Fedora 11 only boots to GRUB> prompt

daddio · #1 31st July 2009, 05:24 PM

I have completed several installations that reported successful but they only boot to the "GRUB>" prompt. Fedora 11 is the only OS on a new WD 750Gb drive. I have booted from a USB drive so I know the system supports. I'm currently running with the default partitions so that I could be sure that wasn't the problem. I just don't have enough knowledge at this point to further my cause.

I'm wondering if I'm missing something real simple? Otherwise, does anyone have recommended links to learn the ins/outs of Linux so that I can do this? I found the installation docs helpful to get the OS loaded but I want to have a working computer and feel that I'm close. Thanks.

Gödel · #2 31st July 2009, 06:51 PM

at the grub prompt type 'find /grub/stage1' or 'find /boot/grub/stage1'

does it find anything?

stoat · #3 31st July 2009, 07:36 PM

Hello daddio,

"Reading between the lines" makes me think that you installed Fedora in an external drive. No? That's probably okay. People do it all the time. But remember if you installed GRUB in the master boot record of the first internal drive and use GRUB to boot everything (Fedora, Windows, etc.), then that GRUB will not work if the external drive is off or unplugged.

If on the other hand, you knew all that and installed GRUB in the master boot record of the external USB drive planning to somehow change the drive order in BIOS to boot Fedora, then maybe it will help if you boot Fedora manually from that grub> prompt, and once it's running, use grub-install to re-install GRUB in the external's master boot record. See, it's not unheard of for GRUB to be sort of busted immediately after installation sometimes. It probably has to do with detection of drives or confusion (by GRUB or Anaconda) regarding the drives. Anyway, sometimes re-installing GRUB helps. And there is no better place IMO to do that than from the running system itself. You can try booting Fedora from that grub> prompt with this...

Code:

configfile (hdx,y)/grub/grub.conf

You change x & y to what you learned from Gödel's suggestion. If Fedora boots, that's a good sign. Then try re-installing GRUB. I'm stopping here in case you're not interested in any of this. But if it works and you need help re-installing GRUB, return here for it.

daddio · #4 31st July 2009, 07:58 PM

It should help me to be able to at least boot so I'll try your suggestion. The system has only the one internal drive though. I did want to keep it simple until I had a working system and then perhaps add more drives. That is why I used default partitions too.

I will also try to do Gödel's suggestion (find) to see what is there and report that back as well.

stoat · #5 31st July 2009, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daddio

The system has only the one internal drive though.

Okay, well I misunderstood what you meant by your comment about your computer being capable of booting from a USB drive. But even with a single drive, my comment about GRUB being inexplicably busted immediately after a new installation is still valid IMO. I promise, I see that all the time here. But I can't promise that re-installing GRUB universally helps every case. It's just that it often does, and certainly won't harm anything if done correctly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daddio

I will also try to do Gödel's suggestion (find) to see what is there

Yeah, do that. The GRUB shell's find command as suggested above will locate your boot partition with certainty and in GRUB nomenclature. It will confirm that GRUB was installed. And if so, use that partition designation in the next grub> prompt to actually boot the system. Summarizing it all again...

Do this at that grub> prompt you described above...

Code:

grub> find /grub/stage1
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

Do both. One or the other will produce a result if everything is okay with GRUB. Then do this with that result...

Code:

grub> configfile (hdx,y)/grub/grub.conf

And if that doesn't work, try it this way......

Code:

grub> configfile (hdx,y)/boot/grub/grub.conf

The /boot thing in those commands has to do with whether or not you have a separate boot partition. Don't use /boot in GRUB commands when there is a separate boot partition. But unless you used an ext3 partition, Fedora 11 is going to require a separate boot partition.

