I'm a total linux noob. My main question: How do I manually enter the grub settings to finish an install of Fedora Core 5?

I tried to edit /etc/grub.conf (npot that I know what that is, really, before I read about it last week) and add the proper info for FC5, but could not do so because:
1. Ubuntu won't let me get to the grub.conf file at all. I've tried to do so for days. I think it might be becasue I can't get to root.
2. I have no idea what to add to the GRUB file. I've added about 1000 things to the GRUB loader in its own edit mode (press e before boot), and nothing works. See the whole story for what I've tried.

The whole story…
I installed Ubuntu 5.10 on a my usb drive, which runs fine in a GRUB setup that dual boots with XP (on the IDE drive). I had an empty 10GB partition on the USB drive, so I loaded the Fedora 5 installer DVD, typle “linux expert” and the install saw the USB drive, did the automatic partitioning and formatting on the empty 10GB partition, ejected the DVD, and said to reboot. During that time it said it could not find my GRUB loader (which now boots either Ubuntu or Windows XP just fine). Now I cannot finish the install, since GRUB does not see the partly finished FC5 installation files on the HD.

I tried a repair a number of times from the FC5 DVD, but it still didn’t see GRUB. I tried to have FC5 install GRUB, but it refused.

Grub is installed on the USB drive. I tried editing the editing /boot/grub/menu.lst file in ubuntu and GRUB command line, but ubunut won’t let me get to root and GRUB always said it could not find the file.

When GRUB loads, I can press “e” to manually edit the GRUB loader to get it to see the FC5 install. I’ve tried the following…

title Fedora Core 5
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.img

When I press “b” to boot the edited GRUB, It says it can’t find file. I’ve also tried root=/dev/sda1 (and replaced the number 1 with 2-9 just in case, and the numbers in hd0,0 to other numbers just to try them). I believe the FC5 installed on sda7.

BTW, the ubuntu GRUB settings, which work just fine, are…

root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1-3-386 root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8.1-3-386

I just downloaded the System Restore CD and was going to fiddle with that.
I’ve spent about a week pulling my hair out on this one. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Aris

well, there's one thing that differs in the working and unworking grub configs:

so try adding that /boot in the beginning..might help. the reason why you cannot get root privileges is probably because Ubuntu, by default, disables root account and asks you to use sudo command ("superuser do") to run programs with root privileges; it asks for your password (not the root one) and does the following commands as root, but without logging you into a root account. so, to edit the grub file, in console do

or put some other nice editor in place of "nano -w" (that opens up a light console editor called nano, and -w tells nano not to cut the lines that are too long for your screen, so the config file won't get messed up; you could also do "sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" to open the file in Gedit).

well, try that. if you want root account enabled, do

after that it asks your own password first (to run sudo) and after that, it asks twice a new password for root. if you've used sudo recently, it might not ask your own password, only the new root password twice. anyway, it tells you "Changing password for user root" or "Changing root password" before asking for the new root password.

the reason why root account is disabled by default is, I believe, because logging in as root creates possible problems with security; especially if you're surfing on the net logged in as root and somebody somehow gets to crack in to your account, then (s)he's got high privileges. so new users who don't necessarily know these security things (i.e. have learnt, in Windows, to always use the system manager = owner account to log in) might breach their security without even knowing it. and yet they don't need the root account so often, most things can be done without root privileges and those that cannot, can be done with sudo command (the first user that's created during the installation is granted privileges to use sudo, the others must be explicitly added - therefore in a normal installation the person who installs Ubuntu gets sudo privileges, and others don't).

anyway, the root account is "disabled" by setting the password to something "random". that is, to something nobody knows; activating it again means setting a known password to the account. and only root can change his password, so that's why it's only possible (if you're not cracking the system) through sudo, which is granted only to the first created user plus the ones that are later added to the group. I personally don't see that much enhanced security here, since sudo can do damage too, but perhaps sudo asking for the user's own password all the time prevents most of the first problems..

maybe that's enough off-topic.

Thanks Bouncer. I was finally able to get to grub via nano in Ubuntu, but no Grub settings worked. I tried the following FC5 setup options, and all of them gave "Error 15: File Not Found" when loading from GRUB. Recall that FC5 is not fully installed. I just went through the first stage on install, where it loads everything on the HD and asks you to eject the DVD and reboot...

title Fedora Core 5
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.img

title Fedora Core 5
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5 ro root=/dev/sda1 rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.img

I also changed sda1 to sda2, sda3...sda9. Nothing worked.

Here is fdisk -i...
Disk /dev/sda: 20.0 GB, 20003880960 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2432 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 686 5510263+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 687 1903 9775552+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 687 749 506016 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 * 750 762 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 763 1903 9165051 8e Linux LVM

The following does work for Ubuntu...

root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1-3-386 root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8.1-3-386

BTW, the reason I'm trying FC5 is due to my big ubuntu problems (since I noticed you use it), which are the following:
1. When coming out of standby, there are a bunch of red "x"s on top of the screen where the icons were, and the network won't work, and no applications will work. I can still type in an open document, though.
2. Wireless only occasionally works, even though I'm right next to the router and it works fine in windows.

Thanks!
Aris

Looks like you're having trouble finding the FC5 kernel and initrd partition. I'm fairly sure there's a grub function that helps you find the kernel, in the edit mode that you've been using. Once you get that working, then you can modify menu.lst. Do "man grub" and have a read.
It's strange that FC5 didn't load grub itself, then you'd be booting into fedora, and having to modify fedora's grub to boot ubuntu and windows.