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#1 2013-08-01 14:44:01

zurgprot
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Registered: 2013-08-01
Posts: 6

[SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

So I'm completely new to arch and trying to install.  Have been reading up on the wiki for the last few hours and am not sure where to look for this issue.  Searched the wiki and forums, but to (as of yet)no avail.

So here's my situation.  Windows 7 64 bit was installed previously on a 3TB drive.  From what I can gather from the wiki, I need to install Grub to the MBR to be able to dual boot windows and arch.   Also, I don't think I have UEFI, but can't find out how to tell, hence the BIOS/MBR installation.  I really didn't understand this at first and just followed the recommended beginners guide for GPT using gdisk to setup my partitions as such:

sdb1  boot   windows   100MB
sdb2            windows   1TB
sdb3            arch root   20GB
sdb4            arch /home   rest of disk

That's how it shows in fdisk now anyway.  So I followed the rest of the guide up to the reboot and grub could not recognize the filesystem.  So I scoured the documentation and finally realized I needed to use fdisk and not gdisk.  I reinstalled everything again, this time using fdisk, but on the reboot, the same grub issue occurs.

That's where I am at now.  I would like to save my windows installation if possible and be able to dual boot.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Last edited by zurgprot (2013-08-05 09:25:29)

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#2 2013-08-01 14:46:34

Trilby
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Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,449
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Re: [SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

I always use fdisk, but there is no reason that gdisk would not work.

Did you make a filesystem on those partitions (mkfs)?  Did you configure grub to use sdb3 as the root partition?  Is there an sda, if so, what is on it?

(edit typo)

Last edited by Trilby (2013-08-01 14:46:50)


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#3 2013-08-01 14:55:09

zurgprot
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Registered: 2013-08-01
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

Thanks for the quick response.

I did mkfs.ext4 for sdb3 and sdb4.  I installed os-prober then used the grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg to auto generate a config file.  I'm guessing that's where I went wrong then?  Also, my sda disk has backup data on it.  I know it seems backwards, but I don't really want to open the case up.

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#4 2013-08-01 15:31:35

Trilby
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Registered: 2011-11-29
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Re: [SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

Using sdb is not a problem at all, I just wanted to ensure there wasn't some confusion there.

Grub (since v 2.0) has had a lot of handy tools for automating configuration (os-prober, mkconfig, ...) but they are not 100%.  I'd check the resulting config to make sure it is selecting the right partition.  It's possible that having boot and / on the same partition led to the automated tool not getting it right.  Such partitioning will work just fine, but the automated tools may get it wrong.

Also, what is the exact error message you get during boot?


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#5 2013-08-01 15:54:00

zurgprot
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Registered: 2013-08-01
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

It's not completely verbatim, but the grub message is basically:
'grub loading'
'welcome to grub'
'error: unknown filesystem'
'entering rescue mode'
'grub rescue>'

I'm not sure what to do about the grub.conf file as 1: I have no idea how to read it and 2: it says at the top do not edit this file.  I'll start up my google fu skills...

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#6 2013-08-01 16:35:41

Trilby
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Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,449
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Re: [SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

I don't use grub anymore, so the new configs also confuse me a bit - but if you can post the contents (preferably in a pastebin-like site and link it here) then other users will be able to see pretty quickly if it looks alright.

One thing to look for is the entry that reads "root=(hd...,N)".  N should be the number 3 and the first part should be hd1 - my initial suspicion is that the automatic tools set that to hd0 with would be sda - but there are many other possibilities.  In any case, sharing the resulting config file should help pinpoint the problem.


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#7 2013-08-01 17:34:53

Gregosky
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From: UK
Registered: 2013-07-26
Posts: 173

Re: [SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

Do you get grub boot menu?

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#8 2013-08-01 18:17:59

zurgprot
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Registered: 2013-08-01
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

No, I get grub rescue mode.

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#9 2013-08-01 20:53:40

Gregosky
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From: UK
Registered: 2013-07-26
Posts: 173

Re: [SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

So grub fails back to rescue mode straight away after booting without giving you a list of options? And I assume you set timeout to something different than "0".

Could you boot to your linux via live CD and post grub.cfg? Also could you post your fstab?

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#10 2013-08-04 18:29:30

zurgprot
Member
Registered: 2013-08-01
Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

So I finally got another chance to work on my box today and decided to give arch the proper love it deserves by giving it the whole hard disk.  I reinstalled using GPT giving the whole drive to arch.  I now have a working installation and can begin actually making the system useful.

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#11 2013-08-05 08:14:58

Gregosky
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From: UK
Registered: 2013-07-26
Posts: 173

Re: [SOLVED] Have I b0rked my partitions yet?

Great to hear you succeeded!

You can mark your post as 'Solved' so forum admins are happy.

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