Lastly, if the above results in Fedora 11 booting, then try the GRUB re-install idea. Help available if needed.

daddio · #6 1st August 2009, 01:10 AM

Both find's yielded:

Error 15: File not found

so I had nothing to try to boot Fedora manually. Since I selected the default partitioning & review I did see a separate boot partition as expected. I can probably do another install and note what the partition info is if that helps with a manual boot. Additionally, during the install, I thought I recall that I can switch to different "terminals" to see what is going on and one can show me a log. When the install is happening the last step is that it is installing the boot loader and then I get the message that the Fedora Installation is successful and I can reboot. Is there in fact a log; and, will it be helpful?

stoat · #7 1st August 2009, 01:23 AM

Well, before you give up on this (since you've already tried re-installing), I recommend that you try booting the system with a Super Grub Disk. It's a free utility that can boot a GRUB-booted system when the only thing wrong with it is the boot loader. It comes is versions for floppy, CD, and even USB sticks. It's not a beautiful GUI app. It's text-based and menu-driven, but it's easy to learn and very handy to have around (I dearly love GRUB, but it can break at any time). If it boots your system, you can do the grub-install thing. Or, the Super Grub Disk itself is capable of re-installing GRUB. Just be careful, it's not yet clear to me where you intend for GRUB to be installed.

daddio · #8 1st August 2009, 05:42 AM

Nah, give up, neva...
After installing successful, used ctrl-alt-f5 to look at something like a logfile. It showed some stuff related to the install and at the end was the following:

grub> root (hd0,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
grub> install –stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 /grub/stage1 d (hd0) /grub/stage2 p (hd0,0)/grub/grub.conf

so after I rebooted and was placed at the grub> prompt I tried typing root(hd0,0) which failed; the error was Error 21: Selected disk does not exist

It seems that the disk it finds during installation isn't found after installation??? If that is so, I tried changing the parameters to several other drive numbers but all reported the same error.

daddio · #9 1st August 2009, 05:47 AM

By the way, one more thing. I did boot the Super Grub Disk and though I was able to boot with it, I couldn't figure out how to get Fedora to come up. I think the problem is the same because using the text menu I got errors that things weren't what they were supposed to be from the documentation (wiki). Also, I was mistaken about booting that system with a USB memory stick. I did boot a system, just not that one!

othorsen · #10 26th August 2009, 06:38 AM

I'm having the same problem.

Installing works fine, but grub cannot find the boot partition.

My setup is like this:
sda:
200M /boot ext3
120G / ext4

sdb:
4G swap
250G lvm

sil.... : (my raid partition)
1T lvm

lvm logical drives:
1250G /storage ext4

(I can provide more specific details if necessary...)

Even installing without using the raid partition at all causes problems....

At the grub prompt I find to drives (hd1, hd2), both with no partitions.

If I use the rescue option on the install dvd I can mount everything with no problems....

stoat · #11 26th August 2009, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by othorsen

If I use the rescue option on the install dvd I can mount everything with no problems....

In that rescue mode, I would try looking at the file /boot/grub/device.map and editing it if it needs it. Then re-install GRUB. Exit linux rescue and reboot.

othorsen · #12 26th August 2009, 11:10 PM

The contents of /boot/grub/device.map:
(hd0) /dev/sda

This should be fine since /dev/sda1 contains the boot partition and /dev/sda2 contains the root partition.

To re-install grub:

grub-install /dev/sda

Now I no longer get the grub prompt on boot, only "Error 21".

stoat · #13 26th August 2009, 11:24 PM

Okay. Well. That Error 21 (disk does not exist) can be generated by stage1.5 or stage2. My guess is former in this case. But I can't explain why. Here's a harmless thing to try. Re-install GRUB one more time, but use the GRUB shell this time. Sometimes it will work when the grub-install script does not. Back to rescue mode...

Code:

grub
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
quit
reboot

othorsen · #14 26th August 2009, 11:56 PM

Same result... "Error 21"

Running the setup stage (multiple times) reveals that stage1 does not exist. (everything else exists...)

then it (successfully) runs "install /grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+28 p (hd0,0)/grub/stage2 /grub/grub.conf"

Another side-note: I tried using the super grub boot cd. It could only find hd3... with no partitions.

I appreciate the help so far :-)

stoat · #15 27th August 2009, 12:15 AM

Okay. I've seen a couple of threads about similar things lately. Also some of those people reported that GParted displayed the drives and partitions incorrectly, too. I'm out of ideas for now. But FWIW, I remain interested. If I find anything I will return here with it. There is a related bug report. Many of those people have HP Pavilions. Maybe a "me too" would be helpful even if you have other equipment (describe it there, too).

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=503180