Void's Forums

by **Void Main** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 1:00 pm

If that's the boot loader you want to use then yes. Then in your Mandrake GRUB configuration file you would add the other OSs to boot. If you installed the boot loaders on the partitions that you installed your other OSes on you should be able to just point to the partition to boot in your GRUB configuration just like you do for booting Windows. Then the grub that you installed in your other OS will take over the boot process. Of course that is not the only way to do it. You can also copy all of your kernels from all of your other Linux installs into the /boot dir on your Mandrake partition and set up the boot entries for it in Mandrake's grub.conf but you shouldn't have to do it that way.

by **Calum** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 2:45 pm

i shouldn't and i would like to avoid it since it would mean the partitions being renumbered and me having a lot of trouble with windows not being on /dev/hda1

well, i made it so only hda5 was bootable and then tried to do 'grub-install /dev/hda' and i still get that exact error message that i got before about part5 not having a corresponding bios drive, and since i originally got that message i have uninstalled grub using rpm and installed the latest version from source, still same error message.
here's the real output of 'fdisk -l /dev/hda', third time lucky:

Code: Select all: Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 1868 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 * 1 252 2024158+ b Win95 FAT32 /dev/hda2 253 412 1285200 83 Linux /dev/hda3 413 1808 11213370 5 Extended /dev/hda4 1809 1868 481950 82 Linux swap /dev/hda5 413 767 2851506 83 Linux /dev/hda6 768 1122 2851506 83 Linux /dev/hda7 1123 1339 1743021 83 Linux /dev/hda8 1340 1594 2048256 83 Linux /dev/hda9 1595 1808 1718923+ 83 Linux

i made hda1 bootable again in case i need to boot windows sometime. in the meantime i still use my trusty mandrake boot floppy under normal circumstances.

by **Void Main** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 2:58 pm

What does your grub.conf (or menu.lst) file look like on /dev/hda5? I might have to set up a VMware session and partition a disk like what you have. I haven't messed with multi boot in quite some time and am getting rusty I guess. I have 6 machines here at home, all with Red Hat 8.0 only, no dual boot.

by **Void Main** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 9:15 pm

Ok, I just did some playing with GRUB and multiple Linux installs in VMware. Here is my partition table:

Code: Select all: Disk /dev/sda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 510 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux /dev/sda2 14 191 1429785 83 Linux /dev/sda3 192 231 321300 82 Linux swap /dev/sda4 232 510 2241067+ 5 Extended /dev/sda5 232 244 104391 83 Linux /dev/sda6 245 510 2136613+ 83 Linux

/dev/sda1 is a "/boot" partition containing the GRUB configuration for all OSs and the kernel for the OS that has the root file system on /dev/sda2. The second installation has "/boot" on /dev/sda5 which contains the kernel for the OS that has the root file system of "/dev/sda6". Of course you don't need separate /boot partitions, I just did it that way to make it a little more complex.

Here is what my menu.lst looks like on /dev/sda1:

Code: Select all: # grub.conf generated by anaconda # # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file # NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that # all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg. # root (hd0,0) # kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sda2 # initrd /initrd-version.img #boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=10 splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz title RH8 1 root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-14 ro root=/dev/sda2 initrd /initrd-2.4.18-14.img title RH8 2 root (hd0,4) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-14 ro root=/dev/sda6 initrd /initrd-2.4.18-14.img

Instead of two copies of Red Hat I could just as well have had a copy of Red Hat and Mandrake. The easiest way to get all of this working would be at install time.

