Grub error :/

Guest · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 4:22 pm Post subject: Grub error :/

Hello.

I've installed Gentoo Linux two times now. The first time went ok I guess, but when I restarted it didn't boot.

It just said:

GRUB

Nothing more happened after that.
So, I thought I had installed Grub wrong. But I can't think of another way to do it.
I'm installing Gentoo on hdb:

hdb1 /boot ext3
hdb2 /swap
hdb3 / ext3

Grub config:
grub> root (hd1,0)
grub> setup (hd1)

menu.lst:
default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd1,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/hdb3

So, I want Grub to be installed on the same disk (hdb). My MSI motherboard lets me choose from wich disk I want to boot from at startup.

I did the stage3 install, i686.

Hope I explained enough. Any ideas?

Thanks...

BonezTheGoon · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 4:31 pm Post subject:

When you boot are you still seeing the grub attempt to load? What is it doing now? Your grub setup looks plausible, however it's impossible to know without knowing everything about your system. When you are setting grub up try using the tab-auto-complete feature. [Type in the line

Guest · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 5:02 pm Post subject:

My /etc/fstab looks like this:

/dev/hdb1 /boot ext3 noauto,noatime 1 2
/dev/hdb3 / ext3 noatime 0 1
/dev/hdb2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,ro 0 0
proc

No, Grub does not let me type anything. The screen is black and it just says:

Grub

then nothing more.

Thanks...

fghellar · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 5:09 pm Post subject:

The only thing I can suggest right now is to use setup(hd0) instead of setup(hd1). I don't know exactly why, but this seems to work better...

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Guest · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 5:23 pm Post subject:

Yes, I have thought of it to. Maybe I'll try it.

Thanks!

BonezTheGoon · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 5:28 pm Post subject:

Setting up grub on (hd0) should work, however be informed that this will be installing grub into the master boot record of your windows hard disk. That should be fine, however you need to be very sure that you include the information in the build document to access your windows partition then. I agree that this will work most easily, but you need to understand what it is doing, I just thought you had decided you were not going this route.

Regards,
BonezTheGoon

hielvc · Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 5:40 pm Post subject:

TITLE: GRUB-Howto
LFS VERSION: any
AUTHOR: Fabio Fracassi <turiya@linuxfromscratch.org>

SYNOPSIS:
GRUB is an alternative to LILO. This explains how to make it work.

HINT:
GRUB is the GNU GRand Unified Bootloader, a project which intends to
solve all bootup problems once and for all.

One of the most interesting features, is that you don't
have to install a new partition or kernel, you can change all parameters
at boottime via the GRUB Console, since it knows about the filesystems.

Let's get down to work:

1. - Download: ftp://alpha.gnu.org/pub/gnu/grub/grub-0.91.tar.gz

mkdir /boot/grub
cp /usr/share/grub/i386-pc/stage1 /boot/grub
cp /usr/share/grub/i386-pc/stage2 /boot/grub
And if you want copy one of the stage1.5 files, too (more later)
4. - Starting Gurb:
Now there are two ways of going on, you can start the GRUB Console
via /usr/sbin/grub (which did not work too well for me

)
or via bootdisk:
cd /boot/gurb
cat stage1 stage2 >/dev/fd0 #Be sure to have an empty disk
# in your drive!
Reboot!

5. - Cofiguration:
Now you have to define your setup:
First GRUB wants to know on which partition it is installed
GRUB names the partition as follows: (hd<BiosNr>,<PartitionNr>)
i.e. /dev/hda is (hd0), /dev/hda1 (hd0,0), /dev/hdb2 (hd1,1), ...
(I hope you get the clue

- else try man grub/info grub)

if you dont know the partition you can issue a
find /boot/grub/stage1
on the GRUB Console

Now you tell GRUB where it is installed:
root (hd0,2) # thats my setup (/dev/hda2)

And install it in MBR
setup (hd0)

If you want you can reboot now, and with
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda2
start your system.

