Grub won't install in MBR

PB0711 · 05-01-2007, 02:10 PM

Hello all and thanks.
So windoze had some problems and I reinstalled it. Of course it wrote over my MBR. I put my suse 10.2 disk in and did the reinstall grub. I ask it to read from the disk so that windoze is on the list and click ok. It says successful install of grub. But when I reboot I go straight to the xp logon no grub menu

I've attached my menu.lst . Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Paul

Code:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Tue May  1 02:34:43 PDT 2007
default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,6)/boot/message

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 10.2
    root (hd0,6)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 resume=/dev/hda6 splash=silent showopts
    initrd /boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 10.2
    root (hd0,6)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3
    initrd /boot/initrd

title Windows XP
    rootnoverify (hd0,0)
    chainloader (hd0,0)+1

reverse · 05-01-2007, 03:10 PM

Perhaps the installer is not installing it to MBR. Does the SuSE cd allow you to obtain a chroot shell of your installed system? If it does, chroot, and manually install GRUB to MBR.

pixellany · 05-01-2007, 04:27 PM

If you install GRUB from live CD, you need to be sure how it is seeing the drive(s) and you need to be sure that the correct partition is specified for GRUB's "home base".

This **should** work:
fdisk -l to confirm how the live Linux sees the disk(s)
(let's assume that the Linux partition containing /boot is actually hda7 as implied in your listing.)
grub opens the grub shell
root (hd0,6) tells grub installer where /boot is
setup (hd0) puts grub on the mbr of the first drive--ie hda

Quakeboy02 · 05-01-2007, 04:36 PM

If all else fails and you don't want to become a grub expert, get a copy of Super Grub Disk.

PB0711 · 05-02-2007, 02:12 AM

Thanks. I did as you said and all works well now. The text size on the loading screen changed but everything works. Thank you