Can't boot after installing 9.10 on /dev/sdb1

[rozen]

Hi,

I have a Dell XPS 410 with two 250 GB SATA drives. I just downloaded and installed 9.10 beta on /dev/sdb1 which is a 20 GB ext4 partition on /dev/sdb. That is, I manually selected /dev/sdb1 as the "/" mount point and put everthing in there.The installation completed with no error messages but my system would not boot. It did not even get to a boot menu.

I used Knoppix to do a grub-install using a menu.lst from /dev/sda6 which is where I have Mepis 8 installed and was able to boot into Mepis but unfortunately I could not mount /dev/sdb1 because Mepis 8 mount apparently does not support ext4. So I reinstalled 9.10 on /dev/sdb1 reformated as ext3. Still could not boot anything, but after repeating the Knoppix grub-install I was able to get into Mepis a look around inside /dev/sdb1 and it looked fine including the creation of a home directory for me.

I then looked at the grub.cfg and picked up a couple of lines to build the following stanza in the Mepis menu.lst,

title Kubuntu 9.10 at sdb1 (32 bit) at sdb1
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-11-generic root=/dev/sdb1 nomce quiet vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-11-generic
savedefault
boot

and followed with grub-install.


When I tried to boot Kubuntu I got an error 25, but was able boot into Mepis to compose this message.


I do not know if there is a problem with my 9.10 installation because it on /dev/sdb or if there might be a problem with my Dell concerning an OS installation on /dev/sdb. Perhaps there is some restriction that I have missed.

I would really like to try Koala without moving my home from /dev/sda to /dev/sdb to make room for an installation on /dev/sda. So I will appreciate any suggestion.

Thanks in Advance,
Don

[dibl]

Re: Can't boot after installing 9.10 on /dev/sdb1

For the Mepis legacy grub menu, it looks right.

For the Kubuntu Grub2, try setting the Kubuntu root at (hd1,1). Grub2 is using the normal method of counting partitions (i.e. starting at #1) but retains the legacy Grub method of counting hard drives, in which the first drive is #0.

[Qqmike]

Re: Can't boot after installing 9.10 on /dev/sdb1

Hmm ....


GRUB Legacy:

From inside MEPIS, try to explore the drives:
Konsole
sudo fdisk -lu

and then

sudo grub
grub>geometry (hd<Press the TAB key now>
(do not type the < and > symbols.
Explore, like this:
grub>geometry (hd1,0)

See if everything looks OK -- with no errors.

Hardware:
Make sure for each SATA drive that the data cable (the thin one) is firmly attached to the drive and to the SATA port on the motherboard. (These new SATA cables are prone to popping loose.) Make sure the power cable is attached (from the power supply to the hard drive).

BIOS:
Check BIOS setup to see that BIOS recognizes both drives, that LBA is enabled, that the hard drives are set to "Auto," that the Boot Order list looks right.

[Qqmike]

Re: Can't boot after installing 9.10 on /dev/sdb1

do what dibl says FIRST
(altho I thought you installed GRUB Legacy to everything from MEPIS ...? )

[dibl]

Re: Can't boot after installing 9.10 on /dev/sdb1

If you are using the legacy Grub from Mepis, then don't worry about the Grub 2 comments.

However, better use the grub "geometry" command to make sure you and your BIOS have the same understanding of (hd0) and (hd1).

[Qqmike]

Re: Can't boot after installing 9.10 on /dev/sdb1

and one more checkpoint:

"...I then looked at the grub.cfg and picked up a couple of lines to build the following stanza in the Mepis menu.lst,"

If you copied that menu entry (from one menu to another), and nothing else has worked, try typing it by hand (i.e., do not use Copy for any of it).