There is the posibility to "teach" GRUB knowlage of the filesystem,
that way GRUB doesn't need a Blockmap for the stage2 file and is
thus more robust against filesystem changes.
This is arcived with the stage1.5 files:
after issuing
root (hd0,1)
type
embed /boot/grub/reiserfs_stage1_5 (hd0) # or e2fs_stage1_5
and note the number of sectors
now issue
setup (hd0)
or
install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+<number of sectors embed returned> p /boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst

6. - Installing a Bootmenu:
simply put a menu.lst file in the /boot/grub directory
you can put most GRUB Console commands in there! (Check info grub!)

Here is my setup for reference:

# File /boot/grub/menu.lst - Bootmenu definition
#

# Start Entry 0 by default
default 0
timeout 10

# makeing it nicer

color green/black light-green/black

# If you have the Pixmap patch applied you can
# define a Background Picture here
# The nice LFS image can be found at
# http://linuxfromscratch.org/~gerard/lfslogos/lfs-grub-splash.xpm
splashimage (hd0,1)/boot/grub/lfs-grub-splash.xpm

#German keyboard
setkey y z
setkey z y
setkey Y Z
setkey Z Y
setkey equal parenright
setkey parenright parenleft
setkey parenleft asterisk
setkey doublequote at
setkey plus bracketright
setkey minus slash
setkey slash ampersand
setkey ampersand percent
setkey percent caret
setkey underscore question
setkey question underscore
setkey semicolon less
setkey less numbersign
setkey numbersign backslash
setkey colon greater
setkey greater bar
setkey asterisk braceright

#Standard Linux
title LFS-Linux 2.4
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda2

#Old Linux
title Old Suse Linux 6.4
kernel (hd1,0)/bzImage root=/dev/hdb2

#Windows 98
title Windows 98
chainloader (hd0,0)+1

#install grup
title (Re)Install grup
root (hd0,1)
embed /boot/grub/reiserfs_stage1_5
install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+19 p /boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst

I think that gives you an idea how powerful a tool GRUB is, and
as you see not to difficult, too

The only problem I encouterd was, that the install/setup commands didn't
work from /usr/sbin/grub but I had no problems with the bootdisk.
I don't know much more about GRUB than what I wrote here check
the Documentation (especially info grub) for more information

Thanks to the German C't Magazin for the great article about GRUB

Update: 17/Apr/2002 Fabio Fracassi (turiya@linuxfromscratch.org)

Thanks to Gerard Beekmans for the Splashscreen Patch (and for LFS

)

This is what got my grub up and going.. Youll notice that you can tell grub explictedly where the kernel is "kernel (hdo,1)/bzImage ....." and if install fails try embed. The other thing that you can do if you make a boot disk is,while in grub, after rootBLA, kernelBLA, install BLA type boot and off you go. A great way to try it out, chainloading or your set up.

hielvc

Trumpcard · n00b Joined: 27 May 2002 Posts: 36

I have an MSI KT3 motherboard, and I found that GRUB would hang if I had the 'Enable PCI busmaster' option enabled in the BIOS. I would generally get a 'Error loading stage 1.5'

Just an idea..

RealmX · n00b Joined: 23 Oct 2002 Posts: 4

I had the same problem, and thanks to hielvc I've been able to fix it. Thanks man!

dblas · n00b Joined: 01 Nov 2002 Posts: 41

The second GRUB install is your problem. The boot partition where GRUB resides is mounted as read only. First, when you get the grub prompt on boot up, you can still boot by entering: root (hd1,0) 0r whatever
kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/hdb3 Again or whatever
boot

This will get you started. Then just enter "mount /dev/hdb1" - or whatever your boot partition is. Fstab should have an entry to take care of it for you. Then enter grub on the command line and re-install grub. Reboot and everything should work. If it doesn't, make sure that you mount the boot partition as read-write and re-install grub.