Grub Error 15: DVD Repair Function Doesn't Work

[jabulani-jonny]

Hey guys,
Last night I was doing some work in Windows, first time in two weeks, and I went ahead and created a FAT32 partition on an external drive using Partition Magic. PM has always done a good job for me and I didn't really have any qualms since it was an external drive. However, when I rebooted to get back to Suse I got a Grub error immediately, Error 15. That pretty much meant that I couldn't get to Windows or Linux. I then booted with my XP install CD and ran FIXMBR from the repair console. That atleast got me booting to Windows.

I then put in the Suse install DVD to see if I could repair Grub. I first ran the Automatic Repair. I kept getting error messages saying something like "Load Target Environment unsuccessful". It would be a popup box that you'd click OK on. Then it got to the Grub repair section and it could not complete the repair saying the repair failed because it couldn't locate initrd.

So is there a way to fix this without doing yet another re-install of Suse. This will make the 5th re-install since I first installed it a month ago. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thx!

Jonathan

[rong]

I expect you are going to have to reinstall. It appears that the partitioning you did is the cause of the problem from the clues you've provided. Perhaps you did a partition resizing? I gather suse was on the external drive.

You can download this live systemrescue CD and "maybe" you'll have some success. This set of tools also includes a better linux partitioning tool called GParted for future needs.

[jabulani-jonny]

I'm reinstalling now. No, the Suse partition was on my internal HD and I was only working with an external HD. No changes were made to the internal drive. It's just quicker for me to re-install and load software back on than try to go digging for the next 4 hours.

Quick question, the partitions I have setup for Linux are a 4GB part for /root and a 16GB part for Data. Will the Suse install automatically make the 16GB my data partition or will it make my /home folder on the /root partition? I also have a 2gb Linux swap part.

[devils casper]

you have to create partitions and assign mount points manually. if you dont tell installer what to do, it will create new / (root), /home partitions and use existing SWAP partitions.

[jabulani-jonny]

Got it, went into my partitioning section of the installer and set the mount point for my existing Ext3 data drive as /home, then reformatted the old Suse10.2 and set the /root to do the new install to that partition. Here's hoping everything works. Usually the install goes without a hitch, it's when I start digging and fiddling when I completely botch everything up.