First install your Windows on /dev/hda1, then install the OS that you want to use GRUB to bootstrap all the others and have it install GRUB on /dev/hda. I would suggest using one of the primary partitions for your /boot containing this copy of GRUB. Now, when you install the next linux have it install to the partition rather than the MBR (not /dev/hda). In fact you really don't even need to install GRUB at all, just as long as the kernel gets installed, but if you do install grub you can copy the section out of the "menu.lst" and paste it into the first menu.lst from the first Linux installation. This should work for additional Linux installations. Hopefully that isn't too confusing.

by **Calum** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:44 am

it's not confusing at all, and in fact it's what i have been doing up till now with no problems. as i say i have a windows partition, a freeBSD partition (not currently got freeBSD on it, it's hda2 at the moment and i think i left it as ext2 last time i reformatted everything)as primary partitions and all the linuces are within an extended partition. the freeBSD and windows partitions need to be on primary partitions because they cannot be booted from within an extended partition.

so inside the extended partition i have my mandrake / and my mandrake /home partitions, i also have some other linux partitions (lycoris, vectorlinux, debian et c) and every time i install a new one i just use vi to edit mandrake's menu.lst file (usually this will be located at /mnt/mandrake/boot/grub/menu.lst after i have edited my new linux' fstab and so on) and up till now this has worked fine. i just install a new OS and then edit mandrake's menu.lst file.

until one day, disaster struck. forced by fate to install windows, i was faced with a dillema. windows overwrote my MBR. no longer could i just update my menu.lst file, i also had to run grub-install /dev/hda but NO! when i try to do that i get this flaming error about a BIOS drive! as i say, last time i needed to install a grub boot sector it worked fine, but i have installed a lot of linuces and one windows since then, and i was hoping there would be a way to fix it all without a week of annoying reinstalling and editing by hand of fstab files again. maybe i will experiment with making a tgz file for use with pkginstall to autoreplace all the fstab files with ones i have saved from my current install. maybe that will cause more problems than it will solve!

well it looks like i might have to reinstall mandrake then to get it to work. what i might try and do is to put the swap partition (currently primary) inside the extended partition, thus giving me room to make the mandrake root partition (currently inside the extended partition) into a primary partition. still no /boot partition but hey, i'll just have to live dangerously.

thanks for all your help.

by **Void Main** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:48 am

Ok, I see your issue now. I'm a little slow and not very observant so please bear with me. You should be able to get this fixed without reinstalling mandrake. Let me do some more research.

by **Calum** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:52 am

oh yeah! i could just do grub-install /dev/fd0 couldn't i? that would save me a few floppy disks sitting on top of the computer case!

by **Void Main** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 10:01 am

Yes, you most certainly can create a GRUB boot disk with your existing menu.lst.

On my VMware test dual boot setup I just ran:

# grub-install /dev/hda

and I got that same BIOS error except it actually said "/dev/hda" and the device it had the problem with instead of "/dev/ide/*/*/*/part5" like in your case. I realize why I got the error, it's because I actually needed to use "/dev/sda" rather than "/dev/hda" which worked perfectly when I ran the command against the proper device. Now the question is, where is your machine getting this "/dev/ide/*/*/*/part5" crap from? It almost looks like what you would see in the 2.5 kernel with "devfs" turned on. Looking through the script the first thing that grub-install looks for is "/boot/grub/device.map" (depending on where you have grub installed). Here's what my device.map looks like:

Code: Select all: # this device map was generated by anaconda (fd0) /dev/fd0 (hd0) /dev/sda

What does your's look like? Your's should have "/dev/hda" rather than "/dev/sda".

Also, what is the output of this command:

# grub-install --debug /dev/hda

And one last thing, what is the output of this command:

# df

I think with this information we'll be close to having it figured out.

by **Calum** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 8:17 am

ok, here goes:

