-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On my old laptop (classic BIOS, not UEFI) I have a separate /boot partition, created 2009, say. It has become too small, 190 MB. So I had to enlarge it somehow... or wait, perhaps remove it. Yes, I decided it was no longer needed and that I could get rid of it. Apparently years ago the "/" partition was reiserfs and I migrated it to ext4. The partition layout was this: minas-tirith:~ # lsblk --output NAME,KNAME,RA,RM,RO,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,LABEL,PARTLABEL,MOUNTPOINT,UUID,PARTUUID,WWN,MODEL,ALIGNMENT NAME KNAME RA RM RO SIZE TYPE FSTYPE LABEL PARTLABEL MOUNTPOINT UUID PARTUUID WWN MODEL ALIGNMENT sda sda 128 0 0 489.1G disk 0x500a075117eea2e5 Crucial_C 0 ├─sda1 sda1 128 0 0 199M part ntfs SYSTEM B456B22956B1EC6C b4e583dd-01 0x500a075117eea2e5 0 ├─sda2 sda2 128 0 0 158.7G part ntfs D89260D89260BD1E b4e583dd-02 0x500a075117eea2e5 0 ├─sda3 sda3 128 0 0 12.5G part crypto f9ef602f-61ee-4a77-807b-12a92879e1eb b4e583dd-03 0x500a075117eea2e5 0 ├─sda4 sda4 128 0 0 1K part b4e583dd-04 0x500a075117eea2e5 0 ├─sda5 sda5 128 0 0 6G part swap Swap [SWAP] 675034b5-72ee-4db7-b8a4-d3cb197f9aad b4e583dd-05 0x500a075117eea2e5 0 ├─sda6 sda6 128 0 0 196.1M part ext2 Boot /boot 5b08978a-8461-4ecd-8049-bca31bbad2e6 b4e583dd-06 0x500a075117eea2e5 0 ├─sda7 sda7 128 0 0 30G part ext4 Root / 7d8f7fc8-df18-474b-be96-e43862cf3289 b4e583dd-07 0x500a075117eea2e5 0 ├─sda8 sda8 128 0 0 251.1G part reiser Home /home 434bcaab-addc-4efe-abd9-eeee576793c7 b4e583dd-08 0x500a075117eea2e5 0 └─sda9 sda9 128 0 0 7G part ext4 Other /other c0863c21-5df9-4040-9ad8-1f3f8b99424e b4e583dd-09 0x500a075117eea2e5 0 sr0 sr0 512 1 0 1024M rom hp_CDDVDW 0 minas-tirith:~ # minas-tirith:~/bin # fdisk -l /dev/sda Disk /dev/sda: 489.1 GiB, 525112713216 bytes, 1025610768 sectors Disk model: Crucial_CT525MX3 Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0xb4e583dd Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sda1 * 2048 409599 407552 199M 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda2 409600 333279231 332869632 158.7G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT /dev/sda3 950562816 976771071 26208256 12.5G 83 Linux /dev/sda4 333284490 950549984 617265495 294.3G f W95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/sda5 333284553 345863384 12578832 6G 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda6 345863448 346265009 401562 196.1M 83 Linux /dev/sda7 346265073 409175549 62910477 30G 83 Linux /dev/sda8 409175613 935850509 526674897 251.1G 83 Linux /dev/sda9 935852032 950548479 14696448 7G 83 Linux Partition table entries are not in disk order. minas-tirith:~/bin # The MBR is "Syslinux ALTMBR", hardpointing to partition numer 4, the extended. The boot record there would load grub residing in /dev/sda6 which would load the kernel, and done. Ok, so I moved /boot partition over to /old.boot, and copied files over to /boot directory. Called YaST boot loader module, changed timeout to force it writing, and rebooted. Text grub, loading initrd, and hang. I then used an external rescue disk to mount sda7, chroot, run mkinitrd, run "grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg", run YaST boot loader module again... After a few attempts, the rescue disk no longer boots on its own (big text black display with cursor blinking on top left corner, instead of grub menu), and the internal disk boots in text mode grub, but it boots (and has an entry for the external hard disk, which also works that way). So, I have now two boot systems to repair (same computer, internal disk and external via USB2). [correction: external disk is booting now] Both are running Leap 15.2: I had to eliminate the /boot too small problem before attempting to upgrade to 15.3. Today, I had planned. I need more eyes... bootinfoscript says: Boot Info Script 0.76 [13 April 2017] Last git commit: Also search for grub2 custom.cfg on FAT Commit date: 2017-04-23T05:49:05Z ============================= Boot Info Summary: =============================== => Syslinux ALTMBR (4.06 and higher) with boot partition 0x04 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda. --> internal disk => Syslinux GPTMBR (4.04-5.01) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb. --> external disk sda1: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: ntfs Boot sector type: Windows 8/2012: NTFS Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block. Operating System: Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD sda2: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: ntfs Boot sector type: Windows 7/2008: NTFS Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block. Operating System: Boot files: /bootmgr /boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe sda3: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: crypto_LUKS Boot sector type: Unknown Boot sector info: sda4: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: Extended Partition Boot sector type: Grub2 (v1.99-2.00) Boot sector info: Grub2 (v2.00) is installed in the boot sector of sda4 and looks at sector 396060737 of the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks for (,msdos7)/boot/grub2. It also embeds following components: modules ------------------------------------------------------- fshelp ext2 part_msdos biosdisk ------------------------------------------------------- - --> Question: (,msdos7) is /dev/sda7? I'm confused now. It should be sda7 to be correct. If it points to sda6, it is not correct, old boot partition. sda5: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: swap Boot sector type: - Boot sector info: sda6: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: ext2 Boot sector type: - Boot sector info: Operating System: Boot files: /grub2/grub.cfg /boot/grub2/grub.cfg /grub2/custom.cfg /boot/grub2/custom.cfg /grub2/i386-pc/core.img /boot/grub2/i386-pc/core.img - --> this partition is now mounted at /old.and.separate.boot, not /boot. But I have not erased content yet. sda7: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: ext4 Boot sector type: - Boot sector info: Operating System: openSUSE Leap 15.2 Boot files: /boot/grub2/grub.cfg /boot/grub2/custom.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub2/i386-pc/core.img sda8: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: reiserfs Boot sector type: - Boot sector info: Operating System: Boot files: sda9: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: ext4 Boot sector type: Grub2 (v1.99-2.00) Boot sector info: Grub2 (v2.00) is installed in the boot sector of sda9 and looks at sector 945088400 of the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks for (,msdos9)/boot/grub2. It also embeds following components: modules ------------------------------------------------------- fshelp ext2 part_msdos biosdisk ------------------------------------------------------- Operating System: openSUSE Leap 15.0 Beta Boot files: /boot/grub2/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub2/i386-pc/core.img sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: BIOS Boot partition Boot sector type: - Boot sector info: sdb2: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: ext4 Boot sector type: Grub2 (v1.99-2.00) Boot sector info: Grub2 (v2.00) is installed in the boot sector of sdb2 and looks at sector 9141768 of the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks for (,gpt2)/boot/grub2. It also embeds following components: modules ------------------------------------------------------- fshelp ext2 part_gpt biosdisk ------------------------------------------------------- Operating System: openSUSE Leap 15.2 Boot files: /boot/grub2/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub2/i386-pc/core.img sdb3: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: swap Boot sector type: - Boot sector info: sdb4: __________________________________________________________________________ File system: crypto_LUKS Boot sector type: Unknown Boot sector info: ============================ Drive/Partition Info: ============================= .... The rest, here: https://paste.opensuse.org/97794560 Correction! The external hard disk is now booting correctly. I did nothing to it, just power it off and on, remove and insert USB cable again. I did run YaST module on the internal hard disk once more, prior to obtaining data. The internal hard disk still produces a grub menu in text mode. - -- Cheers Carlos E. R. (from 15.2 x86_64 at Telcontar) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iHoEARECADoWIQQZEb51mJKK1KpcU/W1MxgcbY1H1QUCYctUYhwccm9iaW4ubGlz dGFzQHRlbGVmb25pY2EubmV0AAoJELUzGBxtjUfV7NEAoIIbWpf7/zBMnrdwxVdw 9iGN4e9vAJ9Ga2LkN4XK9+MGhdne7DxJW7YiSw== =LMR7 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----