grub doesn't display menu

Message

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:52 am

I have just installed gentoo, and when i rebooted grub started up.
The thing is it didn't display the menu where i can choose gentoo to boot it. I was at the grub command line so i typed :

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rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

to boot into windows.

Somehow i was able to see that there is /boot folder and all kinds of files in it. Also there was grub.conf with gentoo entry in it. I have tried to enter the commands from grub.conf in command line to see if i could boot gentoo, but no sucsses... ( something like bad file name error )

I could print these files but i have to boot live cd in order to do so. The programs to read the linux partitions from windows aren't working for some reason.

what should i do?

purak · Post by **purak** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:57 am

Do you see a black screen? I had the same problem. I added # before this line

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splashimage=/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

like this

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#splashimage=/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

AllenJB · Post by **AllenJB** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:01 am

Each grub.conf entry should have a "title" line preceeding it, so you probably want something on the lines of:

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title Windows XP Pro
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader  +1

The title value is an arbitrary string, used for the menu entry.

Also, if you have a "timeout" value, make sure it's sensible. This is the number of seconds before grub will boot with the default (first unless specified otherwise using the "default" option, iirc) entry.

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:02 am

no i don't see black screen. only console, i have read the sticky and typing :

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configfile /boot/grub/grub.conf

doesn't help. i get an error "bad file" or something like that.

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:05 am

AllenJB wrote:Each grub.conf entry should have a "title" line preceeding it, so you probably want something on the lines of:
The title value is an arbitrary string, used for the menu entry.

Also, if you have a "timeout" value, make sure it's sensible. This is the number of seconds before grub will boot with the default (first unless specified otherwise using the "default" option, iirc) entry.

My problem isn't only the menu now, i can't boot gentoo in any possible way. this stinks.

AllenJB · Post by **AllenJB** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:35 pm

What happens when you try to boot? Do you see any grub messages (such as "loading stage 1.5") at all? What's the last thing you see on the screen? Does the boot process just stop, or does the computer automatically reboot?

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:08 pm

here's what happens

grub loading stage 1.5 ( or something like that )

and then i get to type grub commands, that's all.

if i try to boot gentoo via commands that is :
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.24-gentoo-r5
i get "bad file" error.

purak · Post by **purak** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:13 pm

I think, you made a mistake while editing grub.conf Can you paste /boot/grub/grub.conf ?

AllenJB · Post by **AllenJB** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:19 pm

The other things to check are the full path and filename of the kernel.

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:36 pm

purak wrote:I think, you made a mistake while editing grub.conf Can you paste /boot/grub/grub.conf ?

I haven't edited grub.conf, just looked at it. I will post my grub.conf and check if kernel file corresponds to it, as soon as i get the opportunity.

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 4:23 pm

here's the output of the ls command in /boot

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ubuntu@ubuntu:/media/disk/boot$ ls
boot
grub
initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.24-gentoo-r5
kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.24-gentoo-r5
System.map-genkernel-x86-2.6.24-gentoo-r5

my grub.conf

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default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd1,2)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux
root (hd1,2)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.24-gentoo-r5 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sdb3 
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.24-gentoo-r5

as you can see the names are all right
the partition where the / is mounted is sdb3, that is (hd1,2), considering i know this and the location of the kernel files, how can i boot the system from grub command line?

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 4:30 pm

there's a few strange things i have noticed :
- there's a link to the /boot called /boot/boot, funny isn't it?
- in the home dir there isn't user konjo although i added one during the installation.

i was doing my instalation in graphical version, and i had to format the partition table with cfdisk, since the graphical program wasn't very clear to me.
I doubt i made a mistake there, although i could, in case so where to look for errors?

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 4:38 pm

here's also a screenshot of cfdisk, is it allright?

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 Name             Flags          Part Type      FS Type                [Label]              Size (MB)
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     sdb1                             Primary       W95 FAT32                                   100002.96
     sdb2                             Primary       Linux swap / Solaris                          2048.10
     sdb3             Boot            Primary       Linux ext3                                   57988.23

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:04 pm

I have installed the system again via the text installation program. everything seemed fine until i restarted, the same thing occured.