Code: Select all: root@localhost:/home/calum# cat /boot/grub/device.map (fd0) /dev/fd0 (hd0) /dev/hda root@localhost:/home/calum# grub-install --debug /dev/hda + bootdir=/boot + grubdir=/boot/grub + device_map=/boot/grub/device.map + test -f /usr/local/sbin/grub + : + test -f /usr/local/share/grub/i386-pc/stage1 + : + test -f /usr/local/share/grub/i386-pc/stage2 + : + test -d /boot + test -d /boot/grub + test no = yes + test -f /boot/grub/device.map + : ++ sed -n '/^([fh]d[0-9]*)/s/$^(.*)$.*/\1/p' /boot/grub/device.map ++ sort ++ uniq -d ++ sed -n 1p + tmp= + test -n '' ++ convert /dev/hda ++ test -e /dev/hda ++ : +++ echo /dev/hda +++ sed -e 's%$[sh]d[a-z]$[0-9]*$%\1%' -e 's%$fd[0-9]*$$%\1%' -e 's%/part[0-9]*$%/disc%' -e 's%$c[0-7]d[0-9]*$.*$%\1%' ++ tmp_disk=/dev/hda +++ echo /dev/hda +++ sed -e 's%.*/[sh]d[a-z]$[0-9]*$$%\1%' -e 's%.*/fd[0-9]*$%%' -e 's%.*/floppy/[0-9]*$%%' -e 's%.*/$disc\|part\([0-9]*$\)$%\2%' -e 's%.*c[0-7]d[0-9]*p*%%' ++ tmp_part= +++ grep -v '^#' /boot/grub/device.map +++ grep '/dev/hda *$' +++ sed 's%.*$([hf]d[0-9][a-g0-9,]*)$.*%\1%' ++ tmp_drive=(hd0) ++ test 'x(hd0)' = x ++ test x '!=' x ++ echo '(hd0)' + install_drive=(hd0) + test 'x(hd0)' = x ++ find_device +++ df / +++ sed -n 's%.*$/dev/[^ ]*$.*%\1%p' ++ tmp_fname=/dev/hda5 ++ test -z /dev/hda5 ++ test -L /dev/hda5 +++ ls -al /dev/hda5 +++ sed -n 's%.*-> %\1%p' ++ tmp_new_fname=ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ test -z ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 +++ echo /dev/hda5 +++ sed 's%/[^/]*$%%' ++ tmp_fname=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ test -L /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ echo /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 + root_device=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ find_device /boot +++ df /boot/ +++ sed -n 's%.*$/dev/[^ ]*$.*%\1%p' ++ tmp_fname=/dev/hda5 ++ test -z /dev/hda5 ++ test -L /dev/hda5 +++ ls -al /dev/hda5 +++ sed -n 's%.*-> %\1%p' ++ tmp_new_fname=ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ test -z ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 +++ echo /dev/hda5 +++ sed 's%/[^/]*$%%' ++ tmp_fname=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ test -L /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ echo /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 + bootdir_device=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 + test x/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 '!=' x/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ convert /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ test -e /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ : +++ echo /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 +++ sed -e 's%$[sh]d[a-z]$[0-9]*$%\1%' -e 's%$fd[0-9]*$$%\1%' -e 's%/part[0-9]*$%/disc%' -e 's%$c[0-7]d[0-9]*$.*$%\1%' ++ tmp_disk=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc +++ echo /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 +++ sed -e 's%.*/[sh]d[a-z]$[0-9]*$$%\1%' -e 's%.*/fd[0-9]*$%%' -e 's%.*/floppy/[0-9]*$%%' -e 's%.*/$disc\|part\([0-9]*$\)$%\2%' -e 's%.*c[0-7]d[0-9]*p*%%' ++ tmp_part=5 +++ grep -v '^#' /boot/grub/device.map +++ grep '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc *$' +++ sed 's%.*$([hf]d[0-9][a-g0-9,]*)$.*%\1%' ++ tmp_drive= ++ test x = x ++ echo '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive.' /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive. ++ exit 1 + root_drive= + test x = x + exit 1 root@localhost:/home/calum# df Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/hda5 2806664 1261828 1402264 48% / /dev/hda6 2806664 490672 2173420 19% /home /dev/hda9 1691880 149336 1456600 10% /mnt/debian /dev/hda8 2015517 1194203 718902 63% /mnt/lycoris /dev/hda7 1715588 476028 1152412 30% /mnt/peanut /dev/hda1 2020196 1226724 793472 61% /C

by **Void Main** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 8:54 am

Now I am confused. I thought you were using Mandrake. Why is it looking for GRUB stuff under "/usr/local"? You apparently are not running the stock GRUB that comes with Mandrake? I would suggest uninstalling the GRUB that is installed in /usr/local and making sure you have the stock Mandrake one installed and try it again. If it still doesn't work can you put a copy of your "grub-install" script somewhere where I can get it and look over it? It's obviously different than mine. Thanks.

