Grub Error Collection [Part 7] [POST GRUB QUESTIONS HERE!]

Message

jmbsvicetto · Post by **jmbsvicetto** » Mon May 28, 2007 5:09 pm

Hi.

What command did you use to copy the kernel to /boot? What file did you copy?

gehzumteufel · Post by **gehzumteufel** » Mon May 28, 2007 6:11 pm

i just followed the tutorial except i did genkernel --menuconfig all. no other variations.

jmbsvicetto · Post by **jmbsvicetto** » Mon May 28, 2007 7:05 pm

What command did you use to copy the kernel to /boot? Did you run make install? Did you use cp? What file did you copy?
If you can't answer the above, boot the live-cd, mount the partitions and post the output of ls -l /mnt/gentoo/boot here. It would also be helpful to see the output of ls -l /mnt/gentoo/usr/src/linux/arch/<arch>/boot.

gehzumteufel · Post by **gehzumteufel** » Mon May 28, 2007 7:39 pm

jmbsvicetto wrote:What command did you use to copy the kernel to /boot? Did you run make install? Did you use cp? What file did you copy?
If you can't answer the above, boot the live-cd, mount the partitions and post the output of ls -l /mnt/gentoo/boot here. It would also be helpful to see the output of ls -l /mnt/gentoo/usr/src/linux/arch/<arch>/boot.

heres an ss of it
http://i14.tinypic.com/66tuu07.jpg

and when you say copy the kernel. is there a step in the tutorial to do that? the only thing i see is:

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zcat /proc/config.gz > /usr/share/genkernel/x86/kernel-config-2.6

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Mon May 28, 2007 9:11 pm

gehzumteufel,

Everything looks ok. Boot normally but press e when you get to the grub menu. Use grubs editor to change

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kernel /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8

to

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kernel (hd0,2)/usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage

leave the rest of the kernel line unchanged.

The attempts to boot from the kernel in the kernel build location.
Genkernel has installed your kernel for you but Grub claims its in the wrong format

gehzumteufel · Post by **gehzumteufel** » Mon May 28, 2007 9:18 pm

NeddySeagoon wrote:gehzumteufel,

Everything looks ok. Boot normally but press e when you get to the grub menu. Use grubs editor to change
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kernel /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8
to
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kernel (hd0,2)/usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage
leave the rest of the kernel line unchanged.

The attempts to boot from the kernel in the kernel build location.
Genkernel has installed your kernel for you but Grub claims its in the wrong format

AHH ok thanks!

ronvenema · Post by **ronvenema** » Wed May 30, 2007 2:54 am

Hi all, I just finished installing 2007 from the Live CD using the command line installer. Everything seemed to go swimmingly until I rebooted. Grub wasn't able to boot the OS. Here is how my Operating System harddrive is set up:

SDA1 WinXP
SDA5 PcLinux
SDA6 Swap
SDA7 Gentoo

I was able to use the PcLinux Live CD and restore the mbr, and mounted sda7.

Here is the menu.lst that grub created:

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd3,6)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux
root (hd3,6)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda7 doscsi
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8

Since I boot multiple systems I am using the PcLinux grub booter and here is the contents of menu.lst:

timeout 5
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,4)/usr/share/gfxboot/themes/pclinuxos/boot/message
default 0

title Linux
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=/dev/sda5 acpi=on resume=/dev/sda6 splash=silent mem=2048M vga=788
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title Linux-Nonfb
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=/dev/sda5 acpi=on resume=/dev/sda6 mem=2048M
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title Failsafe
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=/dev/sda5 failsafe acpi=on resume=/dev/sda6
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title WinXP
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title=Gentoo
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda7 doscsi
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8

It seems to boot ok but stops at the following error message:

Determining root device
Block device /dev/sda7 is not a valid root device
The root block device is unspecified or not detected

Any help would be appreciated. TIA

jmbsvicetto · Post by **jmbsvicetto** » Wed May 30, 2007 3:08 am

[mod]Merged above post here.[/mod]

ronvenema wrote:Hi all, I just finished installing 2007 from the Live CD using the command line installer. Everything seemed to go swimmingly until I rebooted. Grub wasn't able to boot the OS. Here is how my Operating System harddrive is set up:
Here is the menu.lst that grub created:
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title=Gentoo Linux
root (hd3,6)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda7  doscsi
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8
Since I boot multiple systems I am using the PcLinux grub booter and here is the contents of menu.lst:
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title=Gentoo
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda7  doscsi
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8
It seems to boot ok but stops at the following error message:
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Determining root device
Block device /dev/sda7 is not a valid root device
The root block device is unspecified or not detected
Any help would be appreciated. TIA

