Hi all

I run a dual boot system with XP and Suse 10.0 on my Compaq Presario R3000 laptop, and it all worked fine for many months. However, I downloaded (in windows) a trial version of Acronis Disc Doctor and this came with an OS boot loader program... this was were my problems started.

The Acronis boot loader replaced Grub, worked for two days and then became corrupted and I couldn't boot my laptop at all. It also refused to boot from any CD despite this being set from Bios! To get into my laptop I eventually removed the hard drive, then it would boot from CD. I booted it from CD, quickly put the Hard drive back in (whilst it was booting) managed to get into windows and then uninstalled the Acronis program from my laptop.

On reboot, acronis disappeared (hurrah!) and Windows booted succesfully, although without the option of booting my Suse linux. I then rebooted from the Suse DVD (this is a long story isn't it - sorry!), used one of the options to check the linux installation and reloaded GRUB. So, I then rebooted again and Grub allowed Windows to boot, but on restarting and trying the Linux option, I just got a blank screen and nothing else. I can't get linux to reboot.

I have run several options from the Suse DVD (using GUI only as I'm a newbie still) and have checked the installation, and have even got it to boot as one of the repair options. Linux then worked fine (so it is still there) although it could no longer mount or recognise my windows files. I opened yast and checked a few things but didn't really know what to check as all of the stuff I know about was fine.

So, where do I go from here folks? I suspect something is corrupted somewhere, but don't know how to proceed. I suspect the partition system is messed up somehow.

I'm reluctant to start again and reinstall Suse as I have spent weeks trying to get it all set up as I want, using my wireless network, use the mouse correctly, etc etc. I really dont want to lose these settings, although there is no data on my Suse partitions that I need.

Sorry for rambling on, but I have tried to give as much detail as possible. Any suggestions welcome, but please keep questions simple as I'm still quite new to linux commands.

Thanks for listening.

Oh one other thing. The 'safe mode' Linux option will boot up from Grub, but this is only a text based Linux and although I can log on... I don't then know what to do!

Ok more info.....

I have booted again in Fail safe mode and then logged on and typed in: init 5

The full graphical Suse then loads correctly AND it recognises my windows files (although my internet connection didn't work)

I used this command before with another problem after a suggestion from this forum, and this helped someone understand what was going on. It doesn't help me much though!!!

Could you post your menu.lst, can get this info when you're in the safe mode by typing cat /boot/grub/menu.lst I've think I've seen some distros have it called grub.conf also, not sure about suse. With that it would also be good to know what drives suse is supposed to be on.

Hi there - thanks for taking an interest

This is what I got (roughly...):


#Don't change this comment - yast2 identities: original name: windows###
title windows
chainloader (hd0,0)+1

#Don't change this comment - yast2 identities: original name: linux###
title Suse Linux 10.0
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinux root=/dev/hda3 vga=0x317 selinux=0
resume=/dev/hda2
splash=silent showopts
initrd /boot/initrd

#Don't change this comment - yast2 identities: original name: Suse linux 10.0###
title failsafe --Suse Linux 10.0
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinux root=/dev/hda3 vga=normal showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off
noresume selinux=0 nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3
initrd /boot/initrd


Does this make any sense??

So it looks like you have to entries for booting suse, with different options. But only one has the title line, so the other doesn't show up as an option. Try editing the file to add a line saying:

title [whatever you want]

This should give a new option when you boot, see what happens trying to boot that one.

Try editing /boot/grub/menu.lst to this -
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE LINUX 10.0
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 vga=0x31a selinux=0 resume=/dev/hda2 splash=silent showopts
initrd /boot/initrd

Same info as you already have but better formatted.

I'm a NEWBIE, so please be gentle...

I have the same issue, except I attempted to repair GRUB with the SUSE Setup CD1, and all went well; however, when GRUB boots, I only have 2 options to boot from:

1) Windows
2) Floppy

I tried repair/reloading GRUB numerous times using the CD, but I still only have those 2 options!

I attempted to boot to the Linux partition through the Setup CD, and I was able to successfully boot into a shell, but I was unable to get the GUI to load (*startx or *init 5) because I rolled back the kernel because my wireless card stopped working when I upgraded (I'm assuming my NVIDIA driver was upgraded as well, which is now giving me the error).

I tried accessing my menu.lst file through the shell, but I don't know how to edit it while using the terminal. I know I need to update it, but is there a way I can do that without using the GUI? I looked around but I couldn't find anything. Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

You will have to use a text editor to edit your menu.lst file. Dunno which are installed by default but try nano or vi (as root) ie. nano /boot/grub/menu.lst - for nano just edit text then hit Ctrl-x, y, enter - vi I dont know much about. If you still have problems then try and post your menu.list, which partition suse is installed to and contents of /boot directory.