No bootable device after changing partitions

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No bootable device after changing partitions

Hi all. I've lost the ability to boot into my Windows partition via bootcamp. When I use OSX's startup disk system prefs, it can see Bootcamp, but restarting produces a "No bootable device" error message. If I hold down alt while rebooting, I only see Macintosh HD, no bootcamp (or Recovery, for that matter). I can see the Bootcamp disk on the desktop, and I can use Parallels to run Windows based on that disk, so I know the disk itself is ok.

I have done a fair bit of mucking about with partitions 🙂. I shrunk my Macintosh HD partition and inserted a new one between Macintosh HD and Bootcamp. Then, things got funky, and I created a CoreStorage volume on top of Macintosh HD, and joined it with a partition on an SD card (created a DIY fusion drive with a TarDisk). This all worked nicely, and I've now got a huge Macintosh HD, and the Mac boots fine, Parallels works fine, but I can't boot natively into Bootcamp.

Can anyone help, please?

Here's the output to "distil list":

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD            279.8 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3
   4:                  Apple_HFS Untitled                20.5 GB    disk0s4
   5:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                199.4 GB   disk0s5
/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *255.9 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS TarDiskFirst            309.0 MB   disk1s2
   3:          Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD            199.8 GB   disk1s3
   4:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk1s4
   5:                  Apple_HFS WinData                 55.2 GB    disk1s5
/dev/disk2 (internal, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +479.0 GB   disk2
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s3
                                 663FCC6B-F913-4137-B61C-9A318FF32328
                                 Unencrypted

And here's "diskutil cs list":

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group F83F0A91-AD34-4597-8D9A-81BE3FB9C484
    =========================================================
    Name:         Macintosh HD
    Status:       Online
    Size:         479685611520 B (479.7 GB)
    Free Space:   8220672 B (8.2 MB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume F2FC702D-DEB2-4B54-A860-29306EE9F21A
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk0s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     279841767424 B (279.8 GB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 22546E66-3980-4B8E-82C8-9E9A10212D54
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    1
    |   Disk:     disk1s3
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     199843844096 B (199.8 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family B4737E61-C85E-4BB4-BECC-0F8468902391
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Type:         None
        |
        +-> Logical Volume 663FCC6B-F913-4137-B61C-9A318FF32328
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:                  disk2
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          479039848448 B (479.0 GB)
            Revertible:            No
            LV Name:               Macintosh HD
            Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

Here's "sudo disk /dev/disk0" (all the zeroes here make me nervous):

Disk: /dev/disk0
geometry: 60821/255/63 [977105060 sectors]



Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
#: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  977105059] <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

And finally, here's "sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0":

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=500277790720; sectorsize=512; blocks=977105060
gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 977105059
      start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640  546565952      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  546975592     262144      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  547237736   40118424      4  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  587356160     262144
  587618304  389486585      5  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
  977104889        138
  977105027         32         Sec GPT table
  977105059          1         Sec GPT header

My guess is that adding the extra partition confused where Bootcamp thinks the partition is (it moved from 4 to 5!) so it can't find it to load. Can anyone offer steps to fix this, please?

Thanks!
Matt

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2), null

Posted on Jan 8, 2016 2:52 AM

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Answer 1

citizenmatt Author

Level 1

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Jan 8, 2016 2:56 AM in response to citizenmatt

And "sudo disk /dev/disk0":

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1


Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
NOTE: Write test failed with error number 1. It will be impossible to save
changes to this disk's partition table!
You may need to deactivate System Integrity Protection to use this program. See
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-turn-off-the-rootless-in-OS-X-El-Capitan-10-11
for more information.


Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present


Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.


Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/disk0: 977105060 sectors, 465.9 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 918541C4-E232-154C-BC98-413BDA1DBBCC
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 977105026
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 262288 sectors (128.1 MiB)


Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1              40          409639   200.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System Partition
   2          409640       546975591   260.6 GiB   AF05  Macintosh HD
   3       546975592       547237735   128.0 MiB   AB00  Booter
   4       547237736       587356159   19.1 GiB    AF00  Untitled
   5       587618304       977104888   185.7 GiB   0700

This is at least showing all the partitions as I expect to see them. The Bootcamp partition is 5, but I've no idea how to fix it back up so that I can boot into it natively.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jan 8, 2016 4:21 AM in response to citizenmatt

Please post the output of

sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0s5 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

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Answer 3

citizenmatt Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 8, 2016 7:44 AM in response to Loner T

Here we go:

00000000  eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20  20 20 20 00 02 08 00 00  |.R.NTFS    .....|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 f8 00 00  3f 00 ff 00 00 58 06 23  |........?....X.#|
00000020  00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00  f8 07 29 17 00 00 00 00  |..........).....|
00000030  00 00 0c 00 00 00 00 00  02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000040  f6 00 00 00 01 00 00 00  05 f2 e8 72 10 e9 72 1a  |...........r..r.|
00000050  00 00 00 00 fa 33 c0 8e  d0 bc 00 7c fb 68 c0 07  |.....3.....|.h..|
00000060  1f 1e 68 66 00 cb 88 16  0e 00 66 81 3e 03 00 4e  |..hf......f.>..N|
00000070  54 46 53 75 15 b4 41 bb  aa 55 cd 13 72 0c 81 fb  |TFSu..A..U..r...|
00000080  55 aa 75 06 f7 c1 01 00  75 03 e9 dd 00 1e 83 ec  |U.u.....u.......|
00000090  18 68 1a 00 b4 48 8a 16  0e 00 8b f4 16 1f cd 13  |.h...H..........|
000000a0  9f 83 c4 18 9e 58 1f 72  e1 3b 06 0b 00 75 db a3  |.....X.r.;...u..|
000000b0  0f 00 c1 2e 0f 00 04 1e  5a 33 db b9 00 20 2b c8  |........Z3... +.|
000000c0  66 ff 06 11 00 03 16 0f  00 8e c2 ff 06 16 00 e8  |f...............|
000000d0  4b 00 2b c8 77 ef b8 00  bb cd 1a 66 23 c0 75 2d  |K.+.w......f#.u-|
000000e0  66 81 fb 54 43 50 41 75  24 81 f9 02 01 72 1e 16  |f..TCPAu$....r..|
000000f0  68 07 bb 16 68 52 11 16  68 09 00 66 53 66 53 66  |h...hR..h..fSfSf|
00000100  55 16 16 16 68 b8 01 66  61 0e 07 cd 1a 33 c0 bf  |U...h..fa....3..|
00000110  0a 13 b9 f6 0c fc f3 aa  e9 fe 01 90 90 66 60 1e  |.............f`.|
00000120  06 66 a1 11 00 66 03 06  1c 00 1e 66 68 00 00 00  |.f...f.....fh...|
00000130  00 66 50 06 53 68 01 00  68 10 00 b4 42 8a 16 0e  |.fP.Sh..h...B...|
00000140  00 16 1f 8b f4 cd 13 66  59 5b 5a 66 59 66 59 1f  |.......fY[ZfYfY.|
00000150  0f 82 16 00 66 ff 06 11  00 03 16 0f 00 8e c2 ff  |....f...........|
00000160  0e 16 00 75 bc 07 1f 66  61 c3 a1 f6 01 e8 09 00  |...u...fa.......|
00000170  a1 fa 01 e8 03 00 f4 eb  fd 8b f0 ac 3c 00 74 09  |............<.t.|
00000180  b4 0e bb 07 00 cd 10 eb  f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20 64 69  |............A di|
00000190  73 6b 20 72 65 61 64 20  65 72 72 6f 72 20 6f 63  |sk read error oc|
000001a0  63 75 72 72 65 64 00 0d  0a 42 4f 4f 54 4d 47 52  |curred...BOOTMGR|
000001b0  20 69 73 20 63 6f 6d 70  72 65 73 73 65 64 00 0d  | is compressed..|
000001c0  0a 50 72 65 73 73 20 43  74 72 6c 2b 41 6c 74 2b  |.Press Ctrl+Alt+|
000001d0  44 65 6c 20 74 6f 20 72  65 73 74 61 72 74 0d 0a  |Del to restart..|
000001e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 8a 01  a7 01 bf 01 00 00 55 aa  |..............U.|
00000200

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Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jan 8, 2016 7:58 AM in response to citizenmatt

Do you want to keep the Untitled (20.5G) disk0s4 partition?

