that.

I'm going to keep Puppy Linux on this USB key and use it to quickly
wipe and install when I sell a laptop.

Here is a summary for those looking to boot from, wipe from, and
install from a USB key:

1. Use unetbootin to install your distro of choice on the USB key.
Puppy Linux works well if your USB key is low-capacity since it only
requires around 100MB, and it includes a hard disk installation
routine.  If the USB key fails to boot, consider these 4
possibilities:

1a. If the unetbootin installation procedure executes really quickly,
it may not be downloading the ISO.  In this case, it does not produce
an error and in fact reports installation success.  Download the ISO
manually and point unetbootin to it.

1b.  Assuming /dev/sdb is your USB key:
'cfdisk /dev/sdb' and select type LBA FAT32
'mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n USBKEY /dev/sdb1'
'dd if=/usr/share/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdb'
'sync'

1c. Make sure your BIOS is set to boot from a USB key before anything else.

1d. Some USB keys are not bootable.

2. Once booted to the USB key, use 'fdisk -l' to be sure the hard disk
has been detected and assigned to /dev/sda.  Use the following to wipe
the hard disk:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4096

3. Use 'fdisk /dev/sda' to partition your hard disk, and mke2fs to
create the filesystems.  Puppy Linux also provides gparted for this.

4. Use the booted distro's installation routine to install to the hard disk.

4a. If installing Puppy Linux, be sure to mount your USB key and point
the installation routine to the files there when prompted.

Done, and thanks for everyone's help.

- Grant