LinuxQuestions.org
Download your favorite Linux distribution at LQ ISO.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie
User Name
Password
Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question? If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 02-11-2006, 03:38 PM   #1
mylinuxquestionsname
Member
 
Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 37

Rep: Reputation: 15
Ubuntu or SimplyMEPIS help installing, can't get back to xp AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!


I HAD an xp system and was going to try linux and I am now offically screwed. Please help.....

System:
AMD 64 3000+ processor
MSI K8 motherboard with onboard 5.1 surround
dual dell 21" trinitron crt monitors
nvidia 6600 gt graphics card
MSI TV/Tuner card
western digital 200 GB and maxtor 250 Gb set as RAID 0 array
(has been working flawlessly for a year and a half)
windows xp pro
epson 740i printer, 610 scanner
logitech pro 2000 webcam
iomega zip100
imation superdisk
yahoo dsl with actiontec wi-fi router
D-link wifi card and antenna
(I included all the periferrals so if there are any issues with them, someone might take the time to note them.)

I was getting tired/sick of windows after having come from the Apple G3 side of things a few years ago and wanted to try linux. I chose Ubuntu for a number of reasons, although I would also like to try MEPIS, and Gentoo when I get more experience. Anywho....

I downloaded Breezy Badger for AMD64 systems and began the install process. I used the partitioner that was on the ubuntu disk. I did NOT use partition magic or an external program to partition the hardrives before the install.
At first it wouldn't recognize anthing to do with my DHCP connection and I was stalled. But then, I figured out my settings (used mom's computer in the front room)and began anew. after the network connection was ok, then I got a base system install error. It told me it could not find an install cd and there was no recognized mirror. After putzing with the cd drive and verifying the disk.....the install went ahead as normal....then after the reboot I got a Grub install error 25.
I thought that since it might be a problem with my raid setup...I looked into the RAID software setup on the ubuntu installer and set the partition as RAID. After that didn't seem to help I cancelled the install operation and tried to reinstall per the default setting again.
After giving up, I tried to boot back into windows and I just get a black screen and it won't load into XP. So now I essentially have no computer and I'm not even sure I can ever get back into xp to my files. I did make backup copies of everything I thought was important, but there is so much stuff on my computer I would really HATE to have to reinstall xp.
After looking on various forums I determined there might still be a problem with the RAID setup and ubuntu was just having a hard time finding the grub bootloader. I also saw a forum entry that suggested trying to use the MEPIS install disk to correct my problem, so I downloaded SimplyMEPIS 3.4-3 and tried to install that onto my system but during the initial process it hangs at the 40% mark...I press F2 for info...but since I'm a n00b I have no idea what I'm looking at anyway, and now I'm stuck again.
I also typed in "rescue" at the beginning of the ubuntu install and that put it in recue mode, but then it asks me whether I want to use disc 0 part 1,2,3 or disc 1 part 1,2 or 3 and I didn't have a clue what to do, so I chose disc 0, part1 and when that didn't do anything I chose disc 1 part one and then it stopped doing anything.
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME. I looked and looked online for a chatroom, but found none...so I'm resorting to using the forums. Hopefully this will help someone in the future with similar problems.
I am in the process of downloading the LiveCD version of Ubuntu to maybe run the disk and possibly fix whatever is wrong.

If you can help...please post on the forum to help others...but also please send me an email to mytopsecretmailbox@yahoo.com because I'm going to have to read your reply on a borrowed computer and an email is easier to access than trying to remeber which forum I posted to and the forum password and crap.

Thanks for any help you can give.
Danny

Last edited by mylinuxquestionsname; 02-11-2006 at 04:03 PM.
 
Old 02-11-2006, 03:39 PM   #2
mylinuxquestionsname
Member
 
Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 37

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
oops.....didn't realize you could edit message......

Last edited by mylinuxquestionsname; 02-11-2006 at 03:42 PM.
 
Old 02-11-2006, 03:47 PM   #3
zeratul_mdq
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Jul 2005
Location: /home/MarDelPlata_Argentina
Distribution: Debian Sarge 3.1
Posts: 24

Rep: Reputation: 15
You can put the XP cd and then restore your NTLDR by using fixbot. Use a Live distro to install Grub (or fix it). Anyway, I think you've done something, because a black screen seems to be either that you erased your MBR or you set wrongly your active partition.

Bye!
 
Old 02-11-2006, 11:50 PM   #4
mylinuxquestionsname
Member
 
Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 37

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by zeratul_mdq
You can put the XP cd and then restore your NTLDR by using fixbot. Use a Live distro to install Grub (or fix it). Anyway, I think you've done something, because a black screen seems to be either that you erased your MBR or you set wrongly your active partition.

Bye!
Have live cd up and running...now what?.....too new to figure out what to do next.....
I gave up on the install process and used the Live cd of ubuntu. Now I can at least access my computer and open my office documents, but I need to finish the install. Does anyone know how to fix the grub bootloader and error 25 message I get when I try to boot from the harddrive and tell me how to show the computer where to look?

