GRUB - Can't load Knoppix

**fingal** · 03-09-2004

Wasn't sure where to post this. Won't go into all the gory details, but I installed Knoppix 3.3 on my 60gig h/d last night. Having done something similar in the past, I decided to create a separate boot partition. I assumed that the default boot manager would be Lilo. (Good old Lilo! Has trouble reading past the first 1024 on the boot sector...) Nope, it's GRUB, which I've never used before. So, yeah... I read the manual and I have just downloaded a stack of info. from the Net. Not sure I understand what to do though. I find the manual confusing.

Knoppix installed ok, and when I boot from my h/d I get a grub>
Which is good! (I think

) I sat in front of my box for an hour trying to boot into Knoppix. I thought I would just need to type 'Knoppix' or 'Boot' or 'Friggin' start up', but I can't. Is this because my kernel is on a separate partition? Any ideas to help me accelerate into Knoppix Nirvana?

**fingal** · 03-09-2004

I'll let you know what happens this evening when I try to boot... :o

**Nerderello** · 03-09-2004

read the GRUB posting in the tutorial section and see if that can get you past the grub> command line

have fun

Nerderello

**fingal** · 03-09-2004

Thanks! That's just what I wanted... I'll let you know how things turn out.

**fingal** · 03-10-2004

Phew, now that I've relocated this thread... a bit of follow up. I read Nerderello's handy little tutorial about installing Grub. All I had was a grub> prompt and a stack of downloaded material from the web. I followed the instructions to the letter and was unable to 'find' a /boot/grub/stage1 file. After about an hour of headbanging

I came up with typing, kernel (hd0,4)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 and then I typed, boot. It booted into Knoppix 3.3

Okay... I checked my /boot directory and there is no grub.conf file either. Not sure what to do next. In fact there aren't any decent grub files in /boot. I had hoped for a few at least!!

Do I write my own grub.conf file? If I do, will Grub find this? I get the general idea about grub, but can't see how one part of it connects to another <did that make sense?> I don't want to have to type anything verbose at the grub> prompt on each boot. Advice welcomed. Hand-holding loved!

**Nerderello** · 03-10-2004

Fingal,
sounds like you've got half of a Grub instal there.

in /boot should be /boot/grub and in that there should be a whole load of file with names like stage1 and stage2 and there should be a grub.conf. I suggest that you redo the grub installation, to make sure that you have these files (I'll give you a complete list when I get home this evening).

Have a look at the one I put into the tutorial, you can see how it works, just put your own bits and peices into it. You should see that for every OS you end up putting into the grub.conf file the self same set of commands (apart from the find) that you did to boot your PC.

So your /boot/grub/grub.conf will look something like :-

Code:

default=0 
timeout=10 
title Knoppix 3.3
        root &#40;hd0,4&#41; 
        kernel &#40;hd0,4&#41;/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5

Then, with luck, you'll be presented with a one line menu at boot up, with Knoppix 3.3 booting after 10 seconds or when you press enter.

Once you have that, you can start branching out to putting any other OSs you might have and , perhaps, adding a pretty splash image (using the "splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz" line added at the beginning of your grub.conf file.

have fun
Nerderello

**fingal** · 03-10-2004

Thanks for that reply. I'll try and stick together a grub.config file this evening. Knoppix installs with a graphical script called knx-hdinstall, so the grub 'installation' is automated in some way. Like you say, though, there seems to be a lot missing. I tried doing a, find -name grub* -print type of thingy on the command line (yes... I was root) but nothing!

I would very much like that list of required files. Thank you again. Knoppix provides some nice splash screens (Debian Sarge and Sid) so I really want to get it up and running.

**Nerderello** · 03-10-2004

this is a listing of my /boot/grub/ directory

Fedora Cora 1

Code:

drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         4096 Feb 15 22&#58;19 ./
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root         4096 Jan 19 23&#58;37 ../
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          101 Sep 28 09&#58;30 device.map
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         7584 Feb 11 19&#58;42 e2fs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         7248 Feb 11 19&#58;42 fat_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         6688 Feb 11 19&#58;42 ffs_stage1_5
-rw-------    1 root     root         1117 Feb 15 22&#58;19 grub.conf
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         8192 Feb 11 19&#58;42 jfs_stage1_5
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           11 Sep 28 09&#58;30 menu.lst -> ./grub.conf
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         6848 Feb 11 19&#58;42 minix_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         9056 Feb 11 19&#58;42 reiserfs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        35300 Oct 30 17&#58;22 splash.xpm.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          512 Feb 11 19&#58;42 stage1
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       104072 Feb 11 19&#58;43 stage2
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         6336 Feb 11 19&#58;42 vstafs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         9128 Feb 11 19&#58;42 xfs_stage1_5

and Mandrake 9.2 in which I told the installer not to bother with the Grub configuration :-

Code:

drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         4096 Feb 15 20&#58;59 ./
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root         4096 Feb 24 14&#58;26 ../
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        11008 Aug 18  2003 e2fs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        10000 Aug 18  2003 fat_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         9024 Aug 18  2003 ffs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        11200 Aug 18  2003 jfs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         9440 Aug 18  2003 minix_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        12832 Aug 18  2003 reiserfs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          512 Aug 18  2003 stage1
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       130765 Aug 18  2003 stage2
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         8672 Aug 18  2003 vstafs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        12744 Aug 18  2003 xfs_stage1_5

As you can see from these two listings, there is a stage1 file, this is the initial load file, which then hands over to the stage1_5 file (depending upon what file system you're running) which then hands over to the stage2 file. This then reads the grub.conf file (if there is one) and, if it's told to, displays a menu of OS sections over a pretty picture.

have fun

Nerderello
ps. have you installed your Knopix with a /boot/ partion or is /boot on the same partion as / ?

**fingal** · 03-11-2004

Thanks for your post... Interesting. I haven't found a stage1 or stage2 file in any of my directories, but some of those other files are present in another directory. Something like ./share/something else

Many of these files relate to different file systems like ext2/ext3/reiserfs etc. Last night I wrote a grub.conf file as you suggested and put it in /boot/grub (having created the /grub bit myself... Knoppix didn't install one of these. You explained that I would need stage1 & stage2 to boot properly. I wonder if I need to run grub -install from a command line? This process seems to be deprecated, though, as I read the manual. My grub version is something like 0.9xx.

At first I went for an installation with a separate boot partition with Grub on the MBR, but had second thoughts and reinstalled (which is very easy with Knoppix and takes 20 minutes when you know how

). I reckoned that it was the separate partition causing problems, but now I just think it's an incomplete Grub and lack of experience on my part.

I need to decide what to do next. Reinstall? Start from scratch? Use Lilo instead? Dunno. I'll print off your list and fiddle around with the damn thing this evening!

Thanks again.

**Nerderello** · 03-11-2004

I suggest that you either re-install grub (the package rather than just doing a grub-install) or upgrade to the latest version of grub . Again, re-install the package (either rpm or apt if Knoppix supports them, or using a tarred and zipped source, which you'll then have to build).

Once you've done that you should find that all of the correct files are in a directory called /boot/grub/ and that you'll probably have a sample grub.conf to play with.

I really don't believe that you have a ful implementation of grub on your PC.

have fun

Nerderello
ps. you can get grub from many places , here's one for example :-
http://ipsupport.linux.tucows.com/ad...294_48525.html

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