-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Saturday 2006-11-25 at 20:47 +1100, Basil Chupin wrote:

Suddenly I cannot boot into 10.1 with GRUB coming up with, "Error 18" as soon as it starts to execute on bootup.

Does anyone know what this error means and how to get grub working correctly again?

info grub, Troubleshooting, Stage2 errors: | 18 : Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS | This error is returned when a read is attempted at a linear block | address beyond the end of the BIOS translated area. This generally | happens if your disk is larger than the BIOS can handle (512MB for | (E)IDE disks on older machines or larger than 8GB in general). Create a separate /boot partition somewhere near the begingining of your hard disk. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFFaCdBtTMYHG2NR9URAgaPAJ47+ByueUuinMieBrm3yERlDUo9lACfZAQz zK72UtMAtq5jwf36TqA13Ms= =JRHn -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Saturday 25 November 2006 05:03, Basil Chupin wrote:

Carlos E. R. wrote:

...

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The Saturday 2006-11-25 at 20:47 +1100, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

Suddenly I cannot boot into 10.1 with GRUB coming up with, "Error 18" as soon as it starts to execute on bootup.

Does anyone know what this error means and how to get grub working correctly again?

info grub, Troubleshooting, Stage2 errors: | 18 : Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS | This error is returned when a read is attempted at a linear block | address beyond the end of the BIOS translated area. This generally | happens if your disk is larger than the BIOS can handle (512MB for | (E)IDE disks on older machines or larger than 8GB in general).

Create a separate /boot partition somewhere near the begingining of your hard disk.

Thanks for the response but, eh, I have been dual-booting for years now and therefore already have a 300MB boot partition at the start of the HD, and have been running 10.1 without any problems since it came out until this morning when the error message suddenly came up. (Just checked with cfdisk and all the partitions are there as they are supposed to be.)

Checked in the BIOS and all drives are correctly recognised.

Any other suggestions, please?

Can you view the menu.lst file at the grub prompt(grub>) and do the entries match your current partitioning setup? grub> cat (hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst where (hd0,0) represents (drive#,partition#) with numbering starting at zero and pointing to the partition holding menu.lst which should be your separate boot partition assuming grub was installed there originally and not to the root partition. (hd0,0) would point to the 1st partition on the 1st drive. (hd1,3) would point to the 4th partition on the second drive, etc... grub> geometry (hdx) will show existing partitions(x=0,1,2 etc.) . Can you boot from the grub prompt manually? ie. grub> root (hdx,x) grub> kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hdx <other options> grub> initrd /initrd grub> boot with appropriate modifications if you altered the default installation image names. where x points to appropriate partition. Note that unlike (hdx,x)mentioned above, root=/dev/hdx, numbering starts at 1 and points to root partition, not the boot partition. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

rmyster@gmail.com wrote:

On Saturday 25 November 2006 05:03, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

Carlos E. R. wrote:

...

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1

The Saturday 2006-11-25 at 20:47 +1100, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

Suddenly I cannot boot into 10.1 with GRUB coming up with, "Error 18" as soon as it starts to execute on bootup.

Does anyone know what this error means and how to get grub working correctly again? info grub, Troubleshooting, Stage2 errors: | 18 : Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS | This error is returned when a read is attempted at a linear block | address beyond the end of the BIOS translated area. This generally | happens if your disk is larger than the BIOS can handle (512MB for | (E)IDE disks on older machines or larger than 8GB in general).

Create a separate /boot partition somewhere near the begingining of your hard disk. Thanks for the response but, eh, I have been dual-booting for years now and therefore already have a 300MB boot partition at the start of the HD, and have been running 10.1 without any problems since it came out until this morning when the error message suddenly came up. (Just checked with cfdisk and all the partitions are there as they are supposed to be.)

Checked in the BIOS and all drives are correctly recognised.

Any other suggestions, please?

Thanks for your help. The results:

Can you view the menu.lst file at the grub prompt(grub>) and do the entries match your current partitioning setup?

grub> cat (hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst

Yes.

where (hd0,0) represents (drive#,partition#) with numbering starting at zero and pointing to the partition holding menu.lst which should be your separate boot partition assuming grub was installed there originally and not to the root partition. (hd0,0) would point to the 1st partition on the 1st drive. (hd1,3) would point to the 4th partition on the second drive, etc...

grub> geometry (hdx)

will show existing partitions(x=0,1,2 etc.) .

