Ok... but I would like to know what you're doing. The MS boot loader is in the partition boot sector. All the MS mbr does is pass control to the active boot sector. If you overwrite the MS mbr with GRUB, then all you should need to do is add a "root (hd0,0)" and a "chainloader +1" command to your /boot/grub/menu.lst file (sometimes called grub.conf). (Assuming the first partition holds windows. Adjust the command to your needs)
You probably didn't intend it as such, but your post sounds rather rude. I personally feel that a poster should either post what he's trying to accomplish, or he should expect to be questioned.
#df -k
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
...
/dev/hda1 62193 7591 51391 13% /boot
...
This machine was my first attempt at installing linux. I know the partition is too large. Don't hassle me about it. Some of the output here will be much larger than it needs to be.
# ls -l test.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 65769984 2004-12-07 14:51 test.bin
# ls -lh test.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 63M 2004-12-07 14:51 test.bin
What would you be trying to do with a .bin file anyway? Are you trying to make a boot CD (wild guess)? If so, you will probably want to install the boot loader to the root of that partition (I don't know what else might be entailed).
# file test.bin
test.bin: Linux rev 1.0 ext2 filesystem data
# strings test.bin | head
nAr-
nAt-
vmlinuz-2.6.5-7.111-default
^:A,W:A
message
A(noA
F -A
AF -A
s -A
As -A
# strings test.bin | tail
@0Vj
SUVW
|$ 3
@0Qj
_^][
WVS3
PShhL
;H<r
9X t
tV9^
The output of the full command is way too long to list in a post here. If you need more, ask.
# strings test.bin | wc
649081 1023784 9972270
# od -c test.bin | head
0000000 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0
*
0002000 300 > \0 \0 344 372 \0 \0 213 \f \0 \0 J 325 \0 \0
0002020 230 > \0 \0 001 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0
0002040 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 330 \a \0 \0 353 254 265 A
0002060 356 3 266 A 006 \0 ! \0 S 357 001 \0 001 \0 \0 \0
0002100 $ 001 257 A \0 N 355 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 001 \0 \0 \0
0002120 \0 \0 \0 \0 \v \0 \0 \0 200 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0
0002140 002 \0 \0 \0 001 \0 \0 \0 \t 033 X $ 232 } E 032
0002160 215 T 352 m 032 : 223 x \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0 \0
# od -c test.bin | tail
372710560 026 335 w P 350 323 332 374 377 213 330 203 M 374 377 203
372710600 } 344 \0 t \b 377 u 344 350 355 I 374 377 205 333 |
372710620 \b 213 E 340 213 M 024 211 001 213 303 350 \r 031 374 377
372710640 302 020 \0 j 020 h 320 352 342 w 350 305 030 374 377 203
372710660 } \f \r u \a 270 \r \0 \0 300 353 | 203 e 374 \0
372710700 203 } \f \f | 026 203 } \f \r 177 020 377 u 020 377
372710720 u \f 377 u \b 350 246 024 \0 \0 353 3 377 u 020 377
372710740 u \f 377 u \b 350 < 021 \0 \0 353 # 213 E 354 213
372710760 \0 213 \0 211 E 340 P 350 1 332 374 377 303 213 e 350
372711000
# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 8 64228+ 83 Linux
...
# dmesg | grep -i hda
Kernel command line: root=/dev/hda2 vga=0x317 desktop resume=/dev/hda7 splash=silent
ide0: BM-DMA at 0x1000-0x1007, BIOS settings: hda
MA, hdb
MA
hda: WDC WD1000BB-00CAA0, ATA DISK drive
hda: max request size: 128KiB
hda: 195371568 sectors (100030 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=65535/16/63, UDMA(33)
hda: hda1 hda2 hda3 hda4 < hda5 hda6 hda7 >
....
Yes, I use GRUB. I don't think you need to put lba32 anywhere. Modern systems pick up the geometry automatically.
