Grub booting ... did I forget something?

Syzygy · n00b Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 31 Location: Beloit, WI

The error is "Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter" on startup.

Alright, I've searched the forums pretty extensively and I in fact found a lot of things that I needed to fix, but I still get the error after doing so. What I HAVE done is... (I am using exactly the configuration in the handbook, manually configured kernel)

- marked /dev/hda1 as bootable
- created a grub.conf that referenced (hd0,0) and the boot image
- installed grub using install-grub and copied over the image and System.map (using 2.6.11 r9 in the name, not r3 as in the handbook)
- ensured that my hard drive is in the BIOS's boot order
- ensured that my computer boots from the Gentoo CD successfully
- verified my /etc/fstab against the example in the handbook

What I have not tried is...

- checking my ATA chain or other hardware work. Someone mentioned something about that but I don't know how to do it or what to look for.
- fdisk mentioned something about my hard drive having too many cylinders for some legacy programs -- didn't really understand it, but since my BIOS recognizes it so swimmingly, I figured it wasn't an issue.

Is there anything else I might be missing? I can provide /etc/fstab, grub.conf, etc., if anyone thinks it might be useful.
_________________
Tim Morgan
DP G5/1.8GHz, no working Gentoo (yet...)

syg00 · Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 5:03 am Post subject:

Either you didn't install grub to the MBR, or you have a device with no boot record higher in the order.
I'd be betting on a (non-system) floppy in the drive, or no boot-loader (the floppy is handled differently by the BIOS).

Syzygy · n00b Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 31 Location: Beloit, WI

devilrick · Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 8:12 am Post subject:

It shouldn't matter where your drive is in IDE bus terms, what is important is that it is listed at the top of the list (or just below cd-rom if you like) in your bios boot options. Depending on the bios that will mean having either IDE drive or a speciific IDE drive listed. If there is just the option for IDE hard drive and that is at the top of the list the error is most likely with grub. If you have options of which ide device specifically is in the boot order make sure you have the right one listed.
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Syzygy · n00b Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 31 Location: Beloit, WI

There is an option for my specific IDE hard drive (Quantum Fireball blah blah) and it was just below CD-ROM. I moved it to the top of the list to no avail. This means the error is most certainly with grub. I did a manual kernel build using almost exclusively the default settings. I copied over the image and System.map, wrote the following conf file, and executed grub-install:

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.11-r9
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.6.11-gentoo-r9 root=/dev/hda3
video=vesafb:mtrr,ywrap,1024x768-32@75
_________________
Tim Morgan
DP G5/1.8GHz, no working Gentoo (yet...)

Syzygy · n00b Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 31 Location: Beloit, WI

Another thing I didn't think of ... boot virus protection has been enabled. I disabed it and recreated the MBR. Still doesn't work.

Right now I am rearranging the devices on my IDE chain to see if any of that will do the trick.
_________________
Tim Morgan
DP G5/1.8GHz, no working Gentoo (yet...)

Scarlet Pimpernel · n00b Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 25 Location: Toronto

Go into your BIOS and make sure you are trying to boot off the right drive.

syg00 · Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 10:04 pm Post subject:

This is a BIOS message, not a message issued from the loader code in the MBR. The BIOS is not recognising the (whole) MBR as valid. I think it checks for the signature bytes at the end of the partition tale, but I don't (currently) happen to have a machine I can screw around on and test this.

Sounds like some-one has been fiddling around in the MBR - doesn't sound like a grub error.
I'd be inclined to run fdisk and write the partition back again just to be sure.

Syzygy · n00b Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 31 Location: Beloit, WI

Sounds like a good plan.

If I delete and recreate the boot partition, what install steps would I have to replicate to get all the necessary files in /boot?
_________________
Tim Morgan
DP G5/1.8GHz, no working Gentoo (yet...)

syg00 · Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 1:11 am Post subject:

Damn - sorry, my previous post should have said partition table.
Hopefully merely reading and then re-writing the table from fdisk (Linux variety) should suffice.

Also it's non-destructive in that circumstance.

Syzygy · n00b Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 31 Location: Beloit, WI

No dice. I am wiping the drive and trying again from scratch.
_________________
Tim Morgan
DP G5/1.8GHz, no working Gentoo (yet...)

nixnut · Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 5:04 pm Post subject:

How did you install grub?
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Syzygy · n00b Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 31 Location: Beloit, WI

I emerged it, wrote a conf file, and used grub-install. I've also used grub and grub --no-floppy.
_________________
Tim Morgan
DP G5/1.8GHz, no working Gentoo (yet...)

nixnut · Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 6:45 pm Post subject:

What command did you give with grub-install and later with grub?
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Syzygy · n00b Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 31 Location: Beloit, WI

First attempt:

racer_alpha · n00b Joined: 28 Apr 2005 Posts: 25

Hook a floppy drive up, put a disk in the drive, and try this...

grub
> root (hd0,0)
> setup (fd0)
> quit

Then restart the computer booting off the floppy. If it boots, it might be a harddrive problem?

MickKi · Veteran Joined: 08 Feb 2004 Posts: 1173

Ditto here, try booting using a Grub CD or floppy. But first try reconnecting the floppy, re-enabling it in the bios, etc.

I concur with syg00 that this is a BIOS/hardware issue.
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Mick

Syzygy · n00b Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 31 Location: Beloit, WI

I've tried a slightly easier approach first. I've installed Windows on the disk. That is to say, I boot from the Windows CD and let it copy over the Windows installer to my drive and then restart the computer in preparation for the installation. However -- possibly not surprisingly -- when the computer restarts it refuses to boot from the drive.

At this point it's safe to say something's probably wrong with the MBR blocks on my drive. Is there anything I can do to fix this? Any way to zero out all the data and get a fresh new drive?
_________________
Tim Morgan
DP G5/1.8GHz, no working Gentoo (yet...)

syg00 · Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 9:52 am Post subject:

Ahhhh ... yep, that's pretty easy.
BUT - there are suggestions that XP may not play nice with all zeroes. Again, I haven't tested this myself, but seems XP likes to have a drive id.
It'd be nice to chase this. Got another drive, or a floppy ???.
Save your MBR thus

MickKi · Veteran Joined: 08 Feb 2004 Posts: 1173

Or, if you want to leave the master partition table intact only back up the first 446 bytes where the boot code resides. 512 bytes include the table. I believe that running fdisk will rewrite the table (you may need to e.g. add a new partition to cause a write, or change the bootflag, etc.) There's some apps out there that will allow you to directly edit the MPT, like PowerQuest's Partition Table Editor (ptedit.exe). But unless you have some idea what you're doing you could hose your MPT or worse.

Running the DOS command fixmbr will rerwite the WinXP bootloader code into the MBR and as far as I know rescan the drives and rewrite the MPT.
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Regards,
Mick