Geometry OK. All partitions correctly shown (both HDs, btw).

Can you boot from the grub prompt manually?

ie. grub> root (hdx,x)

This is OK.

grub> kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hdx <other options>

This is OK.

grub> initrd /initrd

This comes up with an error, "Error 28: Selected item cannot fit into memory" which is a bit strange as I have 1.5GB of RAM and even right at the moment I have 58.5MB free.

grub> boot

Of course this does not happen :-) . What does all of the above mean? Do I need a grease and oil change or a new set of spark plugs? :-) Cheers. -- "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." Galileo Galilei -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Sunday 2006-11-26 at 02:11 +1100, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

grub>initrd /initrd

This comes up with an error, "Error 28: Selected item cannot fit into memory" which is a bit strange as I have 1.5GB of RAM and even right at the moment I have 58.5MB free.

|28 : Selected item cannot fit into memory | This error is returned if a kernel, module, or raw file load | command is either trying to load its data such that it won't fit | into memory or it is simply too big. Check that file, perhaps it is broken somehow. Usually, "/boot/initrd" is a symlink, so check the link and the destination. Also, you can try to expand it on a temporary dir, it is gzipped. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFFaGchtTMYHG2NR9URAjR9AJ4nDFT915eJ/JsQBLpk66psVkFUhwCeNxVH Iy3IS5zufAv5Aq/oYdHD7hA= =KG2B -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Basil Chupin wrote:

grub> setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 (hd0,8) (hd0,8) Error 21 Selected disk does not exist I believe the second one should only be the disk, i.e. (hd0)

-- Joe Morris Registered Linux user 231871 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Joe Morris (NTM) wrote:

It would be basically grub, then root (hd0,8), then setup (hd0), which should find everything and install it, the quit to leave grub, exit to leave the chroot, then shutdown -r now to reboot and check. HTH.

One more idea, since at least once it appeared you had a problem with the initrd, while you are in the chroot, you could rerun the mkinitrd command and make sure it finishes without error. HTH. -- Joe Morris Registered Linux user 231871 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

...

...

...

The Saturday 2006-11-25 at 20:47 +1100, Basil Chupin wrote:

...

Suddenly I cannot boot into 10.1 with GRUB coming up with, "Error 18" as soon as it starts to execute on bootup.

Does anyone know what this error means and how to get grub working correctly again?

info grub, Troubleshooting, Stage2 errors: | 18 : Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS | This error is returned when a read is attempted at a linear | block address beyond the end of the BIOS translated area. This | generally happens if your disk is larger than the BIOS can handle | (512MB for (E)IDE disks on older machines or larger than 8GB in | general).

...

Can you view the menu.lst file at the grub prompt(grub>) and do the entries match your current partitioning setup?

grub> cat (hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst

Yes.

...

where (hd0,0) represents (drive#,partition#) with numbering starting at zero and pointing to the partition holding menu.lst which should be your separate boot partition assuming grub was installed there originally and not to the root partition. (hd0,0) would point to the 1st partition on the 1st drive. (hd1,3) would point to the 4th partition on the second drive, etc...

grub> geometry (hdx)

will show existing partitions(x=0,1,2 etc.) .

Geometry OK. All partitions correctly shown (both HDs, btw).

...

Can you boot from the grub prompt manually?

ie. grub> root (hdx,x)

This is OK.

...

grub> kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hdx <other options>

This is OK.

...

grub> initrd /initrd

This comes up with an error, "Error 28: Selected item cannot fit into memory" which is a bit strange as I have 1.5GB of RAM and even right at the moment I have 58.5MB free.

...

grub> boot

Of course this does not happen :-) .

What does all of the above mean? Do I need a grease and oil change or a new set of spark plugs? :-)

On Saturday 25 November 2006 21:33, Joe Morris (NTM) wrote:

Joe Morris (NTM) wrote:

...

It would be basically grub, then root (hd0,8), then setup (hd0), which should find everything and install it, the quit to leave grub, exit to leave the chroot, then shutdown -r now to reboot and check. HTH.

One more idea, since at least once it appeared you had a problem with the initrd, while you are in the chroot, you could rerun the mkinitrd command and make sure it finishes without error. HTH.

