I installed linux on an external drive, and now I can't boot

WizzKid · 11-09-2004, 07:49 AM

Ok so I have a machine that I am running XP on and I plugged in a usb external drive and attempted to install linux RH9 on the drive everything seemed to go fine with the install. The drive was recognized and all that good stuff. I also installed the grub bootloader.
When the installation was done, I created a boot disk and attempted to first boot back into windows, but I get nothing. I now get an error that says 'GRUB error'. So then I tried to boot into the drive with linux on it using my boot disk but that gives me an error as well (something about the init file and that I should try passing init????). So bottom line, now I can't boot into neither windows nor linux. WHAT DO I DO? I really don't care about the drive with linux on it, but I need to get to my windows drive. How can I uninstall the grub bootloader since that seems to be the problem?
I tried re-installing linux on the external drive again and this time not installing a bootloader... didn't make a difference. I still get the same errors. Please help!!

michaelk · 11-09-2004, 08:12 AM

To remove the bootloader from the MBR, boot the XP install CD and select recovery mode. Then run the fixmbr utility.

The problem with the external drive is due to the fact that the USB modules are not loaded prior to the OS trying to mounting the filesystems. You need to add the USB modules to the initrd (initial ramdisk) or patch the kernel.

There are a few threads on the website discussing this issue.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/history/160834
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...at+usb+install

WizzKid · 11-09-2004, 08:40 AM

thanks for your advice, but how do I add the USB modules to the initrd. do i do this by using the RH cd's rescue mode?

thanx

penguin4 · 11-09-2004, 08:15 PM

wizzkid; try looking at the howto,s first . to comprehend what it is u need to do prior to activating any device before knowing how to. that is my suggested advice.
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/html
open(expand) the sections & subsections pertaining to ur devices for a good insight and remedy.

michaelk · 11-09-2004, 08:37 PM

Actually, I do not know if rescue mode will load the USB drivers.

Boot the rescue mode and hopefully the root partition will be mounted at /mnt/sysimage. If not then try to do it manually.
You will want to execute the following command
chroot /mnt/sysimage.

The follow the steps to build a new initrd.