[opensuse] Re:[openSUSE] BIOS/GRUB Problem
At 16:02:58 on Saturday Saturday 23 October 2010, Felix Miata
wrote:
On 2010/10/23 15:52 (GMT+0200) Stan Goodman composed:
If BIOS confusion is the reason for the problem, that would mean that the BIOS chip has stored somewhere the assumed order and location of the HDs. I have to wonder if there is not a way to delete that memory, perhaps by removing a jumper on the MB. I don't find any reference to such a jumper in the MB documentation (this is an Intel board, 915GAV -- an older board with a Pentium IV CPU).
When specific instructions for BIOS reset are missing from the manual, all that's usually required is to unplug the power supply, and remove the battery from the motherboard for several minutes or more. Usually in recent years these batteries have been common #2032 disk batteries readily available in stores. Maybe yours is pooping out prematurely. Does its clock keep accurate time when left off a few days at a time?
I might pull the battery and let the machine sit overnight.
I have done that, and gone through the BIOS settup. The result is that I don't get to the GRUB prompt anymore, because the screen goes black after the POST routine. There is no difference when the boot order is set for either HD. Previously, this happened only with one of the HDs. -- Stan Goodman Qiryat Tiv'on Israel -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2010/10/28 06:31 (GMT+0200) Stan Goodman composed:
Felix Miata wrote:
I might pull the battery and let the machine sit overnight.
I have done that, and gone through the BIOS settup. The result is that I don't get to the GRUB prompt anymore, because the screen goes black after the POST routine. There is no difference when the boot order is set for either HD. Previously, this happened only with one of the HDs.
It's quite common for that result from (first) BIOS disk (0) to be incorrectly configured to boot. The BIOS has transferred control to a (first) BIOS disk (0) that has either no boot code, or invalid boot code, or has standard MBR code but no boot flag set on any primary partition on that same HD. What probably happened, and I expected as much based upon your experience, is that the BIOS reset values and the BIOS settings prior to clearing had the Seagate and Hitachi reversed, which is the root of your trouble. Apparently now you have inappropriately configured Grub on MBR of (first) BIOS HD (0), unless you're only getting the black screen after selecting something from the BM menu. I'm assuming, since the thread is a mile long and I can't remember the whole history, that BM isn't working currently. <aside> I had Bob S's 2 PATA/1 SATA system here for several days until this AM. The disagreement among the BIOS, Grub, and the disk drivers for Knoppix, 10.2, 11.0, 11.2, 11.3 & 11.4 were unbelievable. It's no wonder people's systems won't boot after installation to a multi-HD system, particularly when PATA & SATA are both present. http://fm.no-ip.com/Tmp/Linux/Bobs/ contains the partitioning information for 10.2, 11.0, 11.2, 11.3 & 11.4 respectively. He had a perfectly working 11.0 on hdb, with hda set as the first BIOS HD, and the SATA as the #3 BIOS HD. He tried to install 11.0 to the SATA, but the installer put sufficient portions of 11.3 on 11.0's / to irreparably corrupt it. I wound up doing fresh installs of 11.0, 11.2, 11.3 & 11.4M2, preserving intact only 10.2 </aside> I suggest, if the facts above match my memory and both BM is not functional and it is not 11.3's grub prompt you were able to boot from manually in recent week(s), to leave the Hitachi unconnected, ensure the Seagate is connected to the first SATA port, and do a Grub repair, followed by MBR restoration: 1-boot the 11.3 DVD to repair shell prompt 2-grub > find /boot/grub/stage1 # should indicate (hd0,5) > root (hd0,5) > setup (hd0,5) > quit 3-reboot to something that can run DFSee, and start it 4-newmbr 1 5-reboot to Seagate At this point the BM menu should come up, and you should be able to select sda6/11.3 to boot from, whereupon 11.3's grub menu should come up, from which you should be able to get 11.3 booted. If my memory is wrong, please refresh it. I can't tell from ftp://hashkedim.com/pub/DFSWORK.LOG which is Hitachi and which is Seagate. I don't remember if we ever decided which Grub you were successfully using before the BIOS reset. -- "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
On Thursday 28 October 2010 09:34:46 Felix Miata wrote:
On 2010/10/28 06:31 (GMT+0200) Stan Goodman composed:
Felix Miata wrote:
I might pull the battery and let the machine sit overnight.
