Hi all, I recently upgraded hardware (m'board, CPU, video, RAM etc.) on the system that I've been using dual/boot/GRUB (W2K and, recently RH9) for the last 2 years. Knowing I would have to reinstall the OSs, I installed W2K first then RH9. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced GRUB and the system simply goes straight to the W2K boot up. With RH9 installations, I've never been able to make a floppy at the end of the install process (seems to be either a RH9 'feature' or the kernel is too large for the floppy) but have always made the boot floppy from within linux. So, I'm unable to boot linux from this imaginary floppy. My previous RH9 boot floppy clearly has the wrong kernel for the new hardware and I can't load that (both boot floppies I have). I've lost count of the number of times I've reinstalled RH9 in the last few days or chosen the upgrade option from the CD each time trying some different combination of boot loader (including trying to go back to LILO). I've even tried sticking GRUB and LILO on the MBR rather than the boot partition. I have Tom's rtboot and a GRUB floppy both of which run. From these, including the RH9/boot CD/linux rescue option, I've tried grub-install options and grub commandline (root (hd1,0); setup (hd1)) options - each time I get an installed successfully message but each boot, up comes Windows. I have two HDs: W2K (inc. linux swap) on hda LINUX: /dev/hdb3 / /dev/hdb1 /boot I know most HOWTOs state that the linux boot should be on the same hard drive as the windows OS but these are the partitions I've been successfully dual-booting from with GRUB for the past 2 years. I have no more hair left to tear out - please help. Mark.
Hi Mark, On Fri, 2004-07-30 at 16:21, Mark Grimshaw wrote:
I have Tom's rtboot and a GRUB floppy both of which run. From these, including the RH9/boot CD/linux rescue option, I've tried grub-install options and grub commandline (root (hd1,0); setup (hd1)) options - each time I get an installed successfully message but each boot, up comes Windows.
I believe this is your problem you are installing a boot record to the wrong hard drive. From what I understand of your setup you need to install grub/lilo onto hda (or hd0 in grub terms). Explanation below.
I have two HDs: W2K (inc. linux swap) on hda LINUX: /dev/hdb3 / /dev/hdb1 /boot
I know most HOWTOs state that the linux boot should be on the same hard drive as the windows OS but these are the partitions I've been successfully dual-booting from with GRUB for the past 2 years.
I have no more hair left to tear out - please help.
On boot your bios will look for a boot sector in the MBR of hda and then possibly (if it's newish) will move on to look for boot sectors in the partitions of that drive etc. It will use the first boot sector it finds. Windows will have installed a boot sector in the MBR of hda, so your computer boots, bios finds the boot sector in the MBR of hda and boots windows. To fix this you need to install lilo/grub (with an option to boot windows) onto the MBR of the first hard disk. Installing it onto the second hard disk (as you indicated you were doing) will have no effect for the reason explained above. Hope this helps. Regards -- Matt Brown Email: matt(a)mattb.net.nz GSM: +64 21 611 544
You've got all the symptons of the problem I has a few weeks back. I still haven't had time to document the problem. Very briefly it was 1. copy the MBR of hdb1 to a file (in a FAT32 partition ... /dev/hda5) accessible by the Windows system (used Knoppix for that) and then into the main Windows partition (NTSF) 2. Add a line to the Windows boot.ini to boot from this file. Note that I installed Fedora first on the slave drive (3 partitions), so when I installed Windows, the first partition on the master drive became G: for Windows. BUT ... it has to be described as C: for boot.ini !!!! Command for 1 was dd if=/dev/hdb1 of=/mnt/dos/hdb1.mbr bs=512 count=1 boot.ini file contents in Windows systemis ... [boot loader] timeout=10 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect C:\hdb1.mbr="Linux - Fedora Core" Cheers Michael ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Grimshaw" <mark(a)sirfragalot.com> To: <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 4:21 PM Subject: [wlug] GRUB woes
Hi all,
I recently upgraded hardware (m'board, CPU, video, RAM etc.) on the system that I've been using dual/boot/GRUB (W2K and, recently RH9) for the last 2 years.
Knowing I would have to reinstall the OSs, I installed W2K first then RH9.
Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced GRUB and the system simply goes straight to the W2K boot up.
With RH9 installations, I've never been able to make a floppy at the end of the install process (seems to be either a RH9 'feature' or the kernel is too large for the floppy) but have always made the boot floppy from within linux. So, I'm unable to boot linux from this imaginary floppy. My previous RH9 boot floppy clearly has the wrong kernel for the new hardware and I can't load that (both boot floppies I have).