For starters, you can have a single boot partition, so you should decide if you want to boot from Gentoo's partition or from PcLinux's.
It seems you're using the latter and that it's working. The Block device /dev/sda7 is not a valid root device error, which is probably preceded by unknown block device sda7 (X,Y) means that you haven't built the support for your storage controller in the kernel <*> and not as a module <M>. If you have a SCSI or SATA controller, make sure you also build the support for SCSI, SCSI disk and SCSI generic in the kernel.

gsoe · Post by **gsoe** » Wed May 30, 2007 3:13 am

You are missing a "root" statement in your menu.lst. You need

title=Gentoo
root (hd0,6)
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda7 doscsi
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8

like in the menu.lst generated by the gentoo install. (There it is (hd3,6)... typing error?).

jmbsvicetto · Post by **jmbsvicetto** » Wed May 30, 2007 6:15 am

gsoe wrote:You are missing a "root" statement in your menu.lst. You need
title=Gentoo
root (hd0,6)
kernel (hd0,6)/boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda7 doscsi
initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8
like in the menu.lst generated by the gentoo install. (There it is (hd3,6)... typing error?).

gsoe,

tnat isn't true. Notice the kernel (hd0,6)/boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8. The use of the root (hd0,6) line is not mandatory, it just maps / to (hd0,6). So having the above is the same as having:

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root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda7 doscsi
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.20-gentoo-r8

ronvenema · Post by **ronvenema** » Wed May 30, 2007 6:58 pm

Thanks guys. The problem was indeed Genkernel did not include Sata disk support in the compilation. I guess it pays to stick to manual kernel configuration.

SecondFirst · Post by **SecondFirst** » Wed May 30, 2007 9:05 pm

Ok, I think i found the right thread

sit down and hear my story

I installed Gentoo accordingly to the official guide. I chose Grub to be my bootmanager as it is much more flexible than LILO.
Everything went fine - until I tried to reboot

The text

"GRUB loading stage 1.5."

appears and doesn't disappear
The system just hangs there

I reinstalled Grub with safe cflags, changed the boot device order, even tried different kernel options (though I don't know if they're valid anyway)

My Kernel configuration is testet an works well with lilo, so it's no Kernel Problem. (At least I think so)

I use a VIA EPIA EN12000 Board with a 400 GB Samsung SATA HDD. I have no floppy (what I did NOT ignore in my Grub install).

ok, now my grub.conf/menu.lst (don't mind the german comments)

# Welcher Eintrag standardmäßig gebootet werden soll. 0 ist der Erste, 1 ist der Zweite usw.
default 0

# Wie viele Sekunden gewartet werden soll, bevor der Standardeintrag gebootet wird.
timeout 5

# Eine nettes, fettes Hintergrundbild um die ganze Sache ein wenig zu würzen
# Auskommentieren, wenn Sie keine Grafikkarte installiert haben.
#splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.20-r8
# Partition in der das Kernel-Image (oder das Betriebssystem) vorhanden ist
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/sda3

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.20-r8 (Rescue)
# Partition in der das Kernel-Image (oder das Betriebssystem) vorhanden ist
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.20-gentoo-r8 root=/dev/sda3 init=/bin/bb

# Die nächsten vier Zeilen werden nur benötigt wenn Sie einen Dualboot mit einem Windows System einrichten wollen.
# Hier in diesem Fall liegt Windows auf /dev/hda6.
#title=Windows XP
#rootnoverify (hd0,5)
#makeactive
#chainloader +1

now the special part of my problem: I have a Bios option to change the "Sata Mode" from "RAID" to "IDE". Probably a simulation of an IDE-HDD instad of a SATA-HDD.
And well, Grub works perfectly with this option changed. I read a lot about Grub and SATA. And as far as i (now) know, Grub handles SATA-Devices just as IDE-Devices. So there's no difference in configuration.

Thus I think it must be a SATA Problem...drivers perhaps?
I just don't know.

Oh, almost forgot:
my fstab, if it helps

# <fs> <mountpoint> <type> <opts> <dump/pass>

# NOTE: If your BOOT partition is ReiserFS, add the notail option to opts.
/dev/sda1 /boot ext2 defaults,noatime 1 2
/dev/sda3 / ext3 noatime 0 1
/dev/sda2 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/dvd /mnt/dvd auto noauto,user 0 0
#/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto 0 0

shm /dev/shm tmpfs nodev,nosuid,noexec 0 0
proc /proc proc nodec,nosuid,noexec 0 0

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Wed May 30, 2007 11:01 pm

SecondFirst,

Welcome to gentoo.

