Ugh, frustrated to death. Another FC 5 + WIN XP and grub

[KR!NK 0]

Okay, here's the deal.

I want to keep Windows XP Pro on my C drive and put Fedora on my F drive and leave it there to explore.

 

During installation of Fedora, it seems as if Grub wasn't properly installed.

I went back into linux rescue and tried this:

 

grub-install /dev/hd0

 

result?

/sbin/grub not found.

 

grub-install /dev/hdd1

 

result?

/sbin/grub not found.

 

Then, I tried going through my options of reinstalling. No where in the line does it ask if I want a bootloader installed so I can dual boot. All I did was choose my hd(d) and default install settings.

 

I am stuck. I don't know what to do. Get grub working for me... i BEG

 

Thanks

[danleff 0]

It seems that you accepted all the default settings when you originally installed Fedora. In the installation summary window, during the installation, there is a section on Grub that allows you to set where grub is installed.

 

If you accepted the default partitioning scheme, then grub was most likely installed on it's own small boot partition, but not bootable, because you have XP installed on hda1.

 

From your description, it looks like you have two hard drives in the system?

 

If this is the case, then grub, by default probably installed on the second hard drive.

 

Is there really an hdd1, or are you just trying random drives to install grub to? Your designations for the hard drives are also incorrect. If you install grub into your MBR of the drive that is booting (assuming your primary master), then the command would be;

 

grub-install /dev/hda

 

Which should be the primary master drive that you are booting from.

 

Once you boot from the rescue cd, then you need to get to the root partition of Fedora. Just booting into the rescue mode does not do this and just gives you basic commands to work with, not the full system.

 

Once booted into rescue mode, you need to type in;

 

chroot /mnt/sysimage

 

Then you can run the grub-install command.

 

But, how many drives are in the system? this will help explain why grub was not isntalled correctly.

[KR!NK 0]

Hello

Thanks for your reply

There are two drives on the system labeled "HDD1" and "HDD2"

Before trying to install grub, I did type in "chroot /mnt/sysimage" but I still get "/sbin/grub not found".

[KR!NK 0]

Actually, I'm not sure what they are labeled, but when I try "hda", I get something along the lines of "boot not found"?

I believe that it's hd0 and hd1, or HDD1 and HDD2.

I'll check later on, but I doubt that's the problem

[KR!NK 0]

Everything was executed under the chroot /mnt/sysimage:

 

When I typed df, I got:

 

Filesystem

 

/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 (mounted on /)

 

/dev/hdd1 (mounted on /boot)

When I tried "grub-install /dev/hdd1"

I recieved the error : /dev/hdd1does not have any corresponding BIOS drive.

 

Thanks so much for helping out Danleff.

[danleff 0]

Quote:

There are two drives on the system labeled "HDD1" and "HDD2"

Where is this labeled this way? In the bios, or elsewhere.

Quote:

I believe that it's hd0 and hd1, or HDD1 and HDD2

Let's not get the different designations for the hard drives mixed up.

In the bios, most likely if you look in the bios boot order, the designations are HDD0 for the primary master drive and HDD1 for the primary slave drive, and so on.

hd0 and hd1 are the primary drive designations in the grub.conf or menu.lst files.

Linux (not grub) sees the drives as;

hda = primary master drive
hdb = primary slave drive
hdc = secondary master drive

...and so on.

In the /boot/grub/device.map file, the drives are linked, depending on the boot order;

hd0 /dev/hda
hd1 /dev/hdb

..and so on.

When using grub-install, you use the assigned designation, hence the grub-install /dev/hda tells grub to install the bootloader in the master boot record of the primary master drive, which is usually the boot drive on most systems, unless you changed this in the bios.

One of the issues may be the make and model system that you have. can you post the make and model of your system?

[danleff 0]

Oops! Missed the last post, or we posted close to each other.

 

So, the hard drive that Fedora is installed on is the secondary slave drive, or hdd.

 

You chose the default partitioning scheme in Fedora, which uses LVM, or Logical Volume Management.

 

Grub seems to be installed on partition hdd1.

 

So, my question still stands, how many hard drives are in the system?

 

If possible, what can help is to post the output of /sbin/fdisk -l.

 

That is the small letter "L"

 

Just post the drive/partition designations that you find, such as hda1 etc...forget all the other data.

 

 

[XpFedora 0]

I have a similar problem....

 

I have a Compaq Preasrio (Celeron).

 

It initially had XP on the primary master... and I attempted to install FC5 to the primary slave.

 

After the shut down... it boots into windows...

 

I booted from the CD and tried to install GRUB an overy possible combination of hda ( XP) and hdb (FC50 but as soon as it gets to the "upgrade installation" it tells me No kenal installed. the boot loader configuration will not be changed ( or something to this order).

 

No matter what... it will not allow me to multiboot.

 

So thinking I was a clever dickens... knowing that GRUb should load XP.. I swapped the IDE cable on my hard drives.. technically reconfiguring them ( black for master, grey for slave).

 

I boot up.... Error Loading Operating System. No problem... in this new configuration, I reload FC5 onto the new master disk.. and I got to see Linux for the first time ( yaaaaay)... however when I enter the GRUB menu... Windows shows up as "other"... and atempting to boot into it just gives me two lines in the kernel

noverify(0,1)

chainloader +1

 

I once again try to change the bootloader... and nada... it refuses to boot into XP.

 

I tried every possible combination of reinstallation of the bootloader from the Upgrade menu and it refuses to alter the boot loader... and I can't get in to XP from the GRUB.

 

Any suggestions would be HUGELY appreciated. Right now. I'm actually swapping the hard drives when I want to go back and forth.. and that can't be the best way to do this.

 

Thanks

Ed

[danleff 0]

Please stick to the new thread that you posted, so we can keep your specifc issue in one place. See the thread that you started for a response.