by **Calum** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 11:18 am

okay, here goes again.
now you mention it i think i actually was using grub 0.93 from gnu.org, however i have now installed grub0.92-mdk and am having the exact same problem. to whit:

Code: Select all: root@localhost:/home/calum# rpm --query grub grub-0.92-1mdk root@localhost:/home/calum# grub-install /dev/hda /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive. root@localhost:/home/calum# grub-install --debug /dev/hda + bootdir=/boot + grubdir=/boot/grub + device_map=/boot/grub/device.map + test -f /usr/sbin/grub + : + test -d /boot + test -d /boot/grub + test no = yes + test -f /boot/grub/device.map + : ++ convert /dev/hda ++ test -e /dev/hda ++ : +++ echo /dev/hda +++ sed -e 's%$[sh]d[a-z]$[0-9]*$%\1%' -e 's%$fd[0-9]*$$%\1%' -e 's%/part[0-9]*$%/disc%' -e 's%$c[0-7]d[0-9]*$.*$%\1%' ++ tmp_disk=/dev/hda +++ echo /dev/hda +++ sed -e 's%.*/[sh]d[a-z]$[0-9]*$$%\1%' -e 's%.*/fd[0-9]*$%%' -e 's%.*/floppy/[0-9]*$%%' -e 's%.*/$disc\|part\([0-9]*$\)$%\2%' -e 's%.*c[0-7]d[0-9]*p*%%' ++ tmp_part= +++ grep -v '^#' /boot/grub/device.map +++ grep '/dev/hda *$' +++ sed 's%.*$([hf]d[0-9][a-g0-9,]*)$.*%\1%' ++ tmp_drive=(hd0) ++ test 'x(hd0)' = x ++ test x '!=' x ++ echo '(hd0)' + install_drive=(hd0) + test 'x(hd0)' = x ++ find_device +++ df / +++ sed -n 's%.*$/dev/[^ ]*$.*%\1%p' ++ tmp_fname=/dev/hda5 ++ test -z /dev/hda5 ++ test -L /dev/hda5 +++ ls -al /dev/hda5 +++ sed -n 's%.*-> %\1%p' ++ tmp_new_fname=ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ test -z ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 +++ echo /dev/hda5 +++ sed 's%/[^/]*$%%' ++ tmp_fname=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ test -L /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ echo /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 + root_device=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ find_device /boot +++ df /boot/ +++ sed -n 's%.*$/dev/[^ ]*$.*%\1%p' ++ tmp_fname=/dev/hda5 ++ test -z /dev/hda5 ++ test -L /dev/hda5 +++ ls -al /dev/hda5 +++ sed -n 's%.*-> %\1%p' ++ tmp_new_fname=ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ test -z ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 +++ echo /dev/hda5 +++ sed 's%/[^/]*$%%' ++ tmp_fname=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ test -L /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ echo /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 + bootdir_device=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 + test x/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 '!=' x/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ convert /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ test -e /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 ++ : +++ echo /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 +++ sed -e 's%$[sh]d[a-z]$[0-9]*$%\1%' -e 's%$fd[0-9]*$$%\1%' -e 's%/part[0-9]*$%/disc%' -e 's%$c[0-7]d[0-9]*$.*$%\1%' ++ tmp_disk=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc +++ echo /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 +++ sed -e 's%.*/[sh]d[a-z]$[0-9]*$$%\1%' -e 's%.*/fd[0-9]*$%%' -e 's%.*/floppy/[0-9]*$%%' -e 's%.*/$disc\|part\([0-9]*$\)$%\2%' -e 's%.*c[0-7]d[0-9]*p*%%' ++ tmp_part=5 +++ grep -v '^#' /boot/grub/device.map +++ grep '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc *$' +++ sed 's%.*$([hf]d[0-9][a-g0-9,]*)$.*%\1%' ++ tmp_drive= ++ test x = x ++ echo '/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive.' /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive. ++ exit 1 + root_drive= + test x = x + exit 1 root@localhost:/home/calum# cat /usr/sbin/grub-install #! /bin/sh # Install GRUB on your drive. # Copyright (C) 1999,2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. # # This file is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it # under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by # the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or # (at your option) any later version. # # This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but # WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU # General Public License for more details. # # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License # along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software # Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. # Initialize some variables. prefix=/usr exec_prefix=/usr sbindir=/usr/sbin datadir=/usr/share PACKAGE=grub VERSION=0.92 host_cpu=i386 host_os=linux-gnu host_vendor=mandrake pkgdatadir=${datadir}/${PACKAGE}/${host_cpu}-${host_vendor} grub_shell=${sbindir}/grub log_file=/tmp/grub-install.log.$$ img_file=/tmp/grub-install.img.$$ rootdir= grub_prefix=/boot/grub install_device= force_lba= recheck=no debug=no # look for secure tempfile creation wrappers on this platform if test -x /bin/tempfile; then mklog="/bin/tempfile --prefix=grub" mkimg="/bin/tempfile --prefix=grub" elif test -x /bin/mktemp; then mklog="/bin/mktemp /tmp/grub-install.log.XXXXXX" mkimg="/bin/mktemp /tmp/grub-install.img.XXXXXX" else mklog="" mkimg="" fi # Usage: usage # Print the usage. usage () { cat <<EOF Usage: grub-install [OPTION] install_device Install GRUB on your drive. -h, --help print this message and exit -v, --version print the version information and exit --root-directory=DIR install GRUB images under the directory DIR instead of the root directory --grub-shell=FILE use FILE as the grub shell --force-lba force GRUB to use LBA mode even for a buggy BIOS --recheck probe a device map even if it already exists INSTALL_DEVICE can be a GRUB device name or a system device filename. Report bugs to <bug-grub@gnu.org>. EOF } # Usage: convert os_device # Convert an OS device to the corresponding GRUB drive. # This part is OS-specific. convert () { # First, check if the device file exists. if test -e "$1"; then : else echo "$1: Not found or not a block device." 1>&2 exit 1 fi # Break the device name into the disk part and the partition part. case "$host_os" in linux*) tmp_disk=`echo "$1" | sed -e 's%$[sh]d[a-z]$[0-9]*$%\1%' \ -e 's%$fd[0-9]*$$%\1%' \ -e 's%/part[0-9]*$%/disc%' \ -e 's%$c[0-7]d[0-9]*$.*$%\1%'` tmp_part=`echo "$1" | sed -e 's%.*/[sh]d[a-z]$[0-9]*$$%\1%' \ -e 's%.*/fd[0-9]*$%%' \ -e 's%.*/floppy/[0-9]*$%%' \ -e 's%.*/$disc\|part\([0-9]*$\)$%\2%' \ -e 's%.*c[0-7]d[0-9]*p*%%'` ;; gnu*) tmp_disk=`echo "$1" | sed 's%$[sh]d[0-9]*$.*%\1%'` tmp_part=`echo "$1" | sed "s%$tmp_disk%%"` ;; freebsd*) tmp_disk=`echo "$1" | sed 's%r\{0,1\}$[saw]d[0-9]*$.*$%r\1%' \ | sed 's%r\{0,1\}$da[0-9]*$.*$%r\1%'` tmp_part=`echo "$1" \ | sed "s%.*/r\{0,1\}[saw]d[0-9]$s[0-9]*[a-h]$%\1%" \ | sed "s%.*/r\{0,1\}da[0-9]$s[0-9]*[a-h]$%\1%"` ;; netbsd*) tmp_disk=`echo "$1" | sed 's%r\{0,1\}$[sw]d[0-9]*$.*$%r\1d%' \ | sed 's%r\{0,1\}$fd[0-9]*$.*$%r\1a%'` tmp_part=`echo "$1" \ | sed "s%.