Help! F9 system updated; now system won't boot

[dwhitney67]

Hello,

I just updated my F9 system this morning (2008-06-18) with the latest packages, which includes kernel 2.6.25.4-30.fc9.i686.

When I rebooted my system after the installation of all the packages was completed, the system hangs. All I see is the "GRUB" word; from there the system hangs.

Using Knoppix 5.1, how can I fix Grub in the MBR?

Knoppix is able to see my system's /boot (/dev/hda1) partition and has mounted it at /media/hda1. Using the 'mount' command, I was able to mount my system's /home (/dev/hda2) partition at /media/hda2, and the root-partition (/dev/hda3) at /media/hda3.

[patrox]

Look at the end of this thread there is a solution that worked for me:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forum/...5&page=2&pp=15

But I'm not sure if chroot exists on the knoppix disc...

[scotty38]

You might also want to check out Super Grub. It's helped me more than a few times I can tell you

http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

[dwhitney67]

Patrox -

Aside from editing your /etc/fstab file, was anything else done? I replaced all of the UUID stuff in my /etc/fstab, and in its place I insert /dev/hda1 (for /boot), /dev/hda2 (for /home), and /dev/hda3 (for /). I did not know what to replace the UUID used by the swap partition.

My /boot/grub/menu.lst still refers to the UUIDs. Should this file also be edited to use the /dev devices I specified in the /etc/fstab file?

From what I can tell, it is not necessarily the /boot/grub/menu.lst file nor the /etc/fstab that is the problem, but instead the contents of the MBR. If it is the latter, how can I recreate the grub setup in the MBR?

[scotty38]

Originally Posted by dwhitney67

From what I can tell, it is not necessarily the /boot/grub/menu.lst file nor the /etc/fstab that is the problem, but instead the contents of the MBR. If it is the latter, how can I recreate the grub setup in the MBR?

I refer you to my previous post

[dwhitney67]

Originally Posted by scotty38

I refer you to my previous post

I'm looking at it right now... however, I don't have a spare CD/DVD-R... and my system will not support booting from a USB-stick.

I was hoping for a command-line solution that I could employ from Knoppix.

[scotty38]

Ah ok.

Assuming you're at a GRUB prompt rather than it just hanging, this might help you work something out:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/l...-commands.html


Edit:

Ok you said it hangs, scrub that then.....

[dwhitney67]

Originally Posted by patrox

Look at the end of this thread there is a solution that worked for me:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forum/...5&page=2&pp=15

But I'm not sure if chroot exists on the knoppix disc...

Well, it looks like I may have solved the Grub issue using the instructions in your post as a guide. I did NOT have to modify the /etc/fstab or the /boot/grub/menu.lst.

Here is what I did using a Knoppix 5.1 terminal:

su
mount /dev/hda3 /media/hda3
mount /dev/hda1 /media/hda3/boot
chroot /media/hda3
/sbin/MAKEDEV hda
/sbin/grub /dev/hda --recheck
/sbin/grub << EOF
device (hd0) /dev/hda
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
quit
EOF
exit
reboot
(and remove Knoppix CD before reboot).

Note that I needed to use 'hda', and not 'sda'.

I hope that this ***** never happens again! It seems that with every update that Fedora puts out, I need to remember to cross my fingers and hoping that nothing bad happens. This is not the first time I have been burnt with a Fedora update.

Anyhow, Patrox, thank you very much for your help.

[patrox]

you are welcome!

/ Patrik