Also, I was poking around in the gpartition thingy and I did NOT see a windows or ntfs partition...does this mean my xp install is wiped out?

Finally, my internet connection doesn't work either.

Last edited by mylinuxquestionsname; 02-12-2006 at 01:47 PM.
 
Old 02-12-2006, 08:06 AM   #5
TigerOC
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Devon, UK
Distribution: Debian Etc/kernel 2.6.18-4K7
Posts: 2,380

Rep: Reputation: 49
Difficult to know which of your many threads on this problem to reply to but will try this one.
The grub error is;

25 : Disk read error
This error is returned if there is a disk read error when trying to probe or read data from a particular disk.

see; http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...roubleshooting

which would indicate to me that your /boot/grub/menu.lst is not correctly configured.
It is possible that due to the raid configuration it has not identified the primary boot device.
The quick obvious solution from a Debian user would be to boot the system using your install cd and at the boot prompt look for the rescue mode (F3) IIRC. If you remember the partition you used then you can also use this parameter. The long and the short is use the install disk to get back into the installation and then have a look at menu.lst and see if has identified the boot partition correctly. Should look like hd(0,0) if it was the first first partition on disk 1. i.e. grub numbers the disk (1st number) from zero and then the partition (second #).
For more info on using and trouble-shooting grub see;

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...roubleshooting
 
Old 02-12-2006, 10:27 AM   #6
mylinuxquestionsname
Member
 
Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 37

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerOC
Difficult to know which of your many threads on this problem to reply to but will try this one.
The grub error is;

25 : Disk read error
This error is returned if there is a disk read error when trying to probe or read data from a particular disk.

see; http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...roubleshooting

which would indicate to me that your /boot/grub/menu.lst is not correctly configured.
It is possible that due to the raid configuration it has not identified the primary boot device.
The quick obvious solution from a Debian user would be to boot the system using your install cd and at the boot prompt look for the rescue mode (F3) IIRC. If you remember the partition you used then you can also use this parameter. The long and the short is use the install disk to get back into the installation and then have a look at menu.lst and see if has identified the boot partition correctly. Should look like hd(0,0) if it was the first first partition on disk 1. i.e. grub numbers the disk (1st number) from zero and then the partition (second #).
For more info on using and trouble-shooting grub see;

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...roubleshooting

Which install cd? the ubuntu or xp? I tried xp already, rescue mode did nothing. The fixboot....fix mbr...fdisk options did ZERO.
The ubuntu rescue mode was also fruitless...it asked me to pick which disc and part number....but after I chose one....it just sits there and does nothing.

And I don't have a clue which partition it "should" be looking at to boot up in. I have 2 hard drives set to raid...and I don't know if the partition for ubuntu is set to raid or is just some separate partition with a number. Where should it look? ...and after I determine that....how do I make it look there?

Thanks for trying to help....
 
Old 02-12-2006, 11:07 AM   #7
TigerOC
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Devon, UK
Distribution: Debian Etc/kernel 2.6.18-4K7
Posts: 2,380

Rep: Reputation: 49
To restore the grub on the mbr read the following document whilst you have the system up with the boot cd; http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/1...-and-boot.html You need to check the lines in menu.lst as I said above.

Last edited by TigerOC; 02-12-2006 at 11:09 AM.
 
Old 02-12-2006, 01:06 PM   #8
mylinuxquestionsname
Member
 
Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 37

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerOC
To restore the grub on the mbr read the following document whilst you have the system up with the boot cd; http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/1...-and-boot.html You need to check the lines in menu.lst as I said above.
I DON"T follow what you are saying. WHICH boot cd?...the Live cd?....and I don't know how to check the lines in menu.1st. I don't even know what that is. Where do I find it?
I don't know which device node my partition is in....I do know its dev/sda and not dev/hda....the rescue mode of the ubuntu disc asked me which node to use as root...but there are 5 choices and none of them seem to allow me to boot into linux.

Also, I need to boot into windows as well...will fixing the grub loader allow me to do that too?

Last edited by mylinuxquestionsname; 02-12-2006 at 01:21 PM.
 
Old 02-12-2006, 02:06 PM   #9
mylinuxquestionsname
Member
 
Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 37

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
ok ...NOTHING on that link page worked for me...so I'm trying to install one more time.....after all of the auto install stuff finishes, it stalls at dhcp, which I enter manually as (my address) 192.168.0.2....mask is 255.255.255.0....hub is 192.168.0.1....and I set no server. After I enter this it takes me to the partition set up, which currently is as follows:

SCSI4 (0,0,0) sda 251 GB maxtor
SCSI5 (0,0,0) sda 200 GB wdc
#1 primary 197GB ext3 /boot (<----should this be ext3 or RAID volume or FAT32... and should it be /root, /usr, or /boot
or what. I think this is where the problem starts.)
#5 logical 3GB swap

Should I configure the LVM or Software RAID here?

Any ideas?

Last edited by mylinuxquestionsname; 02-12-2006 at 02:19 PM.
 