I've lost count of the number of times I've reinstalled RH9 in the last few days or chosen the upgrade option from the CD each time trying some different combination of boot loader (including trying to go back to LILO). I've even tried sticking GRUB and LILO on the MBR rather than the boot partition.
I have Tom's rtboot and a GRUB floppy both of which run. From these, including the RH9/boot CD/linux rescue option, I've tried grub-install options and grub commandline (root (hd1,0); setup (hd1)) options - each time I get an installed successfully message but each boot, up comes Windows.
I have two HDs: W2K (inc. linux swap) on hda LINUX: /dev/hdb3 / /dev/hdb1 /boot
I know most HOWTOs state that the linux boot should be on the same hard drive as the windows OS but these are the partitions I've been successfully dual-booting from with GRUB for the past 2 years.
I have no more hair left to tear out - please help.
Mark.
Michael & Colleen McDonald wrote:
You've got all the symptons of the problem I has a few weeks back. I still haven't had time to document the problem.
Very briefly it was 1. copy the MBR of hdb1 to a file (in a FAT32 partition ... /dev/hda5) accessible by the Windows system (used Knoppix for that) and then into the main Windows partition (NTSF) 2. Add a line to the Windows boot.ini to boot from this file.
this seems to me to be a bit hackish way of using windows bootloader to do grub's job I tend to agree with Matt Brown in that the problem is with the install command I have a similar setup and have had no problems with grub as a bootloader as long as you are aware of grub's hdd notation ie hda is hd0 and not hd1. the command grub-install /dev/hda should do the job, if not it sounds like you've read the documentation and should be able to sort it out by installing grub into hd0 rather than hd1
OK, several hours later and a few re-installs of W2K (and a trip to the nearest internet cafe to get FREEDOS...) I'm still no nearer. Trying grub> root (hd1,0) (i.e. hdb1) setup (hd0,1) (i.e. hda2 - my 3 GIG W2K active partition) certainly boots into grub... but with no menu (I do have /boot/grub/grub.conf with the appropriate boot options. Trying to use the commands in grub (rootnoverify, chainloader +1) gives me the message that NTLDR is missing leading me to think that GRUB has simply completely wiped over the W2K boot loader on hd0,1. The only way out was to reformat and reinstall W2K on hd0,1 as fdisk /mbr naturally did nothing on this partition. Trying grub setup (hd0,0) produces the same problem but at least this time FREEDOS's fdisk /mbr did the trick without requiring a W2K reinstall. So no nearer the solution I'm afraid. Re. your suggestion:
the command grub-install /dev/hda
I would have thought grub was already installed since I can run grub from the RH9 CD|linux rescue option. Mark. On 30 Jul 2004 at 18:42, Jason Drake wrote:
the command grub-install /dev/hda should do the job, if not it sounds like you've read the documentation and should be able to sort it out by installing grub into hd0 rather than hd1
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Mark Grimshaw wrote:
OK, several hours later and a few re-installs of W2K (and a trip to the nearest internet cafe to get FREEDOS...) I'm still no nearer.
Trying grub> root (hd1,0) (i.e. hdb1) setup (hd0,1) (i.e. hda2 - my 3 GIG W2K active partition)
I'm not 100% but i believe windows installs its bootloader into the mbr if it is not installed on the first partition ie hda1, I always avoid the problem by installing on the first partition, I'd recommend this if possible as I know windows doesn't like not being first on the disk If this is not possible grub can do some magic to fix it but I'm in a bit of a hurry and can't go into detail atm. I'll try and sort out the workaround solution soon if no-one else has fixed the problem first Keep trying I'm sure this is possible with grub and grub is great once setup correctly
please disregard most of the previous post, i was in a hurry and looking back on it it wasnt particularly well thought out although in my experience windows does like to be in the first partition Ok all going well i think this will work install grub to mbr of hdd1: # grub-install --root-directory=/boot /dev/hda grub.conf in /boot/grub/ should look something like this: # # Sample boot menu configuration file # # Boot automatically after 20 sec. timeout 20 # By default, boot the 1st entry. default 0 # Fallback to the first entry. fallback 1 title Windows 2000 rootnoverify (hd0,1) chainloader +1 # For booting Linux title Linux 2.4.18-bf2.4 root (hd1,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-bf2.4 root=/dev/hdb3 Make sure that its the copy in /boot/grub/ that you are looking at as this is the one grub is actually using. I believe redhat has a grub.conf in /etc/ that its scripts use and I'm not sure how that gets modified and copied into /boot/grub/ If you get the grub prompt up rather than the menu chances are that the config file should be named menu.1st rather than grub.conf, this is what debian uses. If you get to the prompt it means it has booted the stage 2 loader which is in /boot/grub so the problem is the config file is not where/what grub thinks it should be ie grub is looking for another name or is looking somewhere else for it hope this helps Jason
