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**analyticalman** · Oct 10, 2006, 04:13 PM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

Which linux distro has installed Grub on you MBR? I'm guessing Kubuntu. Could you post your menu.lst and your partition sequence on hda and hdc. I am assuming you mean hdc holds kubuntu and linux on separate partitions. What you have typed is that they are both on the first partition of the hdc disc which obviously isn't possible. Also - what is hdb?

**PJJ** · Oct 12, 2006, 12:47 AM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

Sorry for mistyping the info on hdc1 and thank you for the reply.

I have two drives, one for Windows and data and one for Linux distros.

Drive 1 hda with partitions:
hda1 Windows
hda3 Date
hda4
hda5
hda6
hda7

Drive 2 hdc with partitions:

hdc1 Linspire (recognized as Debian/Gnu 3.1)
hdc2 Kubuntu

I never had hdb. don't know what happened to it.

The system boots from hd1,1 with the Kubuntu boot manager; it recognizes Windows, Debian (Linspire) and Kubuntu (of course). It boots Kubuntu and Windows flawlessly and starts to boot Linspire, unkompresses the kernel and then hangs with several error messages.

These message refer to 'incomplete write RAMDISK (-28 xxxx), resume2=swap location not found and, I believe, a cannot locate fs media (or so, unable to reproduce the error right now without destroying the message) resulting in a kernel panic.

Kubuntu menu.lst (relevant sections only):

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-27-386
root (hd1,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-386 root=/dev/hdc2 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-27-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-27-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd1,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-386 root=/dev/hdc2 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-27-386
boot

#title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-23-386
#root (hd1,1)
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-23-386 root=/dev/hdc2 ro quiet splash
#initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-23-386
#savedefault
#boot

#title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-23-386 (recovery mode)
#root (hd1,1)
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-23-386 root=/dev/hdc2 ro single
#initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-23-386
#boot

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd1,1)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
boot

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/hda1
title Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/hdc1.
#title Debian GNU/Linux (3.1) (on /dev/hdc1)
#root (hd1,0)
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14 root=/dev/hdc1
#savedefault
#makeactive
#boot

#title Linspire 5.1.427
#root (hd1,0)
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14 root=/dev/hdc1 ro quiet splash
#initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.14.gz
#savedefault
#boot

# hdc1, boot entry
title Linspire 5.1.427
root (hd1,0)
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14 root=/dev/ide/host0/bus1/target0/lun0/part1 rootdev=0x1601 ramdisk=33152 #video=vesafb:nomtrr jiffymount=noatime mem=nopentium resume2=swap:/dev/hdc1:0x44000 vga=0x311 splash=silent
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14 root=/dev/hdc1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.14.gz
boot

Please not that the Kubuntu entry for Linspire is the first after the Windows entry. All other entries that are commented out are my attempts to modify the file to boot Debian/GNU.

Also:

Linspire has a menu.lst file that is entirely different from Kubuntu; it has only to entries with configuration values.
The actual equivalent to menu.lst is in menu-normal.lst and/or menu-hdc=hd1.lst.

The relevant Linspire boot info is as follows:

# hdc1, boot entry
#title Linspire 5.1.427
#root (hd1,0)
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14 root=/dev/ide/host0/bus1/target0/lun0/part1 rootdev=0x1601 ramdisk=33152 #video=vesafb:nomtrr jiffymount=noatime mem=nopentium
#resume2=swap:/dev/hdc1:0x44000 vga=0x311 splash=silent
#initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.14.gz

I do not know the location of the swap partition because I never set one up manually - not in Linspire, not in Kubuntu.

If you require any other info from the boot files or any other place, please let me know and I will produce it as fast as I can.
Suggested solutions from Linspire forum posts were:
a. comment out the resume2 related line, comment out swap, etc. or:
b. copy the Linspire boot entry from menu-hdc=hd1.lst to menu-normal.lst.

Neither work. Same old error messages.

Linspire menu.lst:

# Generated by jiffyboot version 8.172. If this file is edited, the
# system will stop modifying it. To allow the system to resume
# management of this file, remove it and run /sbin/jiffyboot

default=0
timeout=0
fallback 1

title hidden (alt1)
configfile (hd1,0)/boot/grub/menu-hdc=hd1.lst

title hidden
configfile (hd0,0)/boot/grub/menu-normal.lst

**analyticalman** · Oct 12, 2006, 01:38 PM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

Phew - well - I'm no expert on linspire and thats quite some menu.lst you have there. anway - what can we see. resume2=swap command is for laptops. it writes memory to the swap disk on suspend. If you don't have a laptop (or you are not suspending to disk) you don't need it. If you don't have a swap partition (on hdc1) it'll never work! Anyway - to find your swap partition (if you've got one and kubuntu knows where it is) locate it in your /etc/fstab file - it'll tell you if any partitions are swap. Secondly, if you think you've commented it out - and you get the same error message, something is up! So what can be done. Going back to my earlier comment that I know nothing about linspire (so I'm flying blind) I would do this. First of all - back up your menu.lst in kubuntu - call it menu.old

Then uncomment all of this in your menu.lst

#title Debian GNU/Linux (3.1) (on /dev/hdc1)
#root (hd1,0)
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14 root=/dev/hdc1
#savedefault
#makeactive
#boot

#title Linspire 5.1.427
#root (hd1,0)
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14 root=/dev/hdc1 ro quiet splash
#initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.14.gz
#savedefault
#boot

Then DELETE all this

# hdc1, boot entry
title Linspire 5.1.427
root (hd1,0)
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14 root=/dev/ide/host0/bus1/target0/lun0/part1 rootdev=0x1601 ramdisk=33152 #video=vesafb:nomtrr jiffymount=noatime mem=nopentium resume2=swap:/dev/hdc1:0x44000 vga=0x311 splash=silent
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14 root=/dev/hdc1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.14.gz
boot

Then reboot. try to boot both the Linspire option and the Debian option and see if either work

Good luck!

