GungHo

I am new to Linux and decided to take the plunge with an 80GB external USB drive connected to my DELL Latitude D600 notebook, with OpenSuSe 10.2. I have modified my BIOS to enable me to boot from the USB drive.

The only options I selected that were different from the standard installation were:
I. Partition my disk as follows (all except swap and /FAT are Reiser format, and the /home partition is encrypted)...

1./dev/sda1 - /boot (70Mb)
2./dev/sda2 - swap (1GB)
3./dev/sda3 - /FAT (5GB)
4./dev/sda4 Linux LVM
5./dev/system LVM2 system
6./dev/system/home - /home (10GB)
7./dev/system/local - /local (5GB)
8./dev/system/opt - /opt (5GB)
9./dev/system/root - / (10GB)
10./dev/system/srv - /srv (5GB)
11./dev/system/tmp - /tmp (2GB)
12./dev/system/user - /usr (10GB)
13./dev/system/var - /var (5GB)

I opted for a LVM partition since I was not sure what was the best partitioning scheme to follow, so with the partitions configured as LVM I “should” be able to adjust the size on the fly. I also encrypted my /home partition.

II. With regards to the location of the Boot Loader, I selected the options to “Boot From Boot Partition” as well as “Boot From Master Boot Record”. Finally I selected “Boot Loader Options” and selected “Set active flag in Partition Table for Boot Partition” and “Write generic Boot Code to MBR”.

I was able to complete the installation by booting from the Installation CD, selecting the Installation option, and after selecting my Location & agreeing to the license, select “Other Options” and choosing the option to “Boot Installed System”. Everything ran well, I was prompted for the password to my encrypted /home partition, and finally I arrived at the SuSe signon screen.

I was able to logon on and I choose to edit the Kernel Text file, using “/etc/sysconfig Editor” in the YaST Control Centre, to allow the loading of the USB drivers at boot time. My INTRD_MODULES entry now looks like...
“processor thermal piix fan reiserfs ehci-hcd ohci-hcd uhci-hcd usb-storage sd_mod dm_mod edd”

I shutdown Linux. I restart my computer and during the BIOS check I selected my USB drive to boot from. Then the message "GRUB Loading stage 2..." and I'm subsequently presented with the error...

“Booting from external USB drive (hd1,0)/message: file not found”

I can boot using the Installation CD and the steps described above, but there must be something I'm missing that is preventing me from booting from my USB drive and I hope someone can help.

One last bit of information which might help; here are the entries in the following files...

/boot/grub/device.map
(hd1) /dev/sda
(hd0) /dev/hda

/boot/grub/menu.lst
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Thu Jan 11 19:24:57 GMT 2007
default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd1,0)/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 10.2
root (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-34-default root=/dev/system/root vga=0x314 resume=/dev/sda2 splash=silent showopts
initrd /initrd-2.6.18.2-34-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader (hd0,1)+1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 10.2
root (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-34-default root=/dev/system/root vga=normal showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3
initrd /initrd-2.6.18.2-34-default

/etc/grub.conf
setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 (hd1,0) (hd1,0)
quit

It appears that the installation was successful, except I cannot figure out what I omitted doing to allow me to boot from the USB drive. Please someone, save me from myself... (I haven't slept in the past 3-nights and tonight will make it 4)

Thanks in advance

Xaleandr

Have a look at

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...l#Installation

and especially

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...-natively.html

devils casper

hi GungHo !!

Welcome to the LinuxForums !

GRUB is looking for 'stage 2' at wrong location. you created separate /boot partition but menu.lst has not any reference of it. edit /boot/grub/menu.lst
change other parts of menu.lst too. in case, it doesn't work, post the listing of /boot and /boot/grub folders.





Casper

__________________

GungHo

Thanks devils_casper; both for the information and the welcome.

I have tried the changes you suggested, however it produces the same error message
“Booting from external USB drive (hd1,0)/boot/message: file not found”

Below is a copy of my modified /boot/grub/menu.lst
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Fri Jan 12 11:59:15 GMT 2007
default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd1,0)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 10.2
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-34-default root=/dev/system/root vga=0x314 resume=/dev/sda2 splash=silent showopts
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18.2-34-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader (hd0,1)+1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 10.2
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-34-default root=/dev/system/root vga=normal showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18.2-34-default


Below is a listing of my /boot folder
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 744294 Nov 27 18:33 System.map-2.6.18.2-34-default
-rw------- 1 root root 512 Jan 11 17:55 backup_mbr
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 1 Jan 11 17:40 boot -> .
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 72710 Nov 27 18:38 config-2.6.18.2-34-default
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Jan 12 11:44 grub
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 26 Jan 11 18:28 initrd -> initrd-2.6.18.2-34-default
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3320873 Jan 11 18:28 initrd-2.6.18.2-34-default
drwx------ 2 root root 12288 Jan 11 17:36 lost+found
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 379904 Jan 12 11:44 message
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 86990 Nov 27 18:40 symsets-2.6.18.2-34-default.tar.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 344102 Nov 27 18:40 symtypes-2.6.18.2-34-default.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 100600 Nov 27 18:39 symvers-2.6.18.2-34-default.gz
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1761938 Nov 27 18:37 vmlinux-2.6.18.2-34-default.gz
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 Jan 11 17:45 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-34-default
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1474998 Nov 27 18:33 vmlinuz-2.6.18.2-34-default

Finally, here's a listing of my /boot/grub folder
-rw------- 1 root root 30 Jan 12 11:44 device.map
-rw------- 1 root root 30 Jan 12 11:22 device.map.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7552 Nov 25 18:56 e2fs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7424 Nov 25 18:56 fat_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6688 Nov 25 18:56 ffs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6688 Nov 25 18:56 iso9660_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8160 Nov 25 18:56 jfs_stage1_5
-rw------- 1 root root 898 Jan 12 11:44 menu.lst
-rw------- 1 root root 883 Jan 12 11:22 menu.lst.old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6848 Nov 25 18:56 minix_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9216 Nov 25 18:56 reiserfs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512 Nov 25 18:56 stage1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 104042 Jan 12 11:44 stage2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7040 Nov 25 18:56 ufs2_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6240 Nov 25 18:56 vstafs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8904 Nov 25 18:56 xfs_stage1_5


Thanks again for all your help

devils casper

something wrong in /boot/grub/device.map file. post its contents.







Casper

__________________

GungHo

Thanks Xaleandr

I have learnt a bit more about GRUB, but unfortunately it did not resolve my problem.

I logged in as root and ran the following command:
linux-freecom:~ # grub-install --root-directory=/boot /dev/sda
Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map /boot/boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.

(hd1) /dev/sda
(hd0) /dev/hda

I then shutdown and when I restarted I got the following message
GRUB Loading stage 1.5.

GRUB Loading, please wait...
(hd1,0)/boot/message: file not found

I was then presented with a text GNU GRUB menu with the following options:
openSUSE 10.2
Windows
Failsafe -- openSUSE 10.2

Neither of these options allowed me to boot from my USB drive.

I feel I'm close to the answer and it may just be one niggling thing missing.

Thanks again

devils casper

contents of device.map file are correct. revert back to original menu.lst file. remove /boot word. check if it works now.






Casper

__________________

GungHo

Hi Casper,
I removed /boot and still the same error message...
GRUB Loading stage 1.5.

GRUB Loading, please wait...
(hd1,0)/message: file not found

I previously reinstalled 5-times, changing partitions and boot options, and I would hate to reinstall but I would be willing if it would fix the problem.

devils casper

does GRUB menu appear after unplugging External disk?







Casper

__________________

GungHo

No, windows boots normally from the internal HDD