On 2010/03/12 19:25 (GMT+0100) C composed:
Does anyone have any hints or clues for me here?
You have a complex configuration. Few answers will be simple. I certainly don't have them all, but hopefully here's some help: *buntu 9.10 uses Grub 2. No version of openSUSE uses that yet, although it is an option in Factory. Grub 2 (actually 1.9x) is more complex, and possesses some significant differences from Grub 1 used by openSUSE. hd3 has different meanings to the kernel, to Grub 1, and to Grub 2. What hd3 means to Grub 1 depends on the content of /boot/grub/device.map. Grub 1 counts from 0, while Grub 2 counts from 1. More differences than that I won't get into. Grub 1 is good enough for me that I haven't yet been compelled to learn Grub 2. A modern PC BIOS has several settings options that affect which HD gets priority. Commonly there's one to assign two SATA ports to a separate group from four other SATA ports, and an ability to switch the priority between the two groups, as in earlier BIOS with both SATA and PATA support. Also whether AHCI, by whatever name the BIOS assigns it, is enabled, affects which devices can have priority, priority which won't necessarily agree with what either Grub or the kernel thinks. On top of those and any other normal BIOS settings, most have a boot time menu option to boot from, which IOW means assign top priority regardless of other settings. The results possible from this matrix for any particular BIOS can only be learned through trial and error. In your case of using so many devices, you probably need to spend some time experimenting and documenting the possibilities. The foregoing is why device names for boot and mount purposes have had to be deprecated, replaced by UUID, label, path and ID as optional ways around the problems of unstable and unpredictable device priority. I suggest attempting to master either or both Grubs, create a boot partition as host for one Grub and a master Grub menu, but once initially configured, never mount that personal boot partition as /boot. It'll be up to you to maintain it with configfile and/or chainloader stanzas for your various distros, and if you want, graft in stanzas from your various distros' boot menus. Each distro in turn should have its own Grub installed to its / (or to a separate /boot dedicated to use exclusively by that installation if you want). Once you have Grub configured suitably, there should be no reason either to change BIOS settings, or use the BIOS boot menu. Each distro can be allowed to do whatever it pleases with whatever interpretation of BIOS priorities it perceives, and boot and mount by UUID, device name, or whatever it deems best. The main thing you need to do with each is ensure it does nothing with any HD's MBR, or with _your_ special Grub host/boot partition. If you don't, each will assume it's job is to hijack everything related to booting anything, and your's is far too complex to let that can of worms be opened. FWIW, I mount both realboot and non-booted distros' / partitions in a tree called /disks, in subdirs named ./hd[1-x]/, to directories with descriptive names, such as boot, suse112, fedora12, mdv2010, kubuntu, etc. I also label each partition, usually the same as the dirs used in /disks/hd[1-x]/, and use the labels for manual mounting & unmounting, and fstab entries. UUIDs were not made for human manipulation. :-p I also do all partitioning and formatting prior to beginning any Linux installation, and only _use_ "existing" partitions from within any distro's installation program. There's yet another option that can be used instead of a personally maintained custom boot partition - use Windows as primary bootloader. A basic HOWTO is on http://fm.no-ip.com/install-doz-after.html but I don't recommend using that method on so complex a system as yours unless you actually install Windows to a logical and keep only its boot files on its C: primary. Otherwise, Windows could turn your ability to boot anything else into a mess you wouldn't want to think about. ;-) The nice thing about this method though is configuration menu access is available from anything you can get to boot, including a 25 year old DOS floppy disk (as long as C: is the first partition on the first BIOS HD). :-) -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org