Your error message suggests that the BIOS loaded the MBR and the MBR loaded the Stage 1.5, which follows the MBR on the disk but that stage 1.5 didn't run.

Do you have a floppy drive ?
If not reinstall grub to the MBR manually, starting with

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grub -no-floppy

Your grub.conf and /etc/fstab have not yet been read.

Your CPU is on the margins of being a 686. Please post your

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emerge --info

and

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less /proc/cpuinfo

If grub is compiled for a 686 and you have a miissing instruction, the CPU will halt when it gets an illegal instruction, as the early stages of grub have little ot no error handling

SecondFirst · Post by **SecondFirst** » Thu May 31, 2007 12:25 pm

great

thx 4 help, you can get crazy with this

ok, grub was configured with the --no-floppy option since the first try
I just once changed it for testing purposes...

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htpc ~ # emerge --info
Portage 2.1.2.7 (default-linux/x86/2007.0, gcc-4.1.1, glibc-2.5-r0, 2.6.20-gentoo-r8 i686)
=================================================================
System uname: 2.6.20-gentoo-r8 i686 VIA Esther processor 1200MHz
Gentoo Base System release 1.12.9
Timestamp of tree: Wed, 30 May 2007 11:50:01 +0000
dev-lang/python:     2.4.3-r4
dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r5
sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.17
sys-devel/autoconf:  2.61
sys-devel/automake:  1.9.6-r2, 1.10
sys-devel/binutils:  2.16.1-r3
sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.3.14
sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.22
virtual/os-headers:  2.6.17-r2
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86"
AUTOCLEAN="yes"
CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe -mmmx -msse -msse2 -msse3 -fomit-frame-pointer"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc"
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/gconf /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/terminfo"
CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe -mmmx -msse -msse2 -msse3 -fomit-frame-pointer"
DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"
FEATURES="distlocks metadata-transfer sandbox sfperms strict"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.inode.at/ ftp://gentoo.inode.at/source/ http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/gentoo/ ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/gentoo/ ftp://ftp.tu-clausthal.de/pub/linux/gentoo/ ftp://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/Linux/gentoo http://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/download/gentoo-mirror/ ftp://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/gentoo-mirror/ http://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/gentoo ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/gentoo ftp://ftp.join.uni-muenster.de/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo ftp://ftp.wh2.tu-dresden.de/pub/mirrors/gentoo ftp://ftp.join.uni-muenster.de/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo http://mirrors.sec.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/gentoo/ http://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/ ftp://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/ ftp://ftp.gentoo.mesh-solutions.com/gentoo/ http://pandemonium.tiscali.de/pub/gentoo/ ftp://pandemonium.tiscali.de/pub/gentoo/ http://gentoo.intergenia.de http://gentoo.mneisen.org/ ftp://ftp.mneisen.org/gentoo ftp://ftp.unina.it/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/mirror/gentoo/ ftp://mirror.switch.ch/mirror/gentoo/ ftp://ftp.solnet.ch/mirror/Gentoo http://gentoo.mirror.solnet.ch "
MAKEOPTS="-j2"
PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"
PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --delete-after --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages --filter=H_**/files/digest-*"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
PORTDIR="/usr/portage"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
USE="X a52 aac aalib acl acpi alsa ao apache2 apm audiofile berkdb bindist bitmap-fonts bzip2 cairo cdr cli cracklib crypt cups curl curlwrappers dbus dri dts dv dvd dvdr dvdread emboss encode esd exif fam fastcgi ffmpeg flac fortran ftp gd gdbm gif hal iconv ieee1394 inifile innodb java javascript jpeg jpeg2k latin1 ldap libcaca libg++ lirc lm_sensors mad mailwrapper matroska mikmod mmx mp3 mpeg mplayer mudflap musepack mysql mysqli nls nocd nptl nptlonly ogg opengl openmp oss pam pcre pdf perl php png python quicktime readline reflection samba sdl session snmp spl sse sse2 ssl svg tcl tcpd tiff truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts unicode usb v4l vcd vorbis win32codecs wmf x264 x86 xine xml xorg xpm xv xvid zip zlib" ALSA_CARDS="via82xx" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="imon" LIRC_DEVICES="imon_pad2keys" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="via"
Unset:  CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY

and:

