Partition Problems with grub

knownchild · #1 7th February 2008, 11:19 PM

I have Partitioned my hard drive to have two partitions one for linux and one for xp, but when i did this it rebooted and i was prompted with a grub screen?
I tried everything but i ended up having to go to dos and do this:

Boot to DOS (version unimportant) and run DEBUG.
When you see (Enter) below. This means hit the enter key. DO NOT type
Enter

debug
-F 200 L1000 0 (enter)
-A CS:100 (enter)
xxxx:0100 MOV AX,301 (enter)
xxxx:0103 MOV BX,200 (enter)
xxxx:0106 MOV CX,1 (enter)
xxxx:0109 MOV DX,80 (enter)
xxxx:010C INT 13 (enter)
xxxx:010E INT 20 (enter)
xxxx:0110 (Leave this line blank. Press the key to continue.)
-G (enter)

The message, Program terminated normally, appears. Turn off the
computer by
pressing the power button. On the next startup the hard drive must be
partitioned and formatted.

I never got the Program terminated normally message but it worked anyway i then inserted my windows os disk and reinstalled.

i wanted to reinstall windows anyway but if i wanted to keep windows on there how would i avoid having to reinstall and partition again?
Grub seems to be kind of gay couldnt recognize any drive or boot anything.

***bob*** · #2 7th February 2008, 11:25 PM

Read this guide for information: http://fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=92701

stevea · #3 8th February 2008, 02:38 AM

Wow - so you took some disk configured how ?(unstated) And you changed it to more/different/moved (?) partitions with some unknown tool. Then you reboot it and get a grub prompt. [[So maybe we can assume you had Linux or dual boot on it before]].

After trying "everything" [[so I assume you couldn't boot the Lin or Win install DVD/CD disk in rescue mode - really?]] then for completely unfathomable reasons you boot DOS and run DEBUG. Why you would do this and expect it to reconfigure grub is a complete mystery to anyone with a clue.

Sorry KC - but you really need to describe your problem better if you want help.

WHAT is the configuration ?
WHAT was installed before ?
WHAT tool did you use to repartition. How did you use it ?
HOW did grub get installed ?
WHAT grub commands did you try ?

nyjetshead · #4 8th February 2008, 03:22 AM

Grub must be on your MBR since it comes up when you boot.
I assume you're not booting into linux when Grub comes up?

This is not good when you have XP and Linux on the same drive, that is unless you create a separate partition for grub to be the bootloader for both (this is more difficult to setup)
The easy way to do this is to use XP's bootloader.

If XP is already installed you need to reset the MBR to get rid of GRUB
To get Grub off the MBR you need to do the following:
If you have a XP boot floopy or recovery CD you need to run fdisk /mbr
Once you do this widows should boot again.

See link for details:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/69013

You should install Fedora in the separate partition with the option to have grub install in a /boot partition not the MBR of the drive

To get the rest done check out this link:
http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux...w2k-HOWTO.html

This method works well when XP and Linux are on the same drive.

Warning: Before you do anything read everything twice and be sure to document what you did in case you have to undo something.
There is a lot out there on this so read up before you proceed!

dariyoosh · #5 9th February 2008, 09:12 AM

Hello,

Normally you should be able to boot your system within the grub shell.

For example:
Assuming that your Windows partition is /dev/sda1
Assuming that your Linux partition is /dev/sda2

Here is what you type in the shell in order to boot Linux:

Code:

# root (hd0,1)

This will print something about file system (ext2 or ext3)
then you load the kernel

Code:

# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-(you krnel version)

If you don't know the exact kernel name, it doesn't matter just type
the first three letters following by a Tab, and the tab completion functionality
is activated and all of the installed kernels will be printed, then you choose the one
which is appropriate.
You load the initrd image

Code:

#initrd /boot/initrd-(you initrd version)

and finally

Code:

# boot

Normally this should work,

Good luck

knownchild · #6 10th February 2008, 04:33 AM

First of all bob's post answered my question and second dariyoosh i did that with no luck.
I beleive the partion program added the grub b/c i told it to make the linux partition (planned on adding linux again, i had linux uninstalled prior to all this)