fresh install for dual boot with winxp : grub hangs

[Hans Horn]

Dear all,

I'm trying to install fedora2 on a HP AMD64 box with winxp factory-installed.
I've got two disks, with xp installed on the first one.

after the reboot following the fedora install on the 2nd disk, all I get is: GRUB

using 'linux rescue' I tried to modify grub.conf with no success.

here's what fdisk tells me:

fdisk /dev/hda
/dev/hda    hda1    hp-recovery
                  hda2    NTFS (XP boot)

fdisk /dev/hdd
/dev/hdd    hdd1    swap
                  hda3    ext3 (Linux boot)

device.map says:

hd0    /dev/hda
hd1    /dev/hdd

has anybody got a glue how grub.conf is supposed to look like for grub to work on my system.

right now I'm pretty much dead in the water - can't boot into any OS!

H.

[Phil Schaffner]

On Wed, 2004-06-30 at 02:15 -0700, Hans Horn wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I'm trying to install fedora2 on a HP AMD64 box with winxp factory-
> installed.
> I've got two disks, with xp installed on the first one.
>
> after the reboot following the fedora install on the 2nd disk, all I
> get is: GRUB
>
> using 'linux rescue' I tried to modify grub.conf with no success.
>
> here's what fdisk tells me:
>
> fdisk /dev/hda
> /dev/hda    hda1    hp-recovery
>             hda2    NTFS (XP boot)
>
> fdisk /dev/hdd
> /dev/hdd    hdd1    swap
>             hda3    ext3 (Linux boot)

Did you mean hdd3?  hdd2?  What else is on hdd? Do you have /boot and /
or is everything but swap on one partition.
> device.map says:
>
> hd0    /dev/hda
> hd1    /dev/hdd

This seems to be a rather strange setup and may be confusing grub.
Usually you would want your hard disk as the master on the controller
rather than the slave, or better yet the only thing on the controller
for performance reasons.  What is on the slave for the first IDE
contoller and the master for the second?  I'd try changing the hardware
setup so the second disk is the master on the second controller, booting
in rescue mode, and fixing /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf to match.
The BIOS hard disk mode may also be a factor.
> has anybody got a glue how grub.conf is supposed to look like for grub
> to work on my system.

Would help to first see what you've got now.  Where did you install
grub, the MBR or the boot partition?
> right now I'm pretty much dead in the water - can't boot into any OS!

I suspect it is recoverable, but you need to clarify and provide correct
current grub.conf and disk/partition information.

Phil

[Hans Horn]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Schaffner" 
To: "For users of Fedora Core releases" 
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2004 8:52 AM
Subject: Re: fresh install for dual boot with winxp : grub hangs
> On Wed, 2004-06-30 at 02:15 -0700, Hans Horn wrote:
> > Dear all,
> >
> > I'm trying to install fedora2 on a HP AMD64 box with winxp factory-
> > installed.
> > I've got two disks, with xp installed on the first one.
> >
> > after the reboot following the fedora install on the 2nd disk, all I
> > get is: GRUB
> >
> > using 'linux rescue' I tried to modify grub.conf with no success.
> >
> > here's what fdisk tells me:
> >
> > fdisk /dev/hda
> > /dev/hda    hda1    hp-recovery
> >             hda2    NTFS (XP boot)
> >
> > fdisk /dev/hdd
> > /dev/hdd    hdd1    swap
> >             hda3    ext3 (Linux boot)
>
> Did you mean hdd3?  hdd2?  What else is on hdd? Do you have /boot and /
> or is everything but swap on one partition.

hdd2 is an empty fat32 partition - dunno how it got to be.
I don't have a /boot partition
> > device.map says:
> >
> > hd0    /dev/hda
> > hd1    /dev/hdd
>
> This seems to be a rather strange setup and may be confusing grub.
> Usually you would want your hard disk as the master on the controller
> rather than the slave, or better yet the only thing on the controller
> for performance reasons.  What is on the slave for the first IDE

master: hda
slave1: nothing
master2: dvd/cd
slave2: hdd
> contoller and the master for the second?  I'd try changing the hardware
> setup so the second disk is the master on the second controller, booting
> in rescue mode, and fixing /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf to match.
> The BIOS hard disk mode may also be a factor.

recommendations?
> > has anybody got a glue how grub.conf is supposed to look like for grub
> > to work on my system.
>
> Would help to first see what you've got now.  Where did you install
> grub, the MBR or the boot partition?

the MBR!
> > right now I'm pretty much dead in the water - can't boot into any OS!
>
> I suspect it is recoverable, but you need to clarify and provide correct
> current grub.conf and disk/partition information.

have to wait until I get home tonite!
thx a lot!

