grub

[Patrick Dupre]

Hello,

I have 2 systems (identical) on 2 different disks:
THis is my /etc/grub.conf
boot=/dev/sda
title Fedora (2.6.23.17-88.fc7)
         root (hd0,7)
         kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 ro root=/dev/sda8 rhgb quiet 
selinux=0
         initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img

title Fedora (2.6.23.17-88.fc7 new)
         root (hd1,4)
         kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 ro root=/dev/sdb5 rhgb quiet 
selinux=0
         initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img

I can easily boot on /dev/sda8, but not on /dev/sdb5, However, if I do:

root (hd0,7)
         kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 ro root=/dev/sdb5 rhgb quiet 
selinux=0
         initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img

then I can boot on /dev/sdb5

I try plenty of things but I have not been able to make it works properly.
When I try to make a grub-install from /dev/sdb5, I get:
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
The file /boot/grub/stage1 not read correctly.

I check the /boot/grub/device.map (it has both! hd0 and hd1).

Still from /dev/sdb5,
If I do: grub
then: root (hd1,4)
I get:
  Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

find /boot/grub/stage1
gives: (hd0,7) !!!

Same if I do:
find /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.14-64.fc7

It only find the one on sda8 and never the one on sdb5
It does the same from both systems (loading from sda8 or sdb5)

I check both kernels are identical and at the right place.

then:
setup (hd0)
gives:
  Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... no
  Checking if "/grub/stage1" exists... no

Error 2: Bad file or directory type

How can I fix this grub configuration ?

thank.

[Mikkel]

Patrick Dupre wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have 2 systems (identical) on 2 different disks:
> THis is my /etc/grub.conf
> boot=/dev/sda
> title Fedora (2.6.23.17-88.fc7)
>         root (hd0,7)
>         kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 ro root=/dev/sda8 rhgb
> quiet selinux=0
>         initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img
>
> title Fedora (2.6.23.17-88.fc7 new)
>         root (hd1,4)
>         kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 ro root=/dev/sdb5 rhgb
> quiet selinux=0
>         initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img
>
> I can easily boot on /dev/sda8, but not on /dev/sdb5, However, if I do:
>     root (hd0,7)
>     kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 ro root=/dev/sdb5 rhgb
>
> quiet selinux=0
>         initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img
>
> then I can boot on /dev/sdb5

The thing you have to remember is that the "root (hdx,x)" option is
a Grub option, not a kernel option. It tells Grub where to find the
kernel and initrd files. If there are both in /dev/sda8, then you
need to use root (hd0,7) for both. If the kernel and initrd for the
new install of f7 are in /dev/sdb5, then you can use root (hd1,4).

Mikkel

[Patrick Dupre]

On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> Patrick Dupre wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have 2 systems (identical) on 2 different disks:
> > THis is my /etc/grub.conf
> > boot=/dev/sda
> > title Fedora (2.6.23.17-88.fc7)
> >         root (hd0,7)
> >         kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 ro root=/dev/sda8 rhgb
> > quiet selinux=0
> >         initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img
> >
> > title Fedora (2.6.23.17-88.fc7 new)
> >         root (hd1,4)
> >         kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 ro root=/dev/sdb5 rhgb
> > quiet selinux=0
> >         initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img
> >
> > I can easily boot on /dev/sda8, but not on /dev/sdb5, However, if I do:
> >     root (hd0,7)
> >     kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 ro root=/dev/sdb5 rhgb
> >
> > quiet selinux=0
> >         initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img
> >
> > then I can boot on /dev/sdb5
>
> The thing you have to remember is that the "root (hdx,x)" option is
> a Grub option, not a kernel option. It tells Grub where to find the
> kernel and initrd files. If there are both in /dev/sda8, then you
> need to use root (hd0,7) for both. If the kernel and initrd for the
> new install of f7 are in /dev/sdb5, then you can use root (hd1,4).
>
> Mikkel

Hi Mikkel,

I am not sure about what you said.
Even not saying root (), grub should find the image if device.map is
correct ?
Anyway, I tried what you said by setting root (hd1,4), but stil it does
only find the image on hd0,7 !!
>

[Mikkel]

Patrick Dupre wrote:
> Hi Mikkel,
>
> I am not sure about what you said.
> Even not saying root (), grub should find the image if device.map is
> correct ?
> Anyway, I tried what you said by setting root (hd1,4), but stil it does
> only find the image on hd0,7 !!

What I am saying is that the root directive must point to where the
kernel and initrd are on the disk. Do you have the
vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 kernel in the /boot directory on /dev/sdb5?

It might help if you post /etc/fstab of the new F7 install. You may
have a separate /boot partition, and that will change things. In any
case, when you update the kernel on either F7 install, you are going
to have an interesting time booting until you update then kernel on
the other one.

