Vista + Kubuntu + Backtrack 3 triple boot grub issue

[mmcduffie1]

Re: Vista + Kubuntu + Backtrack 3 triple boot grub issue

You want to be sure that the kernel path is right: in Backtrack, is the kernel under /boot or under / or where?
Sometimes that is a problem with panics.


autoexec=xconf;kdm
I guess that's the right format, with ;kdm at the end?

well, i checked backtrack and I still can't post there (day three and still not approved)

So, let's see what we can figure out. This where I am right now with my backtrack portion of my grub menu.lst:

title		BT3
rootnoverify	(hd0,3)
kernel 		/boot/vmlinuz vga=0x317 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;kdm

this is what it looks like in the backtrack grub menu.lst:

LABEL xconf1
MENU LABEL BT3 Graphics mode (KDE)
KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz
APPEND vga=0x317 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;kdm

if i use the code they used word for word and line by line I get no response, not even an error, when i select BT3 from my grub menu and press enter. Nothing at all.

If i remove "APPEND" and put the kernel and append lines on the same line it will boot but after a zillion lines of text fly up my screen i get a kernel panic error. It asks me to append the root= line.

I'm learning a lot about linux as I got. I've already built a really nice home server and i've done a lot of research so i've got a tiny clue but apparently I don't have a good grasp on the file ssytems yet.

So, that being said, the path to vmlinuz from root is /boot/vmlinuz (vmlinuz is the kernel yes?)

I've done a lot of googling and looked at a lot of linux forums and none of the solutions i find work.

[Qqmike]

Re: Vista + Kubuntu + Backtrack 3 triple boot grub issue

title BT3
rootnoverify (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=0x317 ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;kdm
initrd /boot/initrd.gz

There ya go! I hope

[Qqmike]

Re: Vista + Kubuntu + Backtrack 3 triple boot grub issue

just watch the spaces between all those kernel options
and there's the initrd we were missing, too;

[Qqmike]

Re: Vista + Kubuntu + Backtrack 3 triple boot grub issue

well, so ...

> Check your typing carefully. In fact, if it is not working, I would re-type it by hand (i.e., no copy-and-paste). I've had cases where it made a difference.

> Copy that kernel line and google it.

> Google on:
Boot Backtrack from GRUB

> I'm sure this won't work, but what the heck:
Re-boot.
When you see the GRUB boot menu, hit the "c" key.
grub>
Type at that prompt:
grub>chainloader (hd0,3)+1
grub>boot

(no space between (hd0,3) and +1)

> We are missing some esoteric boot option in the kernel line; or we have one that isn't needed and is interfering.
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=0x317 ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;kdm

[Qqmike]

Re: Vista + Kubuntu + Backtrack 3 triple boot grub issue

The menu.lst entry you gave me looks nothing like those I'm finding. Yours looks like an entry for running a live system in RAM, or a CD running in RAM. And the read-write doesn't make sense, should be read-only (ro).
Strange, too, that some of these don't use initrd, some do:

http://forums.remote-exploit.org/new...grub-more.html
http://backtrack.offensive-security...._and_BackTrack
http://forums.remote-exploit.org/bac...ot-win-xp.html
http://richs-lxh.linux-hardcore.com/...existing-grub/
http://forum.darkc0de.com/index.php?...m=5&topic=2838
http://forum.darkc0de.com/index.php?...m=5&topic=2838


Typical (without initrd), using your (hd0,3); these might work for (hd0,3)=sda4:

title Backtrack 3 KDE
rootnoverify (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=791 root=/dev/sda4 ro autoexec=xconf;kdm
boot

title Backtrack 3
rootnoverify (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz vga=791 root=/dev/sda4 ro
boot

I don't know why they all use "boot" at the end -- it is not needed in a menu.lst, only at a grub> prompt.

[mmcduffie1]

Re: Vista + Kubuntu + Backtrack 3 triple boot grub issue

title		BT3
rootnoverify	(hd0,3)
kernel 		/boot/vmlinuz vga=0x317 ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;kdm 
initrd	 	/boot/initrd.gz

that works! boots and everything

Now to get it to save changes but i have found a tutorial for that. Thanks for all the help and advice!

[Qqmike]

Re: Vista + Kubuntu + Backtrack 3 triple boot grub issue

Great! There seems to be different versions of this Backtrack and different ways of running it. The boot entry you quoted looks like one we'd use on a live flash drive, for example; and I see others for KDE GUI; and others for running at a console. I wasn't sure where you got the one you posted (looks like Isolinux) as I hadn't seen that in the googling, but glad it works for the version/way you are running it.

As for getting it to save this change (this addition of a new boot entry), my tutorial covers that, too:
GRUB 2 A Guide for Users
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3106368.0
You should make a "custom boot entry" (as a script file in the folder /etc/grub.d), as explained there, and then run update-grub (or grub-mkconfig). Otherwise, any changes you manually make to grub.cfg may be lost the next time grub.cfg is updated by update-grub.
-> Another good one for the grub.cfg is David's:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1195275