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Answer 5

citizenmatt Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 8, 2016 8:50 AM in response to Loner T

The original plan was to "merge" it into the Bootcamp partition, but I think I might have to reinstall Windows (or Winclone it), and I don't have the free time to do that just now. So long term, no.

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Answer 6

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jan 8, 2016 8:59 AM in response to citizenmatt

Let us leave it as is. We can create a new Hybrid MBR, using the following steps.

A. We need to disable SIP.

1. Boot into Local Recovery (Command+R).

2. Start Utilities -> Terminal.

3. Type csrutil disable in Terminal and press Enter/Return.

4. Type csrutil status.

5. Boot normally, and type csrutil status to confirm that all individual entries are still disabled.

B. Rebuild non-standard MBR.

The following steps are non-standard because there is a third user-visible partition. Typically, there are two such partitions in a normal configuration on a single-disk Mac with OS X and Bootcamp. This is fragile and lack of proper backups can lead to potential data loss. Download GPT Fdisk from http://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/ and install it on the OS X side. The following steps are executed when booted in OS X. If the 20.5G is converted to Free Space, these numbers (3 4 5) will change back to (2 3 4). You can use GParted to extend current BC partition, when you are ready.

Rebuild MBR to match the new GPT information thus resetting the Hybrid MBR. Use defaults for other questions (like partition codes). The only values that need modifications are the Boot flags and step 10. Accept all other defaults that Gdisk offers. Please see thesample Q&A as an example. These steps can be repeated if you make a mistake before you get to Step 12, otherwise start from Step 1 for these steps. Step 6 has numbers which are typed with a space between the numbers. Please see the sample Q&A before you execute these steps.

Sudo gdisk /dev/rdisk0
P (Print list of parts)
R (Recover)
O (print current Hybrid MBR)
H (chooses Hybrid)
Partitions numbers to be hybridized: 3 4 5
Y (Good for GRUB question)
N (part 3 boot flag)
N (part 4 boot flag)
Y (part 5 boot flag make NTFS bootable partition)
O (print current Hybrid MBR)
W (Write the new MBR)
Y (Yes! write the new MBR)
Reboot

Here is sample Q&A for this section. Please notice the Press Enter/Return. Accept defaults offered by Gdisk.

Place EFI GPT (0xEE) partition first in MBR (good for GRUB)? (Y/N): Y

Creating entry for GPT partition #3 (MBR partition #2)

Enter an MBR hex code (default AF or AB): Press Enter/Return

Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): N

Creating entry for GPT partition #4 (MBR partition #3)

Enter an MBR hex code (default AB or 0B or 0C): Press Enter/Return

Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): N

Creating entry for GPT partition #5 (MBR partition #4)

Enter an MBR hex code (default 07): Press Enter/Return

Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): Y

Reference:

[Help] Can't boot to windows (8.1) after resizing partition

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Answer 7

citizenmatt Author

Level 1

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Jan 8, 2016 9:23 AM in response to Loner T

Looks like I've lost my Recovery HD, too. Rebooting with Command+R puts me into netboot mode, and that doesn't seem to have csrutil. Any ideas?

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Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jan 8, 2016 9:32 AM in response to citizenmatt

If you have an external disk, you can use Internet Recovery and How to install OS X on an external drive connected to your Mac - Apple Support - to install OSX on it and then Local Recovery.

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Answer 9

citizenmatt Author

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Jan 8, 2016 12:19 PM in response to Loner T

Absolutely brilliant. Fixed it, and my Bootcamp partition is working perfectly. Thank you very much for your help!

Just one last question - my recovery partition isn't showing up when I reboot with alt pressed. Is it possible to fix that up, too?

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Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jan 8, 2016 12:59 PM in response to citizenmatt

You may need to re-install OSX (which will not modify any of your OSX non-OS files). It should correct your Recovery HD. I think TarDisk may have cause the Recovery HD issue when the Fusion drive was built.

Please backup OSX and Windows, and create Windows System Restore point, before you try to re-install OSX using Internet Recovery. You can also download El Capitan Installer and use it to re-install OSX, if you do not want to use Internet Recovery.

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Answer 11

citizenmatt Author

Level 1

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Jan 8, 2016 4:11 PM in response to Loner T

OK, thanks, good advice.

And thanks for the help getting the Bootcamp partition working again - really, really helpful!

Cheers!

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