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#1 2009-06-03 11:58:56

Lexion
Member
Registered: 2008-03-23
Posts: 510

Grub issues [SOLVED]

I just installed Arch on an old (10+ years) 550MHz Dell, with grub.  I have not edited the menu.lst file or any other config file (I was going to it after the installation).
When I boot it shows the BIOS and then goes to the blinking cursor.  After a bit (30 seconds) it shows the following and never gets any farther.

GRUB _

The underscore is where the cursor is blinking.  I can wait a good 10 minutes on this screen and it won't change.
Here is my partition map:

/dev/sda1    ext3    10gb    empty as of yet
/dev/sda2    ext3    50gb    contains arch linux and grub

I don't have separate boot, swap, or home partitions as I like to use files instead.  I have not set the files up yet.

Last edited by Lexion (2009-06-04 12:25:16)


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#2 2009-06-03 12:18:35

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Grub issues [SOLVED]

An old cpu w/o a swap partition may not be the best idea.
Can you post your grub?

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#3 2009-06-03 12:19:07

perbh
Member
From: Republic of Texas
Registered: 2005-03-04
Posts: 765

Re: Grub issues [SOLVED]

If you have not edited the menu.lst file - it is not even there!!
ie grub does not have the faintest idea about what to do!

Exactly how did you expect the system to boot up when you have not "set the files yet" ??

First and foremost you have to boot up from a live cd and make a menu.lst - probably the following will do (this is assuming that your grub is on the mbr) :

mkdir /mnt/arch
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/arch
vi /mnt/arch/boot/grub/menu.lst
default 0
timeout 10
title archlinux
  root (hd0,1)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 ro root=/dev/sda2
  initrd /boot/kernel26.img

then reboot and cross your fingers
[edit] oooops sorry - (hd0,1) is /dev/sda2 and _not_ /dev/sda1

Last edited by perbh (2009-06-03 18:23:29)

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#4 2009-06-03 12:20:55

Surgat_
Member
Registered: 2007-08-08
Posts: 317

Re: Grub issues [SOLVED]

It seems that grub is not reading its config file, so it lets you with a prompt. You should enter this commands, I think:

root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

And it should boot your Arch system.
Good luck!

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#5 2009-06-03 20:43:16

Lexion
Member
Registered: 2008-03-23
Posts: 510

Re: Grub issues [SOLVED]

Karol:  I'm sorry but I don't know what you mean by 'post your grub'.  Do you mean my menu.lst?
Here it is:

timeout 5
default 0
color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue

title Arch Linux
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda2 ro
initrd /boot/kerenl26.img

title Arch Linux Fallback
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda2 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img

perbh: My menu.lst was there, contents are above.  The files I have not set are my home dir and my swapfile.
Neither are needed for grub am I right?

Surgat_: It's not a prompt.  But when I open a prompt from liveCD and type:

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

grub> setup (hd0,1)
  Error 17: Cannot mount selected partition

I get that.

Btw I formatted the partition to ext3 with cfdisk during install.


urxvtc / wmii / zsh / configs / onebluecat.net
Arch will not hold your hand

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#6 2009-06-03 21:10:25

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Grub issues [SOLVED]

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=72054

You could try hitting 'e' on the grub menu to check if your bios didn't mess w/ your partitions, but I don't know if "GRUB _" can be considered grub menu ... [
url]http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=3952128&postcount=5[/url]
http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/ … _GRUB_Menu

It's an old disk so not everything may run as expected. You may want to check whether changing 'root=/dev/sda2' to 'root=/dev/hda2' helps. Have you configured your mkinitcpio.conf w/ al the right modules and hooks?

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#7 2009-06-04 02:31:09

perbh
Member
From: Republic of Texas
Registered: 2005-03-04
Posts: 765

Re: Grub issues [SOLVED]

Then do a 'fdisk -l' and show us the result ...
Oh sh... *lol* - you cant boot.
Do you have a live cd (knoppix/grml/whatever) so you can show us the actual partitions?
(cuz your menu.lst looks allright)

Wait a sec - exactly _where_ did you install grub - on the mbr or the first sector of the root partition?

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#8 2009-06-04 02:57:57

paperinik
Member
Registered: 2005-05-25
Posts: 46

Re: Grub issues [SOLVED]

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

grub> setup (hd0,1)
  Error 17: Cannot mount selected partition

It should be:

grub> setup (hd0)

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#9 2009-06-04 12:21:51

Lexion
Member
Registered: 2008-03-23
Posts: 510

Re: Grub issues [SOLVED]

karol: There are no hda* devices,  only sda*.  And also, the HDD isn't broken.

perbh: I have an arch liveCD.  It's installed on the main partition (sda2). Here is the output of 'fdisk -l':

Disk /dev/sda: 61.4 GB, 61473226752 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7473 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7991a642

    Device Boot         Start          End        Blocks            Id       System
/dev/sda1  *                    1        2432        19535008+   83       Linux
/dev/sda2  *              2433        7473        40491832+   83       Linux

paperinik: I tried:

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/e2fss_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.

urxvtc / wmii / zsh / configs / onebluecat.net
Arch will not hold your hand

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#10 2009-06-04 12:24:59

Lexion
Member
Registered: 2008-03-23
Posts: 510

Re: Grub issues [SOLVED]

OMG it booted!  Thank you very much for staying with me so long and sorry for the double post.  The 'grub> setup (hd0)' worked.  I am logged in as root on my new old computer Martini.


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