General :: LILO/GRUB - Dual Boot Half Broken
Jun 26, 2010
I've run Debian on my laptop for quite some time now with no problems. I installed Slack to a new partition created in the free space of my hard drive, and I thik this was my mistake: I let Slack automatically configure the MBR with lilo (can't remember - I should stop operating on the MBR at 4 AM.) Now Slack runs just fine, but upon bootup I would like to be able to boot either Debian or Slack, but instead I just have a Slack splash and the only option is to press enter to boot Slack.
Code:
I believe sda1 is the root directory of my Debian install.
Code:
In the above table, sda10 is the swap I created for Slack and sda3 is the root directory for Slack. All other partitions were there before (my initial Debian install).
Thus my partitions are apparently intact and visible by the MBR (is it correct that the MBR holds the list of partitions on a disk?) but for some reason I don't have the option to boot Debian at all - just Slack.
I have a feeling this is a LILO/GRUB issue, but I don't know where to start.
EDIT: more poking around seems to reveal that it is the configuration of LILO that is the problem. Observe the following output:
Code:
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May 21, 2011
Ubuntu 9.10 was set up to handle the booting selection - previously I thought it was xp but Ubuntu 9.10 "did" it. The system started out as a xp / ubuntu 9.10 dual boot on a 400gb drive. xp has 210gb, ub has 80 and their is a 100gb shared storage. Xp was installed first and then I followed a guide over at linuxconfig.org to get ub installed so that I could select which OS was wanted at boot. Ubuntu manages the boot up menu (Went back to look at my notes from the original setup) The owner tried to update to ub 11.04 and afterall was said and done the machine now boots to the message
error file not found grub rescue I can't say if 11.04 was properly installed or not. Ask whatever you like and I'll give the best answer I can. I think the xp install is okay but I can't say for certain as I don't know how to boot it outside the bootmanager at startup. Data has been saved so if I have to blow it all away and start over I can but I'm hoping I won't have to.
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Dec 23, 2014
My Toshiba Satellite C870-198 has Debian 7.7 installed in UEFI mode alongside Windows 8.1. The GRUB menu no longer displays, but the machine boots straight into Windows.
I can boot into Debian or Windows from rEFInd installed on a USB stick. The rEFInd menu has the following entries:
The Debian entry actually launches the GRUB menu which was installed with Debian.
Code: Select allBoot Microsoft EFI boot (Boot Repair backup) from Basic data partition.
Boot supposed Microsoft EFI boot (probably GRUB) from Basic data partition.
Boot EFIubuntugrubx64.efi from Basic data partition.
Boot EFIdebiangrubx64.efi from Basic data partition.
Boot bootootx64.efi from Basic data partition.
Boot vmlinuz-3.2.0-4-amd64 from boot.
In an attempt to fix GRUB I executed the commands in the 'Reinstalling grub-efi on your hard drive' section of: [URL] ....
Code: Select allmount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi
... surprisingly returned:
Code: Select all$LogFile version 2.0 is not supported. (This driver supports version 1.1 only.)
$LogFile version 2.0 is not supported. (This driver supports version 1.1 only.)
Did not find any restart pages in $LogFile and it was not empty.
The file system wasn't safely closed on Windows. Fixing.
Code: Select all[ -d /sys/firmware/efi ] && echo "EFI boot on HDD" || echo "Legacy boot on HDD"
... returned "EFI boot on HDD".
[Code] ....
... Where is Debian?
FULL HISTORY ....
=============================
The laptop came with Windows 8 preinstalled. I switched off Secure Boot and installed Ubuntu for UEFI dual boot. I recall having to use Boot Repair to get the GRUB boot manager working properly for both systems.
Recently I decided to replace Ubuntu with Debian 7.7 and first cloned the entire hard drive to a USB drive (The Clone Drive). This drive successfully boots into Ubuntu in UEFI mode.
Following this I took the opportunity to update Windows to 8.1, which broke GRUB as expected, so that the machine would only boot straight into Windows.
