Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

so I used qqmike's grub install guide and installed grub into sda1. No joy, no difference, boot fails at

grub loading prompt and falls into grub-rescue, same error as detailed earlier.

it says put grub in first mbr, I put it in sda. it fails. what am i doing wrong please?

as i said before sda1 is a fat32 windows partition on disk 1
sdb1 is a linux partition on disk 2
sdc1 is a ntfs partition on disk 3

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

i put grub on hd0 and hd1 just for ****s. same error. GRUB loading.
error: no such disk
grub rescue>

must be a typo in that help guide...

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

I think sometimes the people who write some of these guides ( not qqmikes ) don't even read them:

here's an excerpt from one:

Step Three: GRUB 2 Install

Prefix: once you chroot into a system you should technically be considered root (hence the name), however, there is hundreds of linux distributions and not all should follow the exact same steps. This means that you might encounter a system where you will still need to type sudo before any command.

*

In case you don't have already grub2 installed and you're using Debian or Ubuntu, then run apt-get install grub-pc
*

Make sure you edit the /etc/default/grub file (only if you know what you are doing!) to your liking then run the following command,

and yet nowhere in the guide does he point to how to do this, making the entire guide useless!

oy gevalt you meshuggeneh.

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

i put grub on hd0 and hd1 just for #&%$s. same error. GRUB loading.
error: no such disk
grub rescue>

must be a typo in that help guide...

docs on grub rescue says i can enter various commands at the rescue prompt such as root, boot, etc.

all return : Unknown command.

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

and when I do an ls at the grub rescue prompt, I get this

(hd0) (hd0,1)(hd1)(hd1,1)(hd1,2)(hd2)(hd2,2)(hd2,1)(fd0)

completely and utterly lost right now. I'll go off and read some more googles.

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

if i try , as qqmike's guide directs to sudo grub-install /dev/sda, I get an error: grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for /boot/grub.

?
hmm, guide says make sure you have grub 2 installed. I must have a million of them installed at this point but what the heck right?

guide says : type sudo apt-get update

my system responds E: Invalid operation update.

hmmmm

how about i try to install grub-pc according to the instruction

sudo apt-get install grub-pc

well! it says I already have the newest version. finally something looks bright.

so whatever was the first error: grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for /boot/grub. supposed to mean no clue!

i cannot install grub 2 to sda , no way , tried it a dozen times. whats up?

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

[REDACTED]

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

Ok, listen up. I farted around here for 3 days and couldn't get this piece of crap to install. I loaded Ubuntu Server 8.04 in under an hour FLAWLESSLY.

THIS RELEASE SUCKS DONKEY NADS.

dibl: No bad vibes for you bro. You were excrutiatingly patient and very helpful. But whoever ok'd this release, and wrote some of these IDIOTIC 'guides', ( not yours qqmike, it's a mess but it's a valuable mess, it needs hyperlinks ) you need to go clean your rooms.

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

There's 5 or 6 pages here to read; which I haven't studied; just scanned quickly.

Conventionally, for IDE drives, enumeration is:
Primary Master = hda
Primary slave = hdb
Secondary Master = hdc
Secondary Slave = hdd

(Now, all drives are sdx's; no more hdx's.)

grub_rescue>
It has not yet worked for me.
Seems GRUB 2 was released as experimental; it certainly works for the simplest of cases.
Even the how-to writers seem baffled by the state of things. It is what it is.


sudo grub-install /dev/sdx
If it doesn't work, as my Guide says, you should then try
sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sdx


My how-to also explains that sda means the MBR of sda; and sdan means partition n of drive sda.


That how-to you seem to like to use for re-installing GRUB 2, the one using chroot, does have gaps; I know how to fill in the gaps, but still it didn't work for me on my system. That's why I wrote in my how-to another way to do it without chrooting. (my Guide, SECTION 3, Live Cd rescue.) (side note on your how-to: Respect goes to Felix, of course, who guided the how-to writer; Felix is a GRUB expert/dev and knows what he's doing. Just that the how-to needs some work. HOWEVER, it is working fine for some folks at the various forums.)


Disk does not exist (or something like that): Usually the cables are not connected properly and tightly.
If you get that error, to test it, enter BIOS setup and see if all the disks are seen by BIOS. If they are, then GRUB is not getting them from BIOS--may be a bug in GRUB then.


You have three HDDs. Pick one (call it sdy) to be the first BIOS boot drive and set the boot flag on it (and only on that drive). Suggested to let the Windows drive be the first BIOS boot drive. (However, the new GRUB 2 os-prober should detect Windows anywhere--on any drive--and automatically set up a devicemap switch for it to boot OK.) Then, install GRUB 2 to the MBR of that BIOS boot drive:
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/sdxn /dev/sdy
where
/media/sdxn is the mounted Kubuntu root partition (which contains the GRUB 2 files you are using);
/dev/sdy is the MBR of the first BIOS boot drive;
and see my how-to for the full list of (five or six) steps to set up the mounting (SECTION 3 > Live CD rescue).


sudo fdisk -lu should tell you what your drives are (sda, sdb, sdc); issued from a Live Kubuntu CD at Konsole.