As Joe suggests, rerunning mkinitrd is worth a try based on what you see. After the upgrade to beta1, I ran into a case where the upgrade somehow removed the initrd image completely and had to recreate it. Using the installation disk allowed me to boot the system even with this image missing. If you haven't already done something else that would render this next portion nonapplicable, try the following after booting into the system w/ the installation disk to create a new initrd image: cd /boot mv initrd-2.6.18.2-4-default initrd-2.6.18.2-4-default.notworking.old Modify "2.6.18.2-4-default" above(10.2 beta2 version) to match your current version which you can view with the output of "uname -a". rm initrd (or mv initrd initrd.notworking.old) mkinitrd -k vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-4-default -i initrd-2.6.18.2-4-default (your new initd-2.6.18.2-4 image should now be present) and/or for the xen image mkinitrd -k vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-4-xen -i initrd-2.6.18.2-4-xen Note that running just 'mkinitrd' with no options will create the default image that matches your current kernel vmlinuz image. recreate symbolic link(s) ln -s /boot/initrd-2.6.18.x-y /boot/initrd where "2.6.18.x-y" above is the version number you just created Verify that the symbolic links named /boot/initrd & /boot/vmlinuz point to matching version numbers . # ll initrd initrd -> initrd-2.6.18.2-4-default and confirm that this version matches the vmlinuz image version # ll vmlinuz vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-4-default You could also check for matching versions this before rerunning mkinitrd and if they don't match, it might be the problem. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

rmyster@gmail.com wrote:

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...

...

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The Saturday 2006-11-25 at 20:47 +1100, Basil Chupin wrote:

[pruned]

On Saturday 25 November 2006 21:33, Joe Morris (NTM) wrote:

...

...

It would be basically grub, then root (hd0,8), then setup (hd0), which should find everything and install it, the quit to leave grub, exit to leave the chroot, then shutdown -r now to reboot and check. HTH. One more idea, since at least once it appeared you had a problem with

Joe Morris (NTM) wrote: the initrd, while you are in the chroot, you could rerun the mkinitrd command and make sure it finishes without error. HTH.

As Joe suggests, rerunning mkinitrd is worth a try based on what you see. After the upgrade to beta1, I ran into a case where the upgrade somehow removed the initrd image completely and had to recreate it. Using the installation disk allowed me to boot the system even with this image missing. If you haven't already done something else that would render this next portion nonapplicable, try the following after booting into the system w/ the installation disk to create a new initrd image:

cd /boot mv initrd-2.6.18.2-4-default initrd-2.6.18.2-4-default.notworking.old Modify "2.6.18.2-4-default" above(10.2 beta2 version) to match your current version which you can view with the output of "uname -a".

rm initrd (or mv initrd initrd.notworking.old)

mkinitrd -k vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-4-default -i initrd-2.6.18.2-4-default (your new initd-2.6.18.2-4 image should now be present)

and/or for the xen image mkinitrd -k vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-4-xen -i initrd-2.6.18.2-4-xen

Note that running just 'mkinitrd' with no options will create the default image that matches your current kernel vmlinuz image.

recreate symbolic link(s) ln -s /boot/initrd-2.6.18.x-y /boot/initrd where "2.6.18.x-y" above is the version number you just created

Verify that the symbolic links named /boot/initrd & /boot/vmlinuz point to matching version numbers .

# ll initrd initrd -> initrd-2.6.18.2-4-default

and confirm that this version matches the vmlinuz image version # ll vmlinuz vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-4-default

You could also check for matching versions this before rerunning mkinitrd and if they don't match, it might be the problem.