*/r\{0,1\}[sw]d[0-9]$[abe-p]$%\1%"` ;; *) echo "grub-install does not support your OS yet." 1>&2 exit 1 ;; esac # Get the drive name. tmp_drive=`grep -v '^#' $device_map | grep "$tmp_disk *$" \ | sed 's%.*$([hf]d[0-9][a-g0-9,]*)$.*%\1%'` # If not found, print an error message and exit. if test "x$tmp_drive" = x; then echo "$1 does not have any corresponding BIOS drive." 1>&2 exit 1 fi if test "x$tmp_part" != x; then # If a partition is specified, we need to translate it into the # GRUB's syntax. case "$host_os" in linux*) echo "$tmp_drive" | sed "s%)$%,`expr $tmp_part - 1`)%" ;; gnu*) if echo $tmp_part | grep "^s" >/dev/null; then tmp_pc_slice=`echo $tmp_part \ | sed "s%s$[0-9]*$[a-g]*$%\1%"` tmp_drive=`echo "$tmp_drive" \ | sed "s%)%,\`expr "$tmp_pc_slice" - 1\`)%"` fi if echo $tmp_part | grep "[a-g]$" >/dev/null; then tmp_bsd_partition=`echo "$tmp_part" \ | sed "s%[^a-g]*$[a-g]$$%\1%"` tmp_drive=`echo "$tmp_drive" \ | sed "s%)%,$tmp_bsd_partition)%"` fi echo "$tmp_drive" ;; freebsd*) if echo $tmp_part | grep "^s" >/dev/null; then tmp_pc_slice=`echo $tmp_part \ | sed "s%s$[0-9]*$[a-h]*$%\1%"` tmp_drive=`echo "$tmp_drive" \ | sed "s%)%,\`expr "$tmp_pc_slice" - 1\`)%"` fi if echo $tmp_part | grep "[a-h]$" >/dev/null; then tmp_bsd_partition=`echo "$tmp_part" \ | sed "s%s\{0,1\}[0-9]*$[a-h]$$%\1%"` tmp_drive=`echo "$tmp_drive" \ | sed "s%)%,$tmp_bsd_partition)%"` fi echo "$tmp_drive" ;; netbsd*) if echo $tmp_part | grep "^[abe-p]$" >/dev/null; then tmp_bsd_partition=`echo "$tmp_part" \ | sed "s%$[a-p]$$%\1%"` tmp_drive=`echo "$tmp_drive" \ | sed "s%)%,$tmp_bsd_partition)%"` fi echo "$tmp_drive" ;; esac else # If no partition is specified, just print the drive name. echo "$tmp_drive" fi } # Usage: find_device file # Find block device on which the file resides. find_device () { # For now, this uses the program `df' to get the device name, but is # this really portable? tmp_fname=`df $1/ | sed -n 's%.*$/dev/[^ ]*$.*%\1%p'` if test -z "$tmp_fname"; then echo "Could not find device for $1" 2>&1 exit 1 fi # Resolve symlinks while test -L $tmp_fname; do tmp_new_fname=`ls -al $tmp_fname | sed -n 's%.*-> %\1%p'` if test -z "$tmp_new_fname"; then echo "Unrecognized ls output" 2>&1 exit 1 fi # Convert relative symlinks case $tmp_new_fname in /*) tmp_fname="$tmp_new_fname" ;; *) tmp_fname="`echo $tmp_fname | sed 's%/[^/]*$%%'`/$tmp_new_fname" ;; esac done echo "$tmp_fname" } # Check the arguments. for option in "$@"; do case "$option" in -h | --help) usage exit 0 ;; -v | --version) echo "grub-install (GNU GRUB ${VERSION})" exit 0 ;; --root-directory=*) rootdir=`echo "$option" | sed 's/--root-directory=//'` ;; --grub-shell=*) grub_shell=`echo "$option" | sed 's/--grub-shell=//'` ;; --force-lba) force_lba="--force-lba" ;; --recheck) recheck=yes ;; # This is an undocumented feature... --debug) debug=yes ;; -*) echo "Unrecognized option \`$option'" 1>&2 usage exit 1 ;; *) if test "x$install_device" != x; then echo "More than one install_devices?" 1>&2 usage exit 1 fi install_device="${option}" ;; esac done if test "x$install_device" = x; then echo "install_device not specified." 1>&2 usage exit 1 fi # If the debugging feature is enabled, print commands. if test $debug = yes; then set -x fi # Initialize these directories here, since ROOTDIR was initialized. case "$host_os" in netbsd*) # Because /boot is used for the boot block in NetBSD, use /grub # instead of /boot/grub. grub_prefix=/grub bootdir=${rootdir} ;; *) # Use /boot/grub by default. bootdir=${rootdir}/boot ;; esac grubdir=${bootdir}/grub device_map=${grubdir}/device.map # Check if GRUB is installed if test -f "$grub_shell"; then : else echo "${grub_shell}: Not found." 