I won't be very descriptive : I have EXACTLY the same problem as described in this post :
showthread.php?s=&postid=1113185#post1113185

Unfortunately, the given solution was not the good for me.

I have to add that in my case, this is the configuration :
- I installed linux (FC2) on an external USB disk (/dev/sda), the first boot partition (/dev/sda2) is under the 1024th cylinder, followed by the root and the swap partition.
- Following some advices about installing linux on an external disk, I installed my bootloader, GRUB, on the boot partition rather than in the MBR of my internal disk (the aim was not to change anything on it). This way, when I plug the USB drive into any computer able to boot from it, it should boot linux, else, it boots Windows. I've been told things should work like this. But when I do so, everything hangs jsut after the message 'GRUB' is displayed.
I must also add that, during the installation, I got an error message saying something like : "Unable to aligne partition tables, ... This could be caused by another partitioning tool which didn't had the correct BIOS geometry, ... It is safe to ignore this, but doing so could cause (fixable) booting problems". I indeed ignored, and all the installation went without any other problem. The fact is that I made the installation with my external usb hard drive completely blank, making the partitions with disk druid, so I'm pretty sure that this message concerned my internal disk, that's why I ignored it, and that's why I think that it doesn't concern my problem.

If someone could help me, I would be very greetful, I can't even start Linux with the rescue CD's, as it doesn't automatically detect the linux installation on the usb drive. My only solution is to make a bootable usb key (I work on a laptop, so I don't have any floppy drive), but I prefer doing it as a last solution...

Alex

Hi, when you say "everything hangs just after the message 'GRUB' is displayed." do you mean the GRUB prompt ?

It looks like

GRUB >

If so, GRUB is waiting for you to tell it where to boot from,

try the following

GRUB > cat (hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst

This should give you the kernel details,

You can also test the configuration by the following

GRUB > configfile (hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst

if this doesn't work, try

GRUB >configfile (hd0,0)/boot/grub.conf

Good luck

I have a sneaking suspision that this is this bug. It's a fairly long read, but it might shed some light.

Baldrick

Thank you for your answers.

I'm sorry I didn't precise it, as it is the same as with the user I was refering to (I just put a part of the url of his post as I can't post urls, but it's on linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread...).

No, I have GRUB written, then a _ prompt but that is completely unresponsive. Earlier, I was in the same situation, but with the BRUB Geom Error message (but unresponsive), I read some stuff on the web suggesting to install the first partition, even with a recent BIOS, under the 1024th cylinder (because some programs still assume it's this way). I did, and I don't have this error anymore, but rather the one I described, that is just a GRUB message and a none responsive prompt (even Alt-Ctrl-Delete doesn't 'always' work).

Still any ideas ?


Thank you for your help.

OK so I read this extensive bug report, but it is not my problem.

In fact I have no conflicts with the windows boot loader, which remains alone in the MBR of my main internal drive (and I thank god for not having done so !!!). My GRUB bootloader is installed in the LINUX boot partition, on its own drive, which happens to be a USB drive, although it shouldn't affect anything (apart from having some troubles having /dev/sda recognized by Disk Druid during installation). This message with "aligne partitions" error seems to be, as I expected, caused by partition magic, but should not be a problem here, as it concerns my internal drive, with Windows on it.

It might seem a little confused now, but that's exactly how I am now...

Grub boots the computer in two (or three stages) - it sounds to me that it has found the 512 bit file in the boot record of your USB drive, and is looking for the next stage, which is usually in the boot partition.

How are you getting the computer to boot - do you have an option in your Windows boot loader to start the usb if it is connected, or are you making changes to the BIOS settings.

I think I have an article which describes your problem, but at the moment I am trying to get my head round what is actully happening. I will see if I can find the printout and post some more info for you.

tried installing GRUB into the "MBR of your USB drive" ?
Keep in mind when you install GRUB bios boot order is important, for example if GRUB is installed when its the first boot device in bios, it needs to stay that way in order for it to work.
So what you can try do, is get a livecd distro such as Knoppix, mount your Linux partitions on the usb drive if necessary, create a device.map file which looks something like this:
then reinstall GRUB
adjust the paths if necessary
also the "root (hd0,1)" part you enter in grub console refers to your /boot partition, not the Linux root partition. Since you said /dev/sda2 I assume its the second partition on the drive.

I just put the USB drive in the BIOS boot sequence to start before the internal. In the boot options of the BIOS, the USB drive appears exactly as the internal, that is to say, in the Hard Disk category, the name of both of them appear, followed by USB in parentheses for the one and PM for the other. So it is the BIOS which directly looks for booting code in the USB drive. Windows should never have to intervene into this.

As for reinstalling grub, I will try it as soon as I can, although everything looked correct to me (I verified device.map and grub.conf using the rescue CD, I didn't even think of using Knoppix...).