Grub problem (2 hard drives trying to boot?)

efourseven · 2011-04-07 19:12:38

I have a strange problem that happened to me last night. I am banging my head against the wall trying to figure it out. I usually have a few bruises before I come to ask for help on here.

I have 2 harddrives.
1. Primary Master Drive - where the Arch system installed. (used to dual boot of windows on it, and was the original harddrive in the computer)
2. SATA Primary Drive - which I use for the /home directory.

I tried to get back into my windows partition yesterday after I reinstalled arch a few weeks ago (during the reinstall, I ended up deleting the windows parititon, but wasn't sure at this point).

So I tried to mess with the /boot/grub/menu.lst to try and pull up the windows boot. I unblocked the code for the "windows" section and tried this:

title Windows
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive #if you use Windows7 this line should be commented out
chainloader +1

I rebooted and this is where the trouble began. I get the blank black screen with a blinking cursor right after the BIOS loaded up, and right when grub is supposed to display the menu.

I then booted from an arch install disk and tried to re-install grub (many times) but this wouldn't fix it. (probly just messed it up more)

Then I tried messing with the BIOS settings. I noticed that when I tell the BIOS NOT to recognize hard drive #2 it boots up fine into my system, no problems. When I tell the BIOS to recognize it, it gives me the black screen/blinking cursor and no grub on bootup.

Does anyone know what I could try to get my second harddrive back without getting the boot error? I have all my files on there (was my /homedirectory) so I don't want to have to format it and repartition. I am thinking that maybe it's trying to boot from the 2nd harddrive when the system recognizes it, but I have no idea why.... obviously I screwed something up somewhere along the way. But it all started with that map swapping thing in the grub menu.lst, after that.... maybe I installed grub on the second harddrive by accident but I don't know how that was possible or if thats the case.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Last edited by efourseven (2011-04-07 19:14:40)

Inxsible · 2011-04-07 19:31:18

What version of windows?

When you say it boots if you tell BIOS not to recognize hard drive #2, what does it boot into - Arch or Windows?

efourseven · 2011-04-07 19:51:22

sorry, I'll try and clarify...

ok, as of right now, I only have Arch installed on the Primary harddrive, so it's booting to Arch when I turn off the second harddrive in the BIOS. Arch is my only system on the first hard drive. The second harddrive i was just using for my /home directory partition.

windows was deleted when i reinstalled arch a few weeks ago, but I didn't realize it so I was trying to get back into windows when it wasn't even there. I configured grub with the map swapping for the windows section of grub/menu.lst, which is explained in the grub wiki. but, when i rebooted, then i got the black screen and a screwed up system.

I reinstalled grub a few times.... nothing.

went into the BIOS, disabled the second harddrive and now it boots up fine, but upon turning the second harddrive back on, it goes back to the black screen blinking cursor, where grub would usually start.

Last edited by efourseven (2011-04-07 19:51:47)

skunktrader · 2011-04-07 20:04:02

Have you checked to see whether the bios renumbers your drives when they are both switched on / enabled? i.e. Perhaps drive 2 becomes drive 1 when it is switched on / enabled

efourseven · 2011-04-07 20:31:04

skunktrader wrote:

Have you checked to see whether the bios renumbers your drives when they are both switched on / enabled? i.e. Perhaps drive 2 becomes drive 1 when it is switched on / enabled

I 'm not sure how to do that. In the BIOS it's not numbered, just listed as primary/secondary. when I boot up with the arch install cd It shows the correct partitions on fdisk so I am not sure where else to look?

Could the mapping in the grub file cause this?

Babertje · 2011-04-08 00:40:22

Just make sure your primairy harddrive is attached to sata channel 0 (zero) and your second drive (/home/) to channel 1.
To make it more unbreakable you can use the uuid code as drive ID's and the partitions, "ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid" gives you this list.

 ( !! note don't use my uuid in this example here !! )
# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/615d762b-a486-4022-84fb-fbe2a113883e ro quiet elevator=noop vga=773
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

Also use uuid tags in your fstab file and to make it idiot-proof install grub both harddrives

efourseven · 2011-04-08 02:23:43

Babertje wrote:

Just make sure your primairy harddrive is attached to sata channel 0 (zero) and your second drive (/home/) to channel 1.
To make it more unbreakable you can use the uuid code as drive ID's and the partitions, "ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid" gives you this list.
 ( !! note don't use my uuid in this example here !! )
# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/615d762b-a486-4022-84fb-fbe2a113883e ro quiet elevator=noop vga=773
initrd /boot/kernel26.img
Also use uuid tags in your fstab file and to make it idiot-proof install grub both harddrives

alright I'll give that a try, thanks Babertje, appreciate it. I'll change to uuid's in the menu.lst and fstab and check the HD channels.

stryder · 2011-04-08 06:09:54

Seems to me your computer is trying to boot from your second disk. Perhaps you have a "boot order" function in your bios that you can use. Otherwise as Babertje suggested, you can try switching the cables. UUIDs don't matter because the problem is that your grub is not showing when the second disk is around and boots fine when the second disk is removed.

Last edited by stryder (2011-04-08 06:11:11)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-04-07 19:12:38

Grub problem (2 hard drives trying to boot?)

#2 2011-04-07 19:31:18

Re: Grub problem (2 hard drives trying to boot?)

#3 2011-04-07 19:51:22

Re: Grub problem (2 hard drives trying to boot?)

#4 2011-04-07 20:04:02

Re: Grub problem (2 hard drives trying to boot?)

#5 2011-04-07 20:31:04

Re: Grub problem (2 hard drives trying to boot?)

#6 2011-04-08 00:40:22

Re: Grub problem (2 hard drives trying to boot?)

#7 2011-04-08 02:23:43

Re: Grub problem (2 hard drives trying to boot?)

#8 2011-04-08 06:09:54

Re: Grub problem (2 hard drives trying to boot?)

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