Arch Linux

YAOMTC

Member

Registered: 2010-02-23

Posts: 204

Problems with GRUB with installing on Eee PC

When I first tried to install Arch Linux, I ended up putting the GRUB bootloader in the wrong place -- I must have accidentally put it on the USB drive I was trying to install from, because after that I was not able to boot from the Eee PC 900's SSD (nor the USB drive).

I just tried a second time to install, and I'm again unable to boot. This time, however, I did put GRUB in the correct place, and everything seemed to go smoothly. But after the reboot, I found that it's apparently GRUB itself that needs editing before I install.

When the USB drive was not plugged in, I get this after choosing ArchLinux:

  Booting 'Arch Linux'

root   (hd1,0)

Error 21: Selected Disk does not exist

Press any key to continue...

When it is plugged in, it goes right to this (without the boot menu):

  Booting 'Arch Linux'

root   (hd1,0)

Error 22: No such partition

Press any key to continue...

Here's how it was set up:

/dev/sda - I can't remember exactly what this was, I think it was the USB drive. Most likely, as that was where the system was installed.

/dev/sdb - If I knew what this was, I forgot.

/dev/sdc - This was where the 16 GB SDD ended up being. The following is what I think I remember the partitions being.
/dev/sdc1 - /boot
/dev/sdc2 - /swap
/dev/sdc3 - /
/dev/sdc4 - /home

It is extremely late right now, so I'll deal with erasing, reformatting, and... re-imaging... the USB drive after sleep.

When I get to doing that, how would I go about changing GRUB before I do the final reboot? Because if I don't edit GRUB before then, everything is ruined pretty much. (i.e., I have to waste a bunch of time again doing everything over.)

perbh

Member

From: Republic of Texas

Registered: 2005-03-04

Posts: 765

Re: Problems with GRUB with installing on Eee PC

*lol* I don't know just how many times I've come across the very same problem!
Here's a li'l excerpt from menu.lst that you may find useful:

title usb w/archlinux
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 ro root=/dev/sdc3
initrd /kernel26.img

As grub is invoked, your boot-device is (hd0), then as the initial boot-phase is over - sanity has been regained and your 'ssd' is now (hd0) and your usb is (hd2)

jimburnettva

Member

From: Virginia, USA

Registered: 2010-02-12

Posts: 48

Website

Re: Problems with GRUB with installing on Eee PC

Howdy! I work with grub a bunch at work building custom linux distros. Here is the method I use when using on a fresh partition.

Assuming you have a correct /boot/grub/menu.lst file this is how I install my grub.

So I plug my USB stick in and mount my main partition   mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb1     (the part with /boot/grub in it....)

# grub

grub> find /boot/grub/menu.lst
(hd1,0)

grub> root (hd1,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

grub> setup (hd1)
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 (hd1)"...  16 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd1) (hd1)1+16 p (hd1,0)/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst".
.. succeeded
Done.

grub>

I hope that helps some.

The find command finds the partition to install grub on. Instead of looking for /boot/grub/menu.lst you could put a custom file in there for grub to look for so you know for a fact it's the HD you want to install on.

---

My Linux & Progamming Blog - Jimmy Burnett

YAOMTC

Member

Registered: 2010-02-23

Posts: 204

Re: Problems with GRUB with installing on Eee PC

Fixed it! Here's what I used:

title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3
initrd /kernel26.img

Thanks for your help!

perbh

Member

From: Republic of Texas

Registered: 2005-03-04

Posts: 765

Re: Problems with GRUB with installing on Eee PC

Well, I'll be damned!