GRUB 0.92 to boot 3 OSs
 

CALLING ALL LINUX GURUS:
Can anyone give me a nice step by step guide to chain booting with GRUB 0.92 so I can select from my three OS on the Redhat 8.0 boot screen that comes up?

Desired multi boot options; #1 = Linux on F: , #2 = DOS (Win98 on old C: and the old D: like the way it was) and #3 = XP on E:

BACKGROUND:
I have two PCs; One for internet stuff and the other for programming only (Computer Science box). On my CS box my previous set up was Win98 on C: (Primary Master, FAT32) and D: as a data disk (Pri.Slave, FAT32) or called hda and hdb by RH8. My Secondary Mstr and Slv are DVD and CDRW. On an UltraATA card I installed RH8 on a third HD (Pri.Mstr as E: by Win98 and hdg to RH8) and a Zip100 drive (Sec. Mstr).

Modification:
Now I need to add WinXP pro sp2 upgrade. Yes, I really need a multiboot system with Linux, Win98 and XP. Unfortunately I bought XP a week ago for $100 from the college bookstore. I just out I can get a stand-alone version for just the price of the CDs or download it through a special for academic software. Anyway, I've added another (4th) HD on the UltraATA card as Pri.Mstr. The RHLinux disk is on the same 36" cable but is now Pri.Slv. So I formatted HD#4 and I accidentally made it into an exact copy of C: .

Now when booting DOS (Win98) it hangs with the word GRUB, a space, and then a blinking cursor OR I can get RH8 to boot with an emergency disk. If I press the esc key as the UltraATA card is detecting devices I get a device boot list. When I select ‘SCSI Device’ it boots the new (4th) drive but it boots automatically! No GRUB multiboot! The OS (copied Win98 from old C:) list the following HDs; C: (which is actually the 4th HD), D: ( the old C: ) and E: (the data disk D: with FAT32). All the shortcuts and links from original C: to the original D: are lost of course. At least the PCs alive again.

Waiting for help:
I'm using my net PC for programming until I can get some help with GRUB on my CS box. I'm going to install Win98 on the 4th HD, so that I can upgrade it to XP, and a modem card so I can activate it. I hope to get the multiboot problem fixed before summer term starts.

Thank you in advance for any guidance or condolences.
->Ted

Sorry, but I fear I did not understand your drive/OS structure. It seems you are still able to get into RH? Could you please post the output of 'fdisk -l' and your grub.conf (or maybe it is called menu.lst) and maybe /etc/fstab?

Here's my original setup before adding (fourth HD installed) (a.k.a. HD#4)
C: win98 first HD installed (HD#1)
D: spare fat32 formated with win98 (HD#2)
E: RH8 Linux (HD#3)

Currently: I've formatted HD#4 and accidently made it a copy of the C: (HD#1) !
I ONLY HAVE TWO WAYS TO BOOT UP NOW:
1. The system hangs unless I press the escape key when the message on the screens says something like UltraATA: Detecting devices. After its done detecting a menu pops up in the middle of the screen with a list of devices to boot from. I then select SCSI. This boots from the new drive (HD#4) since it is a copy of the original C: (HD#1). The drives C: and D: are now reversed.

2. Use the Linux emergency boot disk in floppy drive A:


Here is grub.conf:
# 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 (hd2,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hdg2
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd2,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 ****************************
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-14)
root (hd2,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-14 ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi hdd=ide-scsi
initrd /initrd-2.4.18-14.img
title DOS
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Here is menu.lst:
LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
/dev/hda1 /mnt/win vfat defaults 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/hdg3 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0
/dev/cdrom1 /mnt/cdrom1 iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0
/dev/hdf4 /mnt/zip auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0

ANOTHER DRIVE ISSUE:
Strange...My fstab is the same as the grub.conf. I'll check it later if you want.
I had trouble getting these files to my net pc to post it here. Linux says I have /mnt/floppy and I can format it but I when I paste anything to it the light dosn't come on. What's the deal there Guru's? Is there a way to get at the properties of drives (like in windows...cringe)?

Somehow I must upgrade Win98 on HD#4 to XP then I want to boot from any of the 3 OSs. I'd also like to be able to access any drive from within any OS but I'll look into that later (next year at this rate).

Thanks for any help in advance,
->Ted

Sorry for not replying earlier, I simply fear this is too high for me :(

Why do you boot from SCSI? Is there a SCSI or S-ATA controller on your system?

What about changing the boot-order in your BIOS?

I guess the output of 'fdisk -l' would help a little further. The problem with DOS drive-letters is that you can't distinguish between partition and drives.

Note that you need to apply a trick to be able to boot Windows/DOS from HDD's other than the first primary controller:
http://portal.suse.com/sdb/en/2002/0...grub_win1.html
(It's about SUSE, but applies to any other grub system, too)

Is this thread still alive Ted ???.

Sorry about the delay but I'm busy with C++ homework/project.
I don't understant what you mean by fdisk -l. I typed "fdisk -l" at the dos promt after booting into win98 on HD#4 and it says " parameter format not correct - -l". The parameter is dash ell right?

I'll check on this thread every day from now on but I might not have time to reply.

->Ted

To quickly sort this out you are going to need to put the Linux disk back where it was.
Needs to be the third disk so grub can find it - that is what the root(hd2,0) in the grub.conf is all about.
Third disk, first partition - both count from zero.
That should enable you to get all but the newest disk going.

To handle that, you should make it the primary boot disk from the BIOS - this has *NOTHING* to do with needing to be "primary" connector on the cable.
Then boot the XP CD and do your upgrade.

When happy, set the real Win98 drive back as primary boot, and update the grub.conf withand see how you go. Note there are spaces in the "map" directives above.

Note:
- grub.conf is probably symlink'd to menu.lst; they may appear the same.
- what you listed as menu.lst looks like /etc/fstab - I *really* hope you got this wrong in your post, else you have a seriously screwed system. Which would probably not boot at all.
- the "fdisk -l" command you were asked for is a Linux command, and yes it's l(ist).

Thank you Syg00!
I'll go get a modem to activate XP then open the box up and put it in and put HD#4 in place of HD#1 and upgrade to XP. Then swap them again and update the grub.conf. Also, I'll try fdisk in Linux this time. That sounds interesting. I cant do this all right now, (Lab3 is due Monday!) but maybe Monday or Tuesday night. I'll relpy then to let you know what happened. This site rocks!

Thanks again,
->Ted

Careful !!!.

Physically you should make it;
win98 first HD installed (HD#1)
spare fat32 formated with win98 (HD#2)
RH8 Linux (HD#3)
New hard disk (HD#4).

Get that done first, and prove you can boot successfully.

The changes to the boot order I mentioned, to boot HD#4, and later to change back to HD#1 can both be done in the BIOS.
This is a "logical" change, and should require no moving of disk(s) or cable(s).

In your case, the simplest solution might be just to pick HD#4 from the ATA list as you described above. Do the XP upgrade, then re boot back to normal (i.e. HD#1), and do the grub modifications.
Saves you having to make any changes to the BIOS.