I installed Debian from a live USB stick in the mistaken belief that it would be bootable in UEFI mode. It did boot OK in legacy mode.
I then burned the full Debian 'DVD' image to a USB stick, booted it in UEFI mode and reinstalled Debian. In UEFI mode GRUB allowed me to boot into both Debian and Windows.
At this point I tested The Clone Drive. It was still able to boot into Ubuntu as previously, but after powering down, unplugging The Clone Drive and rebooting, the GRUB menu failed to appear and the machine booted straight into Windows. This is its current state.
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May 17, 2011
Just installed Slackware 13.37 and am trying to get dual boot to work properly. I have edited /etc/lilo.conf to point the Windows section to what I believe should be the correct partition (/dev/sda2) Here is the relevant section
Code:
# LILO configuration file
# Windows bootable partition config begins
other = /dev/sda2
[code]....
I have mounted /dev/sda2 to /ntfs-c as suggested during install and when I browse through there I see the files from my windows setup so it is in fact the correct partition. When I load Windows on boot, however, it is pointing to the recovery partition (/dev/sda1).
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Dec 15, 2010
I cannot boot into the Windows 7 partition, which I guess is /dev/sda1. I have Slackware installed on /dev/sda2 which boots fine, my /etc/lilo.conf looks like
Code:
/etc/# Start LILO global section compact
[code]....
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Nov 2, 2010
I installed Win7 after Ubuntu (10.10). I attempted to reload grub so that I would be able to run them dual boot and now I can't load anything.
I followed the guide here: [url] and went threw it a couple of times now to make sure it wasn't user error.
I am using a live cd from 10.04 because it's the only one I have. Any chance that's why it isn't working properly? I wouldn't think so, but I assume that it's possible.
If that is the case; Any way to solve it without using the live cd? I cannot burn a new disk because I have to boot from disk to use my computer right now.
I just get a flashing cursor on a blank screen when I try to load.
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Dec 16, 2010
After I complete a big project I'm working on I'm going to be wiping and re-doing my desktop machine, probably in the next day or three. I'm going to be setting up a dual-boot; my first in about three years. I'll be using separate hard disks for this, and installing Slackware second on the bigger of the two drives. When I've done this in the past I've used Grub; Is there anything I need to know or pitfalls I need to avoid doing it with Lilo?
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Jan 19, 2010
I have just install both fedora 12 and slackware 13 on my laptop I did not install lilo because fedora uses grub I am able to use slackware by using the the DVD and booting from the command prompt I have attached my grub .conf file also when i boot from cd the command is as follows
[Code]...
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Jun 18, 2011
I just installed Slackware 13.37, and it's my first version of Slack.
After installing, Grub was still installed on my system, but since it is supposed to boot an OS that's no longer on the hard drive by default, it drops to the Grub Rescue prompt every time I boot.
How can I boot Slackware from grub, or get lilo to boot my system instead of grub?
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Aug 26, 2015
I am thinking about maybe trying "LILO" [URL] ....
For my boot loader, from what I have read it sounds even more tempting.
I am totally sick of GRUB, even though it is what seems to be the most popular,and is what normally is used as the "default" when any linux system is installed, that is what the install ISO's use, but anyway, that is another topic, over the years, "grub failing", has been a problem for me , many times.
I saw this (From LILO to GRUB Howto).
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Feb 13, 2009
I somehow recalled a rule re the location of the boot partitions with LILO being required to be in the first part of the drive (1024 cylinders, it seems) and I found it indeed in an old doc:
Boot Partition: Your boot partition ought to be a primary partition, not a logical partition. This will ease recovery in case of disaster, but it is not technically necessary. It must be of type 0x83 "Linux native". If you are using lilo, your boot partition must be contained within the first 1024 cylinders of the drive. (Typically, the boot partition need only contain the kernel image.) Is this still valid in GRUB, esp in Fedora 10?