**PJJ** · Oct 12, 2006, 11:22 PM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

Thanks for the input.
First thing I did before going to the forums or tampering with the nemu.lst was to save a copy of the original Kubuntu menu.lst as menu.lstOld. so, I should be safe in that department.

I will follow your suggestions and report back with the result.

By the way, during the boot sequence there is a reference to one or two "hidden partitions". But it goes by so fast that I cannot read it. I am familiar with making hidden files visible but do not know how to do so for hidden partitions.

Is there a Linux or Unix command that can be used. I could not find an answer to this in my Unix for Dummies book.

I appreciate any input greatly.

PS: /etc/fstab does not show any swap partition, only the drives and partitions I gave you in my previous answer.

**PJJ** · Oct 13, 2006, 12:27 AM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

OK, tried it. Did not work. Boot sequence starts, kernel uncompressing, then two slightly different error messages for the two options.
One mainly concentrated on resume2 and suspend, the other briefly mentioning resume2 and then complaining about not being able to write fs to disk.

I found references to 'resume2' and suspend' and the swap location in two files:
advanced-hdc=hd1.lst and
advances-normal lst.

Also tried to add noACPI to entry in Kubuntu boot info as well as noresume but it did not change things.

Well, guess I will have to forget about booting Linspire; or uninstall and re-install it with Kubuntu in place to get the triple boot back - maybe.

I find Kubuntu to serve me quite well so far (except that I do not have the floppy drive mounted) and I can contribute from Kubuntu to the Linspire/Freespire project (translation).

**analyticalman** · Oct 13, 2006, 02:00 AM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

Sorry it didn't work out - Maybe you have some modules compiled into your kernel that are making things difficult. Also looks like you don't have a swap partition. Not sure about these hidden partitions either. My advice would be to download and burn a copy of the gparted live CD (get it at Distrowatch) look carefully at your partitions - add a swap file - then add it to your fstab. You might get info on hidden partitions - never heard of this before

**PJJ** · Oct 17, 2006, 12:10 AM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

Used QTParted to look at partitions. No swap partition and no sign of any hidden partition. yet, on boot up a brief message flies by. Too quick to read.

I installed RestoreIT for testing. the program requires a swap partition and a partition in which to save files related to a restore point. Maybe that's where the 'hidden partitions' come from. Asked to software maker how to remove them - but I am still waiting for a reply.

As to the boot problem with Linspire: I give up on it for now. I will use Kubuntu as my Linux distro until I decide to reactivate Linsire again.

Thank you very much for your assistance. I appreciate it very much.

**analyticalman** · Oct 17, 2006, 01:19 AM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

You are almost certainly right - the only "hidden" partitions I have ever come across are related to back-up software (like GoBack) for Windows

**Ichido** · Feb 29, 2008, 04:51 PM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

The booting problem is due to Linspire/Freespire using "Jiffyboot" in the GRUB.
Jiffyboot makes it very difficult, if not impossible to use any O.S. other than the Linspire or Freespire and Windows

For now, I have two hard drives in my desktop.
One with Linspire and one with Kubuntu.
I will probably switch to Kubuntu and drop Linspire because of Jiffyboot.

**Qqmike** · Feb 29, 2008, 05:01 PM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

Linspire/Freespire just has a different menu.lst thingy-dealy.
First, you gotta refer to the right menu.lst (Linspire/FOS has two).
Second, if Kubuntu menu.lst is running the boot show, copy the *spire OS boot stanza entry from the proper menu.lst in *spire into the Kubuntu menu.lst.
Then, it'll boot fine.
Jiffy boot won't get in the way (but I agree it certainly can cause extra effort now and then dealing with it!).

**Ichido** · Mar 05, 2008, 08:47 AM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

I have tried that but Jiffyboot re-writes the Menu Lists!?

**Qqmike** · Mar 05, 2008, 09:07 AM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

Huh. I was under the impression that that behavior was disabled. It is disabled in Freespire (unless that changed this past year or so); or, at least it was disabled in the FOS I got a 24 months ago.

I would check in at Linspire or Freespire forums (very nice folks over there!) and see what they say about this.

**Ichido** · Mar 05, 2008, 09:47 AM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

Which Freespire version are you using?

**Qqmike** · Mar 05, 2008, 11:09 AM

Re: Triple booting with Kubuntu

Not using it anymore. This went back to early-2006 sometime.
No problems using it to boot Kubuntu or using Kubuntu to boot FOS (ie, thru menu.lst). Both ways worked easily, using standard GRUB methods, no Jiffyboot interference (although j-b was evident & present in some sense). The ONLY thing was that I had to work with the right menu.lst in FOS, as there are two, as you probably know, with one being "real" (as we know menu.lst to be) and the other one being some sort of back-up, fall-thru or some such.

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