grub error 17

**sagarp** · 08-06-2005

i keep getting this error when i'm using grub. error 17. i always get errors when i try to boot to my linux. here is my hd partitioning:

hda:
hda0 - 80gb windows xp

hdb:
hdb1 - 1gb swap
hdb2 - 30gb linux
hdb3 - 130 storage

i've tried with slackware, gentoo, and debian. i always get errors when trying to boot to hdb2. even when i put hdb as my primary with grub or lilo on the MBR there. with grub i get error 17, with lilo i just get L 99 99 99 .... etc. i tried putting hdb into a friends computer and booting it, and it worked fine! i even tried flashing my BIOS and all sorts of things. none of them worked. what's going on here?? why wont it work? i tried removing my hard ware to just the bare minimum and booting and i still got the error. =/

by the way there doesnt ever appear to be anything wrong with my linux itself. i used slackware for about a year just fine, but i had to boot from the slack install disk every time because of these problems i described above.

-sagar pandya

**budman7** · 08-06-2005

The L 99 99 99 error is returned because Lilo wasn't installed properly.

Grub error 17

17 : Cannot mount selected partition
This error is returned if the partition requested exists, but the
filesystem type cannot be recognized by GRUB.

I am guessing that Grubis not getting installed correctly as well. Grub is there we just need to configure it.

When you get this error, are you asked to "press any key to continue"?
And then it sends you right back to the menu of OS's to choose from?

Could you post your /boot/grub/menu.lst or your /boot/grub/grub.conf, whichever you have?

**sagarp** · 08-06-2005

i dont think there's a problem with grub, because it worked when i put the hard drive in my friend's computer. i'll post the grub.conf or whatever in a minute after i reboot. i never had any problems with win/linux were on the same hd.

here's my menu.lst:

Code:

default		0
timeout		5
color cyan/blue white/blue

title		Linux
root		&#40;hd1,1&#41;
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27-2-386 root=/dev/hdb2 ro 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.4.27-2-386
savedefault
boot

**budman7** · 08-07-2005

When you put hdb in your friends computer did you make it primary slave or secondary master, and are you making it primary slave in your current computer?

**sagarp** · 08-07-2005

it's cable select in both cases.

**budman7** · 08-07-2005

You should try making it one or the other.
Sometimes, not always, I have found that cable select doesn't work, but when I made it slave or Master, it worked just fine.
And the reverse is true as well, only cable select would work.
It is something to think about.

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