Vista, XP and Suse

OK, problems.
I'm a commercial pilot. However, let's assume that I am a guy walking down the street. You just told me to jump into the seat of the Space Shuttle & land it. NO BLOODY WAY!!
What I'm trying to say is that I haven't the slightest idea what to do with all that command line stuff. Remember, I just acquired Linux and can just barely get it to run.
I used Firefox, & downloaded the 1.95 version of GRUB. There are 279 files in there. I nearly pooped in my jeans when I saw that. BTW, I'm running Mepis 6.5 the released version.
I'm actually back in XP now, the comfort factor, you know.

Let's get down to basics, please. I have unzipped (whatever) the 279 files. What next.

OOPS!

The spousal unit just informed me that the computer can wait, she has plans.

Back to you later, sorry.

Jerry
 
lol.

Not grub 1.95
grub 0.97

linux guys can be a pain in the you-know-where... they made grub 1.0 and developed it for a decade, but never officially released it.
then they scrapped their plans and started working on grub2 just before 1.0 was released. then you wonder why all these problems happen!

download 0.97
extract
open a terminal
browse to that directory (if you extracted to your desktop, cd ~/Desktop/grub/)
then type ./configure
make
 
You know what? You shouldn't have to do that.
Here, this is easier.

Download this iso and burn it to a CD: http://supergrub.forjamari.linex.org/?section=download
Boot from it.

Select English -> Press any Key
Type the letter "c"
You'll now be at a GRUB prompt.

At this point, follow the instructions in the EBCD Linux docs by doing the following:
Code: 
find /boot/grub/stage1
it'll print (hdx,y)
Code: 
root (hdx,y)
setup (hdx,y)
setup (hdx,y)
quit
where (hdx,y) is the thing it printed earlier.

Reboot into Vista.
Delete Linux entries in EasyBCD.
Re-create Linux entry with EasyBCD 1.6.

Reboot.
Test.

PRAY!
 
No luck. I get the same 4 lines very quickly as before. A reference to a new partition, and a name similar to Hocstetter.

I certainly wish I could give better news.

Jerry in Anchorage
 
Yeah those 4 line are part of the new system. They're supposed to guarantee that it would work no matter what. I don't know what to tell you.
 
I think SStray might have gotten his system working with the dd trick.

Jerry, did you try using NeoGrub? I doubt it would work if GRUB doesn't, but I guess it's no harm done.
Copy your menu.lst from /boot/grub/menu.lst in Mepis, and paste those contents in the NeoGrub configuration file (you'll have a button to configure NeoGrub once you choose to install it from the Add/Remove Entries -> NeoGrub section).

Use EasyBCD 1.6, it has a couple of enhancements to the NeoGrub subsystem.
 
Tried it with no improvement.
Still get the 4 lines & back to the boot loader.

Just a thought (remember that I'm dumb as a box of rocks), I am remembering a "Stage 1.5" somewhere in my travels through Mepis. Is that of any significance?

Time to make pillow tracks again, gotta be on the flight line pretty early tomorrow.

Jerry in Anchorage
 
Those 4 lines aren't for NeoGrub..........

Delete all linux entries, then install NeoGrub. Modify the bootloader menu to match your mepis one, then select NeoGrub from the vista menu.

Jerry, stop claiming to be dumb. Because you're not - a "dumb" person can't have done what you've done so far with this issue.

Those 4 lines show up as a result of the chainloading process. NeoGrub doesn't chainload, so they shouldn't show.
 
I just got home from the flightline and fired up the computer. I booted from the liveCD and copied the menu.lst file to my windows disk.
I rebooted and checked t see if there were any Linux entries in EasyBCD - there were not.
I installed NeoGrub and copied the menu.lst intact into the file at the configuration screen.
Rebooted
Selected the NeoGrub entry and was rewarded with a flashing cursor that would not respond to anything except a hard reboot (reset button).
My menu.lst shows 3 Mepis entrys and the memtest, nothing about Windows.
Below is the contents of the NeoGrub config file. Any ideas?

# NeoSmart NeoGrub Bootloader Configuration File
#
# This NeoGrub menu.lst file should be located at \NST\menu.lst of the boot drive.
# Please see the EasyBCD Documentation for information on how to create/modify entries

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

gfxmenu /boot/grub/message

title MEPIS at hdc1, newest kernel
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc1 nomce quiet vga=791
boot

title MEPIS at hdc1, older kernel
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz.old root=/dev/hdc1 nomce quiet vga=791
boot

title MEPIS at hdc1, kernel 2.6.15-27-desktop64-smp
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-desktop64-smp root=/dev/hdc1 nomce quiet vga=791
boot

title MEMTEST
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

Jerry in Anchorage
 
I have no idea what to tell you. Your MBR is definitely completely messed up. As far as fixing it goes, reinstalling whatever OS is on your primary drive might fix it. More than that, I don't know, Jerry.
 
