Hardware :: Can't Install Boot Loader - Both Grub And Lilo Failed / Resolve This?
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.
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.
Toward the end of installing Ubuntu 10.10 32bit (Alt CD) on my iMac 11,1, the installer asked me to type in the location for installing the grub boot loader.
I told it to use /dev/sda3 and it immediately failed. I'm still in the installer. Can anyone suggest a solution?
Here are my partitions on sda:
...from the shell in the installer, there is no grub.cfg in /target/boot/grub.
I was installing sqeeze i386 on my laptop VOSTRO 1400 and got this the 'grub-pc' package failed to install into /target/. without the GRUB boot loader, the installed system will not boot.
I have a laptop with windows vista installed on the internal hardrive.Last March I installed wanted to start to use linux so I brought a separate external hardrive partitioned it to enable media storage on one section and installed ubuntu on the other half. It works fine and so does the windows vista on my internal hardrive, however I have to have the hardrive plugged in to boot.Until now this hasnt bothered me, however I've recently started to take my laptop into university and cannot switch it off unless I have the external hardrive with me as I cannot switch it on without it.With it plugged in it loads up GRUB and then gives me the option to load either Ubuntu or windows vista, however if it is not plugged in when I power up it says GRUB loader failed.It also occured to me that if for some reason my external hardrive fails in the future I wont be able to use my laptop anymore.Has the installation of ubuntu (and GRUB) altered the MBR? Is there some way I can edit the settings so that I can load windows vista without the hardrive plugged in, and then if it is plugged in I get the choice which one to load?
I have a PC with 2 Hard drives one of which has Windows XP Pro installed. I installed Red Hat Linux 7.2 on the other drive choosing LILO as the boot loader. When I reboot LILO only displays Red Hat 7.2 When I boot Red Hat and go into KDE boot settings I can see that hda has Windows NT. hdb has Red Hat 7.2. I then tried to make the Windows NT partition the default entry. When I try to confirm this an error displays warning me of danger if I proceed. Is there any way to make LILO recognize Windows (preferably without having to reinstall Red Hat), perhaps by installing another bootloader application!
Here is the message I get every time I try to install Debian Squeeze on my computer: Image at: [URL] I have tried multiple cd's and multiple iso's (and the iso's where all different) and the installation always fails at the same place. Here are my specs: Hardware Overview:
Model Name:Power Mac G5 Model Identifier:PowerMac7,3 Processor Name:PowerPC G5 (3.0) Processor Speed:2 GHz Number Of CPUs:2 L2 Cache (per CPU):512 KB Memory:1.5 GB Bus Speed:1 GHz Boot ROM Version:5.2.4f1
under ubuntu how can i install grub boot loader ?is there a program that let me do it ?i would like to add a grub load to an hard disk , and maybe to an usb stick and to a floppy disk
I am running Windows 7 and openSuse 11.3 as a dual-boot system. I had to run a Windows 7 Startup Repair, which apparently reset the Windows boot loader, so now I am not getting Grub. How do I reinstall or reactivate the Grub boot loader? I am assuming I have to use the installation DVD?
I want install 10.10 Maverick on a new partition alongside my OS X and 10.04 Lucid installs to see if it works on my machine. I'm a little unsure about some things.
1)Do I need to install the GRUB boot loader on this new partition?
2)Can I use the same swap space or is recommended to create a new swap?
I got an HP ProBook 4520s that comes with 500 GB with Windows 7.
It comes with 4 partitions: SYSTEM, the main Windows partition, HP Recovery and HT Tools.
I tried to have OpenSuse installation to resize the Windows larger partition but it said that it couldn't with this message:
"The partition on disk /dev/sda is not readable by the partitioning tool parted, which is used to change the partition table.
You can use the partitions on disk /dev/sda as they are. You can format them and assign mount points to them, but you cannot add, edit, resize, or remove partitions from that disk with this tool."
So I resized the Windows partition from Windows 7 and added 3 partitions on the empty space for Linux: /, swap and /home. Still OpenSuSE installation has shown this warning message:
"The bootloader is installed on a partition that does not lie entirely below 128 GB. The system might not boot if BIOS support only lba24 (result is error 18 during grub MBR)."
I configured OpenSuSE installation to install on those partitions but Grub could not install the boot loader with this message: "grub> setup --stage=/boot/grub/stage2 --force-lba (hd0,2) (hd0,2)
Error 17: Cannot mount selected partition grub> quit"
I already tried this in OpenSuSE 11.4 but I suspected it needed newer parted and grub versions, so I also tried OpenSuSE 12.1 milestone 3 with the same results.
The installation finishes but no Grub boot menu appears, it goes to Windows as if no Linux was installed, although the installed version is there in the 3 partitions that were created on Windows, I just cannot make them boot.
