Dual booting multiple distros - Ubuntu Fiesty + PCLinuxOS(or other)

jay73 · 07-21-2007, 08:05 PM

fd means floppy, which is an alternative: you would then be able to boot your sytem from floppy.

Swap does count as a partition in its own right. So yes, hda3.

zephyrcat · 07-21-2007, 09:21 PM

Oops, I guess I said all was well too soon. :-( Here is what happened:

I choose /dev/hda3 and restarted when it was done. I saw Ubuntu's grub menu then it defaulted to boot the normal Ubuntu (not safe-mode, etc.) and the screen went black and has been for more then an hour. Now I really need help.

jay73 · 07-22-2007, 02:09 AM

That doesn't sound right... Are you sure you didn't accidentally overwrite anything?

Anyway, suggest you pop in your PCLinux liveCD and use its terminal to do fdisk -l. That will show your partitions, give a first idea what could be wrong. You can also add PCLinux to GRUB while you're at it:
mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/temp
cd /mnt/temp/boot/grub
kedit menu.lst
and put in this entry:
title PCLinuxOS 2007
root (hd0,2)
chainloader +1
boot
Then unmount it again:
cd
umount /mnt/temp
Now check whether you can at least boot into PCLinux.

zephyrcat · 07-22-2007, 10:44 AM

Thank you. I will try that. I just noticed something strange, though. The light by my floppy drive is on. As far as I know there is nothing in there.

EDIT: fdisk -l shows the size of "Disk /dev/hda" and shome other stuff then it has a table. Under the heading "Device Boot" it has /dev/hda1, /dev/hda2, and so on to /dev/hda5 then it has headings for start, end, blocks, Id, and system i will see if I can get a screen shot of what it says and post it, but I will not try to write out the start, end, blocks, and id here unless you need them. Under system it says (in this order) Linux swap / Solaris, Linux, Linux, Extended, W95 FAT32.

I knows this will be confusing, so I will try to include a screenshot.

EDIT 2: Ok. I have a screenshot:

Shot at 2007-07-22

jay73 · 07-22-2007, 01:07 PM

OK, that looks perfectly normal. This is really confusing but will probably clear up once you manage to get in PCLinux. Btw, I seem to have made a little mistake in my previous post: before you do any of all that mounting, you need to do this first: mkdir /mnt/temp - if you don't, the system will tell you that /mnt/temp doesn't exist.

Alternatively, you can mount /dev/hda2 and check whether the contents are still there:
mkdir /mnt/temp
mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/temp
cd /mnt/temp
ls
And when you've seen enough:
cd
umount /mnt/temp

zephyrcat · 07-22-2007, 01:25 PM

Thanks! I got to kedit menu.lst. Apparently kedit does not come installed on pclos. It returns the error bash: kedit: command not found. It appears the only word processor installed is open office. Should I use that?

Here is another screenshot. When I got to the error I navigated back to /mnt/temp and listed it. Here is what I got:

Shot at 2007-07-22

DOTT.EVARISTI · 07-22-2007, 01:47 PM

Bahh...i suggest you tu use kate,it's more compatible with every files..and since now for future dual boots do this way:

1)install for last the distro you prefer
2)during the installation of the first distro create a partition for /,one for /home and one for swap leaving some free space you for the other distro
3)install grub in mbr
4)install the second distro creating a / and a /home partition,it will format and use the swap partition you created during first installation without problems
5)install grub in mbr overwriting the first grub:it will automatically find the oses installed before and automatically create new menu entries for them
6)and so on similar for other distros

7)each time in each distro you install grub in mbr,it will overwrite the one before and add new entries for the others oses found in the hd:infact,if now you'd try to recover the grub before,it will not be able to automatically found the other oses and won't let you load them

Good luck !

zephyrcat · 07-22-2007, 01:53 PM

Thanks! I tried typing kate menu.lst and I get the same error except kate instead kedit. I tried something like what you are describing above before with Ubuntu and Fedora and Ubuntu ended up having the exact same problem (black screen) and Fedora took 5-10 minutes to boot up as it displayed an error message, waited, displayed the same error again, and so on three times. Thanks for the idea, but I suspect the problem is something different from this.