1>&2 exit 1 fi # Don't check for *stage1_5, because it is not fatal even if any # Stage 1.5 does not exist. # Create the GRUB directory if it is not present. test -d "$bootdir" || mkdir "$bootdir" || exit 1 test -d "$grubdir" || mkdir "$grubdir" || exit 1 # If --recheck is specified, remove the device map, if present. if test $recheck = yes; then rm -f $device_map fi # Create the device map file if it is not present. if test -f "$device_map"; then : else # Create a safe temporary file. test -n "$mklog" && log_file=`$mklog` $grub_shell --batch --device-map=$device_map <<EOF >$log_file quit EOF if grep "Error [0-9]*: " $log_file >/dev/null; then cat $log_file 1>&2 exit 1 fi rm -f $log_file fi # Check for INSTALL_DEVICE. case "$install_device" in /dev/*) install_drive=`convert "$install_device"` # I don't know why, but some shells wouldn't die if exit is # called in a function. if test "x$install_drive" = x; then exit 1 fi ;; $[hf]d[0-9]*$) install_drive="$install_device" ;; *) echo "Format of install_device not recognized." 1>&2 usage exit 1 ;; esac # Get the root drive. root_device=`find_device ${rootdir}` bootdir_device=`find_device ${bootdir}` # Check if the boot directory is in the same device as the root directory. if test "x$root_device" != "x$bootdir_device"; then # Perhaps the user has a separate boot partition. root_device=$bootdir_device grub_prefix="/grub" fi # Convert the root device to a GRUB drive. root_drive=`convert "$root_device"` if test "x$root_drive" = x; then exit 1 fi # Check if the root directory exists in the same device as the grub # directory. grubdir_device=`find_device ${grubdir}` if test "x$grubdir_device" != "x$root_device"; then # For now, cannot deal with this situation. cat <<EOF 1>&2 You must set the root directory by the option --root-directory, because $grubdir does not exist in the root device $root_device. EOF exit 1 fi # Make sure that GRUB reads the same images as the host OS. test -n "$mkimg" && img_file=`$mkimg` test -n "$mklog" && log_file=`$mklog` for file in ${grubdir}/stage1 ${grubdir}/stage2 ${grubdir}/*stage1_5; do count=5 tmp=`echo $file | sed "s|^${grubdir}|${grub_prefix}|"` while test $count -gt 0; do $grub_shell --batch --device-map=$device_map <<EOF >$log_file dump ${root_drive}${tmp} ${img_file} quit EOF if grep "Error [0-9]*: " $log_file >/dev/null; then : elif cmp $file $img_file >/dev/null; then break fi sleep 1 count=`expr $count - 1` done if test $count -eq 0; then echo "The file $file not read correctly." 1>&2 exit 1 fi done rm -f $img_file rm -f $log_file # Create a safe temporary file. test -n "$mklog" && log_file=`$mklog` # Now perform the installation. $grub_shell --batch --device-map=$device_map <<EOF >$log_file root $root_drive setup $force_lba --stage2=$grubdir/stage2 --prefix=$grub_prefix $install_drive quit EOF if grep "Error [0-9]*: " $log_file >/dev/null || test $debug = yes; then cat $log_file 1>&2 exit 1 fi rm -f $log_file # Prompt the user to check if the device map is correct. echo "Installation finished. No error reported." echo "This is the contents of the device map $device_map." echo "Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect," echo "fix it and re-run the script \`grub-install'." echo cat $device_map # Bye. exit 0