Thanks to you, Joe and to Darryl for your assistance and I ask for some time to digest all that has been suggested because I am finding it just a tad hard going trying to get it all into perspective. I am finding that what I expect to find I am not finding and what I read (eg in the Suse manual) is not as explicit as I would like so it is kinda confusing me. For example, above you state that doing "uname -a" will give me the current version of the kernel I am using. After a bit of puzzlement I realised (I think!) that when one boots into a 'broken' system using the installation DVD the uname -a command shows the version of the kernel used by the installation DVD to boot into the OS and *not* the actual kernel installed in the OS. For example, after booting using the 10.1 Installation DVD uname -a shows that the kernel is 2.6.16.13-4 but the kernel now actually in place is 2.6.16.21-0.25 and, of course, initrd etc also have this same (latter) number. It took a "few" minutes to work out why you said that not using any parameters with the mkinitrd command will create a default image which will match the current kernel - in this case being the old ...16.13-4 kernel which is not what I need. This of course would explain why booting from the DVD works even though there is a corruption in,say, initird because it is the kernel etc which is on the DVD which is used and until the damage is repaired the OS continues to run on the old kernel etc. At least this is what I make of it :-) . I'll recreate the initrd as described later today after rereading all that has been stated 'cause I don't want to mess things up even more and have to reinstall not only 10.1 but XP as well even though I only use it once in a blue moon. Cheers. -- "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." Galileo Galilei -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Sunday 26 November 2006 07:09, Basil Chupin wrote:

rmyster@gmail.com wrote:

...

mkinitrd -k vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-4-default -i initrd-2.6.18.2-4-default (your new initd-2.6.18.2-4 image should now be present)

and/or for the xen image mkinitrd -k vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-4-xen -i initrd-2.6.18.2-4-xen

Note that running just 'mkinitrd' with no options will create the default image that matches your current kernel vmlinuz image.

recreate symbolic link(s) ln -s /boot/initrd-2.6.18.x-y /boot/initrd where "2.6.18.x-y" above is the version number you just created

Thanks to you, Joe and to Darryl for your assistance and I ask for some time to digest all that has been suggested because I am finding it just a tad hard going trying to get it all into perspective. I am finding that what I expect to find I am not finding and what I read (eg in the Suse manual) is not as explicit as I would like so it is kinda confusing me.

For example, above you state that doing "uname -a" will give me the current version of the kernel I am using. After a bit of puzzlement I realised (I think!) that when one boots into a 'broken' system using the installation DVD the uname -a command shows the version of the kernel used by the installation DVD to boot into the OS and *not* the actual kernel installed in the OS.

That didn't occur to me but did you boot with your system's installation cd/dvd or were you using an earlier version? Booting with the 10.2 RC1 dvd on my end shows the kernel as 2.6.18.2-23-default which matches the kernel when booting directly into 10.2 RC1.

For example, after booting using the 10.1 Installation DVD uname -a shows that the kernel is 2.6.16.13-4 but the kernel now actually in place is 2.6.16.21-0.25 and, of course, initrd etc also have this same (latter) number.

It took a "few" minutes to work out why you said that not using any parameters with the mkinitrd command will create a default image which will match the current kernel - in this case being the old ...16.13-4 kernel which is not what I need.

If vmlinux-2.6.16.21-0.25-default is your latest available version in your /boot dir, then use those numbers and use mkinitrd with the -k & -i options mentioned previously. Looking at where the /boot/vmliuz symbolic link points to at the moment should tell you what the latest version is on your system and just match that one. As of 10.2 RC1, the latest version is 2.6.18.2-23-default and my earlier examples used the 10.2 beta2 kernel version.

This of course would explain why booting from the DVD works even though there is a corruption in,say, initird because it is the kernel etc which is on the DVD which is used and until the damage is repaired the OS continues to run on the old kernel etc. At least this is what I make of it :-) .

or the install disk just creates the initrd ramdisk on the fly from the existing vmlinuz image.

I'll recreate the initrd as described later today after rereading all that has been stated 'cause I don't want to mess things up even more and have to reinstall not only 10.1 but XP as well even though I only use it once in a blue moon.

If your latest kernel vmlinuz image is 2.6.18.2-23-default, then after renaming the existing files (initrd and initrd-2.6.18.2-23-default), you can use mkinitrd -k /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-23-default -i /boot/initrd-2.6.18.2-23-default followed by ln -s /boot/initrd-2.6.18.2-23-default /boot/initrd -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

rmyster@gmail.com wrote:

On Sunday 26 November 2006 07:09, Basil Chupin wrote:

[pruned]

...

Thanks to you, Joe and to Darryl for your assistance and I ask for some time to digest all that has been suggested because I am finding it just a tad hard going trying to get it all into perspective. I am finding that what I expect to find I am not finding and what I read (eg in the Suse manual) is not as explicit as I would like so it is kinda confusing me.

