grub hard disk error

gtanghookup · 12-28-2003, 05:37 AM

I have been trying to get a Gentoo Linux/Windows 98 dual boot system up and running for a few days now... My main difficulties have come from partitioning my hardrive correctly, however now I think that I'm ok as far as that goes...
If this helps however...
/dev/hda1 * Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2 Linux
/dev/hda3 Linux
/dev/hda4 Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 Linux Swap

First I installed windows 98 on the first primary partition, afterwards I installed Gentoo Linux using hda2 as /boot, hda3 as /, and hda5 as my swap partition.
My problem arises as I boot my system, I have installed grub on my system and run
the command root (hd0,1) to specify my boot partition, and setup (hd0) to install
grub on my MBR. (Windows was sucessfully installed and booted before I replaced
the MBR, so I know the hardrive is fine.)
So I boot my computer after installing Linux and GRUB, what do I see?
While the system is attempting to find a boot device it returns the message
'GRUB Hard Disk Error'

My question is of course, what the problem may be. I wouldn't think that the problem would lie in fault of my grub.conf, which seems fine, because GRUB is
never loaded in the first place. But here it is for reference:

default 0
timeout 20
splashimage=... who cares
title=Gentoo Linux
root (hd0,1)
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda3

title=Windows 98
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

I have seen that some suggested to make the hardrive information in the BIOS of
my motherboard static, I did so and no difference.
What would cause a hard disk error in grub?
Thank you for your time!

aus9 · 04-21-2004, 09:13 PM

I don't have gentoo but this post may be useful
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...linuz+and+grub

change bzimage to vmlinuz.

(2) a minor matter, you have set root command (to boot folder) as an absolute pathway which is fine.
then you don't need the (hd0,1) on the kernel line as you can specify a relative / pathway.

so its

root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3

aus9 · 04-21-2004, 09:17 PM

ohh, forgot to say you can edit your boot commands at the mbr prompt for grub.

If you make a mistake its not a permanent change ok.

at mbr grub prompt see the text saying E for edit the boot line you want, gentoo

so firstly arrow to the kernel line and do a E again to edit once happy I think you will see B boots the amended commands.

Then you need to go into your /boot folder and make the grub file correct for excellent booting in future, assuming I am right of course.

And then is no need to rerun any GRUB commands.

shanenin · 04-21-2004, 09:22 PM

sometimes it helps to look at someone elses. here is what I got

Code:

default 1
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.4
root (hd0,4)
kernel /kernel-2.6.4       root=/dev/hda6
title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

(hd0,4) is my boot partition
did you leave out the splashimage location for your post only? I don't think that would matter, but I am not sure.

aus9 · 04-21-2004, 11:34 PM

shanenin

How about that? Since you can boot yours, do you have a link to that kernel file in /boot folder by any chance to vmlinuz. My guess is that you have done a re-compile and may not have linked to vmlinuz then again I am often wrong.

shanenin · 04-22-2004, 12:00 AM

I used a bzImage instead of vmlinux. I think the only difference is the compression method they use(not sure about that) kernel-2.6.4 is my bzImage just named differently. I am not really sure if I answered your question.

aus9 · 04-22-2004, 04:08 AM

thats ok, some people link there new kernel to vmlinuz but the beauty of linux is you can almost do whatever you like

gtanghookup · 04-24-2004, 12:33 AM

Thanks for the help guys, however I posted the original question last Christmas... Once again though I thank you, and hope that I can use this discussion for future reference if I encounter the problem again. How I solved it was the cheap way... I installed LILO instead of GRUB. When I compiled the kernel, I compiled it as a 'bzImage' I really am not familiar with the difference between bzImage and vmlinux. From what shanenin said, it has something to do with how they are compressed, does this make a difference? Why does compression matter? I wouldn't think you would get too much of a performance difference as far as compression goes... Anyhow I do have an intermittent problem with LILO now, I don't know if you've heard of something similar... Every 3-4 boots or so, when I boot Linux, I receive a message right when LILO tries to boot the kernel. LILO is telling me that the kernel is corrupted in some way and the machine halts. It's not too big of a deal though because I rarely reboot my computer. But it is an annoyance, have you ever heard of such a problem? aus9 and shanenin, Thanks for your time!

PS
Also, since I compiled the kernel as 'bzImage' do you still think that using vmlinux would make a difference, or even be valid?