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GRUB error 18: Selected cylinder...

I occasionally have this problem, and I don't know if I should worry about it or not.
Sometimes, when I try to load either OS, I get this error 18 from GRUB, saying "Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS".
Usually it dissapears after a reboot, but when it appears, I get the same error for every OS.
I have both Suse 10 and Windows XP installed. I have a 10Gb hard-disk. My first partition is a 10Gb windows one (so this error really shouldn't appear, at least when I load windows), my second one is another 10Gb windows one with no OS, then the linux swap (aprox 1Gb), the root (10Gb), and a big 80Gb windows partition, also no OS on.
What is weird is that this problem simply dissapears after a reboot, without me changing any setting. If nothing is changed, how can it sometimes exceed the maximum support, and after a seccond, not?
Should I worry about this for now?
And what would a good sollution be? Reinstalling GRUB? Repartitioning, putting the root partition right after the windows one?
Any info would help. Thanks for reading this.

I think you should create a boot partition. There is an entry in the wiki. just search for grub error 18 to find it.

thank you, I searched just in the forum, I forgot to search on the site as well.

A few additional questions:
1. What is VM Ware? It doesn't really explain much there. I have something at /boot, but it appears to be part of the linux partition that also contains the OS.
2. On Windows there is a program called Disk Defragmenter. Could it help in any way, and is there something like this for Linux?
3. If the first partition is a Linux one, will Windows XP run properly? With other windowses such as Me and 98, if it is on a second partition, it doesn't run (sometimes. that's why I liked Linux, for it's possibility to be installed anywhere, but with this error...)
4. Should I try to install an alternate bootloader? (When I had LILO with other Linux editions, I never had this problem, but I always reinstalled everyting in about a month, whereas now, the last time I reinstalled everything was almost a year ago).

Sorry if I ask too many newbie questions. Any other info will be apreciated as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

1. What is VM Ware?

VMWare is a program that creates "Virtual Machines" and allows you to run many other operating systems on the top of linux or windows. See www.vmware.com for more details.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

2. On Windows there is a program called Disk Defragmenter. Could it help in any way, and is there something like this for Linux?

Disk defragmenter is only for windows and doesn't help the situation. Afaik, there is no such software for linux.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

3. If the first partition is a Linux one, will Windows XP run properly? With other windowses such as Me and 98, if it is on a second partition, it doesn't run (sometimes. that's why I liked Linux, for it's possibility to be installed anywhere, but with this error...)

Yes, all windows versions can be run from another partition but if you don't want to reinstall XP you will have to manually change your boot.ini so that it refers to the second partition (or use the winXP cdrom to fix it with a command that I don't remember right now)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

4. Should I try to install an alternate bootloader? (When I had LILO with other Linux editions, I never had this problem, but I always reinstalled everyting in about a month, whereas now, the last time I reinstalled everything was almost a year ago).

If you like it, try lilo. Personnally, I think grub is the best.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

I have something at /boot, but it appears to be part of the linux partition that also contains the OS.

What you have to do is to create a separate small partition to contain everything that currently is in your /boot directory and then mount it at /boot. This partition must be at the begining of the disk so that you don't see error 18.
It sounds strange, though, that you don't see it every time. It's an error that you should see it either always or not at all. Are you maybe overclocking your CPU? I used to have some problems with grub and overclocking.

Thank you very much. I think I got it now.
I am not overclocking, everything is running with it's normal parameters and values. It really is strange that it appears only sometimes, but it's not the first time my computer has unlogical behaviour, that nobody was able to explain.

One more question, about the boot partition. My /boot folder has exactly 6.2Mb. What should be the size of the partition? And I just copy everything in /boot on that partition, delete what is in the /boot in the root partition, and mount the boot partition at /boot, right? Can I keep anything else on that partition, or will that produce other weird errors? Or should I just put the root partition first? Which is better?

And a less important question, what are the diffrences between grub and lilo? (answer only if you have time, I shall search the Internet for this as well, I am sure I'll find something)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

One more question, about the boot partition. My /boot folder has exactly 6.2Mb. What should be the size of the partition? And I just copy everything in /boot on that partition, delete what is in the /boot in the root partition, and mount the boot partition at /boot, right?

Ok I am going to tell you all the details.

Firstly, you create a small partition at the begining of the disk. I think that you will need no more than 10 MB for that partition, however it is always better to leave some free space in there so that you can install another linux distro, or install kernel-xen, or build your own kernel (/boot contains the kernel, its initrd file, kernel configuration and grub configuration). So, let's say a 50 MB partition should be enough. Format this partition with ext2 (not with reiser. reiser is good only for large partitions)

Secondly, mount that partition somewhere at /mnt (/mnt/boot maybe?) and copy everything from /boot to /mnt/boot (copy as root, because some of the files don't have read permissions for users) It's better to use cp -rp to copy the files ensuring that they preserve their permissions. Now, delete everything from /boot and remount the boot partition at /boot. Add a line in fstab for that partition too (you can use yast for that). Before you reboot, open a root terminal and type

Code:

grub

Then type

Code:

root (hd0,0)

setup (hd0)

quit

Don't forget to update /boot/grub/menu.lst
What you need to do is to open menu.lst (as root) and change all the (hdx,y) references. All those refering to linux should be (hd0,0) and the one refering to windows should be (hd0,1). Also, all the hdax (or sdax) references that refer to primary partitions should be incremented by one (so hda1 becomes hda2, hda2 becomes hda3 etc.. BUT hda5 remains hda5 and hda6 remains hda6) It should look somewhat like that (its only a guess of your configuration. change the hda6 and hda5 to match with your current menu.lst)

Code:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Παρ 07 Ιούλ 2006 01:29:58 μμ UTC



color white/blue black/light-gray

default 0

timeout 8

gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/message



###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###

title SUSE Linux 10

    root (hd0,0)

    kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda6 vga=0x31a    resume=/dev/hda5  splash=silent showopts

    initrd /boot/initrd



###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 1###

title Windows XP SP2

    chainloader (hd0,1)+1



###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###

title Floppy

    chainloader (fd0)+1



###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###

title Failsafe

    root (hd0,0)

    kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda6 vga=normal showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3

    initrd /boot/initrd



###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: memtest86###

title Memory Test

    kernel (hd0,0)/boot/memtest.bin

After that, reboot and boot from your windows xp cdrom. Enter the recovery console by pressing r and when you reach the command line, type

Code:

bootcfg /add

It will display probably "1.C:\Windows" so you have to type 1 and press enter. Then use the exit command to reboot and finally test what you have done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

And a less important question, what are the diffrences between grub and lilo?

Actually, I've never used lilo at home so I don't know much about it but what I know is that grub has an advanced command line interface that allows you to boot almost every OS regardless if it is in the menu or not and that's why I like it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

answer only if you have time

I always have time to help linux users. ;)

PS I hope I didn't make any mistakes and I didn't forget something

EDIT: I forgot to answer these:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

Can I keep anything else on that partition, or will that produce other weird errors? Or should I just put the root partition first? Which is better?

You can put anything you want in there, but a /boot partition is not intended to store your documents. It's only for the kernel. Anyway, /boot belongs to root and you don't have write permissions as a user.
Putting the root partition first is not possible except if you intend to reinstall (format) either suse or windows. It's better to use a /boot partition. The other advantage of the boot partition is that it can also be used as the boot partition for as many other distros as you like. If you later for example install ubuntu and keep suse there, the boot partition could serve both ubuntu and suse at the same time.

Thousands of thanks! I think that about covers everything here.
I'll do this as soon as I buy a DVD writer and some RW DVDs to clear my hard disk and experiment in peace, reformatting everything.

A little off-topic question. Does Ubuntu have anything Suse doesn't have? I have an Ubuntu CD, but I didn't install it so far because I ran the "boot from CD" version, and it didn't impress me.

Sorry for asking too many questions, I still have a lot to learn.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

A little off-topic question. Does Ubuntu have anything Suse doesn't have? I have an Ubuntu CD, but I didn't install it so far because I ran the "boot from CD" version, and it didn't impress me.

I have never used ubuntu, so I can't answer this question. All I know is that ubuntu uses gnome, which I don't like, so I stick to suse. I mentioned ubuntu above just because its the most popular distro according to distrowatch.com

I prefer Suse's KDE too. The only problem is that I can't get mpegs working, and in edubuntu and stuff, which is somehow a version of ubuntu that comes with other programs, already has the necessary programs. But that's another story, in another topic.
Thank you very much again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie_of_valhalla

The only problem is that I can't get mpegs working

Suse doesn't include mpeg support because of patents. You can get mpeg support though. Go to http://packman.links2linux.org/ and get xine-lib, Mplayer and all the necessary dependencies. After that, you will be able to play anything: mpeg, mp3, wma, wmv, mov, dvd etc...

I have installed these:

Code:

a52dec-0.7.4-3.pm.1.i586.rpm

faac-1.24-0.pm.3.i586.rpm

faad2-2.0-0.pm.8.i586.rpm

ffmpeg-0.4.9-6.pm.svn20060701.i586.rpm

k3b-0.12.16-3.1.pm.0.i586.rpm

kmplayer-0.9.2_2.0-1.guru.suse101.i686.rpm

lame-3.96.1-2.i586.rpm

libdca-0.0.2-1.i586.rpm

libdvbpsi4-0.1.5-1.pm.1.i586.rpm

libdvdnav-0.1.10-14.i586.rpm

libdvdread-0.9.6-0.pm.0.i586.rpm

libebml-0.7.7-0.pm.0.i586.rpm

libffmpeg0-0.4.9-6.pm.svn20060701.i586.rpm

libmatroska-0.8.0-0.pm.0.i586.rpm

libmp4v2-1.4.1-3.i586.rpm

libmpcdec-1.2.2-1.pm.2.i586.rpm

libmpeg2-0.4.0b-22.pm.0.i586.rpm

libtheora-1.0alpha7-0.pm.0.i586.rpm

libxine1-1.1.1-16.pm.0.i586.rpm

libxine1-arts-1.1.1-16.pm.0.i586.rpm

mad-0.15.1b-1.pm.3.i586.rpm

MPlayer-1.0pre8-3.i586.rpm

python-mad-0.5.4-6.i586.rpm

speex-1.1.12-0.pm.0.i586.rpm

vlc-0.8.5-2.pm.5.i586.rpm

vlc-mozillaplugin-0.8.5-2.pm.5.i586.rpm

w32codec-all-20050412-0.pm.0.i586.rpm

x264-0.0svn20060625-1.i586.rpm

xosd-2.2.12-17.i586.rpm

xvid-1.1.0-0.pm.4.i586.rpm

Note: kmplayer is not required to get mpeg support but I like it. vlc is also not required but it is a very good media player. k3b is only needed to create audio cds from mp3 files. Also, kmplayer is from http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/

Ok, that's enough for now. We are completely off-topic. lol :p

You can come back on-topic at http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...32#post2346232
I have explained in detail my codec problem there.
I have installed most of the stuff you suggested already. I will check for the other ones later. I have an idea that just might work...