GRUB does not timeout
 

as i installed this new ATA hard disk, GRUB have stopped giving default timeout option. GRUB no longer boots the default selection after chosen time, HECK i cannot see any timeout option on my splash screen and this problem is same on all distros i have tried. earlier i had SATA and there were no problems with timeout. right now i am using CRUX:

-----------from my Terminal -------------
arnuld@crux ~ $ cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
splashimage (hd0,0)/grub/crux03.xpm.gz

timeout 25
default 0

title CRUX GNU
kernel (hd0,0)/linux-2.6.20.13-crux root=/dev/hda5 vga=773

title CRUX Fallback
kernel (hd0,0)/linux-2.6.20.13-crux.old root=/dev/hda5


arnuld@crux ~ $ cat /etc/fstab
#
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 defaults,noatime 1 2
/dev/hda5 / ext3 defaults,noatime 0 1
/dev/hda6 /home ext3 defaults 0 1
/dev/hda2 swap swap defaults 0 0

/dev/hda7 /mnt/Backup ext3 defaults 0 1

/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0
/dev/dvd /mnt/dvd udf ro,user,noauto,unhide 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/fd0 vfat user,noauto,unhide 0 0

devpts /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
none /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
tmp /tmp tmpfs defaults 0 0
#shm /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
#usb /proc/bus/usb usbfs defaults 0 0

# End of file

arnuld@crux ~ $ su
Password:
root@crux arnuld $ fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 25 200781 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 26 281 2056320 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda3 282 6607 50813595 5 Extended
/dev/hda5 282 1741 11727418+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda6 1742 4174 19543041 83 Linux
/dev/hda7 4175 6607 19543041 83 Linux
root@crux arnuld $

What are you talking about?

Your menu.lst has
Do you mean after 25 second the first choice of CRUX GNU doesn't boot?

You don't have another system to boot to, just the same distro with an older kernel of the same version.

NO, i meant you can see seconds going down like 25..24..23..22 on GRUB splash screen and after 0 the default selection boots. GRUB *shows* you that decreasing timeout.

BUT i don't see this "timeout going down" on my GRUB splash screen and hence i have to use arrow key and press Enter to select the OS i want to boot.

i have 2 selections here and by default 1st one is highlighted. but GRUB neither shows timeout nor able to make it happen.

I think we are talking about Grub Legacy here and the development work has frozen since version 0.97 so there is no way Grub can be changed.

In your case I suggest to put a "#" infront of the splashimage statement to disable it, as you will then see Grub in the text mode with nothing to hide.

I use ATA and SATA on my box but never notice any anomaly in the timeout statement. Mind you I seldom use it myself or add couple of zero to lengthen the timeout. I need time to select from the 150 entries and my menu.lst are nested together as a set.

somebody at Gentoo Forums shew me this bug of GRUB:

http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?14620

i have the same problem...exactly same