Problem booting form external HDD

[devils casper]

DC, what does '1' at the end do?

If you pass 1 or single to kernel of any Linux distro, Linux will boot up in Single User Mode.

DC adding 1 to the end does no good is there any other solution.

Try single instead of 1.

[saivin]

Vickey,
the grub file is only top part, its not complete. Do the following,

cat /boot/grub/menu.lst > ~/grubmenu

You'll find a file by name grubmenu in your home directory. Post that here. Again, is the screen completely blank after selecting from grub or it shows some error messages?

Btw, when you are posting a file's content or output of a command which is very long, use 'code'.

P.S. - Smilies are there coz, you enabled smilies in your post and any character combination that relates to a smile will be shown as a smily

[vickey_20]

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default		0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout		10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line)  and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
#      password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title		Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root		(hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader	+1
#
# title		Linux
# root		(hd0,1)
# kernel	/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=43f615be-2e45-46ce-9c83-24bff792cbdd ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=43f615be-2e45-46ce-9c83-24bff792cbdd

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
##      lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
##      lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
##      altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
##      howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
uuid		43f615be-2e45-46ce-9c83-24bff792cbdd
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=43f615be-2e45-46ce-9c83-24bff792cbdd ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		43f615be-2e45-46ce-9c83-24bff792cbdd
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=43f615be-2e45-46ce-9c83-24bff792cbdd ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
uuid		43f615be-2e45-46ce-9c83-24bff792cbdd
kernel		/boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title		Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title		Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)
root		(hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda3
title		Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)
root		(hd0,2)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1

I hope this is what we are looking for. I tried to copy the file (/boot/grub/menu.lst) in the same directory i.e grub but ended up with some error then followed ur instructions , but y can't I copy the file in grub itself. It directory permission seemed ok. And also last time when I posted the contents of the menu.lst it was only the top part , how to select the entire file in VI??
And yes I almost forgot that there are no errors displayed on the screen.

[devils casper]

We can't help you unless we check exact error.
Have you tried to replace 1 with single and removed keyword quiet and splash in kernel line?
In case it doesn't work this time, try 3 instead of single.

Sample kernel line :

kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=43f615be-2e45-46ce-9c83-24bff792cbdd ro 3

[vickey_20]

I think problem is something else as it hangs after the grub. It simply hangs . I ll try doing the text mode (3) lets see.

[devils casper]

Removing quiet and splash keywords will display necessary inforamtion and error message, if any.