GRUB on floppy, how to add modules?
 

I have successfully loaded Linux onto a EIDE 40GB HD with Firewire PCI. I had to try several times. It needed the "sbp2" module. It worked on install after using that module. The BIOS does not see the Firewire PCI, but Linux sees it if I have that module. I read about initrd and you can load modules with it. When I did the install it did not ask me about initrd. It only asked for install bootloader location, to mbr, floppy, or none. I put it on floppy. The BIOS can see floppy. Now it will not boot, GRUB does not see Firewire PCI. Ubuntu Studio 7.10.

1) How do I add the module "sbp2" to the floppy?
2) The Firewire PCI is seen as SCSI sda. How do I put that into the menu.lst?

If ubuntu is the only distro you have you should have instructed grub to put the bootloader in the mbr. This way it will instruct ubuntu to boot everytime the set is started. If you have more distros then please give us your 'fdisk -ls' and '/boot/grub/menu.lst'.

I am sorry after reading I see it must be a detachable external hd, please provide a 'fdisk -ls'

You will need everything required to boot on the floppy - this includes the kernel and the sbp2 support (in an initrd). Just installing grub to the floppy is insufficient if the BIOS doesn't present the external as a bootable device - grub relies on the BIOS, a running Linux doesn't (usually).
Should be plenty of guides on the net.

Thank you for the comment. I looked on the web and found:

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html

I read the parts about booting and I tried to see if that would help it to work. It did not work.

The answer that you gave about putting it all on floppy including the kernel will not work. The kernel itself is 1.5MB file, the "vmliuz-2.6.20-default" file. That will not fit on the floppy with GRUB and initrd. Is there another way? What search terms would I use in Google to find the help on how to get this to boot? I am new to Linux and to the words to use for this type of boot.

I have not read the article but if you need 1.6 meg or better then put on a cd or one of your bootable hds. As syg00 said 'Grub relies on the bios'.

There are numerous articles out there explaining on making a bootable cd

Is this your only hard-disk ???.
A small amount of space on an internal disk would solve this easily.

Where can a find an article or a web that will tell me how I can put this onto a CD instead of onto a floppy? I am able to boot from CD and the BIOS will support booting from CD. Could you tell me what search terms to use in Google?

This is a Firewire caddy. The HD is EIDE, and I have SATA and PATA on the computer itself. There is a Firewire PCI card in it. I can boot from CD, if you can tell me what to look for or a web link.

Your question is vague.
My interpretation is that you just want to be able to access the drive and not use it as a boot device. If this is true then you do not need to modify your grub menu.lst nor the initrd.

Why do you want to boot from floppy?

Is ubuntu the only linux distro you have on this computer?

This did not work. GRUB does not see the Firewire PCI. Linux sees it though with the module. I was going to make a bootable floppy with GRUB, the kernel, and the module. That takes too much space. The kernel is 1.5MB. I am trying to make a cd.

The command line is not working now. When I reboot, if I have not figured out how to get it to work before then I can put the "fdisk -l" output.

I am trying to figure out how to boot the Firewire PCI EIDE HD when the BIOS does not boot from it by making a cd. I do not know how to make this cd, and do not know what files to put on the cd and do not know what way to write the cd. I have made iso image cd before. Is it the same way? I have the kernel image "vmlinuz-2.6.30-default" and I have the boot/grub/menu.lst file.

Here is the menu.lst:

Here is the /etc/fstab:

Here is the "fdisk -l"

To answer your first question
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

You say you have a sata and a pata besides this hd that has ubuntu on it. When I look at your fdisk -l, I only see one hd.

Ok, So you want to create a bootable CD to run linux from a firewire hard drive. Check out the following link.

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerwork...-fireboot.html

Thank you for the links, I think that is what I was looking for
 

http://www-128.ibm.com/developerwork...-fireboot.html

Thank you for your comments. I think that this article is what I was looking for. It answers some of my post. I still need to figure out what files to write to the cd and what commands to use for that if I can not just use the k3b writer. This article almost gets me to boot the Linux on the Firewire! Thank you for finding it. Could you tell me what search words you used to find it?

From the link about Firewire. I have done the installation step already. That was before I posted. I have Linux installed on the Firewire PCI EIDE HD. I need to find the way to do the "Troubleshooting" step that is mentioned in that link. They have some resources there and I will take a look at it. Could you tell me if you know of a step-by-step how to for that? I originally posted with asking how I can add the module to GRUB or to a boot cd so that it can see the Firewire. It does not see it with only GRUB because the BIOS does not see it. I tried to explain this but it is new to me and I am a newbie at Linux.

I can do this part, I think.
I can not do this. It does not see the Firewire. I need to load the module. I do not know how to do that. That is what I asked first.
This is what I need to do for Firewire. I think that I need to do the two-phase boot mentioned.

This is what I want to do. Load sbp2. I can type all of the code in the example and try it. Could you tell me how I then put it onto cd? I have made cd iso image from Linux and I know how to do that in k3b. I do not know what files to put into cd, what directory to put them in to, and if I should make a data disk or not. The article did not go into that detail. It did talk about a floppy, but my kernel is 1.5MB.

I am only using the Firewire PCI EIDE HD.

I tried the "mount -o loop" command with "initrd-2.6.20-default.img". It gave error:
I looked up the mount command. I tried to find out what type of filesystem it is: How can I use the mount command to find out what is in the initrd and then to copy whatever else it needs so that I can add the modules to GRUB and get Linux to boot and get this post done?