Boot error on removable hard drive

widget · 02-28-2009, 12:44 PM

If you can read the files on your external from your computer it would be real nice to know what your "/boot/grub/menu.lst" says. This should, at least, tell us if there is a problem with your boot system.

Another thing to keep in mind is that grub starts the partition numbers at 0 and most other things, file managers and so forth, start at 1. I would hit c when your menu comes up and inter "geometry (hd?)" with ? as your drive number. If it can't find it, it may be that your computer is numbering the partitions on your external differently than the ones at school do.

It would be nice to see the results of that too.

Hope you have it up and running by now, but if not we'll see what we can do. The idea that it is the intrid is very likely the problem.

duval_jay · 02-28-2009, 12:57 PM

I get the following when I entered "geometry (hd0)"

Drive 0x80: C/H/S = 1023/255/63, The number of sectors = 488397168, LBA
Parition num: 0, Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
Parition num: 4, Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
Parition num: 5, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x8e
Parition num: 6, Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

And when I entered "geomoetry (hd1)"

Drive 0x81: C/H/S = 1023/240/63, The number of sectors = 976773168, LBA
Partition num: 0, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7

duval_jay · 02-28-2009, 01:11 PM

So if it is the initrd is there a way to fix it?

I have a fedora 10 live cd as well as the installation dvd

duval_jay · 02-28-2009, 01:40 PM

Here's what's in the menu.lst file....

Quote:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/main/root
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 $1$UQiAu$V2TwNdHKpAn1Rnxhj4w8A0
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.27.15-170.2.24.fc10.i686)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.15-170.2.24.fc10.i686 ro root=/dev/main/root rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.27.15-170.2.24.fc10.i686.img
title Fedora (2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.i686)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.i686 ro root=/dev/main/root rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.27.12-170.2.5.fc10.i686.img
title Fedora (2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686 ro root=UUID=8594efde-d695-4261-9b50-fa11a6886b73 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686.img

let me know if anything looks wrong

duval_jay · 02-28-2009, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raskin

What USB dirvers do you have in initrd?

How can I check this?

widget · 02-28-2009, 10:12 PM

Please note the my joined date. Yes it is earlier than yours. Not much.

I no very little about intrid or the problems with it. These would have to be on your box, not the external or it would not work anywhere.

Also you are using Fedora which I have little to almost no experience with.

If I were you I would try to make sure that grub is working properly. Your menu.lst looks good.

First off I would go to BIOS and make sure that your boot order is CD first, USB device second and then the HDD. Then I would look for a way to disable your HDD. I have a Dell XPS420 and I have the option of 5 possible SATA drives. Three are off as there is nothing to connect to. SATA 0 and SATA 3 have HDDs on them but I can turn them off (they are now, I am on a dual HDD external enclosure for internal drives).

I would then try to boot your external. If this works, the problem is on your internal and as long as you do not need both at once, who cares.

If it does not work I would leave everything the same but reboot to your live CD.

Go to terminal and as root call up Grub (in Ubuntu it would be "sudo grub"). In Fedora I would either log in as root or use the "su" command to run terminal as root. Then just type "grub".

This should give you something that looks like this;

Code:

grub>

You run your commands after the > thus;

Code:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

grub> root (hd0,0)

grub> setup (hd0)

grub> quit

There will be dialog in between. Judging from the geometry results you may have stage1 in
(hd0,0)
(hd0,4)
(hd0,6)
these are the ones ending in 83.

You need to make sure that grub is pointed in the right direction. I am sure (there has to be) a partition editor on you LiveCD. I would take a look in there to make sure that your box is numbering the partitions the same. The geometry command shows that your menu is on the right drive though so that should not be a problem.

Here is a sample view of the above commands it use;

Code:

slade@slade-desktop:~$ sudo grub
[sudo] password for slade: 
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.

       [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.   For
         the   first   word,  TAB  lists  possible  command
         completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
         completions of a device/filename. ]
grub> find /boot/grub/menu.lst
find /boot/grub/menu.lst
 (hd0,4)
 (hd0,6)
 (hd0,7)
grub> root (hd0,4)
root (hd0,4)
grub> setup (hd0)
setup (hd0)
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
 Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"...  16 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
 Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+16 p (hd0,4)/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.
grub> quit
quit
slade@slade-desktop:~$

Then try it again.

I suspect it may just work if you turn off or disable the internal.

By the way on mine (hdo,4) is a complete install on 1 partition of Hardy, (hd0,6) is the root partition for Mandriva2009 (home is (hd1,4) and (hd0,7) is root for Ultimate Edition 1.8 (home (hd1,5).

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