I'm a newbie who cannot seem to get Ubuntu Hoary and Fedora Core 3 to coexist peacefully on two different IDE hard drives in the same computer.

After installing Ubuntu on the slave drive and then trying to boot Fedora on the master, Fedora halts during start up with the following message:
"cannot touch /var/lock/subsys/network: read-only file system"

Ubuntu (on the slave drive) boots up fine, however.

When I remove the slave with Ubuntu, Fedora boots up fine.

When I put the slave with Ubuntu back in, I get the same error message when I try to boot Fedora.

I've double-checked the jumper settings for both drives, and they are fine (Fedora on Master, Ubuntu on Slave). Partitioning software also correctly identifies the drives as slave and master.

Any suggestions for getting around the bootup problem with Fedora would be greatly appreciated.

"I'm a newbie who cannot seem to get Ubuntu Hoary and Fedora Core 3 to coexist peacefully on two different IDE hard drives in the same computer."

Check your /etc/fstab files in both Ubuntu and Fedora. You may have mixed the partitions between the two systems.

--------------------------------
Steve Stites

Thanks for your quick response. Any further assistance you or anyone else could offer would be fantastic. Below are my two bootloader files--grub.conf in Fedora and menu.lst in Ubuntu.

## My install method needs some explanation.
Fedora was installed first on the master IDE (by itself, with no slave HDD hooked up)--Fedora worked just fine this way. Then I connected the slave drive. ** BUT ** because I am still a newbie and still a little unsure about placing a bootloader in the MBR (I hosed part of the MBR before on a dual-boot system with Windows XP), I disconnected the master hard drive before running the Ubuntu installation. I believe this forced Ubuntu to place its bootloader in the MBR of the slave drive. My method may sound crazy or paranoid, but I was just looking for a way to keep each distro completely separate from the other--separate bootloaders, no sharing swap space, etc. My motherboard (ASUS P4P800 SE) has a very easy to use pop-up menu that lets me select my boot device from a list, so when I want to run Ubuntu, I simply select the slave drive from the list, and Ubuntu boots fine. However, as I mentioned in my previous post, when I have both drives hooked up and select the master containing Fedora, Fedora halts during its startup routine (Ubuntu still runs fine). It is only when I remove the slave drive with Ubuntu, however, that Fedora will start up fine again.

Any suggestions you or anyone else can offer would be greatly appreciated.


==FEDORA GRUB FILE (/etc/grub.conf)==
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda2
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Fedora Core (2.6.11-1.14_FC3smp)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.14_FC3smp ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.11-1.14_FC3smp.img
title Fedora Core (2.6.11-1.14_FC3)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.14_FC3 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.11-1.14_FC3.img

==UBUNTU BOOT FILE (/boot/menu.list)==
# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 3

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default optons below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specifiv kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
# kopt=root=/dev/hdb1 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery mode) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## nonaltoption boot targets option
## This option controls options to pass to only the
## primary kernel menu item.
## You can have ONLY one nonaltoptions line
# nonaltoptions=quiet splash

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.10-5-386
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-5-386 root=/dev/hdb1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.10-5-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.10-5-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-5-386 root=/dev/hdb1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.10-5-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
savedefault
boot

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

Here are some additional details on the situation:

1) WindowsXP is also installed, but on a SATA drive--so Fedora is on primary IDE master, Ubuntu on primary IDE slave, and Windows XP on SATA (I have dvd players on my secondary IDE).


2) I posted 2 config files in my previous post--one for Fedora (grub.conf) and one for Ubuntu (menu.lst). Since there were a lot of text comments, I will post them again below without all the comments so they are more concise and easier to read.

My bootloader files for Fedora (grub.conf) and Ubuntu (menu.lst):
===FEDORA (on hda master)===
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Fedora Core (2.6.11-1.14_FC3)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.14_FC3 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.11-1.14_FC3.img

===UBUNTU (on hdb slave)===
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.10-5-386
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-5-386 root=/dev/hdb1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.10-5-386
savedefault
boot

3) Device map in each distro:
===FEDORA device.map (on primary IDE hda master)===
(fd0) /dev/fd0
(hd0) /dev/hda
(hd1) /dev/sda
#/dev/sda is pointing to the SATA drive with WinXP

===UBUNTU device.map (on primary IDE hdb slave)===
(hd0) /dev/hdb


As always, any help or advice you can send my way would be terrific.