GRUB problems

[Swishaa]

I have just installed Red Hat Linux 9 on mycomputer. I had Windows XP on the system before. GRUB installed to my MBR (hda). Both of my hard drives have LBA enabled according to my BIOS.

When Grub runs on starup i get:
GRUB Loading stage1.5
GRUB loading, please wait...
Error 18


This is how my computer is set up (fdisk -l):

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 9729 78148161 7 HPFS/NTFS <---- Windows XP

Disk /dev/hdb&#58; 163.9 GB, 163928604672 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19929 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 5483 44042166 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdb2 5484 15212 78148192+ f Win95 Ext'd &#40;LBA&#41;
/dev/hdb3 15213 15343 1052257+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdb4 * 15344 19929 36837045 83 Linux
/dev/hdb5 5484 15212 78148161 b Win95 FAT32

My grub.conf file:

default=0
timeout=10
slashimage=(hd1,3)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux
        root (hd1,3)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-8 ro root=/dev/hdb4
        initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.20-8.img
title Windows XP
        rootnoverify (hd0,0)
        chainloader +1

I also tried to put GRUB on a floppy disk and boot from that, but i got "GRUB Geom Error".

All I can do right now is boot Linux from my boot floppy disk I made durring installation.

[Opnosforatou]

Sounds like a corrupt Grub in the MBA...

Check here

You'll need to reinstall grub and try again.

Here is something I found on the net:

Symptom
GRUB freezes during the boot process with the message 'GRUB Geom Error'.
Cause
There are several possible causes:

1. The BIOS is not able to detect the full hard disk capacity. For example, in case of a 40 GB disk, it only detects the first 32 GB. However, Linux is installed on the last 8 GB.
2. The computer BIOS is not able to address the hard disk area beyond the 1024 cylinder and the Linux boot partition (or the partition containing the kernel or other files needed for booting) is partially or totally located beyond the 1024 cylinder border. Although this problem usually arises in old computers only, it cannot be completely excluded in the case of new BIOS versions.
3. The BIOS cannot boot from disks attached to the second IDE controller and this is precisely the case of the Linux disk. This problem is also very uncommon.
4. The hard disk geometry set in the BIOS during the GRUB installation has been changed or the hard disk has been inserted in a different machine or controller after the installation.

Solution
For causes number one, two, and three, a BIOS update might be the answer, provided that the motherboard manufacturer supplies a current BIOS that solves this problem. Otherwise, the problem can be solved by creating a boot partition within the area addressable by the BIOS, i.e., whithin the hard disk area detected by the BIOS (first cause), within the first 1024 cylinders (second cause), or on a hard disk attached to the first IDE controller (third cause).

In the case of the third cause, the problem should be solved, if possible, by attaching the Linux hard disk to the first IDE controller. When doing this, note that the device names (/etc/fstab) change. Adjust these names and GRUB's configuration file with the rescue system or by reinstalling the Linux system.

For cause number four, rewrite the boot loader with YaST2's boot loader configuration dialog or by entering the following command in a root shell:

grub --batch --device-map=/boot/grub/device.map </etc/grub.conf

For further information on this problem, refer to GRUB's documentation. This documentation is available online at http://www.gnu.org/manual/grub/html_...tage1%20errors. It can be viewed on your system by entering the command info grub in a shell.

Hope this helps a bit.

[Swishaa]

Thanks for the link to the other forum. It helped a little. I booted into linux from my rescue floppy and ran GRUB thru my terminal. Then I typed "grub> configfile (hd0,1)/boot/grub/grub.conf " as shown in the other forum. When this command ran, I got the GRUB menu in my terminal. Although when i selected either of the operating systems, it just went back to the shell (not sure if it should do this or if it should load an operating system since I was alredy in linux). I installed GRUB again using their directions, but still got the same:
GRUB Loading stage1.5
GRUB loading, please wait...
Error 18

I've seen that other thing about the "GRUB Geom Error", but I only got that error when I put GRUB onto a floppy drive and tried to run it from there. So I don't think thats the error I need to fix, it was probably just me messing up when I put GRUB onto the floppy.

So I know that GRUB shows the menu, but thats only after i'm already logged onto linux. Now if I could only get it to show the menu and let me pick an os when I boot the machine....

[Opnosforatou]

to manualy activate the menu on the grub prompt:

root (hd1,3)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

This will give back the menu.
But only for the session.
You will need to reinstall grub by making a slight modification and then save the grub.conf



to get grub working on a boot disk:
Boot up like stated above and do the following:

Get an empty disk and insert it into the floppy drive
format the flopy from the linux console prompt with mke2fs /dev/fd0
mount the floppy; mount /dev/fd0 /mnt
goto /mnt
mkdir boot
cd boot
mkdir grub
cd /boot/grub
cp stage1 /mnt/boot/grub
cp stage2 /mnt/boot/grub
cp grub.conf /mnt/boot/grub
cd /mnt/boot/grub
ln -s menu.lst grub.conf
cd ~
umount /dev/fd0
grub --batch --device-map=/dev/null <<EOF
device &#40;fd0&#41; /dev/fd0
root &#40;fd0&#41;
setup &#40;fd0&#41;
quit
EOF

This will create a bootdisk with the grub bootloader.

Good luck

Oh, if you ever change the grub.conf on your harddisk you will need to rerun the above to update the bootdisk.!!!!!!!!