Hans
> Phil

[Phil Schaffner]

On Wed, 2004-06-30 at 09:15 -0700, Hans Horn wrote:
> > here's what fdisk tells me:
> > > fdisk /dev/hda
> > > /dev/hda    hda1    hp-recovery
> > >             hda2    NTFS (XP boot)
> > >
> > > fdisk /dev/hdd
> > > /dev/hdd    hdd1    swap
> > >             hda3    ext3 (Linux boot)
> >
> > Did you mean hdd3?  hdd2?  What else is on hdd? Do you have /boot
>
> and /
> > or is everything but swap on one partition.
>
> hdd2 is an empty fat32 partition - dunno how it got to be.
> I don't have a /boot partition

So FC2 is on hdd3?  Assuming that...
> master: hda
> slave1: nothing
> master2: dvd/cd
> slave2: hdd

...
> recommendations?

I still suspect grub is getting confused.  May still want to check BIOS
setting for hard drives.  On some systems should be "LBA" or "OTHER"
rather than "DOS".  If that doesn't help, given that nothing is on IDE0
slave, easiest would be to move hdd to hdb.  Assuming use of labels in /
etc/fstab, should only have one Linux filesystem partition entry
requiring no changes:

LABEL=/    /      ext3       defaults        1 1

and for swap, change to

/dev/hdb1  swap   swap       defaults        0 0

grub.conf should then look something like:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You do not have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
#          root (hd1,2)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sda2
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358)
        root (hd0,2)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
        initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
title WinXP on hda2
        rootnoverify (hd1,0)
        chainloader +1

and /boot/grub/device.map should have

hd0    /dev/hda
hd1    /dev/hdb

Sooooo, boot to rescue mode (presumably - after HW change of 2nd HD from
IDE0 slave to IDE1 slave and given assumption of / now on hdb3) and
with /dev/hdb3 mounted on /mnt/sysimage, "chroot /mnt/sysimage", edit
/etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf and /boot/grub/device.map as above,
(or adjusted for reality), and "grub-install /dev/hda" (may not really
be necessary but could help).  Reboot and hope for the best!

Good luck,
Phil

[Hans Horn]

All drives use 'auto' on everything in the bios.

After making all the changes you recommend and issuing 'grub-install 
/dev/hda', it tells me
'/dev/hdd3 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive'.

Did I miss something?

here's what fdisk tells me now and the content of the few files that I have 
edited:

------------------------------
fdisk /dev/hda <p>

Disk /dev/hdb: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
150 heads, 63 sectors/track, 41346 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 9450 * 512 = 4838400 bytes

Device  Boot    Start    End      Blocks    Id    System
/dev/hda1             1     991    4682553+   1b    Hidden W95 FAT32
/dev/hda2  *        991   41346  190680210+    7    HPFS/NTFS

------------------------------
fdisk /dev/hdb <p>

Disk /dev/hdb: 46.1 GB, 46115758080 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 89355 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

Device  Boot    Start    End      Blocks    Id    System
/dev/hdb1         85282   89346    2048287+   82    Linux swap
/dev/hdb2             1   50793   25599640+    c    W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hdb3  *      50793   85282   17382330+   83    Linux

------------------------------
/boot/grub/device.map:

(fd0) /dev/fd0
(hd0) /dev/hdb
(hd1) /dev/hda

------------------------------
/etc/fstab:

LABEL=LINUX   /         ext3    defaults        1 1
none          /dev/pts  devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
none          /dev/shm  tmpfs   defaults        0 0
none          /proc     proc    defaults        0 0
none          /sys      sysfs   defaults        0 0
none          /proc     sysfs   defaults        0 0
/dev/hdb1     swap      swap    defaults        0 0

------------------------------
/boot/grub/grub.conf:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You do not have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
#          root (hd0,2)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hdb2
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358)
        root (hd0,2)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
        initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
title WinXP
        rootnoverify (hd1,1)
        chainloader +1

