HELP PLZ !!

i end up using my pc as usual and turned it off normally
the next day when i turned it on it was passing the bios screen and then printing loading grub then the screen keeps printing
grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub
grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub
grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub
grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub
grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub grub


and so on !
i didn't do anything that could cause this
i remember i just did an update to the system usng yum update //and it just updated some binaries not a system related// and installed wine from source

i booted rescue to see what i can do ,removed grub and reinstalled it with no luck
even tried to boot using win xp cd to force mbr to boot windows and the monitor goes blank after windwos boot prints //setup is inspecting yr pc hardware ...//
and for god sake i never faced this situation before !

now i can't use my fc6 nor my win xp and can't boot any ! am at knoppix //thank u knoppix//
now i can view the windows c ,d ntfs partitions and /boot partition but can't view fc6 / partition inspite it's ext3 fs !

any ideas ?
thank u linuxquestions u never let me down

Grub is a two boot loader...

The fist stage is a very small program that sits in the master boot record of your hard disk. When you power on this small program bootstraps the larger grub bootloader which resides within normal space on your disk.

The error you are getting is caused by the small pre-loader being unable to find the main boot loader on your hard disk.

I suggest you abandom yum for the moment, boot off a knoppix CD, download a vanilla version of grub and follow the installation instructions.

Cheers
-Rob

That definitely sounds like a grub-related problem (or is it because Grub has files on your Fedora ext3 partition, which can't be read?) if you can't even get the bootloader prompt. And if reinstalling Grub won't help, then I'd inspect if the filesystem has some odds..the filesystem where Grub resides. Sounds bad if it's in your ext3 partition which you can't read -- did you try running fsck on it?

Never do updates without checking out what is being updated, not even small ones. Always at least take a small look and try to remember the updated packages the next day, it helps a lot when solving problems.

Shouldn't you be able to use your Windows installation cd to boot into the recovery console, or does it put the screen blank before the recovery console pops up? Last time I checked (though from harddisk), it just took a moment, recovery console popped up and after running fixmbr (and answering "yes" to the be-warned-message) which took a quick moment, Windows bootloader was back in place again.

Of course you could try installing LILO instead of Grub too; Grub has files in a partition which makes it vulnerable for filesystem errors, but I think LILO copies itself completely to MBR, settings and everything (that's why you need to reinstall it every time you change something), so that might work better; even if your ext3 filesystem was unusable, at least it should be able to boot Windows.

Hey Raven,
Hard luck dude .. . When exactly doe grub start printing? As in do you get the menu which says:

Fedora Core 5
DOS

or does it go before that??

Did you wipe your MBR? If not try using that "fixboot" or "fixmbr" utility which you get with a Windows cd..Recovery console. Obviously it'll wipe out the Grub records as well but you can always get ol' Grub back.

If thats not working as well then I'd be suspicious of some hardware which has crashed. Specifically coz you mention "Setup searching for hardware devices and then hanging" ...

If you can view your Windows partitions thats good.

Where did you install Grub? In /boot or in / ? If its in / and you cant view only the ext3 partition it could be partition corruption which has led to your boot record getting messed up.

Did you run fsck on your root partition after unmounting it? If not try it out and see if you can salvage something.

All the best...

Cheers
Arvind

lol... 2 guys had already replied and I just echoed b0uncer's thoughts .. sorry@b0uncer.. I just posted a bit late

Never EVER use the windows disk to fix ANY linux bootloader issue.

All it will do is overwrite the grub/lilo bootloader with the M$ bootloader.

It is highly unlikely that your partition has corrupted, but running an fsck against it is a good idea as suggested by others.

True..it does exactly as you said but it usually works. Later you can reinstall Grub and get back to normalcy.

Cheers
Arvind
p.s....BTW@cyber-worx .. love your signature

wow !
am very glad to yr posts all that make me post this reply frm my fedora //oh my sweet home ;-)//
now all smooth and stable

i removed the dvb and sound card in case it's a hardware issue then booted rescue again.removed the grub again and reinstalled it on the boot partition as i saw that /boot could be viewed by knoppix while / didn't . i thought at least i can have a workin windows
and grb could boot both windwos and linux



cyber-worx >> thank u ..i know what boot loader is ..and yr way fixing my problem was my last shot before throughing my pc from the window ,,i was looking to use windows cd to fix mbr that i can login using windows till i solve this .

b0uncer>>yeah i thought that my ext3 is damaged too but i could freely explore everything in it when i was in the rescue mode ,and for the fsck i still getting afraid when getting the warning
WARNING!!! Running e2fsck on a mounted filesystem may cause
SEVERE filesystem damage.

windows cd did the following //and donut ask my why //
bios screen>> press any key to boot from cd >> setup is inspecting yr hardware to ...... >> then blank screen with nothing so i couldn't proceed to the repair consol .
am familiar with restoring mbr to boot windows and repairing grub .
but i never saw this bug before and never read about it .
thank u dude

live_dont_exist>> well u know when u remove linux from yr hard disk how u see loading grub then the grub consol ..it's the same but instead grub consol it keeps printing "grub" so no splash image was shown

i couldn't wipe my mbr in any way ! as i couldn't use windows cd //any way to do that using linux ? //



THANX ALL FOR SUGGESTIONS ANS FAST ANSWERS