[dibl]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

@aiiee, it looks like you found the right answer way back at post #7, where it said there's a problem in Kubuntu and you need to use Ubuntu server and then install kubuntu-desktop.

I personally did have trouble with Grub2, when I installed 9.10 Alpha 6, but only with respect to discovery of the second OS on the computer. I would have thought they had it straightened out before released it with 9.10. I agree with you -- there's no glory for Canonical in this one.

But, I think it was probably useful and potentially helpful to get your hard drives straightened out so you've got one and only one "boot" flag set, and one of the smaller drives for booting. At least I hope so .....

So, if you still want Kubuntu 9.10, and you have Ubuntu server installed, then all you lack is

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

Good luck with it!

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

There's 5 or 6 pages here to read; which I haven't studied; just scanned quickly.

Conventionally, for IDE drives, enumeration is:
Primary Master = hda
Primary slave = hdb
Secondary Master = hdc
Secondary Slave = hdd

(Now, all drives are sdx's; no more hdx's.)

grub_rescue>
It has not yet worked for me.
Seems GRUB 2 was released as experimental; it certainly works for the simplest of cases.
Even the how-to writers seem baffled by the state of things. It is what it is.


sudo grub-install /dev/sdx
If it doesn't work, as my Guide says, you should then try
sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sdx


My how-to also explains that sda means the MBR of sda; and sdan means partition n of drive sda.


That how-to you seem to like to use for re-installing GRUB 2, the one using chroot, does have gaps; I know how to fill in the gaps, but still it didn't work for me on my system. That's why I wrote in my how-to another way to do it without chrooting. (my Guide, SECTION 3, Live Cd rescue.) (side note on your how-to: Respect goes to Felix, of course, who guided the how-to writer; Felix is a GRUB expert/dev and knows what he's doing. Just that the how-to needs some work. HOWEVER, it is working fine for some folks at the various forums.)


Disk does not exist (or something like that): Usually the cables are not connected properly and tightly.
If you get that error, to test it, enter BIOS setup and see if all the disks are seen by BIOS. If they are, then GRUB is not getting them from BIOS--may be a bug in GRUB then.


You have three HDDs. Pick one (call it sdy) to be the first BIOS boot drive and set the boot flag on it (and only on that drive). Suggested to let the Windows drive be the first BIOS boot drive. (However, the new GRUB 2 os-prober should detect Windows anywhere--on any drive--and automatically set up a devicemap switch for it to boot OK.) Then, install GRUB 2 to the MBR of that BIOS boot drive:
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/sdxn /dev/sdy
where
/media/sdxn is the mounted Kubuntu root partition (which contains the GRUB 2 files you are using);
/dev/sdy is the MBR of the first BIOS boot drive;
and see my how-to for the full list of (five or six) steps to set up the mounting (SECTION 3 > Live CD rescue).


sudo fdisk -lu should tell you what your drives are (sda, sdb, sdc); issued from a Live Kubuntu CD at Konsole.

thx qqmike. I did all that. Did the --recheck thing. GRUB 2 IS BROKEN. IT HAS NO PLACE IN A RELEASE. But thanks. I know you put a lot of effort in that guide. It will be a good basis for a rewrite when they fix GRUB 2. If they can

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

@aiiee, it looks like you found the right answer way back at post #7, where it said there's a problem in Kubuntu and you need to use Ubuntu server and then install kubuntu-desktop.

I personally did have trouble with Grub2, when I installed 9.10 Alpha 6, but only with respect to discovery of the second OS on the computer. I would have thought they had it straightened out before released it with 9.10. I agree with you -- there's no glory for Canonical in this one.

But, I think it was probably useful and potentially helpful to get your hard drives straightened out so you've got one and only one "boot" flag set, and one of the smaller drives for booting. At least I hope so .....

So, if you still want Kubuntu 9.10, and you have Ubuntu server installed, then all you lack is

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

Good luck with it!

Thanks for reminding me about installing desktop that way. I'll give it a try. But not now. I need a long vacation and an image back up first.

