Recover from botched /boot/grub/menu.lst?

drjim · n00b Joined: 19 Sep 2002 Posts: 8

Greetings, all! Well, after spending several days, I *almost* have gentoo installed _BUT_ I screwed up the settings in my /boot/grub/menu.lst file, and I can't figure out how to get back in to it. I added an entry in the 'kernel /boot/bzImage...." line to indicate my cd-rw was /dev/hdd [(hd3,0) to grub] , and now it tries to boot to the cd-rw, obviously without success. I get a "BOOT FAILURE" message. I don't think I should have put that line there! Is there any way I can use the livecd to get back into my hard-disk and edit the file? I suspect I'll have to mount the drive somewhere, but, uh, I'm kinda lost.
TIA, jim
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rac · Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2002 8:27 am Post subject:

Although it was written before the LiveCD era, https://forums.gentoo.org/faq.php#4 might be of service.
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drjim · n00b Joined: 19 Sep 2002 Posts: 8

Yes, I found that about ten minutes after I posted, and followed the procedure. I was able to mount the hard-drive, and edit out the reference to "hdd=ide-scsi", but I still get the same error message:
"Not found any [active partition] in HDD
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"
This almost looks like a bios error message. I wonder if there's something whacko with this mobo, or did I really just screw up installing grub?
Hmmm...thanks for the guidance, and I'll bang my head on the keyboard some more!
jim
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vern · n00b Joined: 19 Sep 2002 Posts: 9

You may be able to use the grub command line to boot even though your menu.lst is boogered.

If I remember right, just use the same commands that you 'should' have used in your menu.lst file and it should take off. I had to do this one time when I messed up but didn't have a 'safe' backup boot config.

pilla · Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2002 4:46 pm Post subject:

I think he should reinstall grub in the boot of his disk. It is what his error message suggests to me (there is no boot loader installed)

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

drjim · n00b Joined: 19 Sep 2002 Posts: 8

Ummmm....I followed the directions in the Install Guide *exactly* when I partitioned the drive. Shouldn't this set the partitions active? If not, why aren't the 'extra' or 'missing' commands in the Install Guide?
I've reinstalled grub.
I checked my fstab.
Still get the same error about no active partition.
And yes, I've read all the fm's.
jim
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RagManX · Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2002 1:18 pm Post subject:

Can you post your exact menu.lst and what commands you are typing when you go in to grub to set up the drive for booting? Sounds like a simple configuration error to me. Some setting just needs to be changed to get the box booting from the right place.

RagManX
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pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

Run fdisk on the drive you have your boot partition on. 'fdisk /dev/hda' for example. Then enter 'p'. Is an '*' next to the boot partition?
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drjim · n00b Joined: 19 Sep 2002 Posts: 8

Now that I have several pages of notes from all the nice people here, I've decide to just start over. My partitions were not set to be active, and I was finally able to get to the grub start up screen, but it just rebooted. I tried running 'fsck' on my UNMOUNTED partitions, and it hosed /dev/hda3....don't know how that happened. I'm also pretty sure I made some mistakes in my 'make menuconfig' for the kernel, so I've printed out several pages on that, too.
At this point I figured it would just be easier for me to start over using the K6-2 Stage3 tarball. I'm back up to Step 14 in the Install Guide, so I'll see how it goes from here, this time being MUCH more careful in my kernel selections.
Thanks for all the help....
jim
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