EBIOS read error: Media Error block

[ChillyPenguin]

EBIOS read error: Media Error block [Solved]

My Hackintosh desktop Mac SSD is giving me the error "EBIOS read error: Media Error block" etc.

I need to get to the disk repair tools somehow. I have been backing up with Time Machine to a separate hard drive, so I ought be able to do a repair/restore operation if I can get to the right tools.

I do have a Mountain Lion installer USB stick, but unfortunately, the PC (Asus P8P87LE mobo) seems to have developed an aversion to booting from any USB sticks! (I tried with a Linux USB stick too, just to be sure. The sticks both worked on another PC, so I think the sticks are okay.) The PC starts to boot from the sticks, but then hangs, gives up and starts the main PC boot loader (Linux GRUB) from one the hard drives.

So, I probably need a CD/DVD based solution.

I burned rboot to a CD, but when after it boots, it gives me that "EBIOS read error: Media Error block" error all over again. I guess it's trying to start or somehow interact with that broken Mac SSD?

Where to go from here? My only install DVD is for Snow Leopard. The broken SSD was Mountain Lion. I'm guessing that even if I could boot the Snow Leopard disk, I wouldn't be able to use its tools to repair a Mountain Lion SSD?

It sounds like I need a Mountain Lion (or maybe Mavericks?) DVD, unless I can somehow persuade my PC to boot from the USB stick.

Any help on how to proceed, very welcome!!

 

[Going Bald]

Try reset CMOS and set up the BIOS again before booting with a USB.

 

[ChillyPenguin]

@Going Bald,

Many thanks, sir. Clearing the CMOS by moving a jumper on the mobo has, indeed, cured the general problem of the PC not wanting to boot from USB sticks.

At least, it boots from Linux USB installers now. Sadly though, it won't boot from my Mac install USB (Unibeast, I presume - it's ages since I created it!). Oddly enough, if gives me the same error booting as does the Mac SSD: EBIOS read error Media Error Block 0x2e3658. Even the block number is the same! Weird.

Still, at least I have a way forward now.

Many thanks again.

 

[ChillyPenguin]

After all that....

There was nothing ever wrong with my Mountain Lion SSD installation. There was nothing ever wrong with my Unibeast Mountain Lion USB stick.

I created a brand new USB installer from a VirtualBox Snow Leopard VM. Different USB stick, different brand and got the exact same error: EBIOS read error Media Error Block 0x2e3658. Yep, the exact same block number.

That's when it occurred to me that this might be something completely different to the problem that I'd been investigating. So on a hunch, I disconnected every SATA drive in my PC (there's a few of them!) except the Mountain Lion SSD. I booted the machine with my new Unibeast USB and no errors: it booted first time. From within Unibeast I selected my Mountain Lion SSD and that booted up first time too. There had been nothing wrong with it in the first place.

I re-added the SATA disks, one at a time, and eventually found the problem drive. It's a very old 250Gig one that I'd be using as a Mac storage and Time Machine store. Obviously, something had gone seriously wrong with that one, but weird that it would prevent my USB sticks from booting up.

Oh well, all part of life's rich pageant...

 

[sidha]

My hackintosh (10.5.8) has the exact same problem after 3 years of error-free operation. The solution was so simple: mount the system partition on a working system - if you have one. If you haven't one, just install a fresh system to mount your system on it. The mount procedure itself will repair the error! Nothing to do with bios, nothing to do with installations. I was take the hdd out and mount it on my MacBook via usb-to-sata. The mount of the system partition was slow - at first. (I run DiskWarrior, but i realized that it will corrupt my Hackintosh boot sector, so..just quit. I'm not remember how to recreate it, becouse i installed it 3 years ago...) So i just remounted the drive and this time the mount process was fast - as usual. So... after 2 mounts the error gone and the drive boot ok. (The Hacky not have any other drives.) I think the system itself automatically repaired the drive via the mount process.