No boot loader?

For some reason my Red Hat 9 boot loader isn't working. When I try to goot all I get is a blinking cursor. If I use my boot floppy disk then the system boots. How do I get a boot loader back without reinstalling/formatting?

use the command to install boot loader in the consol

install_grub <dev>

where the <dev> is the place to install boot loader
as to /dev/hd0

I got "command not found" trying that. Apparently "install" isn't recognized. Reinstalling from the CDs is probably the easiest solution. :-)

grub-install /dev/hda

Thanks! It's working fine now. A little on the slow side in GUI mode, although with only ~300 MHz that might be expected.

you might want to try window maker, it's fast.

How do I get window maker? What changes would it make and how would I install it?

http://windowmaker.org


http://rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/se...&system=&arch=

Sorry to butt in...

Does this (grub-install...) work on a dual boot? I have GRUB installed on hda2 (/boot) because I have XP installed on hda1. Currently, I can't boot into Linux because I don't have a boot disk, but am wondering about the possibility of sticking dual boot on hda1 without causing problems with my XP setup.

If so, will this command work from the manual recovery console?

If you can chroot into the linux filesystem you can run the command

grub-install /dev/hda

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/l...nstalling.html

You need a grub.conf file that's setup for your partitions and linux kernels, etc..

Here is an example grub.conf


cat /etc/grub.conf
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This mean that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,2)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda5
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
default=0
title Fedora Core (2.4.26)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.26 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb idebus=66 vga=793
initrd /initrd-2.4.26.img
title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.326custom)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.326custom ro root=/dev/hda5 rhgb idebus=66 vga=793
initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.326custom.img
title WinXP
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

Thanks for the Window Maker links. How would it be different than the window manager in Red Hat 9 right now? Does Window Maker use less resources?

I'm sure I have that file in my /boot partition, but I can't get at it because GRUB wasn't installed to my mbr. I chose to install it to the /boot partition which is hda2 to keep it from screwing with my Windows install (I already screwed it up once). I'm assuming I just copy this file to the floppy using the standard copy command(s), and that will allow me to boot from floppy?

Forgive my ignorance, but what is "chroot"? Will I accomplish that by "rescue disking" with CD 1 and choosing the manual option?

What I'd really like to have is one of them nifty menu's for dual booting appear on startup for both XP and Linux. I remember seeing something about "linux.bin" being added to C: in Windows and the boot.ini, but need to do some more research...

FYI. I have a manual for Red Hat 9 but the very part I needed it to be more clear about it was too vague.

Thanks for your help, by the way.

you need a bootloader in the mbr to load linux and xp, it does not matter which one you use, however it makes no since to have more than one bootloader unless your switching drives around. If you are install it to the mbr on both drives. ntloader is nothing to worry about, you don't need it if you install grub or lilo.

wmaker is a light weight window manager. What will change is the window manager.

http://my.awesomenet.net/~phillips/i...lackwmaker.png

I'll look at installing Window Maker. Thanks!