booting/formatting

nadsys · Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:01 pm Post subject: booting/formatting

hello.

i HAD windows and gentoo installed. all was good.

then i get a bad sector error in gentoo and after running various scans decided to wipe entire disk as nothing fixed it.

used powermax to wipe disk clean (maxtor HD tool).

so now i reboot machine and go to install gentoo ONLY.

i follow all installation steps ending with bootloader installation (grub).

i reboot and i get "invalid Boot diskette, Insert BOOT diskette in A:"

now i dont have the cd in the drive or a floppy in the a:. what is this, how can i get grub loading? its almost as if its looking at another disk or unsure which disk to look at.

my grub.conf is correct (not so much an issue as its not even loading grub though).

any idea's?
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how do i change directory, try init 6

r0nin · Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:12 pm Post subject:

Post what's in your fstab and grub.conf please.
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Registered linux user #366586

--New California Gentoo Linux User Group site up (CAGLUG)

nadsys · Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:59 pm Post subject:

fstab:

/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 noauto,noatime 1 1
/dev/hda3 / ext2 noatime 0 0
/dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0
(cdrom entry and floppy entry)

none /proc proc defaults 0 0

none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0

grub.conf

default 0
timeout 10

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.8-r3
root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/kernel-2.6.8-gentoo-r3 root=/dev/hda3

all the above should be fine, as its very similar to how my other machine is setup. i think the problem lies elsewhere, what happens on startup of a machine? it check memory, then checks for keyboard and hd's, then? i have two hd's in my system, one is the disk i have always used for OS's which now only has gentoo and grub on it. the other disk is ntfs (just a data disk, no OS).

ty guys, your help is much appreciated. i wait in anticipation

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how do i change directory, try init 6

inode77 · Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 1:04 am Post subject:

When installing grub did youd do it like this?

grub
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
quit

Did you install grub into the mbr ?
Are there any error reported after installing grub stage1 and 2?

nadsys · Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 1:04 am Post subject:

sometimes i think shooting people should be made legal.

i had selected the wrong HD type to boot in bios. no frickin wonder it dont boot, worst bit is, i went and looked and double checked and then triple checked, then came here to cry and ask for help.

haha, live and (dont) learn. *hangs head in shame*
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how do i change directory, try init 6

inode77 · Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 1:06 am Post subject:

Nobody is perfect! (And my name certainly is NOT nobody) :wink: