grub freezes :(

daveman_t · 12-24-2004, 07:49 AM

I was trying to edit my grub.confg file so i could boot xp pro from my other hard drive, but now when i reboot i get a message l'loading GRUB level 2" or something similar and then nothing. this message came up before but only for a split second before the grub menu appeared. Using the RH9 cd i booted into rescue mode and deleted the lines i added to grub.confg file, but still the same problem. I'm a bit of a newb, but is there a way of booting straight into my linux installation or fixing grub? is it possible to uninstall grub and install lilo as i have heard that it is easier to set-up dual boot?

thanks

daveman_t · 12-24-2004, 08:23 AM

phew! got linux back using grub-install --recheck /dev/hdb, but unfortunately i did the same but for hda aswell, which is my xp disk, now if i set the bios to boot from my xp drive it loads a screwed up grub screen and goes nowhere! have i cocked up my windows installation? can i uninstall grub from this drive and restore it to as it was before?

thanks

teckk · 12-24-2004, 08:38 AM

There could be a grub.conf.old in the /etc if you have not already overwritten it. If you haven't overwritten it, it is the old good grub.

Did you edit the grub as root when you did the rescue mode? It won't save if you were a user.

I don't know what other help I can be, grub should look something like this for a single boot machine. To add a windows drive to the boot options, do a search on LQ. I've seen that answered a few times here.

#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img

teckk · 12-24-2004, 08:44 AM

Sounds like you may have hosed the NTbootloader on the windows drive. You can config grub to point to a windows drive and a linux drive. Thw windows drive is probably ok, just messed up windows boot loader ntloader.

daveman_t · 12-24-2004, 08:45 AM

thanks for the reply. i've got grub working now on my linux hd, i'm more worried about what has happened to my xp drive now! in linux i have it mounted and it now says contains 0 objects

edit: quick second reply, thanks!

how do i go about restoring the proper bootloader on the xp drive? i'm a bit of a newb

Brian1 · 12-24-2004, 09:01 AM

Not for sure what can be done if winxp is hosed. Here is an example of my /boot/grub/grub.conf file. Don't know if you have done your winxp like this or not. hd0,0 points to harddrive #0 and partition #0 which is /dev/hda1

Code:

# 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 (hd0,1)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda8
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Fedora Core (2.6.10-rc2) Cdfs, Ntfs, Udf, Ufs, Acpi, Hermes
	root (hd0,1)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.10-rc2 ro root=/dev/hda8 vga=793
	initrd /initrd-2.6.10-rc2.img
title Fedora Core (2.6.9-1.649)
	root (hd0,1)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.649 ro root=/dev/hda8 vga=793
	initrd /initrd-2.6.9-1.649.img
title Memtest86+ (3.2)
	root (hd0,1)
	kernel /memtest86+-v3.2 ro root=/dev/hda8 vga=793
title Winblows XP Amateur
	rootnoverify (hd0,0)
	chainloader +1

Brian1

teckk · 12-24-2004, 09:04 AM

If you want the windows boot loader back on the windows drive I think that you can boot up with the windows installation cd, boot to recovery console, and enter

fixmbr

That will restore the ntboot loader.

Mkae sure that you fix the right drive.

You can also have grub dual boot, Linux or Windows.