For example, above you state that doing "uname -a" will give me the current version of the kernel I am using. After a bit of puzzlement I realised (I think!) that when one boots into a 'broken' system using the installation DVD the uname -a command shows the version of the kernel used by the installation DVD to boot into the OS and *not* the actual kernel installed in the OS.

That didn't occur to me but did you boot with your system's installation cd/dvd or were you using an earlier version? Booting with the 10.2 RC1 dvd on my end shows the kernel as 2.6.18.2-23-default which matches the kernel when booting directly into 10.2 RC1.

Which is what is to expected since the kernel for 10.2 RC1 hasn't been upgraded (yet). Re the rest: see my reply to Carlos. I created a new initrd to match the latest kernel (on 10.1) but it didn't help- the error #18 message still comes up :-( . Cheers. -- "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." Galileo Galilei -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On 2006/11/28 21:07 (GMT+1100) Basil Chupin apparently typed: I did a FTP install from the beta2 mirror state IIRC. Shortly after I did some partition rearranging, moving the factory from hda21 to hda10. After editing the appropriate files and running grub-install, it would not boot when hda10 selected from IBM Boot Manager or when hda10 chainloaded from grub on another partition. Loading the kernel and initrd from grub elsewhere worked fine. After updating to the rc1 mirror state I reran grub-install once again, and now it boots from BM, and presumably also from chainload. The rc1 graphical grub boot menu is way cool! -- "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven." Matthew 5:12 NIV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On 2006/11/28 14:20 (GMT+0100) Carlos E. R. apparently typed:

Thus, I have an "/etc/grub.conf" file which I can not understand, and I think it has a mistake:

install --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 (hd3,1)/grub/stage1 d (hd0) (hd3,1)/grub/stage2 0x8000 (hd3,1)/grub/menu.lst root (hd1,1) install --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 /grub/stage1 d (hd1,1) /grub/stage2 0x8000 (hd1,1)/grub/menu.lst quit

Not sure how you figured it has a mistake and not be able to tell what it is. Mine's considerably simpler: root (hd0,4) install --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 /grub/stage1 (hd0,4) /grub/stage2 0x8000 (hd0,4)/grub/menu.lst quit -- "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven." Matthew 5:12 NIV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Tuesday 2006-11-28 at 08:37 -0500, Felix Miata wrote:

Not sure how you figured it has a mistake and not be able to tell what it is. Mine's considerably simpler:

Because last time I let Yast touch grub, when I updated to 10.1, my system would not boot. I had to overwrite the MBR from a backup using 'dd'. Now, when I boot, it says the message file has a format error and to press a key, throwing me into the text screen boot menu instead of the nice graphical one. I have tried replacing that message file from another install to no avail. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFFbEo9tTMYHG2NR9URAlTtAJ9Si6bBFboacWZg3U6Tdk/mMmB8MwCfQ/jW LMaD2wNNH9FLb4EEjbmvodw= =eq4J -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Tuesday 2006-11-28 at 10:02 -0500, Felix Miata wrote:

...

Because last time I let Yast touch grub, when I updated to 10.1, my system would not boot. I had to overwrite the MBR from a backup using 'dd'. Now, when I boot, it says the message file has a format error and to press a key, throwing me into the text screen boot menu instead of the nice graphical one. I have tried replacing that message file from another install to no avail.

NAICT,

cer@nimrodel:~> wtf NAICT Gee... I don't know what NAICT means...

/etc/grub.conf is nothing but configuration information for grub-install, not for using grub to boot. Grub's menu configuration lives in /boot/grub/menu.lst, unless you're using Fedora or RedHat.

Precisely. If /etc/grub.conf is bad, Yast intalls grubs incorrectly. I said that I had to repair that install overwriting the MBR using dd to copy my backup of the MBR over what Yast/grub module had broken. I did not have to repair the menu, that was correct. If I knew how to correct that file yast will not break it again next time (when I update to 10.2) - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFFbFFftTMYHG2NR9URAoCiAKCLlm062cIKVXVhxoTnvReC0fftdgCgg5Cx 9zAUtyH9E/pzx/4hVe/y3Mg= =IxQW -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Carlos E. R. wrote: [pruned]

I also have a problem when booting my test partition, which resides in a disk bigger than what my bios can handle. But I haven't studied the problem yet, although I'm starting to think that it is similar to your problem, or perhaps even the same one. I wonder.

