Arch Linux

kilolima

Member

Registered: 2008-01-26

Posts: 49

Website

problem booting arch with windows bootloader

Hi,

So I accidentally deleted up my arch install when I went put windows XP on the laptop.  And now I want arch back!

this is my fdisk -l:

/dev/sda1 ntfs
/dev/sda2 linux swap
/dev/sda3 ext3

When I tried to install arch from the CD, there was an error installing grub.  So then I tried the ftp install and that seems to work ok.  I put grub on sda3 instead of overwriting windows' MBR.

However, I can't boot into arch from the boot cd when I tell it to use 'arch root=/dev/hda3" - I get a kernel panic.

I tried following the steps at http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Dual_Boot_ … R)_and_why to setup the windows boot loader, copying

dd if=/dev/sda3 of=grub.mbr bs=512 count=1

to c:\ and editing boot.ini but I have some confusion over what exactly my grub menu should read.  This is what I have:

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux  [/boot/vmlinuz26]
root   (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/hda3 ro
initrd /kernel26.img

This doesn't work.  I also tried a "/boot" before each path in grub and that also didn't work, although the kernel seemed to load before giving a panic error.

Any ideas?  I've had arch on this laptop for 6 months and I know it can run fine.

cheers,

kilolima

WiLLiE

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2005-02-27

Posts: 135

Re: problem booting arch with windows bootloader

Try changing

kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/hda3 ro

to

kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro

(because you use a sata disk)

kilolima

Member

Registered: 2008-01-26

Posts: 49

Website

Re: problem booting arch with windows bootloader

Hi,

thanks for the suggestion.  I tried that and grub give an error and says file not found or somesuch.

loosec

Member

Registered: 2007-03-08

Posts: 134

Re: problem booting arch with windows bootloader

Since you do not have a separate /boot partition you need to add that to your path:

title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

This might explain why no file was found.