OK - I tried your suggestion. Didn't work neither - no menu appeared. Running configfile /grub/grub.conf from within grub displayed the menu but the windows boot never did anything no matter how I fiddled. /etc/grub.conf and menu.lst are symlinks to /boot/grub/grub.conf in RH9. fdisk /mbr ... :( So, I've decided to cut my losses and reformat/repartition all hard drives as I'm just going round in circles. I'll also take the opportunity to upgrade RH9 -> Fedora - so, can anyone supply me with the disks? Hopefully, someone at the university so I can pick them up on Monday. If so, let me know your room and how many CDs I need to replace. Thanks for all the advice. Mark. On 31 Jul 2004 at 4:15, Jason Drake wrote:
please disregard most of the previous post, i was in a hurry and looking back on it it wasnt particularly well thought out although in my experience windows does like to be in the first partition
Ok all going well i think this will work install grub to mbr of hdd1:
# grub-install --root-directory=/boot /dev/hda
grub.conf in /boot/grub/ should look something like this:
# # Sample boot menu configuration file #
# Boot automatically after 20 sec. timeout 20
# By default, boot the 1st entry. default 0
# Fallback to the first entry. fallback 1
title Windows 2000 rootnoverify (hd0,1) chainloader +1
# For booting Linux title Linux 2.4.18-bf2.4 root (hd1,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-bf2.4 root=/dev/hdb3
Make sure that its the copy in /boot/grub/ that you are looking at as this is the one grub is actually using. I believe redhat has a grub.conf in /etc/ that its scripts use and I'm not sure how that gets modified and copied into /boot/grub/
If you get the grub prompt up rather than the menu chances are that the config file should be named menu.1st rather than grub.conf, this is what debian uses. If you get to the prompt it means it has booted the stage 2 loader which is in /boot/grub so the problem is the config file is not where/what grub thinks it should be ie grub is looking for another name or is looking somewhere else for it
hope this helps Jason
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Cool sorry we couldn't help, if you possibly can get windows on the first partition of hda I seem to remember I've always had trouble if its anywhere else. Grub definately does work work with windows on hda1 and linux pretty much anywhere else. I'd probably put /boot at start of second disk, it probably isn't a problem if it isn't but some bootloaders (not grub afaik) have issues ie don't work, if its near the end I'm currently running grub with Win2k on hda1 /boot on hdc1 and / on hdc5 and have used this identical setup with Win98 and WinXP also without issues Have fun and good luck Jason
Well, I'd been running W2K/RH9 and GRUB with my partition setup for two years without problems. Anyway, W2K is now on hda1 and /boot is on hdb1 On 1 Aug 2004 at 3:43, Jason Drake wrote:
Cool sorry we couldn't help, if you possibly can get windows on the first partition of hda I seem to remember I've always had trouble if its anywhere else.
Grub definately does work work with windows on hda1 and linux pretty much anywhere else. I'd probably put /boot at start of second disk, it probably isn't a problem if it isn't but some bootloaders (not grub afaik) have issues ie don't work, if its near the end
I'm currently running grub with Win2k on hda1 /boot on hdc1 and / on hdc5 and have used this identical setup with Win98 and WinXP also without issues
Have fun and good luck Jason
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I'm not sure I want to do this - it seems pretty weird. I also don't have FAT32. I did find a very similar solution on the web. I see no reason though why GRUB should not do its job. On 30 Jul 2004 at 18:00, Michael & Colleen McDonald wrote:
You've got all the symptons of the problem I has a few weeks back. I still haven't had time to document the problem.
Very briefly it was 1. copy the MBR of hdb1 to a file (in a FAT32 partition ... /dev/hda5) accessible by the Windows system (used Knoppix for that) and then into the main Windows partition (NTSF) 2. Add a line to the Windows boot.ini to boot from this file.
Note that I installed Fedora first on the slave drive (3 partitions), so when I installed Windows, the first partition on the master drive became G: for Windows.
BUT ... it has to be described as C: for boot.ini !!!!
Command for 1 was dd if=/dev/hdb1 of=/mnt/dos/hdb1.mbr bs=512 count=1
boot.ini file contents in Windows systemis ... [boot loader] timeout=10 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect C:\hdb1.mbr="Linux - Fedora Core"
Cheers Michael
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Grimshaw" <mark(a)sirfragalot.com> To: <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 4:21 PM Subject: [wlug] GRUB woes
Hi all,
I recently upgraded hardware (m'board, CPU, video, RAM etc.) on the system that I've been using dual/boot/GRUB (W2K and, recently RH9) for the last 2 years.