H.
> So FC2 is on hdd3?  Assuming that...
> > master: hda
> > slave1: nothing
> > master2: dvd/cd
> > slave2: hdd
>
> ...
> > recommendations?
>
> I still suspect grub is getting confused.  May still want to check BIOS
> setting for hard drives.  On some systems should be "LBA" or "OTHER"
> rather than "DOS".  If that doesn't help, given that nothing is on IDE0
> slave, easiest would be to move hdd to hdb.  Assuming use of labels in /
> etc/fstab, should only have one Linux filesystem partition entry
> requiring no changes:
>
> LABEL=/    /      ext3       defaults        1 1
>
> and for swap, change to
>
> /dev/hdb1  swap   swap       defaults        0 0
>
> grub.conf should then look something like:
>
> # grub.conf generated by anaconda
> #
> # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this 
> file
> # NOTICE:  You do not have a /boot partition.  This means that
> #          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
> #          root (hd1,2)
> #          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sda2
> #          initrd /initrd-version.img
> #
> #boot=/dev/hda
> default=0
> timeout=10
> splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
> title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358)
>        root (hd0,2)
>        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
>        initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
> title WinXP on hda2
>        rootnoverify (hd1,0)
>        chainloader +1
>
> and /boot/grub/device.map should have
>
> hd0    /dev/hda
> hd1    /dev/hdb
>
> Sooooo, boot to rescue mode (presumably - after HW change of 2nd HD from
> IDE0 slave to IDE1 slave and given assumption of / now on hdb3) and
> with /dev/hdb3 mounted on /mnt/sysimage, "chroot /mnt/sysimage", edit
> /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf and /boot/grub/device.map as above,
> (or adjusted for reality), and "grub-install /dev/hda" (may not really
> be necessary but could help).  Reboot and hope for the best!
>
> Good luck,
> Phil
>
> -- 
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Hans Horn]

Phil,

still in linux rescue mode, issuing 'df' tells me that /dev/hdd3 is mounted 
on /.

could that be the culprit for grub-install not behaving?

how do I change that mount to /dev/hdb3?

H.

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am Do, den 01.07.2004 schrieb Hans Horn um 18:02:
> All drives use 'auto' on everything in the bios.

Might be worth to try LBA explicitly.
> After making all the changes you recommend and issuing 'grub-install 
> /dev/hda', it tells me
> '/dev/hdd3 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive'.
>
> Did I miss something?

I miss the output of "fdisk -l /dev/hdd" below.
> here's what fdisk tells me now and the content of the few files that I have 
> edited:
>
> fdisk /dev/hda <p>
>
> Disk /dev/hdb: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes

Did you manually post it here? Just because in the line above it should
be "Disk /dev/hda" and not "hdb".
> 150 heads, 63 sectors/track, 41346 cylinders

150 heads is a bit "uncommon" I feel.
> Units = cylinders of 9450 * 512 = 4838400 bytes
>
> Device  Boot    Start    End      Blocks    Id    System
> /dev/hda1             1     991    4682553+   1b    Hidden W95 FAT32
> /dev/hda2  *        991   41346  190680210+    7    HPFS/NTFS

No good setup, the fist partition is extended and the second is the one
with bootable flag, though the first is marked as hidden.
> fdisk /dev/hdb <p>
>
> Disk /dev/hdb: 46.1 GB, 46115758080 bytes
> 16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 89355 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
>
> Device  Boot    Start    End      Blocks    Id    System
> /dev/hdb1         85282   89346    2048287+   82    Linux swap
> /dev/hdb2             1   50793   25599640+    c    W95 FAT32 (LBA)
> /dev/hdb3  *      50793   85282   17382330+   83    Linux

Here the third marked as bootable. hdb1 is physically at the end of the
disk but has the first letter. Did such setups ever work for you?
> /boot/grub/device.map:
>
> (fd0) /dev/fd0
> (hd0) /dev/hdb
> (hd1) /dev/hda
>
> /etc/fstab:
>
> LABEL=LINUX   /         ext3    defaults        1 1

Did you change the LABEL entry by hand? Does the real label set on the
partition fit with this fstab entry?

Alexander

[Hans Horn]

fixed the mount hdd3 thingy by invoking /etc/rc.sysinit, which gets me into 
rw mode.

now grub-install is happy.

however, after reboot, all I get is 'GRUB'

cluelessly,
H.

[Phil Schaffner]

On Thu, 2004-07-01 at 09:02 -0700, Hans Horn wrote:
> All drives use 'auto' on everything in the bios.
>
> After making all the changes you recommend and issuing 'grub-install 
> /dev/hda', it tells me
> '/dev/hdd3 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive'.
>
> Did I miss something?

