Arch Linux

m3lkor

Member

Registered: 2009-03-15

Posts: 7

Problems with Grub, Dualbooting, and a software raid

Been searching through google and any forums i could find regarding a possible fix and can not find anything that works.
I have 2 Hard drives, First one is windows, second one is Archlinux.  They are setup through a software raid and i can not get grub to see them.
The error i Get is

Step 1.5 complete

Loading Grub Please Wait..
Error 21

I've used the supergrub disk to no avail.  (i had to load that onto a usb drive due to it not working on my usb cd drive)
my setup is SDA = windows drive
SDB = Archlinux
sdb1 = /               (100gb)
sdb2 = /home       (190gb)
sdb3 = swap         (6gb)

I've checked (and will post when i get back on other computer to try again) the menu.lst,
last time i checked that it looked to me like the sdb0 and sdb1 were not in there
so i added them, pretty sure it at least needed sdb1
(found it was on sdb1 by loading a live linux and using grub>find /boot/grub/stage1 to verify)

i've tried changing the settings of my raid in the bios, i have 3 options, Disabled (at which point i don't get any grub error messages just a non system disk error)

Raid - not how i normally run but tried it, no change (still error 21)

and IDE - how it normally runs, unsuccessfully

I'd really appreciate some help on this and thank you.

m3lkor

Member

Registered: 2009-03-15

Posts: 7

Re: Problems with Grub, Dualbooting, and a software raid

Here is the Menu.lst in /boot/grub

# Config file for GRUB - The GNU GRand Unified Bootloader
# /boot/grub/menu.lst

# DEVICE NAME CONVERSIONS
#
#  Linux           Grub
# -------------------------
#  /dev/fd0        (fd0)
#  /dev/sda        (hd0)
#  /dev/sda1       (hd0,0)
#  /dev/sdb        (hd1)
#  /dev/sdb1       (hd1,0)
#  /dev/sdb2       (hd1,1)
#  /dev/sda3       (hd0,2)
#

#  FRAMEBUFFER RESOLUTION SETTINGS
#     +-------------------------------------------------+
#          | 640x480    800x600    1024x768   1280x1024
#      ----+--------------------------------------------
#      256 | 0x301=769  0x303=771  0x305=773   0x307=775
#      32K | 0x310=784  0x313=787  0x316=790   0x319=793
#      64K | 0x311=785  0x314=788  0x317=791   0x31A=794
#      16M | 0x312=786  0x315=789  0x318=792   0x31B=795
#     +-------------------------------------------------+
#  for more details and different resolutions see
#  http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB#Framebuffer_Resolution

# general configuration:
timeout   5
default   0
color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue

# boot sections follow
# each is implicitly numbered from 0 in the order of appearance below
#
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
#
#-*

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/0e70c4ce-e3b3-42f8-8c2b-6c6414e$
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux Fallback
root   (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/0e70c4ce-e3b3-42f8-8c2b-6c6414e$
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img

# (2) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

and here is Device. map

(fd0)   /dev/fd0
(hd0)   /dev/sda
(hd1)   /dev/sdb

some more info from grub

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
 (hd1,0)

Last edited by m3lkor (2009-03-15 19:14:07)

xaiviax

Member

From: Michigan

Registered: 2008-11-04

Posts: 282

Re: Problems with Grub, Dualbooting, and a software raid

As far as I know, "motherboard software raid" is only compatible with windows, and "linux software raid" (built in the kernel) is only compatible with linux.  So to have a raid array that works with both windows and linux, you need hardware raid.

Lone_Wolf

Member

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 11,911

Re: Problems with Grub, Dualbooting, and a software raid

Actually there are linux drivers for some onboard raidchipsets in the kernel  (Intel ICH for example) , but the poster seems to be using the raid controller for additional ide-ports.

What is the brand and model of your motherboard ?
Are you using onboard raid or a separate controller card ?

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)