Old 02-12-2006, 02:09 PM   #10
TigerOC
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Devon, UK
Distribution: Debian Etc/kernel 2.6.18-4K7
Posts: 2,380

Rep: Reputation: 49
Quote:
Originally Posted by mylinuxquestionsname
I DON"T follow what you are saying. WHICH boot cd?...the Live cd?....and I don't know how to check the lines in menu.1st. I don't even know what that is. Where do I find it? I don't know which device node my partition is in....I do know its dev/sda and not dev/hda....the rescue mode of the ubuntu disc asked me which node to use as root...but there are 5 choices and none of them seem to allow me to boot into linux. Also, I need to boot into windows as well...will fixing the grub loader allow me to do that too?
1. Live cd
2. There will be lines like (in /boot/grub/menu.lst);
title Debian Testing GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.3-1-k7
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.3-1-k7
root=/dev/hda3 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.3-1-k7
savedefault
boot

as I said above you need to check the hd(0,2) line

3. If you read the link ( http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/1...-and-boot.html) I gave in the previous post it tells you how to find find the partition and then write grub to the mbr.
4. There is a section in the grub menu.lst which shows you how to setup the Windows boot. You need to know the disk and partition number where it is located.

Last edited by TigerOC; 02-12-2006 at 02:15 PM.
 
Old 02-12-2006, 02:12 PM   #11
mylinuxquestionsname
Member
 
Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 37

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerOC
1. Live cd

2. There will be lines like;


title Debian Testing GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.3-1-k7
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.3-1-k7 root=/dev/hda3 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.3-1-k7
savedefault
boot

as I said above you need to check the hd(0,2) line

3. If you read the link ( http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/1...-and-boot.html) I gave in the previous post it tells you how to find find the partition and then write grub to the mbr.
4. There is a section in the grub menu.lst which shows you how to setup the Windows boot. You need to know the disk and partition number where it is located.
I went to the link...(please see above ref.) I followed the instructions and saw none of those lines that you are referring to. I am currently stopped at the process named above...maybe we can work from there.

Thanks for helping btw.
 
Old 02-12-2006, 02:21 PM   #12
TigerOC
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Devon, UK
Distribution: Debian Etc/kernel 2.6.18-4K7
Posts: 2,380

Rep: Reputation: 49
Quote:
Originally Posted by mylinuxquestionsname
#1 primary 197GB ext3 /boot (<----should this be ext3 or RAID volume or FAT32... and should it be /root, /usr, or /boot
or what. I think this is where the problem starts.)
#5 logical 3GB swap

Any ideas?
1 primary is ext3 which is what Linux uses and in grub speak this is hd(0,0) and if you are using raid then you probably have a scsi drive and that will be /dev/sda1.
 
Old 02-12-2006, 02:28 PM   #13
mylinuxquestionsname
Member
 
Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 37

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerOC
1 primary is ext3 which is what Linux uses and in grub speak this is hd(0,0) and if you are using raid then you probably have a scsi drive and that will be /dev/sda1.

So now what?...is this correct....do I go ahead and continue install?.....and if so....this is the way I had it set before....is there anything I can do from here to get it to boot correctly before continuing?
 
Old 02-12-2006, 02:40 PM   #14
TigerOC
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Devon, UK
Distribution: Debian Etc/kernel 2.6.18-4K7
Posts: 2,380

Rep: Reputation: 49
From what you have said the install has been done on /dev/sda1. Its your choice as to whether you continue the install or not. You should be able to boot the partition with the switch root=/dev/sda1 from the boot prompt with either the live cd or the install cd. Its probably worthwhile continuing the install and see if it gets the grub correct.
 
Old 02-13-2006, 01:51 AM   #15
mylinuxquestionsname
Member
 
Registered: Feb 2006
Posts: 37

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerOC
From what you have said the install has been done on /dev/sda1. Its your choice as to whether you continue the install or not. You should be able to boot the partition with the switch root=/dev/sda1 from the boot prompt with either the live cd or the install cd. Its probably worthwhile continuing the install and see if it gets the grub correct.
How do I choose the partition switch root=/dev/sda1 thingy?

Do you mean the splash screen where it says type "server" or "enter" at the startup?

As I stated....this was how I had it set up when I got the error 25....will go try again...brb

ok...I went ahead with install as it was....and it said no root file system was defined.....now what?

Again:
#1 primary 197GB ext3 /boot (<----should this be ext3 or RAID volume or FAT32... and should it be /root, /usr, or /boot
and,
Should I configure the LVM or Software RAID here?

Last edited by mylinuxquestionsname; 02-13-2006 at 02:03 AM.
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Installing SimplyMepis on Hard Drive bosterix62 MEPIS 2 08-02-2005 07:13 PM
How do you get back into Ubuntu if you don't put Grub on the MBR? Marrea Ubuntu 7 07-21-2005 06:27 AM
Back to Ubuntu webwolf70 Ubuntu 5 04-18-2005 05:54 AM
How do I update/upgrade Ubuntu and SimplyMepis? tigerflag Debian 4 01-27-2005 03:51 PM
ubuntu.. fc3.. or back again to m$....? nadroj Linux - General 11 01-25-2005 12:36 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:24 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration