New to Linux

[bouchardpie]

Hello,
I am VERY new to Linux. Trying to unburden myself from Microsoft dependence . In the past week I have tried quite a few things and I really like what I am seeing. I have played with a version installed on my 16Gb thumb drive, but I now want to install a "permanent" version of Mint 7 to use regularly, while still retaining Vista on the machine. Vista is on the 80Gb drive - which I don't want to touch.

So I created a Live version on DVD to allow me to try to do a full install on the same thumb drive that I initially was playing with. That installation appeared to work, but it won't boot. Then using Vista, I created several partitions on an external 500Gb simpledrive - disk (USB). I then installed there - again seemingly with success. But I can't get that to boot either. I'm now using the Live DVD version to write this, and I'm looking for some help. From other posts I've gathered that the following info may help someone who knows what they are doing to give this beginner a hand.

Thanks,

############
mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7da47da4

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1020 8193118+ 12 Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda2 * 1021 5375 34981537+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 5376 9729 34973505 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 16.0 GB, 16028794368 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1948 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00067e5b

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 1861 14948451 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 1862 1948 698827+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 1862 1948 698796 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x80424aa2

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 48189 387078111 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdc2 * 48516 54260 46134268 83 Linux
/dev/sdc3 54260 54897 5120000 82 Linux swap / Solaris
mint@mint ~ $ dmesg | grep -i error
[ 100.690572] sr 1:0:1:0: [sr0] Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 100.690582] end_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 1352152
[ 100.690588] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338038
[ 100.690591] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338039
[ 100.690595] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338040
[ 100.690598] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338041
[ 100.690601] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338042
[ 100.690604] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338043
[ 100.690607] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338044
[ 100.690610] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338045
[ 100.690613] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338046
[ 100.690616] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338047
[ 119.434867] [drm:i915_setparam] *ERROR* unknown parameter 4
[ 119.434894] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
[ 121.685854] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
[ 125.673536] [drm:i915_get_vblank_counter] *ERROR* trying to get vblank count for disabled pipe 0
[ 131.078979] [drm:i915_setparam] *ERROR* unknown parameter 4
[ 131.079004] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
[ 132.577813] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
[ 172.024074] [drm:i915_getparam] *ERROR* Unknown parameter 6
[ 233.736050] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 233.736056] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 245.281849] sr 1:0:1:0: [sr0] Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 245.281854] sr 1:0:1:0: [sr0] Add. Sense: L-EC uncorrectable error
[ 245.281859] end_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 1352192
[ 245.281868] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338048
[ 252.401018] sr 1:0:1:0: [sr0] Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 252.401028] end_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 1352192
[ 252.401034] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338048
[ 258.292517] sr 1:0:1:0: [sr0] Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 258.292527] end_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 1352192
[ 258.292533] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338048
[ 264.170339] sr 1:0:1:0: [sr0] Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 264.170349] end_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 1352192
[ 264.170354] Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 338048
[ 264.170481] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 264.170485] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 264.171001] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 264.171004] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.804219] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.804225] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.804774] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.804777] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.805350] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.805353] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.805947] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.805951] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.806450] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.806453] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.806939] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.806942] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.807438] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.807441] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.807891] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.807894] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.810722] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.810726] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.811117] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.811120] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.811511] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.811514] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.811918] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.811921] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.837159] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.837166] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 268.847721] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 268.847727] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 513.331544] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 513.331550] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 813.487571] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 813.487577] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 1113.661839] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 1113.661845] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4
[ 1413.663682] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0xa4447
[ 1413.663689] SQUASHFS error: Unable to read page, block 2910a44a, size 79b4

[MaddogF16]

Simple question to start, when you boot up the computer do you ever see the GRUB boot screen with choices of what to boot.

My guess is that it just goes right into Vista, being the first bootloader it finds, and that is dependent on your bios boot order (ie:cd/dvd,HD,floppy,USB, or maybe other).

So would like to know the boot order you have in your bios, which is set to boot first.

If you want the Mint bootloader it looks as if booting from the usb needs to be first, or you need to add the location of the Mint bootloader to the Vista bootloader, either way one needs to be in control of finding the other. It would have been possible during installation if Mint to put GRUB in the MBR of sda1 (Vista HD) and then edited it to find everything,but as you stand you'll either need to boot the USB first and then have to edit GRUB to find the Vista loader or add Mint loader to Vista bootloader.

I have no clue how to edit the bootloader for Vista, could probably Google to find out how to.

