problems using grub

Robert L Cochran cochranb at speakeasy.net
Thu Oct 23 03:35:22 UTC 2003 

All operating systems are complex. They have to be. No matter what the 
project is, you will end up needing to learn more operating system 
detais than you expect.

Reading the documentation can be a fair amount of work but there is a 
mass of good documentation out there, it is free, the quality is very 
high and a good read of the right HOWTO can solve a lot of small 
problems. I've spent hours reading documentation and wished I've done a 
better job by re-reading a lot of it!

There is a HOWTO on Lilo as well, if memory serves, and there are 
magazine articles you can read.

Bob


Well I think the Radeon FireGL cards are very ancient.

Globe Trotter wrote:

> Thanks a lot for the detailed help!
> 
> I will try as you suggest tomorrow. When i mentioned that I took off RAID from
> the system, I meant that I disabled it using the BIOS. 
> 
> No, I have not read a formal grub tutorial. Thanks for the suggestion, but
> surely this should not be so difficult if we want people to get into Linux and
> away from OS's like Windoze? 
> 
> As I have said, I am a newcomer - I am not sure I am very interested in the
> precise details of a system -- I just want something that will be fast and
> allow me to do my computation-intensive work efficiently. The graphics card
> (ATI Radeon R300 NG FireGL X1) would not provide good resolution (1600x1200)
> and so i decided to try Fedora out. I did get a higher resolution after
> manually installing the driver, but it really messed up some things (such as
> acroread). (Of course, I get 1080xwhatever resolution with Fedora, so I am not
> sure it is even worth the effort. Actually, I thought I would try Fedora out
> after the post on the ATI Radeon cards in order to contribute to the
> testing....)
> 
> Btw, I did install LILO. But am clueless as to how to get it to work....Maybe I
> will try out the google search you recommend.
> 
> Thanks for your help. I will look into it, and post. Unless I decide to go back
> to RH9 tonight....
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> --- Robert L Cochran <cochranb at speakeasy.net> wrote:
> 
>>If you post the text of your /boot/grub/grub.conf, that would help a 
>>lot. Also post the output of 'df -h' You can get all this information 
>>simply and quickly by:
>>
>>1. Make sure your CD drive is the first boot device -- go into BIOS to 
>>make sure
>>2. Put Fedora CD #1 in the CD drive
>>3. Reboot computer; at the boot: prompt enter 'linux rescue'
>>4. After your system has been mounted enter 'chroot /mnt/sysimage'
>>5. Mount a floppy disk
>>6. 'df -h > /mnt/floppy/df.txt'
>>7. 'cp -a /boot/grub/grub.conf /mnt/floppy'
>>8. 'umount /mnt/floppy', then remove the floppy.
>>9. 'exit'
>>10. 'exit'
>>
>>Have you actually read a grub tutorial and learned how to make a Grub 
>>boot disk and reinstall Grub itself? Hint: try the IBM DeveloperWorks 
>>tutorial on Grub. :-)
>>
>>I do not know how you "took off RAID" on your system. Are you using 
>>software RAID? Just how did you disable RAID?
>>
>>My suggestion is to read the RAID HOWTOs that are on 
>>http://www.tldp.org/ (The Linux Documentation Project), and try to 
>>troubleshoot your RAID problem. Sometimes it can take a while to clearly 
>>understand how devices work with software RAID, if that is what you are 
>>using, but once you do, it is all a snap and the problem goes away with 
>>the corrected config files.
>>
>>I suppose you could find Lilo from somewhere, do a Google search for it. 
>>But installing it will be tough to do and you will face the same issues 
>>with RAID. What is another bootloader going to do for you? If you messed 
>>up your RAID configuration in a panic, a different bootloader is not 
>>going to be a magic cure.
>>
>>Bob
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Globe Trotter wrote:
>>
>>>Thanks a lot! But my problem seems to exist even when I have disabled the
>>
>>raid
>>
>>>device. Any ideas as to how I can get a new bootloader?
>>>
>>>Thanks again and best wishes!
>>>
>>>
>>>--- Robert L Cochran <cochranb at speakeasy.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>If you are doing RAID1, then in your grub.conf file entry:
>>>>
>>>>kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2097.nptl ro root=/dev/md1
>>>>initrd /initrd-2.4.22-1.2097.nptl.img
>>>>
>>>>The key parameter is passing root=/dev/md1 (or whatever your RAID device 
>>>>configuration is for the root partition of the RAIDed disks). I use RAID 
>>>>1 with 2 hard disks, and mirror /boot and /, and never had a problem I 
>>>>couldn't fix. Sometimes it just takes a little experimentation and try, 
>>>>try again.
>>>>
>>>>Bob
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Globe Trotter wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>OK, I decided to give installing Fedora Core Test3 a try on my Dell
