Can't boot FC2
 

I have three hard drives. Two of them are NTFS (one is a storage drive, the other my windows boot drive).
The third is a 10 gig drive that I installed Fedora Core 2 on. I set my bios to boot from this third drive. Unfortunately, all I get is this screen:
GRUB _
The underscore is the cursor (which blinks). My system lights show no activity, and I can't type anything. It just sits there.
How do I log in?
Your help is appreciated!

So, nobody knows then?

Be a little patient, waiting 30 minutes or so and not getting a response is:
First of all, not being polite to those who come here to answer your questions for free, in their own spare time...
Secondly, against our rules in waiting up to 24 hours to bump your thread.

Give members a chance, this is a community based site, giving members 30 minute or so deadlines does not speed up your potential answers from others, only makes them irritated with your impatience and move on to the next thread..

Regards.

sorry. Just a bit agitated, since I spent nearly a week downloading the install .iso's :(
I didn't mean to be rude, and I feel like a moron for not checking the rules.
I shall wait patiently.

How did you install GRUB? DId you install it to the MBR (Master Boot Record) or to the 10 gig Fedora Drive? Also how are the drives setup? Example: Primary Channel: Winodows/Fedora - Secondary Channel: Storage

If you do not know where your GRUB is installed it is probably in the MBR, and if your Drive setup is like the example I have given above you may want to reset your BIOS setting to boot from the Windows Drive.

Looks like grub installed o.k. - hence the prompt.
However, if it was know as /dev/hdc (say) during the install, and is now /dev/hda, it is unlikely to be successful.

I'm inclined to suggest you boot the FC CD into recovery mode, and save the menu.lst (grub.conf - they're probably symlinked).
Then re-install grub with the Linux disk as hd0, then copy back menu.lst - which will need some adapting.

This will require you to swap the BIOS setting to change between Linux and XP, but I presume this is what you had planned, and the above is a simple solution.

Yeah, I didn't do any configuring with the bootloader, so it's wherever the default is. How exactly would I go about copying the file you mentioned? This is going to be my first time using linux, so I'm clueless as to the use of the command prompt. Thank you very much for your responses!

I launched from the fc install disc and told it to re-install grub, and I set the drive order in the order they'll be in when I boot linux (there's a menu for it in fc's installer). I reboot after the reinstall, and lo and behold, I'm still stuck at the same screen.
Any ideas?
I did get the message at the end of the install along the lines of "No settings were changed, so your bootloader configuration will be left unaltered".

I would set your bios back to where it was before you started. Your MBR is on your primary drive which is hda, if you're Linux disto is setup on hdc then that is the problem, because you chose the default settings for GRUB, which is to load onto the MBR (which is on your Windows drive) There was no reason to mess with bios in this instance. GRUB will give you the options to load whichever you choose.

when I set my bios to how it was, it boots straight into XP. That's why I was switching it around. Is there any other way to get into FC? Perhaps making a boot disk (how would i do that if possible)?

Answer depends on what you want to achieve - which is why you have differing responses already.
So;
i) - do you want to be able to boot directly to Windows by directing the BIOS to load from disk 1 ??
(corollary) - do you also want to be able to boot directly to Linux by directing the BIOS to load from disk 3 ??

ii) do you want to be able to boot either from a Windows bootloader menu ???
iii) do you want to be able to boot either from a Linux (grub) bootloader menu ???

You need to provide answers to the above before we can assist in your endeavours.
Nothing is ever as simple as it first appears.

I want to boot directly into the OSs by changing boot drives in the BIOS.
If this is significantly difficult, however, feel free to direct me to an easier approach.
Thank you!

I suspect that might be tricky using a GUI installer.
Personally I'd update the grub.conf/menu.lst by hand to get it to work. But this requires knowing how the drives are presented. Pretty difficult to walk you through it remotely.

I'd be thinking of going with the suggestion from audibel. This is the way I also prefer to set things up.
The only down-side is that if you re-install Windows, it over-writes the MBR, and you lose access to the grub loader.
You then need to boot the FC CD, and resurrect grub.

But by then you'll be an expert at that bit :)

<<I want to boot directly into the OSs by changing boot drives in the BIOS.>>

OPTION 1:

With XP loading automatically without GRUB, it sounds like the boot loader was installed on a drive other than hda. There is a good chance of it being on your 3rd drive already. Try (as is) physically changing the jumper pins of the 3rd drive to be a master drive and try changing BIOS boot options. Caution: there may be a chance of a conflict at boot due to 2 master drives.


<<If this is significantly difficult, however, feel free to direct me to an easier approach.>>

OPTION 2:

Using the GRUB loader is the easiest.

If you are getting automatic boot of XP with your current config, your GRUB boot loader was not installed in the proper MBR.

When doing a dual boot system, I don't recall FC1 or FC3 giving the option of directing your GRUB boot loader, but when the MBR was chosen and the default bootable OS was selected, my system worked just fine.

If you do happen to re-install, please check to see if you are given an option to manually direct which drive holds the MBR and select that drive(XP drive).


Feel free to correct me, for I am also here to learn.

Thanks

2cents from a noob to another

When I initially installed, I let it install to the MBR (the default option). When that did not work, I reinstalled having it installed in the boot partition of the third drive. It still didn't boot.
I seem to be at a loss...
I'll try the jumper thing and report back tommorow.