[SOLVED] install ok, but boot failed

[catch22]

I have 2 Debian OS's and wanted to put Fedora next to it.
Install went ok, but after rebooting it says:
"No root device found. Boot has failed, sleeping forever."

During install from the live CD I didn't "v" the boot (efi or something?) because I thought Grub would take care of everything.

Should I just reinstall again and choose the Fedora bootloader?
Won't it mess up Grub?

[glennzo]

Does any OS boot? Does Debian boot? You may be able to edit your bootloader to repair Fedora's boot issues.

[catch22]

Originally Posted by glennzo

Does any OS boot? Does Debian boot? You may be able to edit your bootloader to repair Fedora's boot issues.

Yes, Ubuntu and Crunchbang both boot.
I do notice that they both have a "recovery" option in boot also, while Fedora doesn't.

I did a Grub-update, and Fedora is in Grub, but after booting some 20-30 lines of text how up and then I get the error message about "sleeping forever".

I didn't pick Fedora's bootloader option during install, thinking Grub would handle it.

[glennzo]

Ubuntu's grub will, and apparently has, added Fedora to the mix. Are you saying that you chose to not install a boot loader during the Fedora install process?

[catch22]

Originally Posted by glennzo

Ubuntu's grub will, and apparently has, added Fedora to the mix. Are you saying that you chose to not install a boot loader during the Fedora install process?

Exactly.
I guess I should have? Is there a way to fix this

[glennzo]

Boot with the Fedora installation DVD. Choose rescue mode and install Fedora's boot loader. Then figure out how to boot Ubuntu with Fedora's legacy grub.

[catch22]

Originally Posted by glennzo

Boot with the Fedora installation DVD. Choose rescue mode and install Fedora's boot loader. Then figure out how to boot Ubuntu with Fedora's legacy grub.

I booted with the CD again, but didn't see any "rescue"-option anywhere on the way. I simply continued a fresh install and updated.
Now Fedora boots fine, but I don't see Grub passing along, so I can't boot into Ubuntu or Crunchbang.

Will

sudo update-grub

work? Or am I in trouble?
EDIT: I might try the following? (from http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/...mode-boot.html )

*
Boot the system from an installation boot medium.
*
Type linux rescue at the installation boot prompt to enter the rescue environment.
*
Type chroot /mnt/sysimage to mount the root partition.
*
Type /sbin/grub-install bootpart to reinstall the GRUB boot loader, where bootpart is the boot partition (typically, /dev/sda).
*
Review the /boot/grub/grub.conf file, as additional entries may be needed for GRUB to control additional operating systems.
*
Reboot the system.

[glennzo]

No. That command is for a system running GRUB2, like the new Ubuntus. Is Windows available in the boot menu?

Anyhow, you have 2 choices. Figure out how to boot Ubuntu with Fedora's legacy GRUB, which is what your Fedora system is using. This is documented here in this forum if I'm not mistaken and is contingent upon Ubuntu's GRUB being installed in Ubuntu's boot partition IIRC. I don't think that's the case for you though. The other option is to reinstall Ubuntu's GRUB using the Ubuntu Live CD. This may also be documented here but I'm not sure. Here's a link that should prove to be extremely helpful for reinstalling GRUB2. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2 Scroll way down the page to where there is a heading that says Reinstalling Grub 2. There are several methods outlined. Personally, I use method 3 - chroot. This has worked extremely well for me in the past. Don't be intimidated by all the commands. It's really pretty simple and only takes 5 minutes. Your reward will be a system that boots all three OS's. The only downside to using Ubuntu's GRUB2 is that if there's a Fedora kernel update you need to boot Ubuntu and run sudo update-grub before you will be able to take advantage of, and boot into, the new Fedora kernel.

So there you have it. This is what I know about multi-booting Linux systems that use 2 different versions of the grub boot loader. It works for me and it works very well. Others may (hopefully) poke their heads in here and tell us that there's a much simpler method. If they do we will both learn something new.

[catch22]

Originally Posted by glennzo

... Is Windows available in the boot menu?
...
reinstall Ubuntu's GRUB using the Ubuntu Live CD...

I don't have Windows on the machine
Thanks for your help; I'll see if the chroot method works with Crunchbang, because that's the OS that "rules" Grub on my machine, I think.

[glennzo]

Originally Posted by catch22

I don't have Windows on the machine
Thanks for your help; I'll see if the chroot method works with Crunchbang, because that's the OS that "rules" Grub on my machine, I think.

What version of GRUB does Crunchbang use? If it's GRUB2 you can in fact use sudo update-grub and should easily be able to get Ubuntu added.

[catch22]

Originally Posted by glennzo

What version of GRUB does Crunchbang use? If it's GRUB2 you can in fact use sudo update-grub and should easily be able to get Ubuntu added.

That is indeed the plan, to first try sudo update-grub and hope for the best

---------- Post added at 01:49 PM GMT ---------- Previous post was at 01:27 PM GMT ----------

So, I put in the Crunchbang live CD and opened a terminal.
sudo update-grub
gave me: bash: update-grub: command not found

I didn't get very far with the chroot-method either.
sudo fdisk -l didn't detect /dev/sda, which I believe is my "normal system partition" (if I interpret that right - it's where Crunchbang is installed)

df -Th. gave me: df: invalid option

Looks like I'm stuck now :-(

EDIT: BTW, I never see a Grub splash screen when booting Fedora - is that normal behaviour?

[glennzo]

No. You're not stuck. What version of GRUB does Crunchbang use? If it's legacy grub

[root@satellite yum.repos.d># grub --version
grub (GNU GRUB 0.97)

then there is no update-grub command. That is only for GRUB2, so you would need to manually add the other OS's.

Let's take a few steps backwards. What is installed on the computer for OS's? What boots and what doesn't? What's the last OS you installed?

[glennzo]

Originally Posted by catch22

EDIT: BTW, I never see a Grub splash screen when booting Fedora - is that normal behaviour?

Yes. These days the timeout parameter in the menu is "0" so it typically boots right into Fedora.

[catch22]

Originally Posted by glennzo

No. You're not stuck. What version of GRUB does Crunchbang use? If it's legacy grub

[root@satellite yum.repos.d># grub --version
grub (GNU GRUB 0.97)

then there is no update-grub command. That is only for GRUB2, so you would need to manually add the other OS's.

Let's take a few steps backwards. What is installed on the computer for OS's? What boots and what doesn't? What's the last OS you installed?

Not sure what Grub-version Crunchbang uses, but

sudo update-grub

normally does work (just in the live-CD it didn't).

Installed are:
Crunchbang statler (Debian Squeeze)
Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat
Fedora 14

At present the only OS that boots is Fedora, because I don't get to see the Grub splash to pick another OS.
Fedora is the last one installed.

[smr54]

ISTR that Rahul mentioned somewhere, if there are other systems, you do get a chance to enter grub. I wonder if it is a 0 timeout or just hidden?

I'm pretty sure that #!Crunchbang still uses legacy grub.