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Can't get past GRUB Screen after new install of Fedora 15

I have been trying to install Fedora 15 on a desktop. I have used the Live CD, I have created a bootable usb, and have used the larger install DVD. In each case I have been able to install Fedora 15 successfully and then get prompted to restart my computer. When I restart it only opens up a GRUB command prompt.

The exact message on the screen is:

GNU GRUB version 0.97-71.fc15 (638k lower / 1047488k upper memory)

[Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible completions of a device/filename.]

grub>

I am completely new at this and have not been able to find anything in the forums or on the web that describes the same problem. I don't have any other OS installed on the computer and it is a brand new install of Fedora 15.

Anyone have any ideas?

How many had disks do you have ?.
If you have just one enter this command and post the output - if two do it for hd1 as well

Code:

geometry (hd0)

When I type in the code at the GRUB screen it just returns "Error 21: selected disk does not exist"

I wasn't sure if you meant for me to do it at the GRUB screen or in a terminal so I used the live cd to open up the terminal. I typed the same code and it returned "bash: syntax error near unexpected token `hd1'"

Sorry, I meant from the grub menu - odd this is the second like this just recently.
From the liveCD, go here, do as it says and post the RESULTS.txt.

Let's see what's on that machine.

This is the RESULTS.txt:

Code:

                  Boot Info Script 0.60    from 17 May 2011





============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================



 => Syslinux MBR (4.04 and higher) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.

 => Grub Legacy0.97-71.fc15 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks at 

    sector 543338 on boot drive #1 for the stage2 file.  A stage2 file is at 

    this location on /dev/sdb.  Stage2 looks on partition #1 for 

    /grub/grub.conf..



sda1: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:      vfat

    Boot sector type:  SYSLINUX 4.04 2011-04-18

    Boot sector info:  Syslinux looks at sector 1194960 of /dev/sda1 for its 

                      second stage. SYSLINUX is installed in the syslinux 

                      directory. No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.

    Operating System:  

    Boot files:        



sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:      ext4

    Boot sector type:  -

    Boot sector info:  

    Operating System:  

    Boot files:        /grub/menu.lst /grub/grub.conf



sdb2: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:      LVM2_member

    Boot sector type:  -

    Boot sector info:  



vg_fedorapc-lv_swap': __________________________________________________________



    File system:      

    Boot sector type:  Unknown

    Boot sector info:  

    Mounting failed:  mount: unknown filesystem type ''



vg_fedorapc-lv_home': __________________________________________________________



    File system:      

    Boot sector type:  Unknown

    Boot sector info:  

    Mounting failed:  mount: unknown filesystem type ''

mount: unknown filesystem type ''



vg_fedorapc-lv_root': __________________________________________________________



    File system:      

    Boot sector type:  Unknown

    Boot sector info:  

    Mounting failed:  mount: unknown filesystem type ''

mount: unknown filesystem type ''

mount: unknown filesystem type ''



============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================



Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________



Disk /dev/sda: 1007 MB, 1007681536 bytes

32 heads, 39 sectors/track, 1577 cylinders, total 1968128 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes



Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System



/dev/sda1    *            32    1,968,127    1,968,096  b W95 FAT32





Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________



Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes



Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System



/dev/sdb1    *          2,048    1,026,047    1,024,000  83 Linux

/dev/sdb2          1,026,048  312,580,095  311,554,048  8e Linux LVM





"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________



Device          UUID                                  TYPE      LABEL



/dev/loop0                                              squashfs  

/dev/loop1                                              DM_snapshot_cow 

/dev/loop2                                              squashfs  

/dev/loop3      586414e3-e703-4474-8338-4a823b4184ef  ext4      _Fedora-15-x86_6

/dev/loop4                                              DM_snapshot_cow 

/dev/mapper/live-osimg-min 586414e3-e703-4474-8338-4a823b4184ef  ext4      _Fedora-15-x86_6

/dev/mapper/live-rw 586414e3-e703-4474-8338-4a823b4184ef  ext4      _Fedora-15-x86_6

/dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_home b1a853be-60fb-498d-8b87-ddea0a5fd10c  ext4      

/dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_root 6e3ee1eb-d40f-4c7e-a1c8-7f5413469432  ext4      

/dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_swap cddfc558-15c2-4195-bc75-41413be0cae2  swap      