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Jan 17, 2010
I have a Dell Inspiron 1721. Recently I replaced Windows Vista Home Edition (32 bit) with Slackware Linux 13.
Lilo wouldn't work, when I turned on the computer it printed "Li" and then 20 lines of 090909... and then the computer would hang up. So I just used my Slackware-boot-flashdrive-thing that I created during installation to boot my computer and told myself that I would fix it later.
Also, when I installed, cfdisk (or it might have been sfdisk) complained that /dev/sda did not contain a valid MS-DOS partition table. fdisk still worked, so I used it to create a new table, and cfdisk worked fine and the installation went along normally.
I reinstalled Slackware about two days later (I realized that I had installed the 32 bit version instead of the 64 bit). Lilo still didn't work.
I thought it might be something wrong with the Slackware DVD, so I downloaded and attempted to install about 4 different distributions. None of the CDs would work. The computer would start up, Linux would start to load, and the computer would freeze.
Xubuntu was the only distro I had that I could get to install. Halfway through the installation, (Surprise!) I got an error, something like "Package Grub failed to install, you will not be able to boot your new operating system".
The rest of the install went fine, so I restarted my computer and tried to use another one of my CDs to boot Xubuntu. I got the error "/dev/sda does not contain a valid partition table", and later "ext4-fs: checksum failed on dev sda at sector...", and "please specify a valid partition for root=". I am absolutely positive that I entered the correct partition, I triple checked and entered other partition names to make sure.
I'd also like to add that the computer makes horrible crunching noises when it starts up and when I do stuff like press keys. So is something seriously wrong with my hardware, or is there another explanation for all of this? Because I really don't want to have to try to repair the computer and can't pay to have it repaired.
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Apr 21, 2010
I work in a very restrictive environment and I want to use linux on my work laptop (currently running Windows XP prof). I am planning to install linux in a dual boot mode but I dont want to install grub/lilo or any other boot loader. i cannot even modify Windows bootloader to boot into linux partition.
Is there a way I can boot into linux partition without installing new boot loader or modifying the current windows boot loader? Any boot CD etc available that can boot into linux partition from my laptops HDD?
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Feb 12, 2010
since ms dos wasn't meant to be booted from cd (it was used from floppy) and i have tried buring the contents of every ms dos floppy to a cd and no dice i am guessing that it needs a bootloader so i can boot up the setup wizard
before anyone suggests that this thread has nothing to do with linux i will just point out that this thread is asking about grub and that is a linux catagorie
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Nov 17, 2010
This post has been updated with new information. First, here's fdisk -l:
Code:
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
[Code]....
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Jul 18, 2011
I'm trying to install Puppy 525 on my Slackware 13.37 PC as a dual-boot using LILO. Puppy is living, all on it's own, in sda6, a 6 GiB partition. It got there by using the Puppy Universal Installer and selecting a 'Full' install, not a 'Frugal' install. I cannot find 'LILO' type instructions, only 'GRUB' type instructions.
Has anyone succeeded in doing a hard drive install of Puppy with the LILO boot loader?
Edit: I'll probably regret it, but I used Puppy's GRUB installer.
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May 10, 2011
On my PC, I use GRUB to manage my dual-boot startup on my PC. Every time I update my Linux, It adds another 2 startup options on my HD for every distro I have. (The Normal and Recovery modes for the new version.) I would like to add the VortexBox distro someday.
Is there a way for me to get rid of the older versions of Linux distro's on my GRUB menu so I just see the newest? I have 6 options for Ubuntu 10.10 and 4 options for UGE 2.8..
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May 29, 2010
I just did a fresh install of slack 13.1 on a separate drive to the one I was previously using. I've been having trouble getting lilo to work, so that I can choose between either drive. Lilo is currently installed to /dev/sda, with the old system on /dev/sda1 and the new installation on /dev/sdb1. I keep getting errors like these:
Code: Fatal: Trying to map files from unnamed device 0x0011 (NFS/RAID mirror down ?)
