Re: boot error on hd1,0

[Barry Jackson]

On 02/06/11 17:53, Jim Whitby wrote:
> I have 3 SATA drives, with grub in the MBR of hd0.
>
> I have three OS installed, one in HD0,0 HD0,9 the other in HD1,0.
>
> I have tried several different boot methods. The latest one is this:
>
> Menu.lst of hd0,9/boot/grub;
>
> timeout 10
> color black/cyan yellow/cyan
> gfxmenu (hd0,9)/boot/gfxmenu
> default 0
>
> title linux
> kernel (hd0,9)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=LABEL=root
> splash=silent vga=788
> initrd (hd0,9)/boot/initrd.img
>
> title linux-nonfb
> kernel (hd0,9)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=LABEL=root
> linux-nonfb
> initrd (hd0,9)/boot/initrd.img
>
> title failsafe
> kernel (hd0,9)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=LABEL=root failsafe
> initrd (hd0,9)/boot/initrd.img
>
> title Mageia
> configfile (hd1,0)/boot/grub/menu.lst
>
> menu.lst of hd1,0/boot/grub is:
> timeout 10
> color black/cyan yellow/cyan
> gfxmenu (hd1,0)/boot/gfxmenu
> default 0
>
> title linux
> kernel (hd1,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=LABEL=newroot
> splash=silent vga=788
> initrd (hd1,0)/boot/initrd.img
>
> title windows
> root (hd0,0)
> makeactive
> chainloader +1
>
>
> My problem is whatever method I use, I cannot boot from hd1,0.
> Error is partition doesn't exist.
>
> Pressing return to continue and attempting to boot from hd0,9, produces
> an error about number of cylinders being wrong ( don't remember exactly
> ). Only cure is a soft reboot.
>
> If someone would point me in the right direction or let me know whatever
> other info I need to supply, I'd be most grateful.
>
> Jim

Hi Jim,
First remove any USB sticks or USB hard drives - I have issues here 
booting sdb with a stick inserted - (buggy BIOS)
If it's not that then:-
Boot into Mandriva boot menu, hit ESC, ENTER then c and you should be at 
a grub prompt.
At the prompt type "root (" without quotes and hit TAB not ENTER.
This should list the drives that grub can see (hd0) (hd1) etc.
So, question is, what can it see.
What it can see depends on what your BIOS tells it.

My recommendation for setting up Mageia would be:-
If you intend to make Mageia your main distro (good choice :) then make 
sure that it's drive is drive 0 (first in BIOS)  and is on channel 0 of 
your SATA controller so it is assigned as sda by Mageia.
First burn a Supergrub disk (only 44MB)
http://prdownload.berlios.de/supergrub/super_grub_disk_0.9799.iso
This will allow you to get to a grub prompt by hitting c at it's main 
menu, so you can boot into Mageia or Mandriva manually by using :-

find /etc/mageia-release   // or mandriva-release
                   // that will return (hdx,y) (Mageia should be (hd0,0)
root (hdx,y)               // as found above
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
initrd /boot/initrd
boot

Once in Mageia you will be able to use MCC (Mageia Control Center) to 
re-create the bootloader using the boot setup routine.
This should find your other OS's I guess Windows and Mandriva and add 
them to the menu - but this will depend on the BIOS.
If you still have the partition not found on hd1, try removing hd2 
temporarly.
OK it's late - that may give you a few ideas ;)

Barry