/dev/sda1        961B-8C2A                              vfat      SEAL

/dev/sdb1        1198c524-6851-4c76-9679-114b4004e456  ext4      

/dev/sdb2        7bpuu1-DAnR-I6En-F3PF-d9qr-vzGC-76iDUN LVM2_member 



========================= "ls -R /dev/mapper/" output: =========================



/dev/mapper:

control

live-osimg-min

live-rw

vg_fedorapc-lv_home

vg_fedorapc-lv_root

vg_fedorapc-lv_swap



================================ Mount points: =================================



Device          Mount_Point              Type      Options



/dev/mapper/live-rw /home                    ext4      (rw,noatime,seclabel,barrier=1,data=ordered)

/dev/mapper/live-rw /                        ext4      (rw,noatime,seclabel,barrier=1,data=ordered)

/dev/sda1        /mnt/live                vfat      (ro,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)

/dev/sda1        /run/initramfs/live      vfat      (ro,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)





============================= sdb1/grub/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/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_root

#          initrd /initrd-[generic-]version.img

#boot=/dev/sda

default=0

timeout=0

splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

hiddenmenu

title Fedora (2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.x86_64)

        root (hd0,0)

        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_fedorapc/lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_fedorapc/lv_swap rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYTABLE=us rhgb quiet

        initrd /initramfs-2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.x86_64.img

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



=================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================



          GiB - GB            File                                Fragment(s)



  0.259081841 = 0.278187008    grub/grub.conf                                1

  0.259081841 = 0.278187008    grub/menu.lst                                  1

  0.259199142 = 0.278312960    grub/stage2                                    1

  0.032217979 = 0.034593792    initramfs-2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.x86_64.img      2

  0.009259224 = 0.009942016    initrd-plymouth.img                            1

  0.016299248 = 0.017501184    vmlinuz-2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.x86_64            1



======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================



Unknown BootLoader on vg_fedorapc-lv_swap'





Unknown BootLoader on vg_fedorapc-lv_home'





Unknown BootLoader on vg_fedorapc-lv_root'







=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================



boot_info_script.sh: line 2457: cd: /run/initramfs/live

/mnt/live/: No such file or directory

  One or more specified logical volume(s) not found.

  One or more specified logical volume(s) not found.

  One or more specified logical volume(s) not found.

hexdump: /dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_swap': No such file or directory

hexdump: stdin: Bad file descriptor.

hexdump: /dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_swap': No such file or directory

hexdump: /dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_swap': Bad file descriptor

  One or more specified logical volume(s) not found.

  One or more specified logical volume(s) not found.

  One or more specified logical volume(s) not found.

hexdump: /dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_home': No such file or directory

hexdump: stdin: Bad file descriptor.

hexdump: /dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_home': No such file or directory

hexdump: /dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_home': Bad file descriptor

  One or more specified logical volume(s) not found.

  One or more specified logical volume(s) not found.

  One or more specified logical volume(s) not found.

hexdump: /dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_root': No such file or directory

hexdump: stdin: Bad file descriptor.

hexdump: /dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_root': No such file or directory

hexdump: /dev/mapper/vg_fedorapc-lv_root': Bad file descriptor

mdadm: No arrays found in config file or automatically

You have a 1GB flash drive shown as sda with syslinux as the bootloader. You have a 160GB hard drive with Fedora installed with Grub in its mbr looking for boot files on sdb1. Your Fedora entry is pointing to (hd0,0) which is sda1. Are you getting this error when you set the 160GB drive to first boot priority in the BIOS?

If that's the case, you should be able to boot by changing your grub.conf entry to root (hd1,0).
Use the Fedora CD, boot it, log in as root user, open a terminal and mount sdb1 so that you can access the grub.conf file on your hard drive to make the change.

I assume that is a liveUSB - normally the system would be booted without it.

@lilseal18, boot the system as normal, at the grub menu, enter "geometry (hd" (no quotes, nothing else) and hit the <Tab> key.
Post the full response here.
BTW, did you use a 0 (zero) in the geometry command previously ?.

@syg00 when I type in "geometry (hd" and hit the <TAB> key it just creates another command line in GRUB with "geometry (hd" still in it. When I press the <ENTER> key it returns "Error 21: selected disk does not exist" which is the same error message when I tried it before with the (hd0). To your next question I did use the zero character and not the letter o when I had tried it before (I did it again just to make sure).

So what does the error 21 mean exactly? I am interpreting that as saying that GRUB doesn't even see my hard drive. Or am I just reading it the complete wrong way?

@yancek I haven't tried to edit the grub.conf file yet. Maybe I'll give it a try next...

@yancek I changed the grub.conf entry to hd(1,0) and rebooted. I changed the boot priority back to the 160G hard drive in the BIOS and it still took me to the GRUB command prompt. Just to clarify, the 1G usb drive has the live install on it.

