Hello dears

I tried to install Linux (Redhat 32-bit) on external Hard Disk connected to my VAIO VGN-SZ740 Laptop and disable Boot Loader GRUB ,But after finish installing and restarting Laptop a message appears to me (GRUB..) and machine stopped and can't continue.
So,second time i installed Linux on the same external Hard Disk and make Boot loader as it is (GRUB) but make it on my external HD- Not on internal Hard Disk. After finish installing and reboot,My laptop restart,restart and restart and can't boot.

Please,Is there any guide face this problem before?

Thanks and regards . . .

hi

firstly can you confirm that your laptop has a bios setting that would allow you to boot external drive before the internal one please?

2) what operating system is on internal driver at the moment and do you have an install disc or recovery disc for it?

I am thinking we can rescue the mbr of the internal drive back to its original state of bootloader...probably a microsoft product

then we may look at alternatives such as UBCD if your bios does not allow external boot drive order change.

Thanks for your reply

My laptop already support boot from external drive.
Current operating system on internal drive is Windows XP and i have recovery disc for it.

Thanks and regards . . .

ok

remove external and boot your xp disc and there is an option when it starts to go into rescue mode
go into that mode and restore your bootloader =ntldr to internal drive

http://www.neowin.net/forum/lofivers...p/t292614.html

fdisk /mbr or fixboot

2) reboot to check

3) IF ALL GOOD then go into bios and disable your internal drive,
reboot with no cd inserted ...you MUST get a system error in not finding a bootable device....that is what we want...to prove internal device is not visible


insert linux cd and connect external drive and redo grub into mbr of external drive

I appreciate your english is not as good as mine...(wait for the grammer checkers to attack me) heh heh
but I am not sure what you mean in first post by disable Boot Loader GRUB but you need a bootloader to get into a linux system so please install grub into mbr of external drive

4) if linux boots up...then go back into bios and set the bios boot order to external drive then internal drive....and enable internal drive

reboot and edit grub menu.lst to have a windows entry...but bios boot order means

hd0 = external
hd1 = internal

so windows entry is

title xp
root (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1


5) so this is what happens....

WHEN YOU HAVE NO EXTERNAL CONNECTED
bios boot order remains ....look for external not found so jump to internal
internal is XP and xp has bootloader so xp boots

WHEN YOU HAVE EXTERNAL CONNECTED
bios boot order finds external and jumps to grub
grub menu gives you option to boot linux or xp
you choose which and the rest is all good

For your information...
Once i faced this problem before,i already restored boot loader to NTLDR.
After this i install Linux again and make grub into MBR of external drive but after finish installing(as i told you before)Laptop restart,restart and restart and can't boot.

can you please use a linux live cd that has a partition tool on it...there are heaps
gui ones are gparted or QTParted
console ones are fdisk, cfdisk, sfdisk

and post us an image of your external partition or output from the console.

Maybe, you have not partitioned it correctly?

2) while you have live cd booted...try getting into the external partitions pls and report what success you have pls

I partition external hard disk (500 GB) as following:
Note All sizes in MB

/ ext3 1500
/boot ext3 100
swap 2*RAM
LVM The rest

And LVM is partitioned as following

/home ext3 1500
/temp ext3 3500
/usr ext3 15000
/var ext3 1500
/usr local ext3 1500
/opt ext3 1500
/u01 ext3 75000 -- This for copy oracle CDs in it
/oracle ext3 the rest -- This for install oracle files in it


Thanks and regards . . .

Many many thanks.
Linux boot successfully now.
Many thanks again for your help.
Really,you are the only guide who was active with me in this problem.
I hope for you more success and i hope to be always online.

Thank you . . .

Hello

Please, Is there a program take ghost from linux?
If it is available,kindly give me the name of it or give me the link to can download it.

Thanks and regards . . .

Nortons ghost may be able to do some linux partitions but I no longer follow it

Most live cds have partimage.
as you can see not all are supported ...filesystems
http://www.partimage.org/Supported-Filesystems

http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page is a good live cd ~ 200 megs if yours does not have it.

2) it images partitions tho...not the entire drive

Many thanks . . .