openSUSE installation problem (dual boot with Windows XP)
 

Hi everyone
I’m absolutely new for Linux and already had screwed it up. Here is how I did it. I have DELL Dimension 3100. That is Windows XP Home Edition that initially had 80 GB RAID disk. I split the raid up and got master-slave with 80 Gb for each and then made two logical disks on the second one. I was happy with it for years until today when I decided to install openSUSE Linux as dual boot. For that I got a new IDE Hard Drive, 80 GB. Well that was not actually new but it’s new for my dell configuration. The first surprise was when my XP recognized the new H.D as removable disk. I did some googling and realized people sometimes have similar problems but could not find any fix. Then I decided that is XP’s problem if it cannot properly recognize the drive. So, I inserted my openSUSE dvd and started the installation. It went smoothly! It absolutely saw all hard physical and logical drives! I accepted newly installed HD as storage for Linux. The installation successfully finished, I was happy. Then I rebooted my PC and sadly got: “Welcome to GRUB! Error: no such device: <some_address_or_ID>”. In spite of niceness of that guy, GRUB the result is disastrous. Could you guys please help me? There is no way I can fix it by myself. But I can carefully follow instructions, especially if they are kept simple . And, please forgive me if I sent it to wrong place.
Thank you.

Go to the site below and read the instructions for using the bootinfoscript, download it and run it using the Opensuse CD and post the output (results.txt file) here. It will provide detailed information on your drives/partitions and boot files and someone should be able to assist you. It's looking for a UUID which apparently doesn't exist.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/

thank you so much, yancek. i'll follow the instructions

it took some while for me to do that I was kindly advised by yancek. I appreciate if someone could take a look on the text file though I understand that is a big work. Can someone help me please? here is the file

Boot Info Script 0.61 [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
in partition 98 for .
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows XP
Boot files: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files:

sdb2: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:

sdb5: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP: NTFS
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sdb5 starts
at sector 63.
Operating System:
Boot files:

sdc1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdc2: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Welcome to openSUSE 12.2
"Mantis" - Kernel ().
Boot files: /boot/grub2/grub.cfg /etc/fstab

sdc3: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files:

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders, total 156250000 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 156,232,124 156,232,062 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS


Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9726 cylinders, total 156250000 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdb1 63 75,778,604 75,778,542 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sdb2 75,778,605 156,232,124 80,453,520 f W95 Extended (LBA)
/dev/sdb5 75,778,668 156,232,124 80,453,457 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS


Drive: sdc _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdc: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdc1 2,048 4,208,639 4,206,592 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdc2 4,208,640 46,153,727 41,945,088 83 Linux
/dev/sdc3 46,153,728 156,301,311 110,147,584 83 Linux


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/cdrom iso9660 openSUSE Live CD KDE
/dev/loop0 0c0f1ebf-85b1-474a-b33d-ebd7fb9a0753 ext3
/dev/sda1 CC1CADD91CADBF38 ntfs SYSTEM
/dev/sdb1 F6FC2678FC2632F3 ntfs DATA
/dev/sdb5 7074C41774C3DDCA ntfs PROJECT
/dev/sdc1 a4e4770e-dffe-4d2f-9baa-4bbb74f38b8d swap
/dev/sdc2 b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45 ext4
/dev/sdc3 b827b815-2b6e-437c-a7f5-3463e769edb0 ext4

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sr0 /livecd iso9660 (ro,relatime)


================================ sda1/boot.ini: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

========================== sdc2/boot/grub2/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub2-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
set default="${saved_entry}"

if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
menuentry_id_option=""
fi

export menuentry_id_option

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function load_video {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
else
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod ieee1275_fb
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
fi
}

if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
font=unicode
else
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd2,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd2,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd2,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci2,msdos2 --hint='hd2,msdos2' b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45
fi
font="/usr/share/grub2/unicode.pf2"
fi

