LinuxQuestions.org
Help answer threads with 0 replies.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Hardware
User Name
Password
Linux - Hardware This forum is for Hardware issues.
Having trouble installing a piece of hardware? Want to know if that peripheral is compatible with Linux?

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 08-09-2006, 04:53 PM   #1
Noelle Milton Vega
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Dec 2005
Location: NYC
Distribution: Solaris; Fedora; Gentoo
Posts: 3

Rep: Reputation: 0
GRUB: Can't complete boot to USB disk ...


Hello:

My (Alienware) PC BIOS supports booting from USB devices,
so I decided to load FC5 on one of my 300GB Seagate USB
attached disks.

I successfully did so, but I can't get GRUB to work right.

Problem description:

/dev/sda (internal SATA - Windows XP)
/dev/sdb (internal SATA - for backups)

/dev/sdc (external USB - Fedora Core 5)
/dev/sdc1 (hd2,0) = /boot
/dev/sdc2 (hd2,1) = /
/dev/sdc3 (hd2,2) = swap

During the install, I specified that "stage1" of GRUB
to be put on the first sector of /dev/sdc1 (and it was).

But when I boot the PC using the USB device, all I get is:

GRUB

(Literally, that's all I see). This tells me that "stage1"
cannot find "stage2" (I think). So I booted to rescue
mode off a CD-ROM and used grub(8) and/or grub-install(8)
in various ways to modify the "stage1" grub.

For example:

root# mount -t ext3 -o rw /dev/sdc1 /boot
root# grub-install --root-directory=/boot /dev/sdc1
root# umount /boot

root# grub
install (hd2,0)/boot/grub/stage1 d (hd2) \
(hd2,0)/boot/grub/stage2 p (hd2,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst

I also tried the above install grub command by omitting
the '/boot' part in various parts of the command.

HELP

I did my homework and try what I found all over. But no
success here.

Basically here is what I need:

- I have FC5 installed on the device slices shown above.
- I can select to boot off that device when I turn on my PC.
- I have a Knoppix and FC5 recue CD's that I can boot off
of the fix my GRUB issues... now...

Tell me what commands to run (or re-run correctly)
the get the system to boot. (Note: I don't want nor
need to mess with the MBR on /dev/sda, which holds
Windows XP, because my PC can boot USB devices; in this
case it is /dev/sdc).

BTW... the 'menu.lst' has an entry for Windows XP
and one for the FC5 (default is FC5).

Thanks in advance.

N Milton
nmvega@ComputingArchitects.Com
 
Old 08-10-2006, 10:54 AM   #2
verdeboy2k
Member
 
Registered: Jan 2004
Location: /dev/random
Distribution: Gentoo amd64, CrunchBang amd64
Posts: 350

Rep: Reputation: 32
I've never had much sucess with GRUB (or LILO, or anything else) except by putting it on the MBR of my primary hard-disk. You might want to try putting grub on /dev/sdb and setting your bios to boot from it and see what you get.
 
Old 08-11-2006, 12:28 AM   #3
Noelle Milton Vega
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Dec 2005
Location: NYC
Distribution: Solaris; Fedora; Gentoo
Posts: 3

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 0
You are correct. I placed it on the MBR and it worked. But doing so required a reinstall of
the O/S because the original stage1 grub was place on the first sector of the /boot partition.
This means that I couldn't just install it on the MBR because then I have an MBR grub that
expects /boot to begin at sector 1 of that partition (not after that)... and what was on
sector 1? a stage1 grub which is what I specified the first time I installed FC5. So that
meant that the entire boundary of the O/S was off too. It was all overlapping.

A reinstall specifying MBR stage 1 fixed everything. FYI: The reason I didn't opt for that to
begin with, is because in order to install in on the MBR of the external USB disk, you had to
change the order within the FC5 installer, and that scared me because the last thing I wanted
to do was hose Windoze XP. :-) But as I grew to understand how it all worked, I did, and it
worked.

So you were correct, and I thank you for the reply!

Regards,
Noel
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Grub problem: Booting Linux from USB Disk Noelle Milton Vega Linux - General 1 08-23-2006 07:46 PM
How to mount the External USB disk in grub prompt? rajarishi LinuxQuestions.org Member Intro 1 06-12-2006 12:34 PM
Grub (error 17) won't boot after new motherboard/vid card.. boot disk anyone? r3dhatter Linux - Newbie 5 02-16-2005 07:52 PM
Boot disk that works just like my HD Grub boot??? KevinAlaska Fedora 2 06-06-2004 04:44 PM
Grub Dual Boot Mandrake 9.2 and Win2000 Invalid Boot Disk larsenmtl Linux - Newbie 1 02-01-2004 04:29 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Hardware

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:20 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration