The system is mounting /dev/sda1, which is supposed to be the /boot partition, to /media/_boot. although the correct files all seem to be in /boot. There's no entry in the /etc/fstab file for /dev/sda1.

I've included what I hope will be relevant output below to try to troubleshoot this issue. If I've missed anything just ask.

TIA

[root@PC101 grub]# ls -i /
93841 bin 65281 lib 4283 net 20401 selinux 2 var
59161 boot 11 lost+found 4081 opt 22441 srv
223 dev 28561 media 1 proc 1 sys
108121 etc 4278 misc 91801 root 2 tmp
2 home 120361 mnt 87721 sbin 2 usr

[root@PC101 grub]# ls -i /boot
59165 config-2.6.23.1-42.fc8 59164 System.map-2.6.23.1-42.fc8
59184 config-2.6.26.8-57.fc8 59163 System.map-2.6.26.8-57.fc8
59162 grub 59166 vmlinuz-2.6.23.1-42.fc8
59167 initrd-2.6.23.1-42.fc8.img 59185 vmlinuz-2.6.26.8-57.fc8
59186 initrd-2.6.26.8-57.fc8.img

[root@PC101 grub]# ls -i /media/
2 _boot

[root@PC101 grub]# ls -i /media/_boot/
13 config-2.6.23.1-42.fc8 11 lost+found
2009 grub 12 System.map-2.6.23.1-42.fc8
15 initrd-2.6.23.1-42.fc8.img 14 vmlinuz-2.6.23.1-42.fc8

[root@PC101 grub]# mount
/dev/sda2 on / type ext3 (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/sda8 on /home type ext3 (rw)
/dev/sda7 on /tmp type ext3 (rw)
/dev/sda5 on /var type ext3 (rw)
/dev/sda3 on /usr type ext3 (rw)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
sunrpc on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /media/_boot type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal)

[root@PC101 grub]# cat /etc/fstab
LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
LABEL=/home /home ext3 defaults 1 2
LABEL=/tmp /tmp ext3 defaults 1 2
LABEL=/var /var ext3 defaults 1 2
LABEL=/usr1 /usr ext3 defaults 1 2
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
LABEL=SWAP-sda6 swap swap defaults 0 0

[root@PC101 grub]# cat /etc/mtab
/dev/sda2 / ext3 rw 0 0
proc /proc proc rw 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,gid=5,mode=620 0 0
/dev/sda8 /home ext3 rw 0 0
/dev/sda7 /tmp ext3 rw 0 0
/dev/sda5 /var ext3 rw 0 0
/dev/sda3 /usr ext3 rw 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0
none /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc rw 0 0
sunrpc /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs rpc_pipefs rw 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/_boot ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0

[root@PC101 grub]# dmesg | grep sda1
sda: sda1 sda2 sda3 sda4 < sda5 sda6 sda7 sda8 >
EXT3 FS on sda1, internal journal

[root@PC101 grub]# dmesg | grep boot
weird, boot CPU (#0) not listedby the BIOS.
irq 10: nobody cared (try booting with the "irqpoll" option)

It seems as if something you have done has put the /boot directory on the / partition. Did you restore the system from backup or something?

You basically have two options, live w/ the system as you have it (and forget about the /dev/sda1 partition possibly getting the space back w/ gparted) or return the system to booting from /dev/sda1. Keep in mind though that you may have issues booting if you change things and don't modify grub to point to the correct place after the changes are made.

HTH

Forrest

1 members found this post helpful.

I took all the files in the /boot directory on the root partition (sda2) and copied them into the /boot directory on the /boot partition (sda1) and edited the grub.conf file from root hd(0,1) to root hd(0,0). Apparently I missed something cause now it won't boot and drops me to a grub> prompt.

I fixed it.

At the grub> prompt I typed:

root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.26.8-57.fc8 root=/dev/sda2
initrd /initrd-2.6.26.8-57.fc8.img
setup (hd0)
boot

I then deleted all the files in the /boot folder on the / partition (sda2) and added a line in /etc/fstab to mount sda1 to /boot.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Glad to hear you fixed it.