( sarcastic smile )
I hope someone is reading this, i feel like writing a message in a bottle.

ShinyThings · Post by **ShinyThings** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:54 pm

konjo42 wrote:I have installed the system again via the text installation program. everything seemed fine until i restarted, the same thing occured. ( sarcastic smile )
I hope someone is reading this, i feel like writing a message in a bottle.

If you are using the GTK or CLI automated installer, I would recommend that you don't. They are horribly buggy.

A few things:

The symlink in boot (ie /boot/boot/) is normal. It is there so that putting "kernel /boot/<kernel>" into grub.conf can work whether or not you are using a /boot partition.

Your grub.conf looks okay. Normally, you would link it to /boot/grub/menu.lst, because that's where grub looks for its configuration. Otherwise, it won't find it. However, this should have already been done for you by the installer (I think).

What I would recommend you do in order to get your current installation working is: chroot into your Gentoo installation from a liveCD. Then, emerge grub (if it isn't already) and install it yourself. To chroot (these commands taken from the handbook):

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mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt/gentoo
mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc
mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
env-update
source /etc/profile

So, now you are chrooted in, look at this chapter in the handbook for details on installing grub. You should probably skip the section about framebuffers (unless your kernel is configured to use one). Additionally, when it shows the two grub.conf files, you should use the genkernel one (modify it to suit your needs, obviously).

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:04 pm

Thank you very much. I'm gonna try all this out tomorrow ( it's late and i have to watch Dr. House ).

MC Reen · Post by **MC Reen** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:08 pm

Hi,

please check if your splash.xpm.gz is really there. I updated grub yesterday and - I don't know why - my splash image had gone. I took the one from /usr/portage/distfiles and copied it to /boot/grub/. Alternetively you can install more splash images when emerging the grub-spashes package.

Kind regards,

René

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:08 am

It does seem my splashimage is missing, i commented out the line in grub.conf concerning splash image, it didn't change anything.

As for your suggestion ShinyThings, when i come to the part "grub-install /dev/sdb" grub reports that stage1 file can't be read.

Anyhow i'm gonna try manual installation with stage3...

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:57 pm

i have installed yet again, this time by the handbook.
This time i have the gentoo opetion in grub menu, i select it and i get an error while trying to boot :

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VFS : Unable to mount root fs via NFS, trying floppy
Kernel Panic - not syncing : VFS : Unable to mount root fs on uknown block (2,0)

NathanZachary · Post by **NathanZachary** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:03 pm

It sounds like you didn't include the appropriate PATA/SATA drivers in your kernel. Are there other lines around those two? Does it say what the available partitions are? Please post the output of lspci.

konjo42 · Post by **konjo42** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:28 pm

kalos wrote:It sounds like you didn't include the appropriate PATA/SATA drivers in your kernel. Are there other lines around those two? Does it say what the available partitions are? Please post the output of lspci.

i'm doing that tommorow, too tired to blink right now.

Leon_UK · Post by **Leon_UK** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:02 pm

konjo42 wrote:It does seem my splashimage is missing, i commented out the line in grub.conf concerning splash image, it didn't change anything.

i know its to late now, but it seems grub ebuild does not come with a splash image anymore, to fix the problem you have then would have been to emerge media-gfx/grub-splashes then add one of those to your grub.conf to get a menu to show up at boot.

EDIT:
of course with out the grub menu means you have to do it by hand type the command kernel then the place of your kernel
you should not need to type /boot first because grub is installed into /boot so you are allready in that folder thats why you was getting bad file. it should be

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kernel  /<kernel name>

once its loaded just type the command boot.

though you have a new problem now so just keep that in mind for future refrence.

pkturner · Post by **pkturner** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 2:52 pm

Leon_UK wrote:it seems grub ebuild does not come with a splash image anymore, to fix the problem you have then would have been to emerge media-gfx/grub-splashes then add one of those to your grub.conf

My grub boot was a mess, too. This is exactly the help I need.