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dreamsofxion
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Joined: 29 Sep 2002
Posts: 37
Location: Memphis, TN
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 Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2002 6:11 pm Post subject: Cannot install boot loader |
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I've tried GRUB, I've tried LILO...
...but whenever I try and install either's boot record in either the MBR or the boot record of the linux drive, it just sits there...the process cannot be killed, but runs for over 8 hours without doing anything...
My setup is as follows:
Hard Drive Controller 1:
100 Gig drive with WinXP
36 Gig drive with all my MP3s
Hard Drive Controller 2:
20 Gig drive now holding Gentoo
CD-RW
When I try and kick up GRUB, it says it's probing my IDE devices and will take a while. I let this run for over 14 hours and it did nothing.
When I try to install LILO in the MBR it does nothing.
When I try to install LILO on /dev/hdc it says "Ignoring entry boot" and then does nothing.
Mind you, when I say nothing, a process exists if I switch to another terminal and "ps -A"...but the process is using no CPU time whatsoever and runs for countless hours without finishing.
Any suggestions? |
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pjp
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Joined: 16 Apr 2002
Posts: 20067
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| Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2002 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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Are the HD controllers on a motherboard, or a PCI card? Sounds like support for them is missing in the kernel.
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dreamsofxion
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Joined: 29 Sep 2002
Posts: 37
Location: Memphis, TN
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| Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2002 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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| They're onboard. It's an ASUS A7A266 motherboard... |
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pjp
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| Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002 1:10 am Post subject: |
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Does ASUS have any documentation describing the chipset the controller uses?
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Erukian
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Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 50
Location: Tacoma, Washington USA
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| Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002 5:12 am Post subject: |
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I had a similar yet different experience.
I was installing gentoo1.2 off the 1.4_rc1 cd because ive tried 1.4 multiple times and it blew up over and over again in glibc.
Anyways i got to the point where i was setting up grub
I followed the documentation (it was a fresh install with the drive wiped) and i typed
| Code: | grub
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
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root hd0,0 worked fine, it saw my ext2fs but setup (hd0) wouldnt work, I dont exactly remember the error but it said something like 'checking for stage# .. no'
So I gave up and put Windows back on 
Too much Linux frustration for three days, I have homework and essays to write! |
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dreamsofxion
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Joined: 29 Sep 2002
Posts: 37
Location: Memphis, TN
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| Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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After a long period of headaches and troubleshooting, I discovered the problem - however it baffles me.
Neither LILO or GRUB like my 100 gig drive.
I haven't heard or been able to find any limitation on these boot loaders with drives of this size, but if I unplug my 100 gig drive, LILO installs like a champ (I still can't get Linux to boot via the NT Boot Loader, but I'm working on that one...)
...is there some sort of limit that LILO or GRUB has with drives of 100+ gigs? Or does it just take a week and a half for the boot loader to find the boot sector of drives of this size? |
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pjp
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| Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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| dreamsofxion wrote: | | ...is there some sort of limit that LILO or GRUB has with drives of 100+ gigs? Or does it just take a week and a half for the boot loader to find the boot sector of drives of this size? |
I can't speak to LILO, but I've not heard of a limit with Grub (I'd imagine there could be one). I have heard of people using Grub with 120G & 160G drives though. The delay in finding the boot sector means something is askew.
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dreamsofxion
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Joined: 29 Sep 2002
Posts: 37
Location: Memphis, TN
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| Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2002 8:18 pm Post subject: |
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*Quirks brow*
Askew?
Howso? The NT Boot Loader works honkey-dorey for NT...and while at work today I think I've figured out why the NT Boot Loader wouldn't jive with my LILO image...
...could you be a >little< more specific about "askew"? |
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pjp
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| Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2002 12:13 am Post subject: |
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Something not configured in the kernel (or elsewhere if there could be such a place).
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dreamsofxion
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Joined: 29 Sep 2002
Posts: 37
Location: Memphis, TN
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| Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2002 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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Kans: You were correct when saying something was "askew"...
After about an hour of poking and prodding I finally got LILO to give me a dump...it said my partition table or drive geometry was bad.
...so I scrounged around and found some RedHat 7.2 disks...loaded up their install and...sure enough, apparently when I'd used FDISK to partition my drive, Linux FDISK had probed my drive geometry incorrectly. A simple wipe of the partition table and repartitioning using Disk Druid seemed to fix that...Red Hat booted okay...
...I'm at work now and the machine is recompiling Stage 2...and hopefully when I get home and finish up the install, LILO will jive...
...is there any chance that Gentoo will start loading Disk Druid in addition to FDISK? I've had more trouble over the years as a Linux-user because of FDISK than anything else...
...I didn't suspect it this time because everything seemed to jive...I could access the partitions via the CD, and thus didn't suspect FDISK to be my culprit... |
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pjp
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Joined: 16 Apr 2002
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| Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2002 2:58 pm Post subject: |
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| dreamsofxion wrote: | | ...is there any chance that Gentoo will start loading Disk Druid in addition to FDISK? I've had more trouble over the years as a Linux-user because of FDISK than anything else... |
I've not heard any mention of it. Others have requested cfdisk as well. Personally, I've not had a problem with fdisk (I also like the interface).
| Quote: | | ...I didn't suspect it this time because everything seemed to jive...I could access the partitions via the CD, and thus didn't suspect FDISK to be my culprit... |
That is strange. Glad you figured it out, and hopefully it won't happen again.
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Installing Gentoo