There are other ways to manage this, but lets take things one step
at a time and get what you are trying here working, and you
understanding what is going on.

One other point - you should really upgrade to a newer version - F9
or F10. F7 has not been supported for 6 months, and F8 is also
unsupported now.

Mikkel

[Patrick Dupre]

On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> Patrick Dupre wrote:
> > Hi Mikkel,
> >
> > I am not sure about what you said.
> > Even not saying root (), grub should find the image if device.map is
> > correct ?
> > Anyway, I tried what you said by setting root (hd1,4), but stil it does
> > only find the image on hd0,7 !!
>
> What I am saying is that the root directive must point to where the
> kernel and initrd are on the disk. Do you have the
> vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 kernel in the /boot directory on /dev/sdb5?

I have the same /boot directory on both disks

this is the fstab

/dev/sdb5               /               ext3    defaults        1 1
tmpfs                   /dev/shm        tmpfs   defaults        0 0
devpts                  /dev/pts        devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
sysfs                   /sys            sysfs   defaults        0 0
proc                    /proc           proc    defaults        0 0
/dev/sdb6               /usr            ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/sdb10              /tmp            ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/sdb11              /home           ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/sdb9               /usr/src        ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/sdb7               /usr/lib        ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/sdb8               /usr/local      ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/sdb12              /iso-image      ext3    defaults        1 2
/dev/sdb1               swap            swap    defaults        0 0

/dev/fd0        /mnt/floppy             msdos,auto      noauto,owner

/dev/sda6       /mnt/winnt-home         ntfs    umask=0222 0 0
> It might help if you post /etc/fstab of the new F7 install. You may
> have a separate /boot partition, and that will change things. In any
> case, when you update the kernel on either F7 install, you are going
> to have an interesting time booting until you update then kernel on
> the other one.
>
> There are other ways to manage this, but lets take things one step
> at a time and get what you are trying here working, and you
> understanding what is going on.
>
> One other point - you should really upgrade to a newer version - F9
> or F10. F7 has not been supported for 6 months, and F8 is also
> unsupported now.

I will make the update, as soon as I will have understand what is going 
on.

Ths grub version in FC10 is almost the same as in FC7
> Mikkel

[Mikkel]

Patrick Dupre wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> > Patrick Dupre wrote:
> > > Hi Mikkel,
> > >
> > > I am not sure about what you said.
> > > Even not saying root (), grub should find the image if device.map is
> > > correct ?
> > > Anyway, I tried what you said by setting root (hd1,4), but stil it does
> > > only find the image on hd0,7 !!
> >
> > What I am saying is that the root directive must point to where the
> > kernel and initrd are on the disk. Do you have the
> > vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 kernel in the /boot directory on /dev/sdb5?
>
> I have the same /boot directory on both disks
>
> this is the fstab
>
> /dev/sdb5               /               ext3    defaults        1 1
> tmpfs                   /dev/shm        tmpfs   defaults        0 0
> devpts                  /dev/pts        devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
> sysfs                   /sys            sysfs   defaults        0 0
> proc                    /proc           proc    defaults        0 0
> /dev/sdb6               /usr            ext3    defaults        1 2
> /dev/sdb10              /tmp            ext3    defaults        1 2
> /dev/sdb11              /home           ext3    defaults        1 2
> /dev/sdb9               /usr/src        ext3    defaults        1 2
> /dev/sdb7               /usr/lib        ext3    defaults        1 2
> /dev/sdb8               /usr/local      ext3    defaults        1 2
> /dev/sdb12              /iso-image      ext3    defaults        1 2
> /dev/sdb1               swap            swap    defaults        0 0
>
> /dev/fd0        /mnt/floppy             msdos,auto      noauto,owner
>
> /dev/sda6       /mnt/winnt-home         ntfs    umask=0222 0 0

Ok - take a look in /boot on the new install. What kernels and
initrds do you have in there? Is vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 in that
directory, along with initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img?
> > There are other ways to manage this, but lets take things one step
> > at a time and get what you are trying here working, and you
> > understanding what is going on.
> >
> > One other point - you should really upgrade to a newer version - F9
> > or F10. F7 has not been supported for 6 months, and F8 is also
> > unsupported now.
>
> I will make the update, as soon as I will have understand what is going on.

That is fine - I will do my best to explain things. I hope I can
teach you what is going on. It can be confusing because the root you
tell Grub to use may be different from the root directory the kernel
uses.
> Ths grub version in FC10 is almost the same as in FC7

The main difference is the pretty screen you can use instead of
seeing what is going on.

