Hi all

I have a PC with two hard discs - one with XP (sorry!) and the other with Suse, booting from Grub.
The computer keeps crashing and on restart I often get Grub error 21. I know that this means that a disc isn't present (or can't be recognised) but after 3 or 4 attempts, the computer will start. Both Operating systems will work fine when it finally boots up.

My question is - Is this likely to be a hard disc failure starting to occur?

I had this problem for a while and then my motherboard started to play up (no USB ports would work and other problems) so I rebuilt the PC with new processor, graphics card and motherboard. I added a fresh install of Suse 10.3 too. The occasional Grub problem remains though, despite this being a different motherboard with new updated Bios.
Seems to me must be the HD on its way out.
I'd appreciate your thoughts in case I've missed something.

Thanks

Try doing a grub-install to restore Grub to see if situation improves.

You can also ask Grub to tell you "what the hell is going on?" this way

(1) When you see Suse's boot screen press "Esc" key immediately to change from the graphic to text mode.

(2) In text mode press the "c" key to drop into a Grub prompt. Now you are getting information directly from the horse's mouth.

(3) Use command
If Grub can report both disks then you should have no error 21.

(4) To get back the orginal screen you type

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

Incidentally, I just read your 'Just Cloning tips' article - It is superb and something I'd looked for on the 'net before. So useful - thank you.