>>>>
>>>>Dimension
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>650 Dual HDD, Dual Intel Processor and have had several several
>>
>>frustrating
>>
>>>>>hours. I am in need of help!
>>>>>
>>>>>First problem: I have RAID on the system. Installing with Grub meant a
>>>>
>>>>blinking
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>light after grub stage 2 and precious little more. So I took off RAID
>>>>>completely, with not much difference in results. Except that sometimes I
>>>>
>>>>can
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>hit the escape button and then the graphical screen for booting in does
>>>>
>>>>show
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>up. I have still been unable to reproduce this reliably enough to find a
>>>>>pattern in this madness. It works sometimes, but then sometimes not. Can
>>>>>someone please help me out here?
>>>>>
>>>>>While installing, I was offered the choice of creating a boot diskette.
>>>>
>>>>When I
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>happily lapped up the opportunity, I was told that my kernels were far too
>>>>
>>>>big
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>to fit in a floppy. An option to write to a CD or several diskettes would
>>>>
>>>>be
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>really great here!
>>>>>
>>>>>Also, is it possible to get into interactive startup? I have tried fixing
>>>>
>>>>my
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>finger on "i" to no avail. Of course, the more pressing problem currently
>>>>
>>>>is
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>how to get a reliable boot into the machine.
>>>>>
>>>>>Finally, and this is very important, because I want to bring back RAID on
>>>>
>>>>my
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>system: how do I install another bootloader? I am somewhat of a newbie but
>>>>
>>>>an
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>adventurous (perhaps foolish) one at that, so could you please tell me
>>
>>what
>>
>>>>I
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>have to do to bring up LILO boot as an option. Assuming of course, I can
>>>>
>>>>get
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>into the system the next time I reboot (right now it is blinking grubbily
>>>>
>>>>at me
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>and refusing my esc carrot).
>>>>>
>>>>>I understand that the grub coalition may come at me for throwing a spanner
>>>>
>>>>into
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>their notions of enforced choice, but here I am, having read and tried all
>>>>
>>>>the
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>posts on GRUB and RAID and whatnot but still stuck. I prefer the look of
>>>>
>>>>GRUB
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>but am happier with a grubbier-looking LILO which works for me....
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks and best wishes!
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>__________________________________
>>>>>Do you Yahoo!?
>>>>>The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
>>>>>http://shopping.yahoo.com
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>--
>>>>>fedora-test-list mailing list
>>>>>fedora-test-list at redhat.com
>>>>>http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-test-list
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>-- 
>>>>Bob Cochran
>>>>Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
>>>>http://greenbeltcomputer.biz/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>--
>>>>fedora-test-list mailing list
>>>>fedora-test-list at redhat.com
>>>>http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-test-list
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>__________________________________
>>>Do you Yahoo!?
>>>The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
>>>http://shopping.yahoo.com
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>fedora-test-list mailing list
>>>fedora-test-list at redhat.com
>>>http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-test-list
>>>
>>>
>>
>>-- 
>>Bob Cochran
>>Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
>>http://greenbeltcomputer.biz/
>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>fedora-test-list mailing list
>>fedora-test-list at redhat.com
>>http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-test-list
> 
> 
> 
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
> http://shopping.yahoo.com
> 
> 
> --
> fedora-test-list mailing list
> fedora-test-list at redhat.com
> http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-test-list
> 
> 

-- 
Bob Cochran
Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
http://greenbeltcomputer.biz/

More information about the test mailing list