OK
Well, I certainly have learned a lot from this exercise. I wish the outcome had been different. I will continue to tinker with the computer and to read the forum. I will not give up.

Thanks for all your help, assistance, and for your patience.

Jerry in Anchorage
 
One thing that would definitely work:
If you have a second HD, copy over all data from each partition, zap the MBR on the first HD, create the partitions anew, and copy the data back.

Good luck, and if you do get it to work please post back! :smile:
 
Jerry, two things:

One: Can you please paste the complete contents of your GRUB menu file (take from Mepis)?
Two: Can you run
Code: 
fdisk -l
in Mepis and paste the contens here as well? Note that you will have to do this command as super user (normally by typing su or sudo before the command).
 
Try this:

Boot to Mepis

Run
Code: 
grub-install --recheck "(hd0,1)"
(again, as super-user, and make sure to replace 0,1 with the right numbers)
 
OK, here are the two files from the next to last post.

fdisk listing---(Note for you) XP is on sdb1 -- Vista is on sda1 -- Mepis is on hdc1 EasyBCD is on the XP disk

Code: 
Disk /dev/hdc: 61.4 GB, 61492838400 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7476 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hdc1               1        1530    12289693+  83  Linux
/dev/hdc2            1531        1683     1228972+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hdc3            1684        3595    15358140   83  Linux
/dev/hdc4            3596        7476    31174132+   b  W95 FAT32

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        4288    34443328+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4            4289       19457   121844992+   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Disk /dev/sdb: 74.3 GB, 74355769344 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9039 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1        9039    72605736    7  HPFS/NTFS


Menu listing --------

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

gfxmenu /boot/grub/message

title MEPIS at hdc1, newest kernel
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdc1 nomce quiet vga=791 
boot

title MEPIS at hdc1, older kernel
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz.old root=/dev/hdc1 nomce quiet vga=791 
boot

title MEPIS at hdc1, kernel 2.6.15-27-desktop64-smp
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-desktop64-smp root=/dev/hdc1 nomce quiet vga=791 
boot

title Windows at sda4
rootnoverify (hd1,3)
chainloader +1

title Windows at sdb1
rootnoverify (hd2,0)
chainloader +1

title MEMTEST
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

I'll be working on the next task in a couple of minutes.

Jerry in Anchorage
 
Well, I was totally unsuccessful in obtaining the info you asked for. I cannot figure out how to change to the proper drive/directory to access the info. I attempted to type in the cammand you listed above, and absolutely nothing happened. I don't even know if I used the proper program. All this linux stuff is really foreign. I am officially upset at this stuff. I flew a turboprop aircraft well over 1100 miles today in the arctic region of Alaska with some pretty nasty weather, landed at several little gravel airstrips, and arrived safely home with all passengers intact; but cannot access a simple file on a damn computer. Is anything simple? Time for a Scotch.

Jerry in Anchorage
 
Linux can be like that :frowning:

grub-install doesn't exist in your Mepis? That's not right....

Here's a thought
remove the gfxmenu line, boot into XP, delete the Linux entry, re-create the linux entry, and try again.
 
Judging by SithToast's thread below, my advice to use the grub-install --recheck feature can fix this problem.
Install GRUB to Mepis (I never used it, but I assume it uses either yum or apt-get), then run grub-install --recheck "(hd0,1)" as in my previous.
 
I've tried the grub-install several times with no success. I'm going to try again. You were not specific about "Boot into Mepis". I hope you meant boot from the live DVD, cuz that is what I have been trying. Next problem, you say --recheck "(hd0,0)". I tried with the "(hd0,0)", with (hdo,o), and hdo,o and none of it worked. It says it cannot find whatever it is supposed to find.

I need to reiterate that my install of Mepis is OK. It runs fine if I change the BIOS to boot from that drive. I must also, again, repeat that I am totally new to Linux and do not understand, yet "synaptic, k-hodo, aptget", or any of the other funky terms associated with Linux. I am trying to learn; however, I have a terribley long and rough road ahead.

Back to the live DVD reboot process and more unpure thoughts.

Jerry in Anchorage
 
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