Grub still doesn't boot linux.

So the code above is the menu.lst,
this is what it generates when I select it from the boot menu:
I noticed that the 'boot only in terminal' radio was selected in the vmlinuz properties dialog, so I unchecked it but something's not playing ball.

It's not the compiled file vmlinuz-2.22. etc.etc. I'm meant to run is it?

Please, someone point out something blindingly obvious I've missed ...

Ok cubed, I think I see another error in your kernel line. I've noticed that you have changed the drive designation in the ' =ide-scsi ' line from hdd to hdb and now to hda. Is this for your cdrom drive? This may or may not have an effect on your being able to boot linux. Cdrom is usually hdc.

I don't know what this means:'boot only in terminal'. I don't have grub.

As for vmlinuz, it is usually a symbolic link to the compressed kernel. If your compressed kernel is called ' vmlinuz-2.22 ', then the link will point to it.

try this exact line (cut and paste!):















if your windows partition is the 1st partition on the first drive, and your kernel is on the very next partition (right after windows), then the above should make it work.











this is my assumption:





PARTITIONS:











-hda1 is the windows partition - also known as hd0,0











-hda2 thru hda4 are not used in the default install process











-hda5 is the linux partition that shows up as: '/' (true root) -which contains your kernel - also known as hd0,4











-hdc is actually your cd-rom drive, and describes its device type to the kernel so that it will mount correctly when linux starts up, so it must remain hdc

















-since your kernel is on the next partition after your windows partition, you must find it on that partition... by default, when you partition your disks using most any linux tool, your first linux partition will be named hda5 (which is hd0,4 in the first part of the statement), and so this is where i assume your kernel to be.











-this partition is also where 'root' should point to, as in the line 'root=/dev/hda5', ok? ok.











-the hdc part is just an arguement that sets up things for you, but if you specify a different drive (like hda or hdd) you can cause the bootloader to see that drive as a device that it is not, and can mess up the 'finding' of the kernel!











- and, yes, the vmlinuz is a symbolic link to your actual kernel, and it is default on EVERY linux configuration i know or have seen. so if you can see it in your file manager, then that is the arguement you NEED to use. that way there's no guesswork, or wrong filename involved!











- hope this FINALLY gets it up and running for you.





- drop us a post to let us know how it went...















(btw, you have been a great help linuxcool, ok if i drop u an email - kinda low on friends, they seem to have all gone astray and left home on me... ho hum)











--------





Later





-------





Rabid











"why will we take over the world? cuz we're a community, not a company. and so far as i know, communities are what have determine the course of history, economy, and (dare i say) ... companies." :smash:





and u can quote me on that

OK I'll try that.
Hey, you guys rock - do you do this for every dumb ass novice?
Rabidundead, for a succint read on the future role of communities, take a look at http://www.cluetrain.com.
thanks.

I looked at the IDE device tool and System info in Gnome (certainly could find anything similar in the other OS!) and it tells me this:
(the floppy had grub and the cdrom has a cd mounted)

So that makes the cdrom hdb, right?
Still though, this won't boot linux:
Neither will:
Is everyone tearing their hair out yet? Mine's gone.

I didn't install LILO at all in the installation apart from in the floppy, because I was taking you literally here:

So I checked 'do not install LILO'. I don't need it apart from on the boot floppy, right?
Just making sure.

OK, here we go again. Try this:

title=Red Hat Linux
root=(hd0,1)
kernel=/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 hdb=ide-scsi


Before you try this out, get into linux using your boot disk and look in the /boot directory and see if can find a file called ' vmlinuz '. If it's there, then go ahead a try the code above. If not, then look for other files that might be called ' vmlinuz-2.2.13 '. Not necessarily those numbers. If you find more than one, the smaller sized one is probably the one you need. So, edit the code above and add the numbers to vmlinuz.

The vmlinuz file is there, but that last one didn't work.

I think it's time to take stock.

