Arch Linux

AdamskiAirsoft

Member

Registered: 2006-07-24

Posts: 33

IDE Legacy boot option install results in not being able to boot

So, I try to install Arch Linux using the IDE Legacy boot option, as someone with a similar problem I had, fixed it by doing that.

The install itself ran fine, seemed no different than before. I reboot, and I get stuck at the boot screen, the very first screen I get when powering on. I am told to press this or that for boot or BIOS menu, but I can't access these menu's or anything else since I'm stuck at this window.

I can alternatively, turn off my computer, cut off power, unplug my hard drive, put power back, turn on computer, and be able to load say a LiveCD, which I am doing right now.

So, is my hard drive useable? If somehow I am able to get to another computer and set this hard drive as the slave, could I somehow fix it?

kagerato

Member

Registered: 2007-09-10

Posts: 45

Website

Re: IDE Legacy boot option install results in not being able to boot

Grub is locked up?  Grub is the bootloader that displays the various operating systems configured in /boot/grub/menu.lst .  It passes off to the kernel to load (linux, in our case), which then produces the long, scrolling output most of us are so familiar with.

If it's grub that is stuck, menu.lst may be misconfigured or even missing.  Alternatively, grub may not have installed correctly.  In the extreme case, you may have found a grub bug.  They're fairly rare, but they exist.  (If you're certain it is the fault of grub, try reinstalling using lilo as your bootloader.  Beware that it's configuration file is totally different, though.)

The actual first screen you see on boot is whatever your BIOS chooses to display to you.  (Could be a splash, or text output, for instance).  The BIOS locking is a completely different matter, and a critically serious problem.  I doubt your BIOS or hardware suddenly broke for no particular reason, though.

There's very likely nothing wrong with the hard disk.