[bouchardpie]

Thanks for your reply. I have tried several permutations of boot order. I set it to boot from USB and if my thumb drive is in it goes there. As it stands now - that doesn't get me anywhere - I get a black screen with a blinking underline cursor. fdisk shows that the 16Gb thumb drive has the correct partitions but it doesn't show it to be bootable. I don't know how to change that. Ideally though - I'd really like the implementation that I loaded on several partitions on my 500Gb USB drive to be my main environment. And when I remove my thumb drive - that drive shows up as 1st on the boot list. But it goes to Grub and I get an error 21 selected disk does not exist message. And lastly if I unplug both the thumb and 500G drives then I get to 3rd priority which is my internal drive and Vista boots -- which is good. I want that to stay. And when I want to start Live I just edit the boot order to put DVD on top instead of USB.

So with all of that - any ideas of how I can correct the error so that it boots the version on my 500Gb drive. Failing that, I'd be OK with using the 16Gb stick as my main environment - but I'd need to know how to make that bootable (assuming that that would correct the problem.)

[bouchardpie]

..and I forgot to mention - that when I get the error 21 message when trying to boot from the 500Gb disk - it then returns to the boot page and gives me several options - one being Vista -- when I select that I get a different error message - error 13 (t think) - that says something like kernel is wrong type.

[MaddogF16]

From the live DVD I need you to mount this Mint install ( /dev/sdc2 * 48516 54260 46134268 83 Linux ) location and find the /boot/grub/menu.lst file and post it here. I'll be out for awhile in 1/2 hour and can't get back to this till way later tonight or maybe even tommorow.

[MaddogF16]

This guide may come in handy as I think you may be best suited reinstalling grub to the MBR of the 500gb HD.

Backup, Repairing and Reinstalling GRUB

* To make a backup a copy of the existing menu.lst file use:

cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.old

You can try re-installing the grub using the Ubuntu Live CD, in two different ways.

GUI

1. Boot your computer up with Ubuntu CD
2. Go through all the process until you reach "[!!!] Disk Partition"
3. Select Manual Partition
4.

Mount your appropriate linux partions / /boot swap .....
5.

DO NOT FORMAT THEM.
6. Finish the manual partition
7. Say "Yes" when it asks you to save the changes
8. It will give you errors saying that "the system couldn't install ....." after that
9. Ignore them, keep select "continue" until you get back to the Ubuntu installation menu
10. Jump to "Install Grub ...."
11. Once it is finished, just restart your computer

Command line

1. Boot your computer up with Ubuntu CD
2. Open a terminal window or switch to a tty.
3.

Go SuperUser (that is, type "sudo -s"). Enter root passwords as necessary.
4. Type "grub"
5. Type "find /boot/grub/stage1". You'll get a response like "(hd0,1)". Use whatever your computer spits out for the following lines.
6. Type "root (hd0,1)", or whatever your hard disk + boot partition numbers are for Ubuntu.
7. Type "setup (hd0)", to install GRUB to MBR, or "setup (hd0,1)" or whatever your hard disk + partition nr is, to install GRUB to a partition.
8. Quit grub by typing "quit".
9. Reboot and remove the bootable CD.



This was found here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto

[bouchardpie]

Hi,

MaddogF16 - followed your instructions - see results... (don't know if the error message is meaningful)

##################################################
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
(hd1,1)

grub> root (hd1,1)

grub> setup (hd1,1)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd1,1)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd1,1)"... failed (this is not fatal)[/color]
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd1,1) /boot/grub/stage2 p /boot/grub/menu
.lst "... succeeded
Done.
##################################################

I then rebooted and no change - same error message.

Then I noticed this...

fdisk -l shows:

#########
Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7da47da4

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1020 8193118+ 12 Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda2 * 1021 5375 34981537+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 5376 9729 34973505 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x80424aa2

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 48189 387078111 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 * 48516 54260 46134268 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 54260 54897 5120000 82 Linux swap / Solaris
#########

the 80Gb is the internal HD that has Vista on it and I don't want to change this.

so the install I want to use is on /dev/sdb2 - marked as bootable - I think this is right.

I then checked /dev/sdb2/boot/grub/menu.lst and noticed that it originally showed this:

##########
## ## End Default Options ##

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria KDE, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
root (hd2,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sdc2 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

########

Notice - sdc2 -- not sdb2 -- So I tried changing it to:

#############
## ## End Default Options ##

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria KDE, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
root (hd2,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sdb2 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

##########

I saved this menu.lst and then rebooted. It didn't work but something strange happened. Instead of the old boot menu listing Linux and others, (and which when Linux is selected gets me the error message) -- now it just boots Vista. No list, no choices anymore.

So I'm once again stumped.

Any ideas?

