On Sun, 2008-05-25 at 10:51 -0400, Steve wrote:
> ...and I should have added in my note that after I edited grub.conf,
> rebooted and I was still stuck with just GRUB on the screen, that I
> re-installed grub from the DVD while in rescue mode and then rebooted
> again. No luck - still just GRUB. At this point I think my next move
> may be to do a complete re-install. <Sigh!>
Still sounds most likely that it's just GRUB that you have problems
with, not the whole system.
As I recall, if GRUB had managed to load the first stage, but not the
next, you'd see "GR" on the screen. If it got stuck loading a further
stage, you'd see "GRUB". If it'd got as far as reading the grub.conf
file, you'd be seeing menus or much more wordy written error messages.
If GRUB couldn't find an OS, you'd get a message saying something about
that. If GRUB started booting an OS, but the OS couldn't continue on
loading, you'd get a message from the OS about something it didn't like.
Try setting up GRUB by hand, rather than playing with grub-install. Get
yourself into a GRUB shell, somehow. e.g. From a command line on a
rescue disc, typing the "grub" command. Then, while in its shell, use
the "root" command to set the drive partition that is your /boot (this
is GRUB's root, not your Linux root), then use the "setup" command to
write the bootloader to where your BIOS can read to start booting up,
then the "quit" command to write the changes.
For instance, my /boot is /dev/sda1 (the first partition on my first
hard drive), and I'll write bootloader to the MBR of that same drive.
[root@localhost ~]# grub
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
GNU GRUB version 0.97 (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)
[ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB
lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
completions of a device/filename.]
grub> root (hd0,0)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit
[root@localhost ~]#
Adjust the hdx,y values to suit your system (x being drive number, y
being partition number). GRUB counts hard drives, ignoring optical
drives, starting from zero. Likewise, it counts partitions from zero
(zero is the first partition). Not specifying a partion means that
it'll use the master boot record for that drive.
If you don't actually have a /boot partition, you could be in for some
grief. And dual-boot systems can be a problem if you've messed with
drive boot order in your BIOS (different drives are "first" from the
BIOS's point of view, and other steps along the way). Externally
plugged in drives can also modify the order of which drives are which.
Linux avoids that with reading labels and UUIDs on the drive partitions,
but GRUB is reliant on using BIOS devices to read from drives.
Once you get past the "GRUB GRUB GRUB" messages while trying to boot a
system, then you can see if there's anything wrong with your grub.conf
file to start booting the OS. Probably due to an error in the "root="
parameter on the kernel line.
--
[tim@bigblack ~]$ uname -ipr
2.6.23.15-80.fc7 i686 i386
Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored.
I read messages from the public lists.
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