Grub failing to work
Stephen Liu
satimis at yahoo.com
Sat Jun 17 02:20:17 UTC 2006
Hi folks,
FedoraCore5_64
Grub on this box did not work ever since running "yum update" updating
"kernel-2.6.16-1.2133_FC5" a few days ago. On starting the PC only
with "GRUB" popup on a black screen without other messages. Typing
does not work, keystroke without function. I have to run a boot floppy
to start the box/PC.
# uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.16-1.2133_FC5 #1 SMP Tue Jun 6 00:51:53
EDT 2006 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
# rpm -qa kernel
kernel-2.6.16-1.2133_FC5
kernel-2.6.16-1.2122_FC5
The boot floppy was created on this box with
# grub
grub> root (hda0,0)
setup (fd0)
I tried to fix the problem with the boot floppy without success. Steps
performed as follows;
# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 14 1734 13823932+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 1735 3008 10233405 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 3009 9729 53986432+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 3009 3262 2040223+ 82 Linux swap /
Solaris
HD - SATA interface
/boot on /dev/sda1
After starting the box/PC with the boot floppy
1)
On Konsole;
# grub
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
GNU GRUB version 0.97 (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)
[ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word,
TAB
lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the
possible
completions of a device/filename.]
grub> root (hd0,0)
root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
grub> setup (hd0,0)
setup (hd0,0)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... no
Checking if "/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,0)"... failed (this is not
fatal)
Running "embed /grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,0)"... failed (this is not
fatal)
Running "install /grub/stage1 (hd0,0) /grub/stage2 p /grub/grub.conf
"... succeeded
Done.
Exited grub and rebooted the box/PC. Still failed to boot the box/PC
with only "GRUB" displayed on a black screen, no other messages.
Keystroke did not work.
2)
On Konsole
# grub
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
GNU GRUB version 0.97 (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)
[ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word,
TAB
lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the
possible
completions of a device/filename.]
grub> root (fd0)
root (fd0)
Filesystem type unknown, using whole disk
grub> setup (hd0,0)
setup (hd0,0)
Error 17: Cannot mount selected partition
Failed. Whether I need to mount the /boot partition (/dev/sda1) first
before running "grub"? The HD is working. Would it make confusion
resulting in re-installing the complete FC5_64.
Besides I can't mount the boot floppy, either as root or as user, to
copy "grub" from it on /boot
$ cat /etc/fstab
...
....
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,user,kudzu 0 0
However I can mount a floppy with .txt files on it only by running
"mount /mnt/floppy"
It looks strange to me. Would the boot floppy only contain an image.
Please advise. TIA
B.R.
SL
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