I have done that, and gone through the BIOS settup. The result is that I don't get to the GRUB prompt anymore, because the screen goes black after the POST routine. There is no difference when the boot order is set for either HD. Previously, this happened only with one of the HDs.
It's quite common for that result from (first) BIOS disk (0) to be incorrectly configured to boot. The BIOS has transferred control to a (first) BIOS disk (0) that has either no boot code, or invalid boot code, or has standard MBR code but no boot flag set on any primary partition on that same HD.
What probably happened, and I expected as much based upon your experience, is that the BIOS reset values and the BIOS settings prior to clearing had the Seagate and Hitachi reversed, which is the root of your trouble. Apparently now you have inappropriately configured Grub on MBR of (first) BIOS HD (0), unless you're only getting the black screen after selecting something from the BM menu. I'm assuming, since the thread is a mile long and I can't remember the whole history, that BM isn't working currently.
<aside> I had Bob S's 2 PATA/1 SATA system here for several days until this AM. The disagreement among the BIOS, Grub, and the disk drivers for Knoppix, 10.2, 11.0, 11.2, 11.3 & 11.4 were unbelievable. It's no wonder people's systems won't boot after installation to a multi-HD system, particularly when PATA & SATA are both present. http://fm.no-ip.com/Tmp/Linux/Bobs/ contains the partitioning information for 10.2, 11.0, 11.2, 11.3 & 11.4 respectively.
He had a perfectly working 11.0 on hdb, with hda set as the first BIOS HD, and the SATA as the #3 BIOS HD. He tried to install 11.0 to the SATA, but the installer put sufficient portions of 11.3 on 11.0's / to irreparably corrupt it. I wound up doing fresh installs of 11.0, 11.2, 11.3 & 11.4M2, preserving intact only 10.2 </aside>
I suggest, if the facts above match my memory and both BM is not functional and it is not 11.3's grub prompt you were able to boot from manually in recent week(s), to leave the Hitachi unconnected, ensure the Seagate is connected to the first SATA port, and do a Grub repair, followed by MBR restoration:
Seagate is hd0/sda/v11.3; Hitachi is hd1. I have been booting through GRUB on hd1. When the machine is turned on, BM does come up, and I can select either OS, and the corresponding herald screen comes up, followed by a complaint of Error 15 (I think, just from memory), with the added note that a file (unnamed) has not been found. Then I can get to either GRUB, the one on hd1 can boot, that on hd0 makes a black screen.
1-boot the 11.3 DVD to repair shell prompt 2-grub
find /boot/grub/stage1 # should indicate (hd0,5) root (hd0,5) setup (hd0,5) quit
3-reboot to something that can run DFSee, and start it 4-newmbr 1 5-reboot to Seagate
I assume that #1 begins with selecting Rescue System. What then?
At this point the BM menu should come up, and you should be able to select sda6/11.3 to boot from, whereupon 11.3's grub menu should come up, from which you should be able to get 11.3 booted. If my memory is wrong, please refresh it. I can't tell from ftp://hashkedim.com/pub/DFSWORK.LOG which is Hitachi and which is Seagate. I don't remember if we ever decided which Grub you were successfully using before the BIOS reset.
See above. -- Stan Goodman Qiryat Tiv'on Israel -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2010/10/28 12:09 (GMT+0200) Stan Goodman composed:
Felix Miata wrote:
Seagate is hd0/sda/v11.3; Hitachi is hd1. I have been booting through GRUB on hd1.
When the machine is turned on, BM does come up, and I can select either OS, and the corresponding herald screen comes up, followed by a complaint of Error 15 (I think, just from memory), with the added note that a file (unnamed) has not been found. Then I can get to either GRUB, the one on hd1 can boot, that on hd0 makes a black screen.
1-boot the 11.3 DVD to repair shell prompt 2-grub
find /boot/grub/stage1 # should indicate (hd0,5) root (hd0,5) setup (hd0,5) quit
3-reboot to something that can run DFSee, and start it 4-newmbr 1 5-reboot to Seagate
I assume that #1 begins with selecting Rescue System. What then?
You should have a root/rescue prompt (#; 1 above). Do 2 above (only, if you performed steps outlined in my 2010/10/28 10:13 (GMT-0400) thread reply; additionally 3-5 if you didn't). I'm going out for a while in about an hour. -- "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
participants (2)
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Felix Miata -
Stan Goodman