GRUB wont install

ryan83vt · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2002 9:45 pm Post subject: GRUB wont install

I am installing gentoo linux and I am almost done -- except I have to setup grub. The install instructions say to type root (hd0,0) then setup (hd0). I have 2 hard drives and my root partition is hdb6 which turns out to be (hd1,5) in grub language. When I type in the root command that works, then when I type setup (hd1) I get this error:

Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... no
Checking if "/grub/stage1" exists... no

Error 15: File not found

I want to just setup grub so that it writes to the MBR because I already have lilo in the mbr from a previous install of a different distro, and if I dont write to the mbr then lilo will still load. I also need grub to have the option to load windows 2k on hda1.

thanks

oh, btw while I was editing fstab my computer froze somehow. I restarted, and i was wondering if that had anything to do with it. I reran most of the commands again, bootstrapped, recompiled kernel, etc. but no grub folder.

Ian · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2002 10:22 pm Post subject:

i'm having this same problem. i started the intallation over the weekend, hoping it would be done by now so i could do my school work. i had problems, and had to bootstrap and emerge system twice, but now i think it's all working. my only problem is this GRUB thing.

i have two hard drives in my computer. 1 40 gig (hda) in three partitions, all windows. 1 ten gig (hdb) with the three gentoo partitions. i type in the same as ryan83vt (just with the correct partitions for my computer), and get the same errors as him. apart from this, i've comleted the install, so yeah, this is buggin me :p

bos_mindwarp · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2002 10:42 pm Post subject:

i solved that by emergin lilo and configuring it

Ian · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2002 10:44 pm Post subject:

that's not quite the answer i wanted, but it's worth a shot

BonezTheGoon · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2002 11:12 pm Post subject:

Depending on your BIOS having GRUB loaded into the MBR on any disk other than hda will often times do you no good (even if you can get it to load.) What you might both consider is using the windows boot loader (shiver) to boot your gentoo systems. Here is a thread on how to use the windows boot loader. Hopefully there is something useful in there for you both. As far as I can see though your logic seems to be sound, and I can't see anything wrong with it. You seem to understand the difference in referencing drives from /dev/ and grub (). It seems to me that what you are attempting to do should find the grub files where you expect them (unless there is some specific limitation in grub that prohibits this.) Once installed though, as I earlier indicated, I doubt it will do you much good depending on your BIOS and it's features/limitations.

Hope that helps!

Regards,
BonezTheGoon

BonezTheGoon · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2002 11:17 pm Post subject:

Apparently this thread has spawned into a new one when ryan83vt created another thread in reply to this one. Please reference the other thread for more information.

Thanks,
BonezTheGoon

BackSeat · Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2002 11:19 pm Post subject:

Now that you have your system built you will find that /boot is not mounted by default. So, first thing to do, as root, is:

Ian · Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2002 12:44 am Post subject:

i realized i had made an error way back in the beginning, i'm not sure what exactly. i think i mouted something wrong, or maybe used an incorrect setting, because i got a bunch of errors, and i figured it doesn't hurt to redo the installation (the fact that it takes 3 hours to compile and another 90 minutes to emerge system is a bit daunting, but if i time it right i can get it all to compile while i'm at school

). i'll make sure to switch my drives around though, so i can have GRUB on the first drive, and then hopefully it should work.