Knowing I would have to reinstall the OSs, I installed W2K first then RH9.
Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced GRUB and the system simply goes straight to the W2K boot up.
With RH9 installations, I've never been able to make a floppy at the end of the install process (seems to be either a RH9 'feature' or the kernel is too large for the floppy) but have always made the boot floppy from within linux. So, I'm unable to boot linux from this imaginary floppy. My previous RH9 boot floppy clearly has the wrong kernel for the new hardware and I can't load that (both boot floppies I have).
I've lost count of the number of times I've reinstalled RH9 in the last few days or chosen the upgrade option from the CD each time trying some different combination of boot loader (including trying to go back to LILO). I've even tried sticking GRUB and LILO on the MBR rather than the boot partition.
I have Tom's rtboot and a GRUB floppy both of which run. From these, including the RH9/boot CD/linux rescue option, I've tried grub-install options and grub commandline (root (hd1,0); setup (hd1)) options - each time I get an installed successfully message but each boot, up comes Windows.
I have two HDs: W2K (inc. linux swap) on hda LINUX: /dev/hdb3 / /dev/hdb1 /boot
I know most HOWTOs state that the linux boot should be on the same hard drive as the windows OS but these are the partitions I've been successfully dual-booting from with GRUB for the past 2 years.
I have no more hair left to tear out - please help.
Mark.
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I agree it's a weird solution! I can't claim the credit for thinking of it - that belongs to one of my sons. Even though the BIOS was set to boot from the slave, Fedora steadfastly refused to do it. It got as far as displaying GRUB, but no menu. You ought to be able to copy the files to a floppy instead of hard disk, and thence to your master drive. Michael ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Grimshaw" <mark(a)sirfragalot.com> To: "Waikato Linux Users Group" <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 9:37 PM Subject: Re: [wlug] GRUB woes
I'm not sure I want to do this - it seems pretty weird. I also don't have FAT32. I did find a very similar solution on the web. I see no reason though why GRUB should not do its job.
On 30 Jul 2004 at 18:00, Michael & Colleen McDonald wrote:
You've got all the symptons of the problem I has a few weeks back. I still haven't had time to document the problem.
Very briefly it was 1. copy the MBR of hdb1 to a file (in a FAT32 partition ... /dev/hda5) accessible by the Windows system (used Knoppix for that) and then into the main Windows partition (NTSF) 2. Add a line to the Windows boot.ini to boot from this file.
Note that I installed Fedora first on the slave drive (3 partitions), so when I installed Windows, the first partition on the master drive became G: for Windows.
BUT ... it has to be described as C: for boot.ini !!!!
Command for 1 was dd if=/dev/hdb1 of=/mnt/dos/hdb1.mbr bs=512 count=1
boot.ini file contents in Windows systemis ... [boot loader] timeout=10 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect C:\hdb1.mbr="Linux - Fedora Core"
Cheers Michael
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Grimshaw" <mark(a)sirfragalot.com> To: <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 4:21 PM Subject: [wlug] GRUB woes
Hi all,
I recently upgraded hardware (m'board, CPU, video, RAM etc.) on the system that I've been using dual/boot/GRUB (W2K and, recently RH9) for the last 2 years.
Knowing I would have to reinstall the OSs, I installed W2K first then RH9.
Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced GRUB and the system simply goes straight to the W2K boot up.
With RH9 installations, I've never been able to make a floppy at the end of the install process (seems to be either a RH9 'feature' or the kernel is too large for the floppy) but have always made the boot floppy from within linux. So, I'm unable to boot linux from this imaginary floppy. My previous RH9 boot floppy clearly has the wrong kernel for the new hardware and I can't load that (both boot floppies I have).
I've lost count of the number of times I've reinstalled RH9 in the last few days or chosen the upgrade option from the CD each time trying some different combination of boot loader (including trying to go back to LILO). I've even tried sticking GRUB and LILO on the MBR rather than the boot partition.
I have Tom's rtboot and a GRUB floppy both of which run. From these, including the RH9/boot CD/linux rescue option, I've tried grub-install options and grub commandline (root (hd1,0); setup (hd1)) options - each time I get an installed successfully message but each boot, up comes Windows.
I have two HDs: W2K (inc. linux swap) on hda LINUX: /dev/hdb3 / /dev/hdb1 /boot
I know most HOWTOs state that the linux boot should be on the same hard drive as the windows OS but these are the partitions I've been successfully dual-booting from with GRUB for the past 2 years.
I have no more hair left to tear out - please help.
Mark.
participants (4)
-
Jason Drake -
Mark Grimshaw -
Matt Brown -
Michael & Colleen McDonald