GRUB issues
 

I installed Libranet 2.7 a few nights ago, then uninstalled it in a very sloppy fashion. More like.. formatting the drive it was on. However, GRUB wasn't removed. This caused my standard windows boot to stop working, returning an error from GRUB.. stage 1.5 Error 17, I believe.

So, I put Libranet back on in hopes that having Linux on the drive would solve my issues, but when I try to boot without the boot disk I created in setup, it still gives the the GRUB error.

Does anyone have any idea what this error is, and how I can get rid of it so my computer will boot without the Linux floppy/Windows 2000 CD?

I'd greatly appreciate it.

Welcome to LQ.

Just boot with your windows rescue cd and reinstall the windows bootloader.

Well, I did that. Twice. To both of my drives.

Another downside is that I don't have a rescue cd. Only the installation cd with the repair console. However, even with I fix the mbr and run fixboot, the grub error comes up.

Am I missing the place where I reinstall the windows bootloader? If so, could you point me in the right direction?

Take a look at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;171611

If you can't fix windows, you'll need to do it with grub. That means editing /boot/grub/device.map and menu.lst. And also /etc/grub.conf. First, go to /etc/fstab to be certain of the location of your windows and linux boot partitions. Second, remember that the naming style in grub is different. Instead of hda5 or hdc2 grub says 0,4 and 2,1. ie. It starts counting at 0. Last, edit the files I listed and make sure all the partition references are correct. Add a line for windows if necessary. That should access windows. At least it worked for me in the past.

I believe I'll try that, misophist. However, seeing as this is around my 3rd day as a linux user, I may need some in depth instruction as to how I would go about editing those 2 files, and other misc. stuff.

Could you, or someone else possibly provide this info? It would be appreciated.

Small problem.. That's for lilo, and I use grub. Do those instructions apply to both booters?

In the long run, it's better to do file editing in a dedicated editor. There's a hundred of them: vi, vim, ed, joe, pico, emacs, etc. For now you can use any simple text editop like kedit or gedit. First (and always) save a copy of the file you're going to edit in case something goes wrong. Next, use the editor to change what needs to be changed (You'll have to do this as root.) I usually cat the file first, to see if it's necessary. This is a working grub.conf

root (hd0,1)
install --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/stage1 d (hd0) /boot/grub/stage2 0x8000 (hd0,1)/boot/grub/menu.lst
quit


color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message
timeout 8

title linux
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb2 vga=0x31a hdc=ide-scsi hdclun=0 splash=silent showopts
initrd (hd0,1)/boot/initrd

Here is menu.lst

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/vmlinuz.shipped root=/dev/hdb2 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off vga=normal nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 3
initrd (hd0,1)/boot/initrd.shipped

device.map is a no brainer.

I'm sorry that windows isn't listed. It's not installed right now. If you really need it, post and I'll set it up. BTW, Libranet's a good distro but 2.8 is notably better. That's what I run games on.