Hello,
I just got a new computer with two hard drives, 10 GB and 5 GB. I put Windows XP on the larger one without any problems, then installed RedHat 9 on the smaller one. Now when I load my computer, it just says "GRUB" in the upper-left corner. I can't type anything from there and my Linux Boot Disk just says "unable to load operating system". I tried using the rescue mode on the first setup disc, but I can't figure out how to edit files/change directories, etc. Could someone tell me (step-by-step) how to setup the boot loader correctly?

Thanks,
- Smiley

if you boot using the rescue mode on the first disc, mount your linux HDD under mount/sysimage (it will give you the option, chose this), then type "chroot /mnt/sysimage", then "cd /sbin", then ./grub-install /dev/<whatever you HDD is
(for the master on the primary IDE /dev/hda, slave on primary /dev/hdb, and so on... - it should tell you it found a linux installation on /dev/hda1 or whatever when it asks you whether or not you want to mount it, just take the last number off the end)
type "exit" twice, and it should be fine

Hello,
Thanks for the help; it recognizes both operating systems on the grub-install, however when it boots the next time (I've taken the CD out) it says:

GRUB Loading stage 1.5.


GRUB loading, please wait...
Error 17

Is something else maybe causing problems?

Thanks,
- Smiley

The GRUB Manual says this
"17 : Cannot mount selected partition
This error is returned if the partition requested exists, but the filesystem type cannot be recognized by GRUB."

post your /boot/grub/menu.lst file, and your partition information, and post which hard drive you boot from, it's possible that there is an entry pointing to the wrong partition.

BTW, I am Triple-Booting 98/RH9/XP installed in that order on my 16GB HDD and have had no problems with GRUB.

Hello,
Sorry, I'm really new to Linux and don't know how to read files from a command line...

Partition Information:

IDE 0: 10 GB (1 partition), Win XP
IDE 1: 5 GB, RH9
1 GB swap
100 MB /boot
3.9 GB /

I put the GRUB boot loader on the first hard drive (the BIOS is set to boot from that one). But from what you said I guess it's possible it had a problem reading the first one... I'll try putting it on the second one and change the BIOS options when I get a minute.

BTW if you could tell me how to edit files from command-line Linux, that'd be helpful.

Thanks,
- Smiley

you need to use a text editor (obviously) - i use emacs, just type emacs /boot/grub/menu.lst or whatever other file you need. It takes a bit of getting used to, it's [CTRL] + X to bring up the menu, then [CTRL] + S to save, [CTRL] + C to exit, read the man pages for more.

P.S. do you not have XFree86 in 3.9GB?
P.P.S do you really need 100MB for a /boot partition, mine is in my / and takes up just under 7MB on RedHat
P.P.S 1GB is way to much swap, 256Mb works fine, although i have 512MB