Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (1839 mails)

[Stan Goodman <stan.goodman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Friday 24 September 2010 19:26:59 dwgallien wrote:
> > On Friday 24 September 2010 00:52:57 Felix Miata wrote:
> > > On 2010/09/23 17:04 (GMT-0400) Stan Goodman composed:
> > > > On Thursday 23 September 2010 21:44:29 Felix Miata wrote:
> > > > > On 2010/09/23 20:20 (GMT+0200) Stan Goodman composed:
> > > > > >   <long snip>
>
> I've not chimed in since you've been getting good help from Felix.  Now
>  that it appears you have got past the syntax hurdles, couple other
>  comments to thrown in . . .
>
> From the grub menu command shell, try
>
> grub> rootnoverify (hd1,5)
> grub> kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb6
> grub> initrd /boot/initrd
>
> Grub can read a file system without mounting.  The root command does a
>  mount.  Rootnoverify does not attempt mount, it just makes the call
>  based on what it reads from the table.  For reasons sometimes
>  impossible to explain, rootnoverify works when root does not.  (And
>  yes, this is usually reserved for a file system that grub cannot read,
>  like NTFS, but it also sometimes resolves an issue with a native file
>  system as well or when there is a problem reading the table.)  Also
>  try this using (hd0,5) and /dev/sda6.
>
> It might also help to see how the 11.3 installer read the boot sequence
>  and how it installed grub:
>
> grub> cat (hd1,5)/boot/grub/device.map
>
> grub> cat (hd1,5)/etc/grub.conf
>
> Compare that with how grub was installed in your previous installation:
>
> grub> cat (hd0,5)/etc/grub.conf
>
> grub> cat (hd0,5)/boot/grub/device.map
>
> Besides the data in those files, this can also be helpful because when
>  grub is used from its shell off the menu, it is relying on bios query
>  and how it reads the table, whereas when grub is run from the
>  installer or in a booted system, it gets its data from the kernel. 
>  Typically the result is the same, but that is not guaranteed.
>
> It might also help to look at the partition table as linux sees it. 
>  Boot the Fedora CD, open a terminal, switch to root, and do:
>
> fdisk -l
>
> (That's an "l" as in love, not the numeral one.)

And not "I" as in ego.

> And while you are there, you can make sure the contents of /boot are as
>  expected:
>
> #mount -t <filesystem> /dev/sdb6 /mnt
> #ls -l /mnt/boot
>
> Again, that's the letter "l".  Substitute the fileystem you installed,
>  eg., ext3, in place of <filesystem>
>
> You should see:
>
> vmlinuz -> vmlinuz_2.6. . . . .   (your installed kernel filename)
> initrd -> initrd-2.6. . . . . (your installed initrd filename)
>
> The "vmlinuz ->" and "initrd ->" indicates these are symlinks pointing
>  to the actual filenames.  It's the symlinks that Felix has been having
>  you use in his suggestions.
>
> I doubt it is a problem with your hardware, certainly not the
>  motherboard and unlikely to have a problem with both disks.  I would
>  suspect the partition table(s).  If I understood correctly, you used a
>  different OS to create the partitions?  As a general rule, it is
>  advised to create partitions with the OS which will live on that

Not operating system, but disk- and filesysstem- analysys tool. 
http://dfsee.com. I have always partitioned with DFSee, and have never 
encountered difficulty with the results. It's a very handy tool, by the 
way.

>  partition.  Is it feasible to reinstall 11.3, creating the extended
>  primary and the logicals with the 11.3 installer?  If so, it would
>  also be advisable to enter the boot loader dialog at that step and
>  look at where it is going to install grub, comparing that to where
>  grub was installed on the first disk (per the cat command above).

The actual location of GRUB was my initial reason for wanting to have the 
DFSee output analyzed. I hope I'll have the support response soon, which 
will tell me a lot. Reinstalling v11.3 was also my idea from the 
beginning, but I wanted to wait for the analysis first. I certainly hope 
you are correct about the hardware/software root of the problem. 

> As an aside, there is a grub manual with the error messages, on the
>  web.  Unfortunately, some of the explanations are rather difficult to
>  understand without already having some knowledge of grub.

I did bookmark the GRUB manual as soon as GRUB entered the conversation 
here, but haven't yet had time to read it.
 
> Apology in advance if any of this is redundant.

Not at all. I feel very  fotunate for any advice I get. 

-- 
Stan Goodman
Qiryat Tiv'on
Israel
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