...now Linux not booting...

Pofadda

Pofadda

Member
Now that I can see my Vista menu (see: No changes shown in boot menu!) I now need to be able to boot up my Suse Linux partition!

I appreciate that this is not really your concern but, before I re-install Suse, perhaps you can cast some light on its non-booting:
Suse is booted - I intend - by using the NeoGrub option and after it is selected the screen shows the message:
BootPart 2.60 Bootsector...
Loading new partition
Bootsector from CH Hochstatter
Cannot load from harddisk.

EasyBCD 1.6 says:
Name: Suse 10.2 Linux
BCD ID: {88d351ba-744e-11dc-b6e1-b7f6ff285eda}
Drive: H:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\nst_grub.mbr

Suse is definitely on (hd0,6) if various partition managers and file managers are to be believed...

Just for luck nst_grub.mbr is in the root of 2 other partitions as well as \NST\ and H:\.

Whe trying to ensure that Suse' s boot partition is in that of (hd0,6) Suse's installer gives the Grub message:
grub> setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 (hd0,6)
Error 21: Selected disk does not exist.

I'm clearly missing something. Any suggestions?

Cheers
 
Before we delve into the innards of GRUB and their nasty complications, did you try the "GRUB isn't installed to the bootsector" option in EasyBCD?
 
By
Code: 
did you try the "GRUB isn't installed to the bootsector" option in EasyBCD?
do you mean 'Add an entry -> NeoGrub'? I have done that and grub, menu.list, stage_1 and stage_2 are all in \NST\ on both NTFS partitions as well as both Linux partitions (Suse and Puppy). I have done grub -> root(x,y) -> setup(x,y) on them as well just now in case 'ls -al /boot/grub/' was lying...

Selecting the NeoGrub tab puts an entry on the Vista menu but only leads to a GRUB prompt that can't be written to.

I have used Grub in the past as a (pre-Vista) multi-OS boot system and think it's a good underlying system. Would it not be a simpler thing to do to reinstall Suse Linux and - if it doesn't do it for me - chainload the Windows partitions as before? I get the impression that there is more FUD around Vista than it really justifies. Or am I a hopeless dreamer?

Cheers,
 
No - on the Add/Remove Entries -> Linux section there is a little checkbox that says "GRUB isn't installed to the bootloader" option.

Make sure you have removed all NeoGrub entries first though. Grubless Linux and NeoGrub conflict with one another.
 
No there isn't, not on mine anyway. The 'Linux/BSD' tab has 'The bootloader must be installed to the bootsector of the partition!', The 'Type', 'Name' and 'Drive' inputs along with the 'Add Entry' button.

I have removed all NST folders from my tree and the Linux option from my 'Existing Entries'.

Thanks,
 
... the battle rages on

Having done that I re-installed Suse, formatting the partition with the GRUB going to its (sda7's) boot sector'. After reboot I created 3 new EBCD menu entries to try to boot this one OS. Why? Because I was puzzled by EBCD's Drive drop-down partition list. It said
Partition 0 (Win95 Fat32 LBA - 8 GB)
Partition 1 (HPFS/NTFS - 22 GB)
Partition 2 (HPFS/NTFS - 13 GB)
Partition 3 (Win95 XInt 13 extended)
Partition 4 (HPFS/NTFS - 80 GB) --- OK to here (sda5)
Partition 5 (Extended - 71GB) -- see below
Partition 6 (Linux native - 71 GB) -- same partition mentioned twice (sda6 ext3 FS)
Partition 7 (Extended - 10 GB) -- (sda7 Suse)
Partition 8 (Linux native - 10 GB) -- also repeated
Partition 9 (Extended - 8 GB) -- (sda8 sxt3)

Also, there are sda9 the swap (not of interest to EBCD) and 2 unmentioned partitions (ext3 formatted but unused).
Anyway, the three new entries invoking Suse at (EBCD) partitions 6,7 and 8 all give rise to the
' BootPart 2.60 Bootsector...' error.


I notice that all EBCD Linux Settings have the lines
'Drive: H:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\nst_grub.mbr'
in them. Doesn't that conflict with the earlier assertion:
'Grubless Linux and NeoGrub conflict with one another.'?

Cheers,
 
Sounds like you're using an old version. nst_grub.mbr is not NeoGrub, but in 1.7- you couldn't install more than one Linux entry at a time.

The reason you're seeing the same error for all entries is because the last entry you added overwrote all the old entries as well.

Upgrade to EasyBCD 1.7 (File | Check for Updates) then try again.
 
My previous reply seems to have gone astray. In it I thanked you for the gift of v1.7 as it now works correctly! I also noted - for your info only - that each ext3 partition seems to be noted twice saying 'Linux native' and 'Extended'. This after removing all instances of the EBCD files that I could find before upgrading to 1.7.

Thanks for this useful little tool,
 
You're welcome :smile:

I'm looking into the extended partition issue now, if I can verify it exists it'll be fixed in 1.7.1. (1.7 has been our most bug- and trouble-free build yet so far :smile:)
 
I can't help with the extended partition problem at the moment. Sorry.


I am at a bit of an impasse with EasyBCD at the moment because it no longer can 'see' my system properly. No fault of your product at all but caused by my hacking and transferring of the various 'boot manager' files setups to my FAT32 C: drive. It has 'bootmgr', 'ntldr' and Grub files on it and booting is done via Suse Grub's sda6 menu.lst. My clarity about what the 'true' paths of bootings are is hampered by being laid low with 'flu.

While this is working tolerably for the present - the OSs boot properly - I will look at it again when I am better.

The interleaving of drive names and 'extended' as per post on 17th Oct is similar to the data showing them as seen by ...some CLI tool or other (sorry, I can't even remember if it was in Windows or Linux!)... Sorry I can't help further.
 
Hey, thanks for getting back to me :smile:

Don't worry about EasyBCD right now - focus on getting better soon! I'll continue to experiment on my end, take your time and get well.
 
Is there any reason for not putting NeoGrub and its boot folder on my C: partition to isolate it from ownership by any particular Linux distro and use it to launch both Windows too? The latter seem quite happy to be chainloaded at the moment. It seems a more robust, and, when I (inevitably) let Windows overwrite it, easier to re-install cleanly than fiddling with the proprietary stuff!

I'm feeling better already...coff-coff!
 
Not really - that should work :smile:

Do you think you could do this:
Start | Run | cmd
Code: 
cd "C:\Program Files\NeoSmart Technologies\EasyBCD\bin\"
bootpart.exe > Desktop\bootpart.txt

That should create a file called bootpart.txt on your desktop. Can you upload it is an attachment here?
 
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