I just installed gentoo Linux on computer. I followed the steps exactly and did alll te steps but when i went to boot my new gentoo system i get an error from grub. On my harddrive, i have win xo installed on the first partition. on the second is the boot. on the third is the swap. on the fourth is the extended partition, and on the fifth is the root.
ie: /dev/hda1 windows xp
/dev/hda2 boot
/dev/hda3 swap
/dev/hda4 extended partition
/dev/hda5 root

my win partition boots fine but when i try to boot gentoo i get this error message:

Booting 'Gentoo Linux'
root (hd0,1)
Filesysem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel (hd0,1) /boot/kernel-2.4.20-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/hda5
error1: File name must be either an absolute path name or blocklist
press any key to continue...

can anyone please help me in solving this error so that i can boot into my gentoo installiation. i cant wait to get it to work.
thanks,

One really neat thing about Grub is that it supports file name completion on the command line using the <tab> key on your keyboard. In this case Grub simply can't find the file you specified as kernel on the command line. When Grub boots and your option is highlighted, press the E key for Edit. Edit the "kernel" line (hit E when that line is highlighted).

Now, you say /dev/hda2 (hd0,1) is mounted at /boot...meaning that /boot actually is the /dev/hda2 partition and under /dev/hda2 there is not /boot directory!

So the first thing I would try is to change the kernel line from:
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/kernel-2.4.20-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/hda5
to
kernel (hd0,1)/kernel-2.4.20-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/hda5.

If that still doesn't work you can use the tab key on your keyboard to find the correct filename - edit the kernel line again and delete the filename and press tab instead:
kernel (hd0,1)/<press tab here>
A list of choices (files in /boot) will be displayed and you can choose the correct one. Then append root=/dev/hda5 to the kernel line, hit enter and then hit B to boot the configuration you just specified.

When you know how it works and you have booted into Gentoo successfully, edit the Grub configuration file /boot/grub/grub.conf and edit it so it matches the configuration you used to succesfully boot. You will have to mount the boot partition first if you followed the Gentoo instructions - mount /boot will do that - otherwise you won't see anything in /boot.


Håkan

ok ial try this. thanks