DOTT.EVARISTI · 07-22-2007, 01:53 PM

Actually,in a notebook i three-boot Win Vista,Mandriva Spring 2007,Ubuntu Studio.in a desktop i three-boot Win Xp,Ubuntu 7.04,Fedora 7 and i'm going to install solaris 10 too

Hi !

zephyrcat · 07-22-2007, 01:59 PM

yeah, I know there are lots of people that do it successfully. Thats part of what confuses me. Like I said, though I have tried it twice and it keep getting the same problem. I suppose I could not use Ubuntu, but then I lose all my settings and stuff...

zephyrcat · 07-22-2007, 04:09 PM

YES! I got into Ubuntu by choosing the older kernel! Now I can get to the menu.lst file and fix some stuff! I am going to set the delay until the default is selected wayyyy longer then add this:

title PCLinuxOS 2007
root (hd0,2)
chainloader +1
boot

This is what you posted earlier so I am hoping it's right. I don't really understand a lot of it.

EDIT:
It worked! Now I can boot into PCLinuxOS. Now all I have to do is figure out what is up with the Ubuntu side.

One question, though. Is there any reason not to just delete (or put at the bottom of the list) the newer kernal and just use the older one? When I do system update on the older one will it change it for the newer one?

jay73 · 07-22-2007, 07:30 PM

Congratulations. And sorry about the whole editor mess, it's sometimes pretty hard to figure out what is available on a particular liveCD; my last guess would have been nano, or vi.

I suggest you put your timeout to -1 in menu.lst; doing so means that grub won't boot anything - not even after a week or a month - until you select an entry manually. Unless you prefer one of your systems to boot up automatically, of course.

As for the kernel issue, I don't really understand why that should have arisen. If the newer kernel was working fine, it should still work even after installing another distribution. You didn't by any chance do something like, say, install new video drivers recently? If you do so without rebooting first, your new kernel doesn't have a video driver and may cause blank screens as a consequence.

I do not recommend deleting kernels manually - if you suspect the newer kernel has broken, you may simply have to reinstall it from Synaptic package manager. Or place the entry for that kernel at the bottom at the list, yes, that would be fine too.

When you delete a newer kernel and do a system update, it will indeed bring in the newer one again - unless you go into the updater box and uncheck the kernel updates before agreeing to the update.

zephyrcat · 07-22-2007, 07:53 PM

So if I choose a version of Ubuntu with the older kernel from the options of GRUB and then do a system update will it bring it back?

Thank you so much for all the help. I would never have figured this out without your help! Thanks!

jay73 · 07-22-2007, 08:36 PM

Hmm, if you simply use the older kernel without deleting the newer one, then oviously the updater isn't going to update anything - the newer kernel is already installed, even though you may not use it. Of course, if in a month or so, an ever newer kernel comes out, then it will effectively get installed unless you explicitly refuse it.

Anyway, as I said, kernels don't suddenly break and it's more than likely that something is slightly misconfigured. If you posted your menu.lst, I might be able to find out more.

zephyrcat · 07-22-2007, 09:27 PM

Both now work... Not sure how that happened, but it just did. I did nothing but boot PCLinuxOS, wait, comeback, and shut it down again. Here it is anyway. Sorry for just putting it in, I couldn't think of a better way.

I just installed update. Nothing died instantly...

Code:

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to 'saved' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default		0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout		20

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
# hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line)  and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
#      password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title		Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root		(hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader	+1
#
# title		Linux
# root		(hd0,1)
# kernel	/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=b4c56aa3-add1-4476-b7f9-e8565367077c ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,1)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
##      lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
##      lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
##      altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
##      howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title		Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-16-generic
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic root=UUID=b4c56aa3-add1-4476-b7f9-e8565367077c ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic
quiet
savedefault

title		Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-16-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic root=UUID=b4c56aa3-add1-4476-b7f9-e8565367077c ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic

title		Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=b4c56aa3-add1-4476-b7f9-e8565367077c ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic
quiet
savedefault

title		Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=b4c56aa3-add1-4476-b7f9-e8565367077c ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic

title		Ubuntu, memtest86+
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

title		PCLinuxOS 2007
root		(hd0,2)
chainloader	+1
boot