[GRUB] can't find fc9. fc8 fine.

hattrickinc · #1 5th November 2008, 11:10 PM

Good evening!!

I'm praying someone can help me.. I had fc9 / xp on my laptop, then I added fc8,

but grub only saw fc8

so I ran the rescue disk that's on the Fedora Core 9 dvd and now it only finds fc8 & xp..

I get this error when trying to load fc9:

root (hd0,1)
filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.14-108.fc9.i686 ro root=UUID=blah blah blah -blah blah rhgb quiet

error 2: bad file or directory type

press any key to continue..

any thoughts?

stoat · #2 5th November 2008, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hattrickinc

any thoughts?

Hello hattrickinc,

Yeah, it's your Fedora 8 GRUB boot loader version. If you allowed Fedora 8 to install its GRUB boot loader in the master boot record (and it sounds like you did), then your Fedora 8 GRUB boot loader is a version that cannot boot Fedora 9 because it cannot find files in the Fedora 9 boot partition. It all has to do with the 256-byte-size inodes used by the file systems created by Fedora 9 in preparation for the coming of the ext4 file system. Fedora 8 uses 128-byte inodes.

What to do now. The best idea is to update your Fedora 8 system with yum. The current version of the grub package which has been patched for this issue (v0.97-33) will be in that update. Even if you have already done that update, you still need to do one more thing for it to matter regarding this particular issue: re-install the Fedora 8 GRUB boot loader with grub-install. Then you will be able to boot Fedora 9 from the Fedora 8 GRUB menu.

There are a couple of other ways around this issue: 1) By booting Fedora 9 using the chainloader command in the Fedora 8 grub.conf, or 2) by installing Fedora 9's GRUB in the master boot record since it can boot both Fedora 8 and 9. You can read more about those ideas and the whole general issue here...

256-byte Inodes + Unpatched GRUB = No problem

P.S.: Additional reading, another example, and support for what I just suggested is here...

Triple boot Fedora8/Kubuntu8.10/XP GRUB trouble

hattrickinc · #3 6th November 2008, 04:00 AM

hey.. Thanks for getting in touch with me so soon, I really appreciate it =)

Considering I have the fc9 dvd in my drive now, that seems like the easiest option, just reinstalling fc9's GRUB...

I'm still somewhat noobish with linux, so lemme go research how to reinstall GRUB, I'll b sure to update this with my findings..

ty again..

stoat · #4 6th November 2008, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hattrickinc

I'm still somewhat noobish with linux, so lemme go research how to reinstall GRUB, I'll b sure to update this with my findings..

Here is a fairly clean and short thread with an example and the details...

Grub broken - all i get is GRUB and a blinking curser

Return here if you run into difficulties or have any questions about what you read there.

hattrickinc · #5 6th November 2008, 04:19 AM

Awesome.. I'm going to try one of the options listed there...

It's crazy, I don't know much about GRUB, -but- I see my /boot/grub/boot.conf and this entry is the one that doesn't work:

title Fedora (2.6.25.14-108.fc9.i686)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.14-108.fc9.i686 ro root=UUID=2962cbcd-edc7-$
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.25.14-108.fc9.i686.img

cant I just... point it in the right direction with this information:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 12748 102396928 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 12749 16664 31455270 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 16665 16729 522112+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 16730 19457 21912660 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 16730 19457 21912628+ 83 Linux

stoat · #6 6th November 2008, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hattrickinc

title Fedora (2.6.25.14-108.fc9.i686)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.14-108.fc9.i686 ro root=UUID=2962cbcd-edc7-$
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.25.14-108.fc9.i686.img

If that came from your Fedora 8 grub.conf, then it probably is already pointed in the right direction. The problem is your Fedora 8 grub package and/or boot loader need to be updated to latest version in order to launch those Fedora 9 kernel and initial ramdisk files that are specified in those command lines. If you want to go that route, then first confirm that you have (or don't have) a patched version of the grub package in Fedora 8 (equal to or later than v0.97-21)...

Code:

rpm -qa | grep grub

If the reported version is earlier than 0.97-21, then update it...

Code:

su
yum update grub

Once you have the latest version of the grub package installed in Fedora 8, then re-install Fedora 8's GRUB boot loader...

Code:

su
/sbin/grub-install /dev/sda

Reboot and try to boot Fedora 9 from the Fedora 8 GRUB menu. It works in my imagination anyway.

hattrickinc · #7 6th November 2008, 04:46 AM

*slaps head* I'm an idiot. lol

so I followed the instructions, reinstalled the fc9 grub, and now fc9 boots fine, but it doesn't list my windows or fc8 partitions..

help me lol

hattrickinc · #8 6th November 2008, 04:47 AM

wait.. I have a copy of my old /boot/grub/grub.conf.. cant I just copy from 8 -> 9? the missing info?

stoat · #9 6th November 2008, 04:54 AM

Quote:

...so I followed the instructions, reinstalled the fc9 grub, and now fc9 boots fine, but it doesn't list my windows or fc8 partitions..

Well, that's okay. That will work, too. It was the original plan anyway. Here is a simple idea (actually a better idea). Just type this in the Fedora 9 grub.conf for booting Fedora 8...

Code:

title Fedora 8
configfile (hd0,4)/boot/grub/grub.conf

For Windows, this...

Code:

title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

I think it will work.

hattrickinc · #10 6th November 2008, 05:02 AM

hey...
so I IM'd a buddy of my old grub (from fc8) and just added the OLD fedora core 8 info to the NEW fc9 /boot/grub/grub.conf..

all good!

Thank you so much for the help, I seriously appreciate it.

stoat · #11 6th November 2008, 05:13 AM

Okay that's good. But just for the record... The reason that the configfile method is actually a better way to boot another Linux system is because it is "immune" to kernel updates in that other Linux system. Copying the kernel and initrd command lines from one grub.conf to another does work and is perfectly acceptable. However, when your Fedora 8 kernel gets updated (often), you will have to manually edit the Fedora 9 grub.conf for the new kernel and initial ramdisk file versions. The configfile command merely reloads the GRUB menu with new the information found in the specified config file. The kernel and initial ramdisk version numbers don't matter. But either way you want to do it is okay. Just so you know your way will get broken soon.

P.S.: If you ever want to try another booting method in the grub.conf (like that configfile thing), you can just add the "experimental" title section at the end of the grub.conf to try it out for a while. That way you won't break anything that was already working. Just an idea. Hey, that's a good idea. Consider doing that, and watch what happens when the Fedora 8 kernel updates. The menu choice using the kernel and initrd commands will break and the configfile one will keep on going.

hattrickinc · #12 6th November 2008, 01:51 PM

alright, I'll try your method when I get home. Thanks for sticking this out with me.