if loadfont $font ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd2,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd2,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd2,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci2,msdos2 --hint='hd2,msdos2' b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45
fi
insmod gfxmenu
loadfont ($root)/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/ascii.pf2
loadfont ($root)/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/DejaVuSans10.pf2
loadfont ($root)/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/DejaVuSans12.pf2
loadfont ($root)/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/DejaVuSans-Bold14.pf2
insmod png
set theme=($root)/boot/grub2/themes/openSUSE/theme.txt
export theme
if sleep --interruptible 0 ; then
set timeout=8
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'openSUSE' --class opensuse --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd2,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd2,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd2,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci2,msdos2 --hint='hd2,msdos2' b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 3.4.6-2.10-desktop ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.4.6-2.10-desktop root=UUID=b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45 video=1024x768 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380023A_3KB11ZBT-part1 splash=silent quiet showopts
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd-3.4.6-2.10-desktop
}
submenu 'Advanced options for openSUSE' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45' {
menuentry 'openSUSE, with Linux 3.4.6-2.10-desktop' --class opensuse --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.4.6-2.10-desktop-advanced-b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd2,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd2,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd2,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci2,msdos2 --hint='hd2,msdos2' b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 3.4.6-2.10-desktop ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.4.6-2.10-desktop root=UUID=b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45 video=1024x768 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380023A_3KB11ZBT-part1 splash=silent quiet showopts
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd-3.4.6-2.10-desktop
}
menuentry 'openSUSE, with Linux 3.4.6-2.10-desktop (recovery mode)' --class opensuse --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-3.4.6-2.10-desktop-recovery-b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd2,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd2,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd2,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci2,msdos2 --hint='hd2,msdos2' b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 3.4.6-2.10-desktop ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.4.6-2.10-desktop root=UUID=b0285fd1-c7b9-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45 showopts apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 nomodeset x11failsafe
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd-3.4.6-2.10-desktop
}
}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_ppc_terminfo ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_ppc_terminfo ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry 'Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (on /dev/sda1)' --class windows --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-chain-CC1CADD91CADBF38' {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='hd0,msdos1'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos1 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos1 --hint='hd0,msdos1' CC1CADD91CADBF38
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root CC1CADD91CADBF38
fi
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/90_persistent ###
### END /etc/grub.d/90_persistent ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sdc2/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380023A_3KB11ZBT-part1 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380023A_3KB11ZBT-part2 / ext4 acl,user_xattr 1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380023A_3KB11ZBT-part3 /home ext4 acl,user_xattr 1 2
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs noauto 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sdc2: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

GiB - GB File Fragment(s)

6.442523956 = 6.917607424 boot/grub2/grub.cfg 1
14.143527985 = 15.186497536 boot/grub/stage2 1
2.944156647 = 3.161264128 boot/initrd 1
2.944156647 = 3.161264128 boot/initrd-3.4.6-2.10-desktop 1
14.198879242 = 15.245930496 boot/vmlinuz 1
14.198879242 = 15.245930496 boot/vmlinuz-3.4.6-2.10-desktop 1

======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown BootLoader on sdb2

00000000 53 56 3d 31 30 25 32 65 31 25 32 65 30 25 32 65 |SV=10%2e1%2e0%2e|
00000010 34 25 32 65 31 20 48 54 54 50 2f 31 2e 31 22 20 |4%2e1 HTTP/1.1" |
00000020 33 30 32 20 34 31 37 0a 31 39 32 2e 31 36 38 2e |302 417.192.168.|
00000030 30 2e 34 20 2d 20 2d 20 5b 30 33 2f 4a 75 6c 2f |0.4 - - [03/Jul/|
00000040 32 30 30 37 3a 30 39 3a 33 37 3a 31 39 20 2d 30 |2007:09:37:19 -0|
00000050 35 30 30 5d 20 22 47 45 54 20 2f 65 6d 2f 75 70 |500] "GET /em/up|
00000060 6c 6f 61 64 2f 3f 41 43 54 49 4f 4e 3d 48 45 41 |load/?ACTION=HEA|
00000070 52 54 42 45 41 54 26 45 4d 44 5f 55 52 4c 3d 68 |RTBEAT&EMD_URL=h|
00000080 74 74 70 25 33 61 25 32 66 25 32 66 48 6f 6d 65 |ttp%3a%2f%2fHome|
00000090 53 65 72 76 65 72 25 33 61 31 38 33 32 25 32 66 |Server%3a1832%2f|
000000a0 65 6d 64 25 32 66 6d 61 69 6e 26 48 45 41 52 54 |emd%2fmain&HEART|
000000b0 42 45 41 54 5f 54 49 4d 45 3d 32 30 30 37 2d 30 |BEAT_TIME=2007-0|
000000c0 37 2d 30 33 2b 30 39 25 33 61 33 37 25 33 61 32 |7-03+09%3a37%3a2|
000000d0 30 26 4f 55 54 53 54 41 4e 44 49 4e 47 5f 53 45 |0&OUTSTANDING_SE|
000000e0 56 53 3d 46 41 4c 53 45 26 45 4d 44 5f 55 50 54 |VS=FALSE&EMD_UPT|
000000f0 49 4d 45 3d 32 30 30 37 2d 30 37 2d 30 33 2b 30 |IME=2007-07-03+0|
00000100 37 25 33 61 31 39 25 33 61 34 30 26 4f 4c 44 45 |7%3a19%3a40&OLDE|
00000110 53 54 5f 43 4f 4c 4c 5f 54 49 4d 45 3d 32 30 30 |ST_COLL_TIME=200|
00000120 37 2d 30 37 2d 30 33 2b 30 39 25 33 61 33 37 25 |7-07-03+09%3a37%|
00000130 33 61 32 30 26 58 2d 4f 52 43 4c 2d 45 4d 4f 56 |3a20&X-ORCL-EMOV|
00000140 3d 34 25 32 65 30 25 32 65 30 26 58 2d 4f 52 43 |=4%2e0%2e0&X-ORC|
00000150 4c 2d 45 4d 43 56 3d 31 30 25 32 65 31 25 32 65 |L-EMCV=10%2e1%2e|
00000160 30 25 32 65 34 25 32 65 31 26 58 2d 4f 52 43 4c |0%2e4%2e1&X-ORCL|
00000170 2d 45 4d 53 56 3d 31 30 25 32 65 31 25 32 65 30 |-EMSV=10%2e1%2e0|
00000180 25 32 65 34 25 32 65 31 20 48 54 54 50 2f 31 2e |%2e4%2e1 HTTP/1.|
00000190 31 22 20 32 30 30 20 30 0a 31 39 32 2e 31 36 38 |1" 200 0.192.168|
000001a0 2e 30 2e 34 20 2d 20 2d 20 5b 30 33 2f 4a 75 6c |.0.4 - - [03/Jul|
000001b0 2f 32 30 30 37 3a 30 39 3a 33 37 3a 32 33 00 01 |/2007:09:37:23..|
000001c0 c1 ff 07 fe ff ff 3f 00 00 00 51 9f cb 04 00 00 |......?...Q.....|
000001d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
*
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200