my device.map file still reads the same as it did before too (ie correctly)

by **Void Main** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 12:08 pm

I guess you must be running "devfs". Is /dev/hda5 a symbolic link? If it is I assume it points to "/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5". I also assume that you would have a "/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc" device. If so I assume you can also do an:

# fdisk -l /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc

This would do nothing more than verify that you are using devfs. I just started playing with devfs in the 2.5 kernel and to tell you the truth I didn't realize it was available for 2.4 (I'm a little slow). I guess Mandrake must have implemented it. I have never tried to install GRUB on a devfs system and I don't know if there are any special issues.

The only thing I can think of is to first try the "--force-lba" and/or "--recheck" options to grub-install. If that doesn't do it make a backup copy of your menu.lst and then clean out all of the entries (make a very basic one boot menu.lst) and try and do the grub-install. If that works add your menu items back. If that doesn't work you might try using your Red Hat partition as your boot partition. Otherwise I think you've got me stumped. I haven't found anything close to the problem you are having on Google.

by **Void Main** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 12:14 pm

Forget all that drivel I just said, try this:

# grub-install --recheck /dev/hda

and if that doesn't work try this:

# grub-install --recheck /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/disc

I am pretty sure one of those two commands will work. I believe the problem is that your /boot/grub/device.map is wrong. You are running devfs and that file is for a non-devfs installation. The "--recheck" will recreate that file with the appropriate device names.

This is the closest thing I could come up with:
http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-grub@gn ... 05934.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-grub@gn ... 05937.html

by **Calum** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 5:14 pm

thank you very very much for doing all this research on my behalf.
however i haven't taken that advice from your last post yet and i'll tell you why.

when i posted my last message i had just installed the mdk version of grub but was still getting the error message. i then shut down. when i came back just now i forgot to put the mandrake boot disk in my drive and i expected to see the winsux boot screen but no! i was greeted with my old familiar grub menu! shocked? yes i was.
for some reason grub has successfully written me a new MBR! but as you can see yourself from my last post above i still get all error messages!
i am baffled as to how this can be the case, but there it is. and it now seems to work again. i won't probably have this problem again in the future because now i have windows set up with no IE, no lookout excess, and vim, emacs, phoenix, staroffice et c, i can just make a tarball backup of it and untar it to a fat32 partition if i ever need it.
also:

Code: Select all: calum@localhost:~$ ls -al /dev/hda5 lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 33 Mar 7 22:56 /dev/hda5 -> ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 calum@localhost:~$ ls -al /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5 brw------- 1 root root 3, 5 Jan 1 1970 /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part5

so you were right there, even though i still don't really know what devfs is and why it would only affect hda5 (which is the root partition for the system containing grub i suppose, that would make a difference?)
anyway, confused am i, but at least it works!
thanks again.

by **Void Main** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 5:28 pm

The error message pops up because your device.map file is wrong. If you run the grub-install with the "--recheck" param it should create a new device.map with the proper entries and you should no longer get that error. I should have figured that out when I accidentally typed the wrong device name and got the same error message but I'm getting old and slow...

Void's Forums

GrUB help please...

Who is online