Elyssa Install failed to boot with both SATA and IDE

[pcman]

This is a problem that promises to discourage many from using Linux. In searching the forums it seems to be a problem with many distros, particularly debian and ubuntu based distros. It is often blamed on dual processors but I think it is related to having both SATA and IDE controllers on the motherboard. I am no expert but have some PC knowledge having built many PC's over the past 20 years. Here is what I have observed while trying to load Linux Mint Elyssa on the following equipment.

Gigabyte MA78GM-S2H Motherboard
4 Gig RAM
Seagate 500Gig SATA HD
Pioneer DVD/CD SATA drive
USB card reader
Integrated ATI HD 3200 video

This MB has both IDE and SATA controllers although I am not using the IDE connection. I have not tried to disable the IDE in Bios.
I am dual booting Windows XP Pro SP3 and Linux Mint 5.

The Elyssa live CD boots and runs fine, which may be because I have only one HD installed. Other people have indicated similar problems with the live CD boot but they usually have more than one HD. My problems begin with the install.

The install goes fine until it tries to boot using Grub, then it displays the splash screen for a long time and finally dumps me to the Busybox (Intiramfs) prompt. If I remove "quiet splash" from the Grub menu screen the final display indicates it can't find the boot device hdc2. Why hdc2?
Gparted run from Mint indicates partitions as follows:
sda1, ntfs, WINXP, 250G
sda2, ext3, /, 5G
sda3, swap, swap, 512M
sda4, ext3, /home, 50G

Where did the hdxx come from, does it think I am using the IDE controller? Based on this info I changed the Grub menu screen to indicate the boot device was sda2 (and not hdc2) and it boots fine and runs like Elyssa should. Now, this is just a workaround and not a totally satisfactory solution, so I tried to find a way to permanently change this device name with no success. I changed the device.map file (which indicated (HD0, 1) was hdc2) but it apparently doesn't look at this file at boot since it has no effect. I noticed that this is a recognized problem on the Grub forum but they offer no solution.

Does anyone has any suggestions?

Edit: Both Parted Magic and GParted live CD's fail to boot with the same error.

[Husse]

Unfortunately there is a bug in Ubiquity - the installer - that makes it "do bad" with grub
I experienced that it did not install grub at all, others have experienced something like you
I have seen that it's there in Hardy too
I think 5 GB for root is a bit too small and I can't quite follow you with this hdc2 thing
As you've got the installed version to boot (right?) there's hope
If I understand it right you have to change menu.lst to get things going

Code: Select all

gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

(in a terminal)
from recovery mode replace gksu gedit with nano
You should have a section looking like this

title Linux Mint, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title Linux Mint, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title Linux Mint, kernel memtest86+
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

This is for sda2
Grub uses another denomination than the rest of linux - it is a miniature operating system in it's own right

[pcman]

Thanks, Husse

I did not change menu.lst but rather changed root=/dev/hdc2 to root=/dev/sda2 in boot options on the grub menu screen. To make this change permanent can I change menu.lst as shown below in red without causing other problems?

This is menu.lst as it is now:

title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

title Linux Mint, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/hdc2 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title Linux Mint, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/hdc2 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title Linux Mint, kernel memtest86+
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

This is menu.lst changed to reflect device sda:

title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

title Linux Mint, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title Linux Mint, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title Linux Mint, kernel memtest86+
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

This is device.map before I changed it:

(hd0) /dev/hdc
(hd1) /dev/sdb
(hd2) /dev/sde

This is after changes that had no effect:

(hd0) /dev/sda
(hd1) /dev/sdb
(hd2) /dev/sde

Just want to make sure this is all correct.

[blues-guy]

Husse

Thank you for the advice that " Unfortunately there is a bug in Ubiquity - the installer - that makes it "do bad" with grub"

I have posted both here and in the Ubuntu Foruma as well as on my local LUG mailing list, only to be continually told that I need to use UUIDs as that will fix everything - Not True!

As I have posted in these Forums, I'm now using Mandriva without these problems.

If Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Mint gets grub fixed, or gives the option of using Lilo during installation, I'll be back.

[Husse]

The Ubiquity bug is bugging few people, but the little bugger appears now and then
Mandriva is quite OK
In the long term we will change tool after tool until we got our own working properly - but to make a new installer would take to much resources.....
This bug is not present in the pre Hardy versions of Ubuntu and MInt

[lr13]

Hello every1!
Had the same problem: i have 2 IDE and 1 SATA drives (hda, hdb and sda) but the installer detected all drives as SCSI (SATA) - sda, sdb, sdc.
But that's not all. The installer misunderstood the drivemap: my third drive (sda) became first, the first one became second and the second became third.

After reboot the GRUB reported:

root (2,4)
filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/sdc5 ro quiet splash
error 17: cannot mount selected partition

The problem was solved by editin' the /boot/grub/menu.lst file: root (2,4) i've changed to root (1,4)

PS: don't try to change also sdc to hdb - because installer created harddisk devices using his "view" of the drivemap ;D

[Husse]

First off - since Gutsy and Daryna (I think) Ubuntu/Mint is using a scssi/SATA driver for all hard disks which makes all disks be sd something, so sda, sdb, sdc. is correct. I'm struggling to remember the name of the driver.....