Mikkel

[Patrick Dupre]

On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> Patrick Dupre wrote:
> > On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> > > Patrick Dupre wrote:
> > > > Hi Mikkel,
> > > >
> > > > I am not sure about what you said.
> > > > Even not saying root (), grub should find the image if device.map is
> > > > correct ?
> > > > Anyway, I tried what you said by setting root (hd1,4), but stil it does
> > > > only find the image on hd0,7 !!
> > >
> > > What I am saying is that the root directive must point to where the
> > > kernel and initrd are on the disk. Do you have the
> > > vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 kernel in the /boot directory on /dev/sdb5?
> >
> > I have the same /boot directory on both disks
> >
> > this is the fstab
> >
> > /dev/sdb5               /               ext3    defaults        1 1
> > tmpfs                   /dev/shm        tmpfs   defaults        0 0
> > devpts                  /dev/pts        devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
> > sysfs                   /sys            sysfs   defaults        0 0
> > proc                    /proc           proc    defaults        0 0
> > /dev/sdb6               /usr            ext3    defaults        1 2
> > /dev/sdb10              /tmp            ext3    defaults        1 2
> > /dev/sdb11              /home           ext3    defaults        1 2
> > /dev/sdb9               /usr/src        ext3    defaults        1 2
> > /dev/sdb7               /usr/lib        ext3    defaults        1 2
> > /dev/sdb8               /usr/local      ext3    defaults        1 2
> > /dev/sdb12              /iso-image      ext3    defaults        1 2
> > /dev/sdb1               swap            swap    defaults        0 0
> >
> > /dev/fd0        /mnt/floppy             msdos,auto      noauto,owner
> >
> > /dev/sda6       /mnt/winnt-home         ntfs    umask=0222 0 0
>
> Ok - take a look in /boot on the new install. What kernels and
> initrds do you have in there? Is vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7 in that
> directory, along with initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img?

Yes

ls /mnt/tmp/boot -l (sdb5)
total 11396
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   78647 2008-01-21 05:20 config-2.6.23.14-64.fc7
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   78675 2008-05-15 05:42 config-2.6.23.17-88.fc7
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    4096 2009-02-25 23:42 grub/
-rw------- 1 root root 2884214 2008-01-30 19:44 initrd-2.6.23.14-64.fc7.img
-rw------- 1 root root 2927589 2008-06-03 10:10 initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  845322 2008-01-21 05:20 System.map-2.6.23.14-64.fc7
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  846522 2008-05-15 05:42 System.map-2.6.23.17-88.fc7
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1971712 2008-01-21 05:20 vmlinuz-2.6.23.14-64.fc7
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1975008 2008-05-15 05:42 vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7

and

ls -l /boot (sda8)
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   78647 2008-01-21 05:20 config-2.6.23.14-64.fc7
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   78675 2008-05-15 05:42 config-2.6.23.17-88.fc7
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    1024 2009-02-27 01:12 grub/
-rw------- 1 root root 2884214 2008-01-30 19:44 initrd-2.6.23.14-64.fc7.img
-rw------- 1 root root 2927589 2008-06-03 10:10 initrd-2.6.23.17-88.fc7.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  845322 2008-01-21 05:20 System.map-2.6.23.14-64.fc7
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  846522 2008-05-15 05:42 System.map-2.6.23.17-88.fc7
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1971712 2008-01-21 05:20 vmlinuz-2.6.23.14-64.fc7
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1975008 2008-05-15 05:42 vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7
> > > There are other ways to manage this, but lets take things one step
> > > at a time and get what you are trying here working, and you
> > > understanding what is going on.
> > >
> > > One other point - you should really upgrade to a newer version - F9
> > > or F10. F7 has not been supported for 6 months, and F8 is also
> > > unsupported now.
> >
> > I will make the update, as soon as I will have understand what is going on.
>
> That is fine - I will do my best to explain things. I hope I can
> teach you what is going on. It can be confusing because the root you
> tell Grub to use may be different from the root directory the kernel
> uses.
> > Ths grub version in FC10 is almost the same as in FC7
>
> The main difference is the pretty screen you can use instead of
> seeing what is going on.
>
> Mikkel

[Mikkel]

Patric,
 this one has me stumped. What you can try is to run "find
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7" from the grub shell, and see where
it shows each copy of the kernel.

Mikkel

[Patrick Dupre]

> Patric,
> this one has me stumped. What you can try is to run "find
> /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.23.17-88.fc7" from the grub shell, and see where
> it shows each copy of the kernel.

Hi Mikkel,

This one of the problems, grub does not see the kernel on /dev/sdb5 !

I also tried to install grub from fedora live 10.
The grub installation is OK, ie. it does see both kernels, but then
it scratches when booting, ie. it even does nor execute the grub,
I got an error before offering the choise of the kernels.
So, I had to reinstall grub from /dev/sda8 after using supergrub.
By the way, supergrub does see both kernels and I can boot either 
/dev/sda8 or /dev/sdb5 from supergrub.

It looks like a bug, but it is not easy to localize it.

Regards.