I've come a long way already and I know this system will (probably) boot more than one partition. At this stage, there are still strange things - I can't write grub to the mbr using

And of course not being able to boot linux from the floppy using grub.

But hang on, I can't get this system to talk across partitions at all! And that's odd.
I gonna go back and talk to IBM Japan about specs and stuff first then I'll try a few things and go from there but for the time being I think we should let this thread sleep.

My sought purpose for installing linux was to be a more stable platform to develop java apps. I have a more stable platform now, I just have to use a boot floppy to access it.

For the time being, I can live with that.

Thanks everyone, I'll be back, but not here ...

This was what it looked like.

Simpler than I (we?) expected.
Apparently, grub was looking in the floppy itself for the vmlinuz file with the above args. (presumably, it's assuming that /boot/vmlinuz is on the currently mounted drive (fd0) which of course it's not). And the symlink for vmlinuz points to the root directory /, so it seems /boot/vmlinuz is not necessary, only /vmilinuz.

Either way a result is a result, thanks to rabidundead and linuxcool.

Something that I wish I'd read or tried earlier was the really useful <tab> searching feature with grub in the edit mode. To get a list of args, you can type root=/<tab> and it will give you the possible options. When I tried this first I got a list of files that closely resembled ... the contents of the floppy. So that was why I got the file not found error.

I take back unreservedly what I said about Windows ME not sharing. It will share but fooling it is just trickier than Win 9x.

I'll stand by 100% what I said about being a novice.
Now this thread can sleep.

That's great that you got it going.

Is that line kernel (0,1)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 hdb=ide-scsi
supposed to be like that or is it supposed to look like this kernel (hd0,1)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 hdb=ide-scsi?

About how grub was interpreting our previous lines, I think I know what it was doing. It was trying to find a directory called ' /boot ' on the ' boot ' partition, but there is no such directory there. It is on the ' root ' partition. That's why it couldn't find the kernel. That kernel entry is like a path list to the kernel. It's saying start in the ' boot ' partition and then find the ' /boot ' directory then locate ' /vmlinuz '. I'm talking about our previous line of code kernel (hd0,1)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 hdb=ide-scsi. Boy! I wish I knew that's what is was doing. Well, anyway you got it going, and that's what counts. Good luck and glad I could be of some help.

dang that was almost as bad as a flame war! not that you were a pain at all



anyway, way to go figuring the last part out yourself!



that's the first sign your gonna be a capable ally in the days to come.



(classic example of community, this was!)



again, and as linuxcool said, glad to help... see ya 'round!



Later

-------

Rabid



"they came, they saw, they conquered.... one day, one house, one mind at a time. And then when all the clouds had settled, they had built an empire that would not fall.. for it was the one the people had wanted, but had never known... until now." :smash:

Yeah, well sorry I was a pain. Sorry. Novices like me do that.

The line was kernel (hd0,1)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 hdb=ide-scsi.

One of the first posts here referred to an "unofficial real DOS-mode patch for WinME". I searched and downloaded the file (mfddme13.zip). It basically patches a few system files and tells you where to copy them to. Windows ME now behaves like other versions and, most importantly for me, now works with Lilo and Mandrake 8. I'd recommend this solution to other ME users who have struggled dual booting.

Hi!

I have a Sony Vaio laptop which came preinstalled with Win ME (eeks!!!). I have tried RHat 7.1 AND Mandrake 8.0, and Dualboot works!!

The only thing(s) that I did were:

a. Install Linux (Me is already installed). My HD has a partition already, so I didnt have to bother abt it.
b. make linux the default for booting.
c. REINSTALL Win ME.

I know this sounds a little crazy, but it works for me.

Cheers,

AMD

Oooh. That's interesting.

I reckon that's a solution if you're computers fresh from the box and it came with 2 partitions (one of the systems - a Sharp Moebius desktop (ugly thing) I installed Redhat 7 onto also has this) but usually the recovery CD (no software CD because it's them) rewrites the partitions to factory setting which will overwrite linux when you re-install Windows ME on a single partitioned oem.