The installer misunderstood the drivemap: my third drive (sda) became first, the first one became second and the second became third.

I don't think so - you have two IDE and one SATA
So the installer queries the motherboard to find out if it puts SATA or IDE "first" and then arranges the IDE drives in order
You may have had the disks arranged otherwise - this is a bit tricky - is SATA or IDE first? Not all operating systems interpret this the same way...

root (2,4)
filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/sdc5 ro quiet splash
error 17: cannot mount selected partition

The problem was solved by editin' the /boot/grub/menu.lst file: root (2,4) i've changed to root (1,4)

No!
root (1,4) is sdb5 and nothing else
Is there a Linux on sdb5 too?

[lr13]

root (2,4)
filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/sdc5 ro quiet splash
error 17: cannot mount selected partition

The problem was solved by editin' the /boot/grub/menu.lst file: root (2,4) i've changed to root (1,4)


No!
root (1,4) is sdb5 and nothing else

Thats right.
But i sad that installer have different "vision" of drivemap than GRUB have.

I don't think so - you have two IDE and one SATA
So the installer queries the motherboard to find out if it puts SATA or IDE "first" and then arranges the IDE drives in order
You may have had the disks arranged otherwise - this is a bit tricky - is SATA or IDE first? Not all operating systems interpret this the same way...

But in my BIOS settings first HDD is primary IDE master, not SATA. In GRUB also hd0 - primary IDE master, hd1 - secondary IDE master (there Mint is on first logical partition), hd2 - SATA.
So i think that the problem is in new version of Ubuntu installer. (Maybe the cause is in new motherboards there is just one IDE controler for CD/DVD and only SATA controlers for HDD. So the installer "decide" that system partition MUST be on SATA drive.)
All other OS didn't have such problems. (I used Mint 3.1, Mint 4, PCBSD 1.2, PCBSD 1.3, PCBSD 1.4)

[mrwilloby]

I really need help with this issue too. It seems as though at different times the system sees the drives in a different order.

I have:
Primary IDE
1st partition: Windows XP
2nd partiton: /home
3rd partition: / (Linux Mint)
Secondary IDE (swap)
SATA 1 (data)
SATA 2 (data)
e-SATA (data)
USB IDE (data)

If I do "find /boot/grub/stage1" when booting from Super Grub Disk, the system returns:
(hd0,2)
as I would expect.

When running the same GRUB command from the LiveCD or from within the installed Linux Mint it returns:
(hd3,2)

Regardless of whether or not I change /boot/grub/menu.lst, Windows XP boots immediately without GRUB even starting.

How can I fix this?

[Husse]

Please clarify

Secondary IDE (swap)
SATA 1 (data)
SATA 2 (data)
e-SATA (data)

Do you have a disk with only swap on it?
And it would be (much) better to have the operating systems on a SATA disk
I have to alert the team about this
I'll come back to you when this post is answered

[mrwilloby]

Please clarify

Secondary IDE (swap)
SATA 1 (data)
SATA 2 (data)
e-SATA (data)


Do you have a disk with only swap on it?
And it would be (much) better to have the operating systems on a SATA disk

I do have a really old 3.5GB IDE drive that I use completely as swap. Probably extra inefficient, but oh well.

I put the OSs on the IDE drive because it's only 40GB and they need less room than all the other crap I have on my other drives. I guess I could change things around.

In other news, I did figure out a solution. It involves many steps.

First, I had to redo the install and instead of leaving (hd0) as the option under Advanced... for the bootloader installation, I had to deliberately pick the primary IDE drive, which showed as /dev/sdd.

Then, the system would reboot and I'd get Error 13 on Windows and Error 22 on Linux from GRUB. I edited GRUB, changing all (hd3,2) to (hd0,2) for the Linux part and changed the Windows part to:

title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
boot

and miraculously, it worked! GRUB loaded perfectly, and it could boot both OSs just right.

Maybe all my sleuthing will help someone else down the line. Let me know if I should provide any more info.

[Husse]

This is really strange, or maybe not
Your solution is simple and correct, but why did grub from the live CD return hd(3,2) when in fact hd(0,2) works with the grub installed from the live CD? I don't expect an answer to that
It's not strange that you got 3,2 that has to do with the order of disks on the mobo, but the discrepancy is worrying

[mrwilloby]

When I Super Grub Disk to boot the computer, it returns (hd0,2) for the location of /boot/grub/stage1. That is how I decided to change that setting.

It might have something to do with at what point during the startup of my computer the drives are probed.

[Husse]

I'm working on a solution for the grub problems, must do a couple of more checks

[Husse]

I hope this helps
http://www.linuxmint.com/wiki/index.php ... annot_boot