Apparently, but I fail to see it.  There's obviously still a reference
to hdd somewhere. ???
> here's what fdisk tells me now and the content of the few files that I have 
> edited:
>
> fdisk /dev/hda <p>
>
> Disk /dev/hdb: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
> 150 heads, 63 sectors/track, 41346 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 9450 * 512 = 4838400 bytes
>
> Device  Boot    Start    End      Blocks    Id    System
> /dev/hda1             1     991    4682553+   1b    Hidden W95 FAT32
> /dev/hda2  *        991   41346  190680210+    7    HPFS/NTFS
>
> fdisk /dev/hdb <p>
>
> Disk /dev/hdb: 46.1 GB, 46115758080 bytes
> 16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 89355 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
>
> Device  Boot    Start    End      Blocks    Id    System
> /dev/hdb1         85282   89346    2048287+   82    Linux swap
> /dev/hdb2             1   50793   25599640+    c    W95 FAT32 (LBA)
> /dev/hdb3  *      50793   85282   17382330+   83    Linux

Pretty odd partition table.  Start block of each partition should
generally be one greater than the end block of the previous one, but
have seen cases where they are the same - apparently the partitions are
not on cylinder boundaries - possibly problematic.  The first partition
generally starts at the beginning of the disk with cylinder 1, again odd
but not necessarily illegal.
> /boot/grub/device.map:
>
> (fd0) /dev/fd0
> (hd0) /dev/hdb
> (hd1) /dev/hda

This should be:

(fd0) /dev/fd0
(hd0) /dev/hda
(hd1) /dev/hdb

But don't see how that gets hdd into the picture.
> /etc/fstab:
>
> LABEL=LINUX   /         ext3    defaults        1 1

This is inconsistent with the entry "root=LABEL=/" in grub.conf below.
use "tune2fs /dev/hdb3 to see what the real entry is.  I would expect

Filesystem volume name:   /

not LINUX as fstab indicates.
> none          /dev/pts  devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
> none          /dev/shm  tmpfs   defaults        0 0
> none          /proc     proc    defaults        0 0
> none          /sys      sysfs   defaults        0 0
> none          /proc     sysfs   defaults        0 0
> /dev/hdb1     swap      swap    defaults        0 0
>
> /boot/grub/grub.conf:
>
> # grub.conf generated by anaconda
> #
> # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
> # NOTICE:  You do not have a /boot partition.  This means that
> #          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
> #          root (hd0,2)
> #          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hdb2
> #          initrd /initrd-version.img
> #
> #boot=/dev/hda
> default=1
> timeout=10
> splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
> title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358)
>         root (hd0,2)

This should be (hd1,2) after change to device-map.
>     kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
>     initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
>
> title WinXP
>         rootnoverify (hd1,1)
>         chainloader +1

...
> > Sooooo, boot to rescue mode (presumably - after HW change of 2nd HD from
> > IDE0 slave to IDE1 slave and given assumption of / now on hdb3) and
> > with /dev/hdb3 mounted on /mnt/sysimage, "chroot /mnt/sysimage", edit
> > /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf and /boot/grub/device.map as above,
> > (or adjusted for reality), and "grub-install /dev/hda" (may not really
> > be necessary but could help).  Reboot and hope for the best!

After the chroot, fix the above anomalies as best you can and try again.
If that fails, then try a manual approach (after recovery boot and
chroot):

# grub --device-map=/boot/grub/device.map

Then at the grub> prompt:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

It should return:

(hd1,2)

Exit grub and repeat without the device-map:

# grub
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

If it returns other than (hd1,2) then the BIOS mapping does not match
that seen on the running system.  If it does match, then:

grub> root (hd1,2)
grub> setup (hd0)

Exit and try a reboot.

Just read you other posts...

On Thu, 2004-07-01 at 09:42 -0700, Hans Horn wrote:
> fixed the mount hdd3 thingy by invoking /etc/rc.sysinit, which gets me
> into 
> rw mode.

Ahh - was the old /etc/mtab!
> now grub-install is happy.
>
> however, after reboot, all I get is 'GRUB'
>
> cluelessly,
> H.

If all the above fails it may be time to re-install with the new
hardware configuration. :-(

Phil

[Hans Horn]

Hi Alex,
> Did you manually post it here? Just because in the line above it should
> be "Disk /dev/hda" and not "hdb".

So I did - should indeed be /dev/hda (typo). Have no idea how send email 
from a linux rescue session, so I typed the outputs of the fdisk commands.
> 150 heads is a bit "uncommon" I feel.

That's what fdisk says!
> No good setup, the fist partition is extended and the second is the one
> with bootable flag, though the first is marked as hidden.

That's the way the box came configured by HP when I bought it.
> > /dev/hdb1         85282   89346    2048287+   82    Linux swap
> > /dev/hdb2             1   50793   25599640+    c    W95 FAT32 (LBA)
> > /dev/hdb3  *      50793   85282   17382330+   83    Linux
> Here the third marked as bootable. hdb1 is physically at the end of the
> disk but has the first letter.

