missing operating system problem -solved

Mark A. Beaumont m.a.beaumont at reading.ac.uk
Wed May 18 13:13:13 UTC 2005


Jim Cornettes advice worked. I reinstalled the system, but when I got to 
the partioning, I set it to do it automatically as before, but set it to 
review it, and then edited the boot partition (/dev/sda1) and ticked the 
box to force it to be primary.

(I now have a problem with eth0, but will work on it for the moment...)

Thanks

> Mark A. Beaumont wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>>
>> I cannot get the system to boot up after installing fedora core 3. I 
>> just get the message "missing operating system"
>>
>> I have tried to install fedora core 3 (specifically FC3-x86_64) onto a 
>> Dell PowerEdge SC1420 SATA (Dual 64-bit Intel Xeon processor 3.2GHz 
>> with 1MB L2 cache) 160GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive.
>>
>> The machine is new. The disk was initially clean (no other OS 
>> installed) and in the installation procedure I chose to wipe all 
>> partitions. I followed all the defaults during formatting and 
>> installation. I don't want a dual boot system. Everything seemed to 
>> install smoothly with no warning messages. But it will not boot.
>>
>> Any ideas gratefully received.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Mark
>>
> 
> 
> Timothy Murphy wrote:
> 
>>
>>
>> Did you try the Fedora Rescue CD?
>> Or you could try Knoppix.
>> In either case you could look at /etc/grub.conf
>> and see if this is correct.
>> If it is you could try re-installing with "grub-install 
>> --recheck/dev/hda"
>> (or whatever your hard disk is called).
>>
>>
> 
> 
> 
> Matt Morgan wrote:
> 
>>
>> Is your system trying to boot off the correct drive? For example, do
>> you have a floppy in the drive, or a CD in the tray? Is your BIOS set
>> to boot first off the drive that you installed the OS on?
>>
>> My apologies if you've already considered these things, but I forget
>> all the time :-).
>>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Rick Stevens wrote:
> 
>> Mark A. Beaumont wrote:
>>
>>> Many thanks for people's suggestions so far...
>>>
>>> Yes - I have checked that there are no other disks causing a problem. 
>>> I have played with the ordering of boot drives; I have run the fedora 
>>> installation cd in rescue mode. I played with all possible 
>>> permutations of how to set up the boot configuration, but everything 
>>> gave the same result. The trouble is I don't really know what I'm 
>>> looking for. The grub.conf looks like others I've seen while trawling 
>>> through Google, so I assume it is OK.
>>
>>
>>
>> The forum prefers bottom-posting, so if you could comply, we'd
>> appreciate it.
>>
>> We'd like to see the contents of /boot/grub/grub.conf so we can see what
>> it is.  Also include your system layout (type of disks, how they're set
>> up and such).
>>
>> Oh, and one additional thing...do NOT rely on the dread "cable select"
>> option on IDE drives.  Jumper them as Master or Slave.  NEVER trust
>> cable select.  Never, never, never!
>>
> 
> 

Mark A. Beaumont wrote:
 > When I go into rescue mode I get, e.g.:
 >
 > Your system is mounted under the /mnt/sysimage directory
 >
 > Sh-3.00# df -l
 > Filesystem           1K-blocks       Used Available Use% Mounted on
 > rootfs                7163          4937      1817   74% /
 > /dev/root.old         7163          4937      1817   74% /
 > /tmp/loop0           179924       179924         0  100% /mnt/runtime
 > /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
 >                   151560372      3469504 140392028    3% /mnt/sysimage
 > /dev/sda1            101086        13972     81895   15% /mnt/sysimage/
 >                                                                    boot
 > /dev/root.old         7163         4937      1817   74% /mnt/sysimage/
 >                                                                    dev
 >
 > My grub.conf (in /mnt/sysimage/boot/grub) is
 >
 > # grub.conf generated by anaconda
 > #
 > # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to 
this file
 > # NOTICE:  you have a /boot partition. This means that
 > #          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/ , eg.
 > #          root (hd0,0)
 > #          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
 > #          initrd /initrd-version.img
 > #boot=/dev/sda
 > default=0
 > timeout=5
 > splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
 > hiddenmenu
 > title Fedora Core (2.6.9-1.667smp)
 >          root (hd0,0)
 >          kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667smp ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
 >                                                               rhgb quiet
 >          initrd /initrd-2.6.9-1.667smp.img
 > title Fedora Core (2.6.9-1.667)
 >          root (hd0,0)
 >          kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
 >                                                               rhgb quiet
 >          initrd /initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img
 >
 >
 >
 > Concerning disks - there is just one: a 160GB SATA hard drive. The BIOS
 > is currently set to boot floppy, CD, hard-drive; I've fiddled with
 > ordering etc, but makes now difference.
 >

Jim Cornette wrote:
> 
> I had troubles before using drives that were used fro the first time 
> before. I set the /boot partition as active and things worked alright. 
> Do you have a partition set as active on the primary disk?
> 
> This seemed to be a BIOS expectation and not one of the operating system 
> being installed.
> 
> Jim
> 



-- 
Mark A. Beaumont,
School of Animal and Microbial Sciences,
University of Reading,
Whiteknights,
P.O. Box 228,
Reading RG6 6AJ,
UK

Tel 0118 378 7707
Fax 0118 931 0180
Email: m.a.beaumont at reading.ac.uk
WWW: http://www.rubic.rdg.ac.uk/~mab/




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