SLES10 wont pass GRUB, wont boot.

[benyc22]

Hi all,

SLES10 won't boot, stops at GRUB, able to enter commands into GRUB. Help appreciated, want to access data on logical volume.

Mounted drive with open suse live cd, could see partitions but not files/folders, even when used boot option 3 - to login as root.

Help

[Jonathan183]

Try booting from hard drive and at grub prompt type

find /boot/grub/menu.lst
find /boot/grub/grub.conf

from one of the above you should get something like

(hd0,0)

type

configfile (hd0,0)

replace the (hd0,0) with what you get from the find command - that should bring up the menu and allow you to boot. After that you should be able to use Yast to reinstall grub.

[benyc22]

Hey there thanks, didnt get your post till now but yesterday I got the server to boot by utilising the install DVD. And yes GRUB needs to be reinstalled, would I do this by a) deleting grub from within yast then, b) installing it, from the installation dvd?

By the way, I tried the repair system option from the dvd, custom, the boot sector etc., it began repairing, saying X and Y were corrupt, but then it stopped 5 minutes later and said Need to reinstall Grub, and it brought me back to boot menu.

So perhaps if I boot with DVD, go into yast, reinstall grub, might just do the trick. If not I'll repair system again with GRUB reinstalled.. I'll post here how I get on.

Ben.

[benyc22]

Hey there,

again.. couldn't reinstall GRUB via YaST?!

Tried in Boot Loader to propose a new config, and other options, did not allow me to do it, stated Error 23. I've tried almost every option... any ideas?

[benyc22]

Update: seems some partition(s) are corrupted / do not contain a valid file system. the server was powered down (unclean), which mangled GRUB.

short of reinstalling the whole thing im not sure what to do, though i can boot into the system with the dvd. automatic/custom repair did not fix it.

[Jonathan183]

Update: seems some partition(s) are corrupted / do not contain a valid file system. the server was powered down (unclean), which mangled GRUB.

short of reinstalling the whole thing im not sure what to do, though i can boot into the system with the dvd. automatic/custom repair did not fix it.

Hmm ... is grub the only problem? if it is try in yast software updates a reinstall of grub, then try bootloader reinstall via yast.
Is the filesystem clean or do you get errors when the system starts?

[benyc22]

Hi mate,

system seems to start OK? I didn't see any gaping errors.

OK. How do I reinstall GRUB in YaST? Do I type GRUB, search, choose Update and have the install DVD in,... the machine is not online/internet at present.

Ben.

[benyc22]

Ok that worked, reinstalled grub just fine via yast, update.

Reinstalled, got past Grub, to boot menu, click SLES10, but later could not find

/dev/system/root_lv, which needs to be mounted or whatever, exited to bin/sh

at this point no keyboard----need to powerdown....mmm.. maybe i needed to initialise boot loader in yast and propose new cfg before i rebooted?

[Jonathan183]

mmm.. maybe i needed to initialise boot loader in yast and propose new cfg before i rebooted?

Suggest you post the current /boot/grub/menu.lst contents incase you end up needing to fix that rather than using the proposed config.

[benyc22]

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Fri May  1 23:13:47 BST 2009
color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 8


###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
    kernel (/dev/system/dev/mapper/system-root_lv)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/system/root_lv vga=0x314 resume=/dev/sda5  splash=silent showopts
    initrd (/dev/system/dev/mapper/system-root_lv)/boot/initrd


###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
    kernel (/dev/system/dev/mapper/system-root_lv)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/system/root_lv vga=normal showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume edd=off  3
    initrd (/dev/system/dev/mapper/system-root_lv)/boot/initrd


###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: 2.6.16.21-0.8-smp###
title 2.6.16.21-0.8-smp
    kernel (/dev/system/dev/mapper/system-root_lv)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16.21-0.8-smp root=/dev/system/root_lv vga=0x314 resume=/dev/sda5  splash=silent showopts
    initrd (/dev/system/dev/mapper/system-root_lv)/boot/initrd-2.6.16.21-0.8-smp