I managed to install lilo from the old system by copying the kernel image from the new system into the /boot/ directory and running lilo. I am now on the new system and trying the same thing in reverse but it isn't working. I have searched around a bit and there's a lot of talk of chroot-ing into the other partition to run lilo. I don't understand why the process isn't working both ways though. I can't run lilo on my new installation even with the two kernel images in the local /boot/ folder. Is this something to do with btrfs or am I missing something to do with lilo? This is my lilo.conf file. I am trying to run lilo using this file from my new installation on /dev/sdb1 and getting the error given above.
[Code]...
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Sep 29, 2010
Ive created two RAID0 partitions on my drives, a 500GB and a 60GB. Im trying to install Ubuntu on the smaller partition (ive already put Win 7 on the larger one) and every time when i get right to the last part of installation it says Grub couldnt be installed. "the grub package failed to install in arget......."
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Apr 10, 2010
I want to set up grub for a dual boot system of xp and vista. The thing is that I have vista installed and would have to install it ance again after setting up XP in order to use the microsoft bootloader. And secondly I slowly want to get into linux...
This is how I tried it: I have four partitions on my HD and want to install the Bootloader on /dev/sda3. I started up the ubuntu live cd, mounted partition3, opened the console and tried this command line which I found in a tutorial
grub-install --root-directory=/media/hda3 --recheck /dev/hda However I get the following error message:
mkdir: cannot create directory '/media/hda3/boot': No such file or directory
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Aug 9, 2010
Installing upgrade from Open SuSe 10.3 to 11.3. I did it on a 32-bit laptop, aborted half way through and couldn't get back on because GRUB loader was corrupted. No problem as there are lots of 32-bit GRUB loaders available for download, install was successful 2nd time. I need to do the same for a desktop x64bit dual core Intel. Can't find a x64bit GRUB loader on internet - how do I extract from my current set-up an emergency GRUB-loader CD?
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May 24, 2010
I'm running a dual-boot with linux mint and Windows. I have an E-machines desktop with : 760 GB Hard Drive 6GB RAM NVidia GeForce Graphics card 6150se Integrated AMD Athalon II X2 235e dual-core processor My problem is getting my grub to boot into Linux Mint, and the problem may lie with my graphics card. Whenever I install the linux mint for the first time, I am prompted to activate my proprietary NVidia graphics driver, which I do. Then I am asked to reboot.
Upon reboot, the system gets to the grub menu, accepts my selection to boot linux mint, then the "progress dots" appear on the screen. After about 8 seconds, the screen switches into command prompt mode. I never get to the graphical sign-on screen. All I get is the console sign-on prompts. From there my only option seems to be to reboot. (sudu reboot). After which, of course, I am forced to go into Windows vs. Linux to avoid the problem. Once Windows has loaded up, I do a restart and go back into Linux Mint . Finally, I get to the Linux sign-on graphical screen.
To summarize, i cannot restart linux mint without getting stuck staring at a console screen. I can get back into linux mint if i use the command 'sudo reboot', and, from the grub menu, choosing to go into Windows. From Windows, I then do a restart and end up back at the grub screen again, but this time when I select linux mint, things work and I am given the sign-on gui.
If I choose to not install the graphics driver (and put up with the annoying reminder to activate one), the system dual boots without a problem.
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Aug 12, 2011
I have been an MCSA for the last 20 years, but recently I have been very impressed indeed with Ubuntu 11.04, having dabbled with and then discarded Susi Linux some five years ago. My problem may be summarised as outlined below: Using the downloadable ISO I installed Ubuntu 11.04 as a dual boot on a Win7 100GB HDD on my Lenovo T61 laptop. No problem they both rock and I'm very impressed. During the installation procedure I selected the largest partition sizes available from the Ubuntu installer wizard being 25GB Extended split into 18GB Ext4, and 3.2GB and 3.2 GB swaps (I couldn't suss out any way of manually increasing them any further).
