Can't get to Grub from FSRD Wait: GOT TO GRUB!!]]

Wed Jan 25 02:47:48 UTC 2006

(reformatted version-please help)

WAIT!  If I select the up.down arrows at the opening boot options it 
seems to hold the boot screen. Then, there is a message to enter "c" at 
the prompt. I did and  a "grub>" prompt appears. Now I  think I just  
need to follow the instructions at 
www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=232.

So, you have to select Linux FSRD at the openning screen to apparently 
select the boot "operating system" or the boot quickly pulls that screen 
away and one is booted to a "#" prompt.  (What is the "#" prompt?)

To repeat the previous paragrpah, if I hit the up/down arrows to induce 
selection of the "only" operating system listed on the boot menu, and 
then "c," the boot sequence conitnues to what is apparently a Grub 
prompt.  Contrary to the help on the boot screen, no white bar appears 
when the up.down arrows are selected to select the operating system.

So, I will try following the rest of the #2 instructions later tonight.

I feel like I  will have be crossed the Rubicon, if I succed. But, if I 
move Grub and I don't send it  to the right place, the goose may be 
cooked (i.e., my existing Linux installation will be lost forever).

My concern is that, when attempting to move Grub using the Linux Rescue 
from the install disk, Linux Rescue would not recognizing any of the 
Linux partitions (boot, root, and swap) that I KNOW are on drive  2.  
The question is will moving _Grub_  using the Grub install commands 
actually move Grub to a "partition's boot sector, (from) than the MBR," 
as apparant;y is m,y goal (from the BOOTIT instructions).

I am not clear exactly what this means. What is a "partition's boot 
sector?"  The MBR of the partition?  I understand that Linux can be 
configured to have both a /boot sector (or directory), which my second 
drive apparently has, and a "root" directory on a different partition.  
The configuration of the drives on my system is (as reported by BOOTIT) 
is the following:

Drive 0
  CDrive    Part'n   5 gb  XP is here
  '------   Part'    5 gb  free space
  Extended  Part'n   29gb  extended
   F Drive  Volume   10gb  logical drive (Windows prog and data) 
   G drive  Volume   10gb  logical drive
   '-----------           Volume      5 gb      free space
  Bootit EMBPM   Partition  8mb

Drive 1
  MBR Entry 0  Partititon  39mb  Dell boot utility 
  NO NAME-1    Partition   2565mb  FAT32  (I think this is free space)
  MBR Entry 2  Partititon  102mb   Linux native (Linux MBR partition?)
  MBR Entry 3  Partition   32gb    Extended
   unamed      Volume      30043mb  Linux  Native (the Linux "/"?)
   unnamed     Volume      2gb     Linux Swap/Solaris

As delivered originally by Dell, Drive 0 above was Drive 1 on my machine 
and Drive 1 was Drive 0.  Drive 0 had Linux installed by Dell on it 
which ran, fine. Drive 1 was blank, or rather had an empty  partition 
with the Linux file system on it.

To install XP on this (new) blank drive I swapped the SCSI IDs of these 
two drives, which effectively made drive 1 into drive 0 and drive 0 into 
drive 1. Then, I created the partition structure on the blank drive 0 as 
shown above and installed Bootit and Windows XP to it. 

After getting XP to run (it runs great!), my goal was to add the old 
(i.e., moved) copy of Linux (now on drive 1) to the Bootit menu so I can 
multi-boot Linux and XP (or "Windoz" as the Linuxers call it).

>From the BOOTIT instructions, my understanding is that in order to make 
this possible, I need to move GRUB from the Linux /boot directory 
(which is in the MBR Entry 2 partition?) to the "unamed" Linux Native 
Volume shown above. This is what I am trying to do with the FSRD disk I 
made now. Apparently, Dell installed Linux with separate "boot" and 
"root" partitions. Anyway, that's how I read the partition structure above and 
this is confirmed by comments from the RedHat install list group. Is 
this correct?

My basic question is, do I have all of this right above? I.e., mainly 
that I need to move Grub from the Linux MBR Entry 2 partition to the 
Linux Native Volume, and then add the Linux Native Volume as the boot
item in BOOTIT?

My second quesion is, will this work?  In the end, will I be able to 
boot my machine to either XP or Linux?

I have Linux RedHat Enterprise v3. The drives are U320 Seagate 30 gb 
SCSI's.  I actually have three U320s but the first two (drive 0) are 
RAID 0'd together into one drive.

Thanks.

I've been working on this for quite a long time with increments of 
progress forward week-by-week. Now I need to strike pay dirt. i know all 
the Grub commands I need to move reposition Grub if it is where I think 
it is, as above. I have gotten a lot of help from Rick Stevens on the 
RedHat Install group but they know nothing about Bootit. So I need some 
help from the BootIt world.

Thanks, in advance, as they say.

John Wirt
Wash, DC, home of corruption.

John

David F. wrote:

>I'll have to look in to it but maybe just type grub or GRUB
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>Regards, 
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>--
>David F.
>TeraByte Unlimited
>http://www.terabyteunlimited.com
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>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: John Wirt [mailto:j.wirt.112 at comcast.net] 
>>Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 9:47 PM
>>To: Terabyte Unlimited
>>Subject: Can't get to Grub from FSRD
>>
>>David,
>>
>>I am trying to get to a Grub prompt using the 2nd method 
>>described in the Additional Information section of Grub Article #2.
>>
>>My problem is that the FSRD disk boots to a prompt that does 
>>not allow me to enter "<c>" as specified in the instructions 
>>to get to a Grub prompt.
>>
>>I am looking at a "Welcome to the Linux FSRD - Version 1.03" 
>>screen that ends in a prompt like this:
>>
>>  #  _
>>
>>If I enter "c"  (the letter 'c'), the screen says, "c: not 
>>found" and returns to the # _ prompt.
>>
>>If I enter "<c>", the screen says, "<c> not found. And so on. 
>>In other words, no Grub prompt.
>>
>>I don't; know what the Grub prompt looks like but I don't 
>>think  # is it..
>>
>>So apparently, the instructions in the Additional Information 
>>section, subsection 2) are wrong.
>>
>>How can I get to a Grub prompt with the FSRD boot disk?
>>
>>Thank you.
>>
>>John Wirt
>>
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