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processor       : 0
vendor_id       : CentaurHauls
cpu family      : 6
model           : 10
model name      : VIA Esther processor 1200MHz
stepping        : 9
cpu MHz         : 1197.093
cache size      : 128 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 1
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge cmov pat clflush acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 tm up pni est tm2 rng rng_en ace ace_en ace2 ace2_en phe phe_en pmm pmm_en
bogomips        : 2398.85
clflush size    : 64

the i686 flag should be safe
http://gentoo-wiki.com/Safe_Cflags#Esth ... 8Via_C7.29

really big thanks for your help, I just don't know what I've done wrong

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Thu May 31, 2007 5:38 pm

SecondFirst,

At first glance, your cflags

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CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe -mmmx -msse -msse2 -msse3 -fomit-frame-pointer"

and the data from cpuinfo look to be compatible.

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flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge cmov pat clflush acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 tm up pni est tm2 rng rng_en ace ace_en ace2 ace2_en phe phe_en pmm pmm_en

However, using -mmmx -msse -msse2 -msse3 in CFLAGS allows gcc to determine when it will use these optimisations, which is not always safe on x86 because of what is called the 'excess precision bug' on Intel IA32. This feature stores intermediate results in the FPU to 80 bits, not the 64 used when they are commited to main memory, using -mmmx -msse -msse2 -msse3 in place of normal floating point operations changes the results you get.
I don't know why grub would want to use floats at all (or even if it does) but turn off these CFLAGS, emerge grub, reinstall it to the MBR and try again.

Some code is specially optimised to take advantage of these instruction set features, these special optimisations are activated with USE= flags, not CFLAGS.

daemonflower · Post by **daemonflower** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:12 am

I've installed grub over a previous LILO. Everything seemed to be alright, but suddenly (months later) on a reboot the old LILO menu appeared again (which doesn't lead to a bootable system anymore).

"OK", I think, "I'll boot using the LiveCD and reinstall grub from the command line."

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livecd ~ # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 60.0 GB, 60022480896 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7297 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1         522     4192933+   6  FAT16
/dev/sda2   *         523        2610    16771860   83  Linux
/dev/sda3            2611        7297    37648327+  a5  FreeBSD
livecd ~ # mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/gentoo/
livecd ~ # /mnt/gentoo/sbin/grub
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
 (hd0,1)

grub> root (hd0,1)
 Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

grub> setup (hd0)
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
 Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"...  15 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
 Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+15 p (hd0,1)/boot/grub/stage2
/boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.

grub> quit
livecd ~ # reboot

When the system comes up again, I only get a blinking cursor. Apparently grub-install wiped the MBR and left the system unbootable.

What have I missed?

Greets, Helge

Edit: I think I should add that I tried to install a new kernel before rebooting. Here's my grub.conf:
livecd ~ # cat /mnt/gentoo/boot/grub/grub.conf
timeout 30

default 0

fallback 1

splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title 2.6.21 Suspend2
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.21-suspend2-r5

title 2.6.18 Suspend2
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.18-suspend2-r1

title 2.6.18
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.18-gentoo-r6

# For booting FreeBSD
title FreeBSD
root (hd0,2,a)
kernel /boot/loader
livecd ~ # ls -l /mnt/gentoo/boot/
total 6256
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1 Jan 2 20:03 boot -> .
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512 Mar 26 22:44 boot.0800
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512 Jan 2 21:13 boot.0802
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 May 31 08:34 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2217645 Jan 2 20:36 kernel-2.6.18-gentoo-r6
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2012818 May 30 16:04 kernel-2.6.18-suspend2-r1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2144496 May 31 08:13 kernel-2.6.21-suspend2-r5

SecondFirst · Post by **SecondFirst** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:08 am

NeddySeagoon wrote:turn off these CFLAGS, emerge grub, reinstall it to the MBR and try again.

done

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htpc # grub-install --no-floppy /dev/sda
Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map /boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.

(hd0)   /dev/sda

still the same "error"

why does the IDE-MODE work perfectly with Grub and the RAID-Mode not?

Using the IDE-Mode would make my HDD unable to use NCQ or other S-ATA features, but it would solve the problem

I read something about changing a "LBA" Option in BIOS, but this feature is only available when I use my SATA Device as "IDE" (then my HDD is added to die IDE-Options of my BIOS and I can change the LBA Mode there)

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:28 pm

SecondFirst,

RAID mode in your BIOS may well want you to put two identical drives into a BIOS raid set. You cannot RAID a single drive, well, not usefully, anyway.
The kernel can cope with that but needs help from a third party module called dmraid.
BIOS raid is a BadThing - if you want to know more ask.

Choose IDE mode and tell us what devices you get in in /dev/ for your drive. If its /dev/sd... then the 'IDE-MODE' in your BIOS can be safely used.

You may nor be able to use NCQ, even if its supported by both your SATA controller and the drive.
This feature needs kernel support and that part of the code is not yet fully developed.
Its working on some chip sets.

SecondFirst · Post by **SecondFirst** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:31 pm

NeddySeagoon wrote:SecondFirst,

RAID mode in your BIOS may well want you to put two identical drives into a BIOS raid set. You cannot RAID a single drive, well, not usefully, anyway.
The kernel can cope with that but needs help from a third party module called dmraid.
BIOS raid is a BadThing - if you want to know more ask.

Choose IDE mode and tell us what devices you get in in /dev/ for your drive. If its /dev/sd... then the 'IDE-MODE' in your BIOS can be safely used.

You may nor be able to use NCQ, even if its supported by both your SATA controller and the drive.
This feature needs kernel support and that part of the code is not yet fully developed.
Its working on some chip sets.

thx for your answer

I tried to figure out, what IDE Mode means,in detail, but the only informatio I found was, that it will emulate an IDE Drive (what seemed to be right as my Bios changed the possible settings for my drive and RAID was the default setting)

But if IDE means SATA as single drive (although it's really confusing), then i can accept this

LILO probably doesn't need extra configuration for RAIDs, so it worked even with RAID setting enabled
and NCQ did not work because of the lack of kernel support. It does make sense now...
My drive is listet as /dev/sda, as you can see in my fstab, so I will set SATA-Mode to IDE

and if I want to use RAID, I've to change this setting and install Grub on both Hard Drives -right?
hm, sometimes I have the feeling, that some facturer just want you to get crazy

thanks for your help, although nothing changed...but the informations have been a great help

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 5:06 pm

SecondFirst,

There are 3 types of raid supported in Linux.

1. Hardware raid - the raid card does everything and the kernel sees the raid set as a single device, regardless of how many drives you have. Its expensive and is always a plug in card. You don't have this.

2. BIOS software raid. This behaves as if it were Hardware Raid but its not. Its often referred to as fake raid.
the raid is done in software in the BIOS. The kernel sees a single device and you trat is as such. You have this sort of raid.

3. Kernel software raid. The kernel does raid in software, with no BIOS support. You normally raid partitions, not whole drives and each raid set shows the underlying partitions and the logical multiple device. You almost never use the underlying partitions. You can use this sort of raid if you wish.

There are a few wrinkles with kernel raid. /boot must be on a raid1, or unraided device, or grub cannot read it.
You need to install grub (or lilo) on the MBR of each drive, if you want to be able to boot from any drive. This is because the bootloader installs on space outside the file systems.

SecondFirst · Post by **SecondFirst** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:33 pm

ok, thx for that info

an @ daemonflower

you only get a blinking cursor? Cursor in the Window Manager or before the loading of Grub ?

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:56 pm

ldaemonflower,

Code: Select all

livecd ~ # /mnt/gentoo/sbin/grub

I think that looks odd. I've not tried to install grub from outside the chroot, I'm not sure how that would affect the drive numbering with the ramdrive that the liveCD creates.

Get inside the chroot and install grub from there.

daemonflower · Post by **daemonflower** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:36 pm

SecondFirst wrote:you only get a blinking cursor? Cursor in the Window Manager or before the loading of Grub ?

Before grub even loads.

NeddySeagoon wrote:Get inside the chroot and install grub from there.

Tried that. No change.

gsoe · Post by **gsoe** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:47 am

daemonflower: This is a long shot, but it is fairly easy to try out: Set the bootable flag to /dev/sda1; i seem to remember some BIOS that expected the bootloader to be installed in the bootable partition.

Post by **NeddySeagoon** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:48 am

daemonflower,

I suspect you are installing grub on one drive and booting from another, so there is no code to execute.
Do you have a USB drive (of any sort) connected during the grub install and attempted boot ?

gsoe,
That normally gets you an error message from the BIOS to the effect that there is no OS to boot.
Good call though - some modern BIOSes demand that exactly one partition is flagged bootable.

Grub Error Collection [Part 7] [POST GRUB QUESTIONS HERE!]

Grub Problem

Re: Grub Problem