This is a problem when Windows is running some malware that cannot be removed, which happens all the time. The problem is all the new hardware or specialized hardware will not work on Linux so Windows is the only choice. I would think the latest versions of Linux would have this problem worked out by now. I installed 11.3 one week ago, only to find that the repair option in the install menu no longer exists so don't bother uses this link to reload the GRUB HowTo Boot into openSUSE when it won't Boot from the Grub Code on the Hard Drive. I also tried this link Re-Install Grub Quickly with Parted Magic which does not work either. On step 2 typing grub returns the error message "grub command not found". You can use GRUB if you boot the install DVD and select Rescue Boot. However when you type find /boot/grub/menu.lst the error message "file not found" is returned.
I did the following to restore my GRUB boot record. Boot the install DVD and select the update option during installation. Change all the repositories to enable except the NVIDIA repository, it is not responding at this time. When the system comes up go into Yast and open the boot loader. It should have your original boot menu in memory. Change the default to another option and re-write the MBR. This will write a new MBR using the original data updated with your new default. Re-boot and then change your default back. I am just a NewBe so this may not be exactly correct but I hope it saves someone like me some time fixing a MBR re-writing by the Windows installer.
I'm using the RAID1 setup, which is configured in the BIOS, as it is a HP Proliant server. i have 2 500GB hard drives configured in a mirror. when booting the install, it recognises this, and deals with it fine.
The problem is, when it gets to the section of installing the grub2 boot loader, it just stops and gives me the "ubuntu installer main menu" where if i select grub boot loader install it just loops back, and if i select LILO installer, it errors, saying an installation step failed.
It has the option to skip installing boot loader, but then, can i get it to boot a different way? can i boot manually into the server install and then install GRUB and hope it works? can i install grub1 rather than grub2?
I'm having a problem installing Ubuntu Studio 9.10-alternate-amd64 onto my machine. This is the third attempt and I keep running into the same problem. Grub Boot Loader will only install to 16% when a screen pops up:
Ubuntu Installer Main Menu
Choose the next step in the install process:
choose language configure the keyboard detect and mount CD-rom etc...
choosing the option "Install Grub boot loader on a hard disk" sends me back to the Grub install and once again at 16% the Ubuntu Installer Main Menu pops up. Choosing the option "Install the Lilo Boot Loader on a hard disk" resolves in an Lilo-install failure and i'm directed back to the Installer Main Menu. The option "Finish the installation" sends me back to the same menu..I'm stumped as to what to do... a disk check ensured me that the instal-dvd is valid though I can't get past this silly install menu.
When openSUSE was installed, GRUB information was installed in the Extended partition rather than in the MBR.
I have a triple boot system: Windows XP Pro, openSUSE, and another popular distro on Linux. The other distro put GRUB info in MBR. Now when I boot up it goes to member first. If I select openSUSE, the GRUB info in the extended partion is accessed and a 2nd selection screen is displayed.
I tried reloading the GRUB data for openSUSE selceting to install it in MBR but this does not seem to work.
How do I get rid of the GRUB stuff in the extended partition so that the 2nd GRUB screen does not get displayed?
I am a brand new Ubuntu user that just tried to install on an old PC using the 10.10 desktop edition.During installation, I hit an error that the bootloader could not install, and after reading about it on the forums, opted to attempt to install it manually after. I have followed the tutorial located here,[URL].. on reinstalling GRUB2 from the liveCD, which I assume means to boot with the installation CD and select try Ubuntu (given the only other option is install, which I have tried twice) everything up to step 5 in that tutorial seems to run successfully, and I am given a message it is installed, but then when I reboot the system it does not open the GRUB2 menu, rather the CLI interface, which suggests there is no grub.cfg
So I am unable to refresh at the GRUB menu because that command is not recognized by the CLI (and it may not help if I am missing files, so I might have screwed up reinstalling them in step 5, or maybe the "Try Ubuntu" terminal doesn't alter the computer like I thought?)
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?
A failed upgrade, from disk images, of Fedora 10 to 11 resulted in no GRUB bootloader main menu appearing on bootup (no WIN, no LINUX choices from which to boot). I am booted directly into the GRUB command shell...so, no WIN, no LINUX, nothing. And my understanding of GRUB shell commands is very low.I have 2 hard disks, WIN on the first, LINUX on the second. I believe GRUB Bootloader is on the first disk.Sadly, I have no external install media.An old grub.conf hardcopy indicates that root =/dev/sdb2, root (hd1,0), kernel /vmlinuz....olderversion...(relative to /boot),initrd /initrd...olderversion... (relative to boot). and WINDOWS on (hd0,1), with chainloader +1
I need to somehow get past this grub shell, and re-install/re-instate the grub bootloader, so it can boot normally.What grub command(s) must I use? I've played around with the commands, but with no success.I worry that if I can't resolve this, the whole machine may be useless.
I just did a fresh install of 11.4 and I LOVE IT!!! One of the little issues I am having though, is that there is no login screen. No matter what settings I change it still auto-logs me in.
I am using GRUB and the Boot Loader Location has both "Boot from MBR" and "Boot from Root Partition". Is this right? I would think that I should just boot from the MBR.
I install windows XP and then unix centos. But again when I reinstall Windows xp then my unix centos not shows in boot menu. It automatically goes in windows xp. Now how can I recover my Unix centos.
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?
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:
