Multiboot problems mostly Linux

Glad you got everything to work. :smile: But...was sdc1 (hd2,0) correct or it wasn't? From the following quote, it sounded like it was it almost booting, if you were seeing the Mepis Logo screen. And that with hd2,0 and sdc1, as I suggested.
Muskt said:
Your guess was 100% correct. I changed the menu.lst to hd2,0 & SDC1 then eliminated Linux from Easy BCD and then added Linux, & it booted first time - well sort of, kind of.

I get to the Blue & Black (Mepis Logo)screen much too quickly, & then it just locks up. If i press the esc key, it shows 15-20 errors which generally revolve around not finding directories, swap files, etc. Have you got any clues about that or do I need to write down each specific error & forward them on?

I whll have no problem reinstalling the OS, if you think that may be of some benefit.

Nearly forgot, the bottom of the screen that asks which kernal I want to load has no entries in it. It does when booting from the live DVD. I do not know the terminology for that area.

Jerry
Click to expand...
But then your next quote says you tried sdb1 (which translates to (hd1,0) ), and your computer magically booted...:wtf: If that was the correct location all along, why didn't it work the first time you tried it? I'm a little confused...

Muskt said:
Addendum:

I took my own advice (that is a scary thought) & it worked. I took the first entry in the menu.lst and replaced all 3 SDC1 entries with SDB1, & it booted the first time.

Man, this has been a struggle.

I certainly do appreciate all the patience, assistance, and hand-holding you good people have provided me.

If you ever get to Anchorage, Alaska, the coffee is on me (could be a nice Alaskan Amber instead).

Thank you all.

Jerry in Anchorage
Click to expand...

Sure you didn't reinstall Mepis since between you tried (hd2,0) and when you tried tried sdb1, or make any other changes to affect the location where Mepis was installed?

-Coolname007
 
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Here is the story

I took your advice & changed every entry in menu.lst to hd2,0 and every entry for SDB1 to SDC1. When I attempted a reboot, it wouldn't get past the Mepis logo screen and that appeared very fast -- too fast.

That is when I posted the question about Grub not knowing where Mepis was, based on my observations from GPartED. It says that Mepis is on SDB1,2,3.

I figured "What the heck?" I booted with the live DVD. I left the hd2,0 inplace & changed the entries in the newest kernal section from SDC1 to SDB1 (all 3 of them) and rebooted (without the live DVD) & it worked. I tried it 3 times.

I did not change any of the other entries (previous kernal etc.) and do not plan to, since I have no intention of using them.

I could not have gotten it running without your assistance.

Thank you very much. The offer of Coffee or Beer is for real.

Thanks again

Jerry in Anchorage

Addendum:

Here is the current menu.lst file. I am in Mepis right now & the live DVD is not in the drive. I booted from the hard drive.

timeout 15
color cyan/blue white/blue
foreground ffffff
background 0639a1

gfxmenu /boot/grub/message

title MEPIS at sdb1, newest kernel
root (hd2,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb1 nomce quiet splash vga=791 resume=/dev/sdb1
initrd /boot/initrd.img
boot

title MEPIS at sdb1, previous kernel (if any)
root (hd2,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz.old root=/dev/sdc1 nomce quiet splash vga=791 resume=/dev/sdc1
boot

title MEPIS at sdb1, kernel 2.6.27-1-mepis-smp
root (hd2,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp root=/dev/sdc1 nomce quiet splash vga=791 resume=/dev/sdc1
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp
boot

title Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader) at sda1
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader) at sdd1
map (hd0) (hd3)
map (hd3) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd3,0)
chainloader +1

title MEMTEST
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

I cannot explain why it works. That it works, is great to me for now. Now, maybe I can attempt to learn this new OS.

The strange behavior may have to do with the funky drive configurations in my machine.

Jerry in Anchorage
 
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Muskt said:
I took your advice & changed every entry in menu.lst to hd2,0 and every entry for SDB1 to SDC1. When I attempted a reboot, it wouldn't get past the Mepis logo screen and that appeared very fast -- too fast.

That is when I posted the question about Grub not knowing where Mepis was, based on my observations from GPartED. It says that Mepis is on SDB1,2,3.

I figured "What the heck?" I booted with the live DVD. I left the hd2,0 inplace & changed the entries in the newest kernal section from SDC1 to SDB1 (all 3 of them) and rebooted (without the live DVD) & it worked. I tried it 3 times.
I did not change any of the other entries (previous kernal etc.) and do not plan to, since I have no intention of using them.

I could not have gotten it running without your assistance.

Thank you very much. The offer of Coffee or Beer is for real.

Thanks again

Jerry in Anchorage
Click to expand...

Ok...so try this one for size. :smile: Your root partition is located at sdc1 (hd2,0), and your kernel is located at sdb1 (hd1,0). That explains why you got those errors the last time, when your root line was pointed at (hd2,0) and your kernel line was pointed at (sdc1). It is not often that one's kernel and root partition ends up at two different places, but that explains it all. Your kernel is located at sdb1, and your root partition is located at sdc1. Cheers, and its too bad you and I are so far away from each other...I may have taken you up on that offer of beer. :brows:

-Coolname007
 
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?

Do you mean that Mepis is split between 2 drives? I don't see how that is possible. When I installed it, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary except to tell it not to install GRUB to MBR. I selected SDB1 for Root, SDB2 for Swap, & SDB3 for Home..

I can't explain it. I can hardly spell Linuz, yet. Give me some time & just maybe, with a lot of help, I one day will.

Jerry
 
Muskt said:
Do you mean that Mepis is split between 2 drives? I don't see how that is possible. When I installed it, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary except to tell it not to install GRUB to MBR. I selected SDB1 for Root, SDB2 for Swap, & SDB3 for Home..

I can't explain it. I can hardly spell Linuz, yet. Give me some time & just maybe, with a lot of help, I one day will.

Jerry
Click to expand...

Well, whatever the LiveCD called it when you were installing Mepis, the location where your root partition is (at least now...) located at (hd2,0) which translates to sdc1, and your OS kernal is located at sdb1 (which translates to (hd1,0) ). :wink: Why that is I can't say, but its quite obvious that that is the case, if your computer boots with the root line pointed at (hd2,0), and the kernal line pointed at sdb1. Since you installed Mepis more than once, maybe the second time you installed it, it actually installed to sdc1 instead of sdb1. I haven't a clue. You may have changed the boot order in the BIOS since installing Mepis, which would of course affect the drive numbers.

At any rate, I'm glad its all working fine now. :smile:

Cheers,

-Coolname007

EDIT: Check your logical partition (E) from original Vista, and you will likely find /boot/vmlinuz in there...
 
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Hey Jerry, glad you got it to work! :smile:

Sorry we couldn't get you there sooner.... and I'll definitely be taking you up on that offer when I visit Alaska - I've always wanted to go there :smile:
 
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