I’ve broken my bootloader many times. I remember frantically looking up how to fix that online for the first time. Now I know not to do stupid things that could bork my bootloader.
As a Linux noob, the only time I’ve broken my bootloader was updating my distro after ignoring it for a year. I ignored the update because it broke a badly made script badly solving the complex problem caused by a simple problem that I ignored the solution to.
I finally fixed the simple problem because I needed to upgrade a library to get a modded launcher working so I could play with my friends. And I was thinking of rewriting the firmware for my macro keyboard to be better structured anyways.
I went back to the old firmware with a simple fix as the new one has a weird bug that if I hold two “even” keys at once, I get spammed down signals for the higher order one.
I get that, sometimes it can feel like “why am I even bothering to write a big long comment” but there’s no need to apologise for it. Not everything we say or write has to be profound, sometimes people just want to share a story!
And I feel your pain as well, I had a similar issue updating mine after leaving it sit for about a year, but I very, very stupidly decided to do it on a Friday morning, on my work machine, on the same some code was due to be delivered. So I had a frantic Friday trying to fix my PC and get the work done!
I feel like it’s harder to break the bootloader these days. All my dual-booting escapades worked fine, I still have most of my hair, and there’s no way my Linux skills have improved that much.
I think that the major issue with the bootloader is when a user confuses the device file for the entire drive (/dev/sda) with the device file for the partition (/dev/sda1), whch is not entirely unreasonable for a new user who doesn’t understand the naming system to do. Like, mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda rather than mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1. Then you overwrite the entire drive, starting with the MBR, rather than the contents of a partition with your new filesystem.
The only thing I fucked up was /etc/sudoers. Once it refused sudo to me, my colleague told me about visudo and having another terminal with root already open as backup. And handed me a bootable USB stick to fix my fuckup. Good times, lessons were learned.
Let’s be honest. If you haven’t broken your bootloader at some point in time, you haven’t experienced Linux.
Windows probably broke my bootloader (GRUB) more times than I did though.
I’ve broken my bootloader many times. I remember frantically looking up how to fix that online for the first time. Now I know not to do stupid things that could bork my bootloader.
I know not to do stupid things that could bork my bootloader. I still do stupid things that I know can bork my bootloader.
As a Linux noob, the only time I’ve broken my bootloader was updating my distro after ignoring it for a year. I ignored the update because it broke a badly made script badly solving the complex problem caused by a simple problem that I ignored the solution to.
I finally fixed the simple problem because I needed to upgrade a library to get a modded launcher working so I could play with my friends. And I was thinking of rewriting the firmware for my macro keyboard to be better structured anyways.
I went back to the old firmware with a simple fix as the new one has a weird bug that if I hold two “even” keys at once, I get spammed down signals for the higher order one.
Linux has been fun!
I started writing that, got a little carried away, then decided even if no one cares, talking into the void has always been cathartic
I get that, sometimes it can feel like “why am I even bothering to write a big long comment” but there’s no need to apologise for it. Not everything we say or write has to be profound, sometimes people just want to share a story!
And I feel your pain as well, I had a similar issue updating mine after leaving it sit for about a year, but I very, very stupidly decided to do it on a Friday morning, on my work machine, on the same some code was due to be delivered. So I had a frantic Friday trying to fix my PC and get the work done!
How did you break it?
I feel like it’s harder to break the bootloader these days. All my dual-booting escapades worked fine, I still have most of my hair, and there’s no way my Linux skills have improved that much.
I think that the major issue with the bootloader is when a user confuses the device file for the entire drive (
/dev/sda) with the device file for the partition (/dev/sda1), whch is not entirely unreasonable for a new user who doesn’t understand the naming system to do. Like,mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdarather thanmkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1. Then you overwrite the entire drive, starting with the MBR, rather than the contents of a partition with your new filesystem.The only thing I fucked up was /etc/sudoers. Once it refused sudo to me, my colleague told me about visudo and having another terminal with root already open as backup. And handed me a bootable USB stick to fix my fuckup. Good times, lessons were learned.
thats why you gotta stock up on boot loaders, can never have enough boot loaders, if one breaks I just boot off another one!