=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

No volume groups found
mdadm: No arrays found in config file or automatically

Which release of Opensuse are you using? The last version I tried was 12.1 which still used the Grub Legacy bootloader. Your bootinfoscript output only has a Grub2 boot file. Was that the default or did you install Grub2 after the initial installation?

If you look at the very top of the bootinfoscript you will see Grub2 is installed in the MBR of sda, that's your first drive, a windows drive. The problem comes when it looks in partition 98 for boot files and of course there is not partition 98. In your initial post you indicate that the error you get is no such device and an ID number, that would be the UUID. It would be helpful if you could check that and get exactly what it is and compare it to the Device UUID Label in the bootinfoscript. The partition UUID for your Opensuse should begin with: b0285.... Reading further in the output, your Opensuse installation appears to be on sdc2. That is where the Grub2 boot files are. You have no boot files in the MBR of sdc, the Opensuse drive.

I haven't used Opensuse with Grub2 so I'm not sure how to reinstall. I did some searching online and all I came up with is the following command which you could use booted from the Opensuse CD, logging in to a terminal as root:

That should install Grub2 on the mbr of sdc. You would then need to set sdc to first boot priority in the BIOS to boot Opensuse. There doesn't seem to be much info on Grub2 and Opensuse, at least that I could find. You might try searching online for more info. Check the link below, it might help.

http://unix.stackexchange.com/questi...-file-in-grub2

thank you yancek. I'm trying to understand details in your last post and GRUB in general. and about your questions: no I did not install GRUB2 separately, it was a part of the entire installation. as I could understand openSUSE 12.2 uses both legacy GRUB and GRUB2

grub complains about device b0285fd1-c769-45b8-9c1c-8c886ecceb45

The UUID you listed in your last post is the one which contains the Opensuse boot files on sdc2:

Opensuse 12.2 uses Grub2 so the command below should work logged in to a terminal from the Opensuse installation CD.

Before running the command I would suggest you verify. First run the blkid command from a terminal in Opensuse CD to verify again that sdc2 is the UUID above and then run: fdisk -l (lower case Letter L in the command) to verify that sdc is your Linux drive.

oh... the situation has been changed. I restored MBR with XP cd and then Windows started ok but no Linux of course. Then I re-installed openSuse with two different settings: found option for GRUB instead of GRUB2 (as I understand now it can be easier to work with) and chose install GRUB on root (instead of MBR). After rebooting Windows was still ok but no way to launch Linux. Then I reinstalled openSUSE again with GRUB and booting from MBR. Now it gives error 21. Before new installations I got my new added drive accepted by Windows as HD (F) - initially it was recognized as removable. The last thing may be not relevant, just mentioning. So now I have old GRUB and error 21. Should I still try bootinfoscript?

I would suggest running the bootinfoscript again. Error 21 is Selected disk does not exist so it again is not finding the partition. Opensuse has a lot of options for bootloader installation. During the installation, you should come to a page called "Live Installation Settings" which has a number of items including System, Partitioning, Booting. The one you are concerned with is Booting. You need to check the items under Booting to see what will be done. You also need to click Booting and you will get another window with more settings. There are two tabs, Section Management and Bootloader Settings. Check all of these if you need to reinstall and also verify you are installing to the correct drive/partition which will show under Partitioning. If I recall correctly, the default is not to install to the mbr but I'm not really sure.

thank you yancek, i'll try it

cosuse
a bit of advice with opensuse and an older XP computer

if you have less than 2 gigs of ram OpenSUSE 12.2 WILL be slow
and with 1 gig of ram it will be so slow as to be almost unusable

Opensuse 12.2 really dose need 4+ gig of ram to run well

Dual boot not with Suse
 

You have picked a distro that does not work as dual boot it likes to clobber Windoze.
I have a triple boot but all are Linux distros.