Hdd install and grub problem

Forum: HD Install
Topic: Hdd install and grub problem
started by: Boris Cat

Posted by Boris Cat on July 31 2007,18:05

Hi there

Well since this is my first posting, I'd start with a fairly difficult problem

I have an old P200 PC with 2 HDD
HDA is a 1 gig HDD that windows lives on
HDB is a 8.5 gig hdd split into 2 partions
HDB1 is a 5 gig data partion for windows
HDB5 is 3.5 gig partion for DSL to live on

Now I can run DSL off the live CD with no trouble
However , every time I try and install dsl to hdb5 , it installs correctly, but it does'nt set grub up properly so when the system boots it does'nt boot into grub, just windows
The bios is a bit old, and can only boot from floppy, hda or CDrom
I've looked and tried configuring grub from the terminal, but it keeps giving
errors such as selected disk does not exist !

Any help would be appreciated

Boris

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on July 31 2007,21:04

If you can only boot from hda and not hdb, you can edit the install scripts or run grub-install/setup directly.

eg.
cd /tmp
cp `which frugal_grub.sh` .
# Now edit frugal_grub.sh, go to the line "grub-install" and change the first parameter to your hda device
sudo ./frugal_grub.sh

Note that if you're not sure if runs will work with your computer (you say it's old..) you might want to back up hda's mbr first. But then if grub really didn't work, you'd probably be ending up installing lilo or the like over it.

Posted by slaski on Aug. 01 2007,03:41

no help from me, but i will say thanks for the answer thehatsrule. you answerd my question. i will have to try some thing else then ^^

Posted by lucky13 on Aug. 01 2007,13:22

Did you install GRUB on hda? Have you tried making a boot floppy?

Posted by Boris Cat on Aug. 02 2007,23:21

Nope still does'nt work for some reason
Dont know why

Given up playing with it for now... until sat when I'll try the lilo boot loader option

Boris

Posted by tinker on Aug. 03 2007,12:44

Boris,
When you mentioned your P200, you didn't mention how much memory it has and in your drive layout you don't show any swap space. It might have been a good idea to partition off a bit of that hdb5 for a swap partition. But that is an aside from your current problem.

It could even be a good idea to mention what kind of install, Debian style to HD or Frugal.

Given the layout you mentioned, I would think that

grub> root (hd1,4)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub quit

should set your system at booting to the grub menu you have on hdb5. It will write grub to the mbr on hda, thereby overwriting the mbr that Windows put there when installed.

You didn't mention which Windows you have on hda1 but I'm guessing 98 on that old a machine. Make sure you have a Windows startup disk before you have grub overwrite your mbr, it's easy to rewrite it from that startup disk to restore the system booting up to Windows, you could even boot from it, CD /Windows and enter win to have Windows run. If you aren't comfortable with this, don't act until you ask more questions.

In addition, no one here is looking over your shoulder, please give more detail. Give the exact command you ran and the error message received. Lucky13 gave essentially the same advice I just did, yet you only answered back with, "doesn't work" and it's hard for anyone to help with that little information.

[edited my mistake for hard drive number, I hope it didn't confuse Boris Cat]

Posted by Boris Cat on Aug. 06 2007,17:18

I'm pretty hard to confuse... except when you ask me what day it is

Right

Its a full on install from the right click menu, to a machine that already has windows 98 on it , losing the windows mbr is'nt a problem since the machine is'nt used that much and an Fdisk command will soon sort it out.
(that and the windows sort out command:- Format C: )

I tried the full install with the lilo boot launcher... again no luck, just boots straight into windows when it issues the command 'remove disks and press enter'
Ok running grub at the moment

Running grubby

setup (hd1,1) gets me an error12 : invalid device requested

root (hd0) gets me an error 21 selected disc does not exist

quit works

Oddly enough using the df comnmand shows hda1, hdb1, and hdb5 happily installed and available (when mounted)

and cfdisk shows a 6 gig or so fat32 partion and a bootable 2 gig linux ext2 partion for hdb (hda shows up as a 1 gig fat32 drive)

Its annoying as I know it works because I have a different machine with a win98/fedora6 dual boot on it and grub works fine on there(although it is only 1 drive)

Boris

why so many copies of win98? I build software for legacy systems to run :cool:

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Aug. 06 2007,23:15

Quote

setup (hd1,1) gets me an error12 : invalid device requested

root (hd0) gets me an error 21 selected disc does not exist

You got them mixed up.

Posted by Boris Cat on Aug. 06 2007,23:59

Swapping them over still gets me the errors about invalid discs and selected
disc does not exist

Boris

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Aug. 07 2007,04:05

If your system board is older, you may have to use another bootloader such lilo.

Posted by tinker on Aug. 07 2007,15:05

Borris Cat,

If you want grub to boot from the boot menu you have on hdb5 (assuming that you still have that on hdb5 and haven't overwritten it with an attempted lilo install or anything else you've tried), you will need to use "boot (hd1,4)" not the (1,1) you mentioned. Because (hd1,1)[second partition on second drive] does not exist.

Are you confused about numbering? Grub starts with 0 not 1.
hda=(hd0)
hdb1=(hd1,0)
hdb5=(hd1,4)

I still think you'd be wise to make a swap partition too but that is your choice. How much RAM in the machine?