I've go not clue how "drive letters" get assigned. Can that be changed?
Btw, the Linux partitions were created from w/i winxp using partitionmagic. 
That is also where I named the Linux partition "LINUX".
Unfortunately, I can't boot into any OS these days, and my bootable 
partionmagic floppy seems to be kaputt, so I can't make any change to this 
setup using partitionmagic.

What partscheme would you recommend for this disk?
Linux bootable first, then Linux swap, then FAT32?
> Did such setups ever work for you?

This is my first attempt to install linux; it is also my first stab at 
trying dual boot.

H.

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am Do, den 01.07.2004 schrieb Hans Horn um 19:59:
> > Did you manually post it here? Just because in the line above it should
> > be "Disk /dev/hda" and not "hdb".
>
> So I did - should indeed be /dev/hda (typo). Have no idea how send email 
> from a linux rescue session, so I typed the outputs of the fdisk commands

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am Do, den 01.07.2004 schrieb Hans Horn um 19:59:
> > Did you manually post it here? Just because in the line above it

should
> > be "Disk /dev/hda" and not "hdb".
>
> So I did - should indeed be /dev/hda (typo). Have no idea how send

email
> from a linux rescue session, so I typed the outputs of the fdisk

commands.

I see :) If the drive is mounted rw and not just ro in rescue mode, then
you can redirect the output of a command into a file, like "fdisk -l >
partition.list".
> > No good setup, the fist partition is extended and the second is the

one
> > with bootable flag, though the first is marked as hidden.
>
> That's the way the box came configured by HP when I bought it.

Hm, is that a hidden partition for any administrative purpose like the
Compaq boxes had or is it for suspend to disk? Actually I am not sure
how Linux handles such partitions.
> > > /dev/hdb1         85282   89346    2048287+   82    Linux swap
> > > /dev/hdb2             1   50793   25599640+    c    W95 FAT32 (LBA)
> > > /dev/hdb3  *      50793   85282   17382330+   83    Linux
> > Here the third marked as bootable. hdb1 is physically at the end of

the
> > disk but has the first letter.
>
> I've go not clue how "drive letters" get assigned. Can that be

changed?

Not without complete repartitioning and that means backing up data and
do a clean new job.
> Btw, the Linux partitions were created from w/i winxp using

partitionmagic.

Well, though many swear on their Partition Magic tool - I like it too
for plain Windows[tm] machines - I have not that good experiences when
using PQmagic on systems with Linux on it. PQmagic and the Linux
partition tools have different opinions about partition layouts. The
best way to get heavy problems - equal to yours now - is to
pre-partition a hard drive before installing an OS with PQmagic and
later use it with Windows[tm] OS and Linux.
> That is also where I named the Linux partition "LINUX".

Ah! From there it comes. Ok, then the partition might still be labeled
"LINUX", but as Phil already pointed out it does not fit the grub.conf
settings. As said in previous paragraph, better do not partition from
PQmagic for usage with any Linux.
> What partscheme would you recommend for this disk?
> Linux bootable first, then Linux swap, then FAT32?

You have to judge yourself what would be the best way to find out of
your current situation. What I would recommend while looking at what you
posted about your drive's layout: begin from scratch. Backup all your
data, forget Windows[tm] and Linux. Make sure about the sense of the
hidden partition on the first disk. Erase the actual partitions and
begin with the installation of Windows[tm] using it's partition tool
during install. Let it reside on the first primary partition. Being
ready with the Win part install Fedora using Disk Druid.
> H.

Alexander

[Rick Mohr]

Hans,

I recently helped somone install FC2 on a laptop.  It had WinXP already
installed and FC2 was installed on a single partition after it.  After
installation, grub always got hung.  After some probing around, I reran
"grub-install" without modifying the grub.conf that FC had created, and
things suddenly started working fine.

I still don't know what the problem was, but a grub install fixed it just
fine.  Hope that helps.

--Rick

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004, Hans Horn wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I'm trying to install fedora2 on a HP AMD64 box with winxp factory-installed.
> I've got two disks, with xp installed on the first one.
>
> after the reboot following the fedora install on the 2nd disk, all I get is: GRUB
>
> using 'linux rescue' I tried to modify grub.conf with no success.
>
> here's what fdisk tells me:
>
> fdisk /dev/hda
> /dev/hda    hda1    hp-recovery
>                   hda2    NTFS (XP boot)
>
> fdisk /dev/hdd
> /dev/hdd    hdd1    swap
>                   hda3    ext3 (Linux boot)
>
> device.map says:
>
> hd0    /dev/hda
> hd1    /dev/hdd
>
> has anybody got a glue how grub.conf is supposed to look like for grub to work on my system.
>
> right now I'm pretty much dead in the water - can't boot into any OS!
>
> H.