Hey, can't say we didn't try 8)

[vinnywright]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

O My G .....I can not beleave this but you'r rite the Karmic 9.10 livecd that you get by folowing the download liks from the Kubuntu homepage will NOT let you put grub2 on the primarey drive that has windows on it if your instaling Kubuntu to a second disk..... in fact the disk tool in the instaler dosent even let you see or touch the windows drive at all......at least in this test.

hears how it wint...........

first let me say this was 1 he!! of an adventure I started with a old box that no mater what I did would not take a windows XP install no mater what I did ....3 diferent HD's....... every BIOS option............ prepartitioned and formated............. or blank dirve........ XP would boot let me partition and format but every time it was done copeying files neded for install and reboot..........and nothing just ERROR loading operating system............or the simaler.
3 diferent linux distrows have installed just fine......but the XP refuses.......I'll be back to this one later :P

So I opend up my second favoret box and pull it's 2 drives and insert 2 of the 3 I'v pen playing with and try XP agin.....OK this time it's going in just fine?

so now XP is instaled on drive 1 and drive 2 has ben setup for linux with a gparted cd ......and I pick an Xubuntu 9.04 just becose I was prity shur it uses grub (not grub2) so in it goes.......

ok so all is well Xubuntu is in and runing well.... grub wint to sda and added XP it's self....... and all will boot and bla bla bla.

now boot up Karmic livecd 9.10 and run the installer............and low and behold when it get's to disk setup all you see is the linux drive (/dev/sdb)the windows drive (dev/sda) is not an option??
so ok I think well just go on and .........now at the sumerey page and click the Advanced button to get to grub option's (I agey this allmost like hiding the grub option's and as importent as thay can be you'd think grub would have it's own page or 2....) and to my Horror only sdb was avelable ......I was ....was.....confused I gess I would think a larg persentage of the pepole trying linux would want to dual boot to have thare trusty windows near...............

I did get it in all though .......Kubuntu that is 9.10......it seams the old alpha 1 or so I think it is did let me play with the drives and did let me install grub2 over the preveus grub

I still think it's kraze that you cant from the relece cd though..........but hear's some drive and box info from the testbox .......

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
15 heads, 63 sectors/track, 165398 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 945 * 512 = 483840 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcd000636

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 165393 78148161 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 41.1 GB, 41110142976 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4998 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x40814080

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 260 2088418+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb2 261 4998 38057985 83 Linux

and

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82810 GMCH (Graphics Memory Controller Hub) (rev 03)
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82810 (CGC) Chipset Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801AA PCI Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801AA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801AA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801AA USB Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801AA SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801AA AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
01:0b.0 Ethernet controller: ADMtek NC100 Network Everywhere Fast Ethernet 10/100 (rev 11)

and

processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 8
model name : Celeron (Coppermine)
stepping : 3
cpu MHz : 697.717
cache size : 128 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 mtrr pge mca cmov pse36 mmx fxsr sse up
bogomips : 1395.43
clflush size : 32
power management:

and

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 378980 330856 48124 0 9860 148460
-/+ buffers/cache: 172536 206444
Swap: 2088408 0 2088408

and

Linux testbox 2.6.31-10-generic #34-Ubuntu SMP Wed Sep 16 00:23:19 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

those are all trminal rederects to file and brought over to this box for posting.............this is the onley one with net (of the desktops)

@aiiee .....I wouldent have beleved it but thare it is.

I'm just glad that I upgraded to my Karmic from 9.04 on this box and dident try to do the cd.....of course I think I would have just backed out of it as soon as i saw what I wasnt allowed to do.
and found anuther way........
but sumeone not paying close atention would verey well freek out after install when thay cant find thare kubuntu..whats wors is if I had let it install to sdb wint thrugh with it I would be left not being abel to boot eneythig.........(ya ya I mean withought speshal tools )......and as a n00b I wouldent realize that it just did what it sead it was going to.
I'd at first just be mad at that dame Karmic cd in my hand .......

NOW I love my Karmic on my mane box hear and the alphacd isent doing bad on the testbox
but I wander why the instalers disk utility was cut short frum the the alpha to the relece VER.

perplexed in NC.

VINNY

[aiiee]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

Good luck with it!

thanks again for that, not only does it work, it works well

[Qqmike]

Re: Installing Kubuntu 9.10 over old Mandriva distro

@ vinnywright. Very nice work there Vinny. If I hadn't seen your test, I wouldn't believe it! You may have hit on something: the 9.10 alpha had the right options, but the final release didn't. That may be why I was able to set it up once. I haven't tried the final release CD on my 2-HDD box because I was waiting on another GRUB 2 bug fix (the slow boot times when you have 2 HDDs and multiboot--it's been fixed now and I presume up in the repos). Hmmm ... well, it does sound like you tested this thoroughly.

You (and I mean YOU and ME and dibl) could go ahead and choose sdb, then set BIOS to boot from sdb, then get into 9.10, then re-install GRUB 2 at Konsole (in 9.10) so it installed to sda. But most normal users wouldn't probably think of that. And so on and so on. I'm not going to have time to test this for awhile, going to take your word for it for now. Thanks for checking this for us.