[bouchardpie]

...latest

I noticed post titled "If you get grub errors after an install look here" and took a stab at renaming disk with UUID. Didn't work, but here's what I did:

I replaced (in /dev/sdb2/boot/grub/menu.lst)

##########################################
## ## End Default Options ##

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria KDE, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
root (hd2,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sdc2 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet
###############################################


with

############################################
## ## End Default Options ##

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria KDE, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
root (hd2,1)/dev/sdc2
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=4d8a241c-7e39-4ad5-878d-b9f6d272ff7a ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

###########################################

after executing sudo blkid and getting:


###############################################
mint@mint /media/l/boot/grub $ sudo blkid
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda1: LABEL="PQSERVICE" UUID="16D9-B5D2" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/sda2: UUID="14F0209BF0208558" LABEL="ACER" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda3: UUID="5A70869970867B8F" LABEL="ACERDATA" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="C268369A68368D63" LABEL="SimpleDrive" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdb2: UUID="4d8a241c-7e39-4ad5-878d-b9f6d272ff7a" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb3: UUID="6eb3f98b-b4bd-42b7-ab09-40df46cb9f1f" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sdc1: UUID="65f489b3-ea3b-47ac-9644-fd6375504102" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc5: UUID="99702310-26ee-49a6-8b89-74d95d237af8" TYPE="swap"
#######################################################

saved menu.lst and tried it...

still not working. I'm thinking that this is some simple edit that I'm missing. Do you agree?

[MaddogF16]

OK first thing you will notice is the first time you listed fdsik -l you're external HD showed as sdc or 3rd device,then I would assume after trying to get the menu.lst edited you tried again without the USB thumbdrive plugged in which now made the 500 gb HD show as sdb or 2nd device. So with that being determined we need to leave the USB thumbdrive out of the issue, but if we get this squared around plugging in any USB storage device and leaving it plugged in may change the sdb,sdc naming of the 500gb external USB HD.

My best educated guess right now might look like changing:

title Linux Mint 7 Gloria KDE, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
root (hd2,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sdc2 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

to


title Linux Mint 7 Gloria KDE, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
root (hd1,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=/dev/sdb2 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

Reasoning : HD naming starts at (0) for the first hd, so (hd1,1) should refer to 2nd disk or sdb and 2nd partition, and of course sdc2 changed to sdb2 because that's it's location name now.
The original was looking for 3rd hd and 2nd partition which didn't exist, thumbdrive was probably (hd2,0) for a bootloader location.Not sure where the grub got put on that install, and would have to use the commands in recent post to find the grub on that, but for now let's focus on the external HD.

This is newer ground for me also as I only use external HD's for storage purposes including the thumbdrives.

Remember to edit as root and save the changes, I usually edit,save and then return to the file as normal user and see if the edits stuck.

Good luck and hope I'm on the right track here.

[bouchardpie]

Thanks for you efforts MaddogF16.

and I know my posts have been lengthy, so I'll forgive you for not noticing -- but I tried that exact edit of menu.lst and that's when instead of the grub error 21 - it just went straight to boot of Vista.

So- I'm going to try a reinstall onto the 500Gb partitions - and this time I will make sure that the 16Gb thumb drive is not plugged in. To be honest, this may have been what I did originally with the install, but I can't be sure so I'll give it another try, to make sure.

Thanks.

[bouchardpie]

I'm back...

OK for the past several days I was dealing with a different situation. I decided to go back to scratch and I recreated the Linux Mint 7 .iso to make sure that I was certain it was clean. I then made sure to remove my 16Gb thumb drive and I recreated partitions on the 500Gb drive. I then did a new install. When that was done, nothing booted - even when I disconnected my 500Gb drive! So I pulled out my Vista recovery disk and tried to fix the Vista bootloader. I followed directions I found somewhere and low and behold - once I plugged my 500Gb drive - Linux booted from that disk but Vista would not boot.

So I played around for a few days and downloaded and installed VirtualBox. I got an XP OS that I had to load there and was content, until I couldn't get my scanner to work - either in Linux or in the Virtual XP.

So I once again set out to fix the boot for Vista. I finally got that to work -- but by now you might have guessed that I can no longer get into my Linux install!

So I'm back to square one. Here's the fdisk:


#######################
mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7da47da4

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1020 8193118+ 12 Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda2 1021 5375 34981537+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 * 5376 9729 34973505 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x80424aa2

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 48189 387078111 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 48190 60546 99257602+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb4 60547 60801 2048287+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 60547 60801 2048256 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Any ideas?

[bouchardpie]

OK - I finally got this working.

The answer - for me - is EasyBCD. Just boot Vista, install and start this tool ( http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 ) - use it to install neoGrub and add relevant contents of your menu.lst file. And away you go.

It's not perfect. I got a bunch of error messages when booting - but the bottom line is I'm finally back in my USB-disk based Linux Mint system and I can get into Vista whenever I need to. Since I already installed XP inside Virtual Box here - I may never need to boot Vista again (and that would be nice!).

Thanks for your help MaddogF16!

-bouchardpie