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Old 04-26-2008, 05:37 AM   #1
Tommo
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Grub error 15

Hi there.

Firstly, here is my set up:

Code:
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1           7       56196   83  Linux
/dev/sda2               8        2000    16008772+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3            2001        3993    16008772+  83  Linux
/dev/sda4            3994        9726    46050322+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5            3994        4243     2008093+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6            4244        9726    44042166   83  Linux
Code:
Device      Mounted      Size
/dev/sda1   /boot        50M
/dev/sda2   /           ~16GB
/dev/sda3   N/A         ~16GB
/dev/sda4   (Extended)
  /dev/sda5 swap        2GB
  /dev/sda6 /home      ~40GB
I just ran the Debian netinstall CD and it seemed to go fine. I specified I wanted /dev/sda1 as my boot partition and, despite grub not working, everything else has seemed to go smoothly.

When I rebooted to try my new installation I received an error 15 grub error. I believe this means it couldn't find something which is specified in my menu.lst file. Is this true?

The thing is, I simply can't get Grub to behave. I booted up into a livecd and issued the following:

Code:
grub> root (hd1,0) 

grub> kernel /
 Possible files are: lost+found grub System.map-2.6.18-6-686 config-2.6.18-6-686 vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-686 initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686 initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686.bak
And I have the following in my menu.lst:
Code:
title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-6-686    
root            (hd1,0)
kernel          /vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-686 root=/dev/sda2 ro
initrd          /initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686
savedefault
To me, that looks correct. (hd1,0) clearly points to /dev/sda1 so I have the 'root (hd1,0)' correct because that is my boot partition. Also, the 'root=/dev/sda2' is correct because that is my root partition.

Can anyone spot any glaring mistakes?
Last edited by Tommo; 04-26-2008 at 05:39 AM.
 
Old 04-26-2008, 05:48 AM   #2
Simon Bridge
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Quote:
When I rebooted to try my new installation I received an error 15 grub error. I believe this means it couldn't find something which is specified in my menu.lst file. Is this true?
GIYF:
http://www.uruk.org/orig-grub/errors.html
Quote:
15 : "Error while parsing number"
This error is returned if GRUB was expecting to read a numbur and encountered bad data.
In other words - you gave an instruction to GRUB and grub says: "nonsence!"

Consider:
sda1 = (hd0,0) = boot
sda2 = (hd0,1) = root

See?

Please edit your profile to include your distro and some idea to your location. This will help us reply properly.
Last edited by Simon Bridge; 04-26-2008 at 05:49 AM.
 
Old 04-26-2008, 05:52 AM   #3
Tommo
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Thanks for the reply.

Code:
grub> root (hd1,0) 

grub> kernel /
 Possible files are: lost+found grub System.map-2.6.18-6-686 config-2.6.18-6-686 vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-686 initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686 initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686.bak
This suggests grub recognizes my boot partition as (hd1,0).
 
Old 04-26-2008, 06:06 AM   #4
syg00
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Is that the only disk ???. What does device.map look like ???.
 
Old 04-26-2008, 06:15 AM   #5
Tommo
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No I have a 120GB IDE drive in there too. But that shouldn't matter. I installed Debian and Grub on my SATA 80GB disk.

From my livecd I did:
Code:
# mkdir /mnt/debian
# mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/debian
# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/debian/boot
# chroot /mnt/debian
# grub

grub> root (hd1,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
grub> kernel /
grub> root (hd1,0)

 Possible files are: lost+found grub System.map-2.6.18-6-686 config-2.6.18-6-686 vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-686 initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686 initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686.bak
So it seems there's no getting away from the fact that grub sees /dev/sda1 as (hd1,0)
 
Old 04-26-2008, 06:31 AM   #6
Simon Bridge
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Quote:
This suggests grub recognizes my boot partition as (hd1,0).
Well lets see shall we?

grub> root (hd <and then press tab>

Show output.

Quote:
Is that the only disk ???
Odd isn't it?

(hd1,0) should be the first partition on the second drive.

But you can get this sort of thing with badly jumpered drives - especially if there is more than one.

Quote:
No I have a 120GB IDE drive in there too. But that shouldn't matter.
Yes it does.

Anyway - the "vmlinuz" file is the kernel.
Last edited by Simon Bridge; 04-26-2008 at 06:34 AM.
 
Old 04-26-2008, 06:45 AM   #7
Tommo
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Possible disks are: hd0 hd1

hd0 = 120gb disk
hd1 = 80gb disk

Code:
grub> root (hd0,0)
 Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

grub> kernel /
 Possible files are: lost+found boot .keep kernel-2.6.21-gentoo-r4
I had gentoo installed on the 120gb disk.

Quote:
Anyway - the "vmlinuz" file is the kernel.
Yes, I am aware of that. But my menu.lst still seems correct to me.
 
Old 04-26-2008, 06:53 AM   #8
Larry Webb
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Check your bios boot order and see if your ide is first in the boot order.
 
Old 04-26-2008, 07:27 AM   #9
Tommo
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80GB SATA boots before 120GB IDE. Which doesn't matter as the ide disk didn't have a boot loader.

I removed the IDE disk to take it out of the equation. Now grub sees my boot partition as (hd0,0) which is to be expected:

Code:
grub> root (hd0,0)
 Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

grub> kernel /
 Possible files are: lost+found grub System.map-2.6.18-6-686 config-2.6.18-6-686 vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-686 initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686 initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686.bak
So I replaced (hd1,0) with (hd0,0) in menu.lst. It currently looks like:
Code:
default         0

timeout         10

# Pretty colours
color cyan/blue white/blue

## ## End Default Options ##

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-6-686 (1)
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-686 root=/dev/sda2 ro
initrd          /initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686
savedefault

title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-6-686 (single-user mode)
root            (hd0,0)
kernel          /vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-686 root=/dev/sda2 ro single
initrd          /initrd.img-2.6.18-6-686
savedefault

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
Problem persists.
 
Old 04-26-2008, 07:43 AM   #10
Larry Webb
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Now I would take out my live cd and reinstall grub to hd0
 
Old 04-26-2008, 08:08 AM   #11
Tommo
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Code:
grub> root (hd0,0)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit


And to think I should've just done that in the first place.
 
Old 04-26-2008, 08:30 AM   #12
Simon Bridge
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Ah - an ide and a sata disk, this is where disk labels can be handy.
Most recent distros use sd notation throughout these days, but some still use hd for IDE and sd for sata etc. Result is that /dev/sda in one distro will be sdb in another.
 
  


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