[pruned]

And... you grub halts when loading suse, you get to the grub menu, no? There you can choose XP and it should not have the same problem - I hope.

No. I don't get to the grub menu. If I did I wouldn't be too worried (well :-) ) because I would be able to at least boot into Windows but I cannot because the grub menu does not come up. All that happens is I get the Error #18 message as soon as grub kicks in on boot and all I see is the grub> prompt followed by the error #18 statement. Let me go over the situation, just to clear all the stuff which may be muddying the waters. I have XP installed and I then installed 10.1 - and everything was working fine until a few days ago when suddenly on startup I got the grub> Error #18 message and the only way I can now boot into Suse is using the installation DVD and using the Boot Into Existing System. I have no access to XP. Because all my HD are in removable cradles, I installed 10.2 RC1 on this same computer (my "main" one, the one I am now using to type this message with 10.1) using one of my other HDs. I have no problems with booting into 10.2 RC1 on this computer- grub doesn't come up with any error messages. Knowing that there is the option on the Installation DVD/CD to do a Repair on an existing system I tried doing this repair and after finding that all the partitions are in place with their correct file systems, Repair crashes at the stage called Check Package Database - Searching for package database where it is executing the following command: /usr/bin/test -f /mnt/var/lib/rpm/Triggername when the whole Repair process just dies and I am faced with a red screen with an error message of Error Encountered (or similar) - no explanation of what caused the error. Now, in summary I guess, I can boot into 10.1 using the Installation DVD/CD and the system appears to be going OK except that I have noticed a couple of "funnies" - eg, suddenly I cannot access any CD or DVD either as a user or root because KDE gives out with an error message that Permission is Denied (or similar); also booting from the Installation CD uses the original version of the kernel as it is on the DVD/CD and not the one which is now installed on the HD after the kernel has been upgraded several times in the past months. So, here we are :-) . Something suddenly zapped this system but what it was which caused this I don't know except to note that some upgrades were done during the day a few days ago and the next morning when I went to start the system I wasn't able to do a normal bootup. I now feel that unless something miraculous happens and someone can come up and say, "This is where the problem is!" I will need to reinstall 10.1 -- which I am loath to do because of all the mucking around with installing the video apps to be able to watch DVD :-( . And, of course, having to install smart and then downloading all over again all the upgrades to 10.1 :-( . But.... "that's show biz" :-) . Maybe, just maybe, I'll wake up in the morning and find that all this has been simply a bad dream and in fact there is no problem with the system :-) . Or maybe the elves will fix the system while I am asleep :-) . Cheers. -- "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." Galileo Galilei -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Tuesday 28 November 2006 16:32, Basil Chupin wrote:

I have XP installed and I then installed 10.1 - and everything was working fine until a few days ago when suddenly on startup I got the grub> Error #18 message and the only way I can now boot into Suse is using the installation DVD and using the Boot Into Existing System. I have no access to XP.

If you didn't do anything manually, 10.1 installed grub to the 10.1 partition, and set the "active" flag to that partition. You should be able to boot XP by running the partitioner and setting the XP partition to active instead. Error 18 means "trying to read beyond the capacity of the BIOS". Did you change something in the hard drive settings in the BIOS recently? LBA mode, or such? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Carlos E. R. wrote:

If /etc/grub.conf is bad, Yast intalls grubs incorrectly. I said that I had to repair that install overwriting the MBR using dd to copy my backup of the MBR over what Yast/grub module had broken.

I did not have to repair the menu, that was correct.

If I knew how to correct that file yast will not break it again next time (when I update to 10.2)

For what it's worth, I had all kinds of problems with 10.1's grub, and manually installed grub many times. I assumed it was because my root was raid1 (/dev/md0). Anyway, 10.2 Beta 1 and 2 left me needing to install grub manually still, but much to my surprise and delight, RC 1 worked straight away. Here is my present /etc/grub.conf. jmorris:/home/joe # cat /etc/grub.conf setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 (hd0,4) (hd0,4) quit Quite a bit shorter than in 9.3, but it has worked flawlessly now through a change (silent to verbose option) and 2 kernel updates (which shouldn't mess with grub but used to). So, at least RC1's bootloader looks very promising. -- Joe Morris Registered Linux user 231871 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org