I found that the 11.04 Startup Manager application didn't work at all, so I downloaded and installed Grub Customizer 2.1..and that did work after a fashion.. certainly enough to actually effect changes in the grub configuration settings. Everything worked so well on the 100GB HDD that I decided to transpose the entire disk image to a new 500GB WD Scorpio and make the dual boot my main working disk. Using Acronis I imaged off the 100GB installation selecting the partition by partition, and retain disk signature options. I then recovered the image to the new 500GB HDD and everything works beautifully on the new HDD.
Except of course all the partitions are still the same size. I won't waste your reading time recounting everything that I have done using Acronis Disk Director (V Good) and Gparted (not so good), but needless to say whatever I do Grub won't have it, and I have lost count of the times that I have re-recovered the good image. Basically I want to increase the partion sizes to apportion larger partitions to both Win 7 and 11.04 and obviously I'm missing something somewhere.
Fdisk -l -u produces..
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9f011ed1 .....
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Jan 1, 2011
I've just gone and modified the MBR by following this article: [url]
What now happens is that I boot up the machine and all that comes up is an error:
The disk drive for /home is not ready yet or not present Continue to wait; or Press S to skip mounting or M for manual recovery
I have /home on a separate partition. Using the manual recovery I can see that the partition still exists and has all the files.
What do I need to do in order to get /home mounting again? Is this even the issue?
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Sep 1, 2011
I had been running a dual boot of both ubuntu and windows 7. I recently upgraded to ubuntu 11.04. After doing so i no longer have the option to select to load windows from the grub loader. Instead of the options presenting themselves my screen remains black before loading ubuntu.
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Mar 7, 2011
I apologize for this being somewhat vague but it happened several months ago and I don't currently have access to the laptop. But here goes anyway:Perfectly working dual-boot system with XP and Ubuntu 8.04. I also think I had installed a different boot loader (or maybe just a GRUB editor?). This was several years ago. I upgraded Ubuntu to 10.04 and I remember it asking me if I wanted to overwrite probably menu.lst. I said no when I should have said yes and now XP still loads fine but neither version of Ubuntu will load at all. I wish I had access to the machine so I could say what the error message is, but I don't and I forget.So I expect that menu.lst is just pointing to the wrong place but I'm not sure how to fix it. Can I boot from a live CD and edit menu.lst? Just thought about that.No biggie but I cannot screw up the XP aspect since that's major drama.
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Jan 14, 2010
I am at my wits end with trying to figure out why this machine won't dual boot any more. I had to reload XP and it broke my grub. I have tried everything I can think of to fix it. I have to use SuperGrub cd to boot. I get the grub menu and when I select the kernel it gives an error 17, can't mount selected partition. Also, my sound is broke....again. I upgraded from 9.04 to 9.10 and had to uninstall grub2 to get everything working again
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Apr 12, 2010
I just upgraded to Ubuntu 10.04 from 9.10 and now my Windows XP will not boot from grub. It shows up on the grub boot list but when I select it, all I get is a black screen. It worked perfectly just minutes before the upgrade, but now I cannot use windows, which I need really badly at this point.
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Mar 31, 2010
I installed Windows XP Pro and RedHat Linux Enterprise 5 on my PC for my purpose. The PC is used by other family members too and they need only Windows OS for browsing. It is becoming problem for them to reboot after the PC enters into Linux by default. I am still learning Linux and I want to edit the /boot/grub.conf file to make Windows as default OS to boot. The following is the content of my grub.conf file (FYI):
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,5)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
[code]....
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Mar 23, 2010
I had a dual boot machine with fedora 12 and windows vista and I could use grub boot-loader to switch between two. Few days ago windows got corrupt and I have to reinstall it. I put windows 7 now and as usual it erased grub. So to reinstall I put the fedora 12 installation CD on and followed some usual setup steps. When I got the command line I issued the command "grub-install /dev/sda" (sda not hda because It showed bunch of sda, sda1..) but surprisingly it said grub command not found. I remember doing it before while it worked fine.
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