I'm presuming the USB boots the same as the liveCD. When you see the "Default boot in 10 seconds" message, hit one of the arrow keys. It'll give you a boot menu - choose the last one "Boot from local drive".
Once that comes up, open a terminal and try the following (you'll need your root password)

Code:

su -c grub

geometry (hd0)

quit

Yes the USB boots the same as the live CD. When I tried to boot from local disk I end up getting a message that says:

Quote:

PXE-EC8: !PXE structure was not found in UNDI driver code sement.
PXE-M0F: Eiting PXE ROM.

Boot failed: please change disks and press a key to continue.

Once I got this message I booted from the live CD, opened up a terminal and executed the code you listed(geometry (hd0)). It returned:

Quote:

drive 0x80: C/H/S = 1577/32/39, The number of sectors = 1968128, /dev/sda
Partition num: 0, Filesystem type is fat, partition type 0xb

I figured that this was information on the 1GB USB drive so I also tried geometry (hd1) and it gave me:

Quote:

drive 0x81: C/H/S = 19457/255/63, The number of sectors = 312581808, /dev/sdb
Partition num: 0, Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
Partition num: 1, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x8e

Some points to clarify:

You do have a 64-bit computer?
You booted the flash drive with the installation CD on it. You selected to install Fedora. The installation completed and you got a message on screeen indicating so and instructing you to reboot. You re-booted, changed the BIOS to set your 160GB drive to first boot priority and removed the USB drive. Upon reboot, you get only the grub prompt. Correct?

The output from the (hd*) commands suggested by syg00 are what would be expected. Don't know what the first message means.

I don't see anything really wrong with the bootinfo script output. You have the correct boot files and you have Grub in the mbr of sdb.

Did you get the error message from your first post when you tried to boot with the 160GB drive set to first boot priority?

Have you tried reinstalling Grub from the flash to the hard drive?

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek (Post 4476109)

Some points to clarify:

You do have a 64-bit computer?

Yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek (Post 4476109)

You booted the flash drive with the installation CD on it. You selected to install Fedora. The installation completed and you got a message on screeen indicating so and instructing you to reboot. You re-booted, changed the BIOS to set your 160GB drive to first boot priority and removed the USB drive. Upon reboot, you get only the grub prompt. Correct?

This is correct. I actually have tried installing it with the USB, an actual installation CD (after the USB failed) and the larger DVD installation. After each installation and reboot I was brought to the GRUB screen. It makes me pretty confident that it is not a problem with the installation media and it is something that I am doing or did during my setup. Each time I have tried to do a completely new install in order to overwrite any mistakes I may have made during a previous install. So far, every time has yielded the same result of going straight to the GRUB screen when using the hard drive as my first boot priority.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek (Post 4476109)

The output from the (hd*) commands suggested by syg00 are what would be expected. Don't know what the first message means.

I don't see anything really wrong with the bootinfo script output. You have the correct boot files and you have Grub in the mbr of sdb.

Did you get the error message from your first post when you tried to boot with the 160GB drive set to first boot priority?

Yes

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek (Post 4476109)

Have you tried reinstalling Grub from the flash to the hard drive?

I haven't tried that yet. I will try to figure out how to do that and then give it a go when I get home later tonight. Thanks for the feedback.

It's starting to look like you have a BIOS problem - esecially that PXE message. I have a similar situation on an old laptop. I simply boot that from a floppy as it doesn't boot from USB (I said it was old .... :p )
I don't understand why you can't then boot into the hard disk like I do - although I constructed the grub from scratch. You could do a chroot into that system (from the USB command line) but you would have to ensure the LVM environment is in place first. Once booted, Linux ignores the BIOS, so you will (er, should) be o.k.

I note that what you have on your hard drive is the first beta release of Fedora 15. Your problem may, but is not likely to, be caused by installing an old beta system. Have you tried downloading a current release? (The Fedora 16 beta should be available early next month if you want to us a beta release, but Fedora 15 has been in production for almost six months now. FYI: Fedora release are normally supported for about a year, with new releases made about every six months.)

If you do reinstall, consider doing your own partitioning without using the logical volume system. The additional complication of LVM is seldom worth it unless you're running a large, multi-user system, or a web server with RAID sets. Having LV overhead on a single drive system is, in my opinion, senseless.

Oh, the PIX boot message is just your BIOS telling you that your hard drive has no MBR, so it was attempting a network boot. I suspect that one of your problems is that you failed to let GRUB (or anaconda) overwrite the MBR of your hard drive. (Or, your BIOS may have "virus protection" turned on which often prevents changing the drive's MBR.)