F11 causing No OS Found errors

[auralish]

Hi all!

I have one SATA Hard disk that I use to dual boot F10 and XP, with Windows as the default loader. (I use the bootpart method).

This particular setup served me well with F9 and F10 but upon install completion of F11, just after the first reboot, nothing happens and I'm left with a blank screen. I tried this with my cousin's Asus laptop and after the F11 install reboot, we get an Nvidia Boot Loader error with a No Operating System found message.

I have no idea why this is happening, I tried booting from local disk using F11's install DVD but it just hangs with a black screen and a blinking cursor. (Though I can boot into Fedora's rescue mode and mount the system). I also tried booting into Windows' rescue mode with an XP CD but fixmbr/fixboot doesn't do anything. As a last resort, I had to format F11's partition and install XP on that one just to get into Windows. (With two Windows installs now detected on Windows' boot).

One thing I noticed though is that Windows install setup can load with Fedora 11 installed in the same HDD and it reads Fedora 11's partition as something like Windows XP Fault Tolerant partition, whereas Windows setup hangs on Fedora 10. (stoat made a great thread regarding this issue.)


Here's a summary:

1) Install F11 on free space in the same HDD
2) Specifically set F11's loader to install into /boot and not override MBR (I don't use Grub)*
3) After install completes, reboot
4) After POST check, nothing happens (nvidia boot loader - no os found on my counsin's laptop)


Can anyone enlighten me regarding this? I have read a similar problem like this in SUSE, but they can boot into windows but I can't.




*I don't use Grub because I use bootpart to set Fedora in Windows' boot.ini

[Peter Williams]

I suspect the reason for your problem is that, although you asked for Grub to be installed in the /boot partition, and not in the MBR, the installer nonetheless went ahead and installed it in the MBR.

See https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=504570

You may like to add a comment to this bug report, e.g. about whether you agree with the judgement that this bug has low priority!

[phkahler]

Oddly, I made a live USB stick on my F10 machine. It booted ioto F11 fine on that machine. However, my Eee 1000 said there was no operating system on the USB stick. I messed around a LOT and finally I made the live USB from the same ISO file using the Windows version of the live USB creator tool from the Fedora site. This time the USB booted fine on the Eee and I was then able to install F11 on my Eee. Everything is great now, but I'm still curious about the failed boot from the Fedora created USB. Could this somehow be related?

[auralish]

@Peter Williams: I think you might be right, thank you for the reply! I'll look into this again, I think I might have some digging to do. And maybe learn grub while I'm at it.


@phkahler: Sorry I haven't tried any of the USB methods, nor any Live CDs