Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Quick Search: in
[SOLVED] GRUB 0.97 in new MBR not working!
View unanswered posts
View posts from last 24 hours

 
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Kernel & Hardware
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
cappaberra
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 77
Location: California, USA

PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:35 am    Post subject: [SOLVED] GRUB 0.97 in new MBR not working! Reply with quote

I have an existing 120GB harddrive (/dev/hdh) that is failing. Here's a snippet of the partition table:
Code:
Disk /dev/hdh: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdh2   *       13319       13330       96390   83  Linux
/dev/hdh6           13513       14593     8683101   83  Linux

I installed a new 160GB harddrive (/dev/hdf). Here's a snippet of its partition table:
Code:
Disk /dev/hdf: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdf1   *           1          15      120456   83  Linux
/dev/hdf3              16        1216     9647032+  83  Linux

/dev/hdh2 is a 100MB boot partition and /dev/hdh6 is my root partition. I migrated the contents of hdh to hdf successfully using tar. Using the working grub install in the MBR of /dev/hdh, I change the boot parameters and load linux from the new drive (hdf). Here's a snippet of what my mtab looks like now:
Code:
/dev/hdf3 on / type xfs (rw,noatime)
/dev/hdf1 on /boot type xfs (rw,noatime)

Now I need to boot off of the new harddrive using grub, so I install grub into hdf's MBR using the grub shell:<br><br>
Code:
grub> root (hd1,0)
 Filesystem type is xfs, partition type 0x83

grub> setup (hd1)
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/xfs_stage1_5" exists... yes
 Running "embed /boot/grub/xfs_stage1_5 (hd1)"...  19 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
 Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd1) (hd1)1+19 p (hd1,0)/boot/grub/stage2
/boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.

grub> quit

Assume (hd1) corresponds to /dev/hdf. As shown, it successfully completes. When I reboot the box, I change the BIOS to boot off of /dev/hdf and I get a quick glimps of "GRUB Loading stage1.5" then screen goes black. After about 10 seconds the computer reboots on its own. When I switch back the boot drive in the BIOS to the old harddrive (hdh), grub loads up no problem. :(

My grub.conf looks like this:
Code:
default 0
timeout 15
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.16.7 VGA HDH
root(hd2,1)
kernel (hd2,1)/boot/kernel-2.6.16-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/hdh6 ide=reverse

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.16.7 VGA HDF
root(hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/kernel-2.6.16-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/hdf3 ide=reverse

#title=Windows XP
#map (hd0) (hd2)
#map (hd2) (hd0)
#rootnoverify (hd2,0)
#makeactive
#chainloader +1

... and my device.map (which I've had regenerated with grub-install many times) looks like this:
Code:
(hd0)   /dev/hde
(hd1)   /dev/hdf
(hd2)   /dev/hdg
(hd3)   /dev/hdh


Possibly related question: Is there a reason why when I'm in linux the grub shell gives me different results for harddrive mappings than when I'm booting the machine and I edit a grub statement? ... for example, (hd1) in linux corresponds to (hd2) when booting.


Last edited by cappaberra on Sun Jun 18, 2006 5:06 am; edited 3 times in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
davidgurvich
Veteran
Veteran


Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 1063

PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Use the grub command line to see what the problem is, bypass your grub.conf entirely. You can use tab completion to find out which partitions and kernels you need.

If you used tar to do the copying instead of dd, there may be permissions problems. Also, if you are changing the drive because you fear the old drive is failing, it may be too late. You may already have corruption of some files.

Booting from a CD may show what the environment looks like.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cappaberra
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 77
Location: California, USA

PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

davidgurvich, some excellent ideas. Let me respond to them:

1) I'd love to use the grub command line... I don't think grub gets that far though. It doesn't seem to even attempt to load grub.conf to display the menu. In any event, do I just remove the grub.conf file to force grub to drop me in its shell?

2) I made sure to preserve permissions using tar... the command I used was the following (it works great!!!):
Code:
tar --one-file-system -cpf - . | (cd /some/new/path; tar -pxf -)

I'm confident that the data on the "failing" harddrive is still intact--in other words, it isn't failing *yet*, i've just been noticing some errors in my syslog about that particular drive.

3) Yea, I have a gentoo install cd... Also have a few live cds. Note, I can still boot into linux using the old grub bootloader on the old harddrive's MBR, so I know what my environment is like. I'm going to try and use the Super Grub Disk (http://adrian15.raulete.net/grub/tiki-index.php) and see if I have any success with that.

Keep the questions/ideas coming, please!!! Thanks in advance!

-cappaberra
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cappaberra
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 77
Location: California, USA

PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 4:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The SGD (super grub disk) is really neat. I'm able to boot to grub in the MBR of the new drive *going through* SGD. Still experiencing the same result when letting my BIOS try and boot. I'm working on a lead right now, so I'll post back when I have something.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cappaberra
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 77
Location: California, USA

PostPosted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:21 am    Post subject: new drive going between (hd0) and (hd2) Reply with quote

So, I figured at least 1 thing out that I think is half of my battle:

in configuring the boot device in the BIOS of my RAID IDE controller (where the two "bootable" drives are located), I have a list of 4 devices... the one that is labeled "BOOT" is _always_ (hd0). When the "old" (/dev/hdh) harddrive is BOOT, the "new" (/dev/hdf) drive is _always_ (hd2); and visa versa. So that explains why things were different each time I booted from a different harddrive.

Now I'm trying to apply that wisdom to the rest of the grub install...... stay tuned.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cappaberra
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 77
Location: California, USA

PostPosted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 6:27 am    Post subject: grub Error 5 Reply with quote

So, now I'm consistently getting bad results, which could be a great thing.

I'm getting a GRUB Error 5 now, which is supposedly a "bad" or "corrupted" partition table. I can see clear as day the partition table in linux and grub can tab complete it in the grub shell. I'm going to scour the internet and these forums for ideas on why it's doing it.

Any help is much appreciated!!!!! Thanks!

-cappaberra
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cappaberra
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 77
Location: California, USA

PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2006 5:05 am    Post subject: Solved! Reply with quote

I finally FIX IT!

check the thread here for the solution!!!

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-3388822.html
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
davidgurvich
Veteran
Veteran


Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 1063

PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is very interesting. I did not know that these stages could be omitted.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
cappaberra
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 24 Aug 2003
Posts: 77
Location: California, USA

PostPosted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Indeed... it was a surprise to me too! :)

-cappaberra
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Kernel & Hardware All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum