[SOLVED] 2 mint boot images

[mintchoklad]

I am a Debian (squeeze, minimal gnome) user, but I sometimes try out other distros on the second harddrive in my computer. Yesterday I decided to install Mint XFCE edition (for testing Mint, XFCE and indirectly debian testing). I tried setting up partitions just like on my Debian setup. Installation went fine, but when I was trying to copy over a big file to my home directory it said disk was full. I had /boot on one 10G partition (sdb1), and /home on another 140GB (sdb5), but somehow it wanted to put it in the small one. I decided to reinstall Mint, now I have TWO boot, one on the 10G partion (which shows up in Thunar, but I have to give password to make it readable) and one in the main partition regardless of which Mint entry I choose in the grub menu at startup.

When I do update-grub2 it shows two "Mint linux kernels" and one Debian. When i do update-grub2 in Debian it just shows one of each.

I ran startupmanager in Mint and selected the Debian install as first one, but the grub boot menu shows the two Mints first anyway.

I set boot flag one the smaller 10G partition, but doesn't seem to have any effect.

Isn't there a default partition scheme when installing? Maybe I missed it. (In Debian I just chose one for system, the rest for /home).

The sytem seems to be running ok, but it feels like having two boot images and not even understanding which one I am using is inviting future trouble.

A while back my son wanted to try Linux, so I suggested Mint (actually without trying it myself), and it just works fine.

I am at a loss. Any suggestions?

[remoulder]

Use the boot info script to diagnose the setup. Post the results back here if not sure.

[lmintnewb]

remoulders toenails know more about linux than I do.

Buttttttt, may as well pitch my .02cents in. Bootup Mint XFCE edition, open it's package manager .. I'm going to assume it's synaptic ... Do a search for the kernel, the first coupla numbers of it will do. Can find out which version ya using by running "uname -a" in terminal.

Search for those first few numbers in synaptic ( package manager ). See what's installed. Mark both the linux kernel for it and the image package for it for complete removal. Apply ... open terminal again ... sudo update-grub ... and see whatcha get.

Hopefully at least one of the kernels come up. Nothing comes up ... repeat the search and mark what you marked for complete removal for installation or reinstallation in package manager. ... apply. Terminal, "sudo update-grub" again.

However if when ya sudo-update grub the 1st time if a kernel shows up ( rather than 2 of em). Would reboot ... select Mint xfce's grub entry again and see if it boots like it's supposed to.

Similar to what's described in this link.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/17787/cl ... boot-menu/

If it doesn't work told ya ya should've listened to remoulder, lol. Nah honestly think it will ... shrugs.

After thought, are you sure the kernel entries are the exact same ? ie: Kernel 2.6.30.1 is not the same ( as ya already know ) as 2.6.30.2. If that's the case, mark the older of the two for complete removal apply and "sudo update-grub" ... yet again. Gd luck etc.

[remoulder]

lmintnewb, on re-reading the op, you could well be right that it's just two kernels showing in grub, but I had taken it to mean that grub had been installed to two different locations.

[lmintnewb]

Still realise that you know a ton more about linux than I do. So wouldn't be surprised if I were dead wrong. Was just a shot in the dark impression. Wouldn't think doing all the spiel I posted would hurt them though. At least wouldn't make anything worse. No matter what turns out to be happening there, with this Minters install ... odd situation. Hope they get it sorted, would be really annoying to have to deal with.

[remoulder]

you know a ton more about linux than I do

Don't under-estimate yourself, you seem to do a good job answering posts from what I can see Much so called 'expertise' is just knowing how and where to search!

[lmintnewb]

LOL ... you definitely make a good point. Google has saved my bacon many times.

[mintchoklad]

Thank for your swift replies

I tried last night following your suggestions. I ran the boot info script, the result was very long and very bewildering for me (i used linux for about two years, but I rarely run into problems, and then when I fixed them I forget it, tho I often bookmark/print out solutions and save them. I just enjoy the stability and isn't really into tinkering).

So I went for the suggestion to remove the lower numbered kernel. The grub menu showed one mint (and one debian) now. But when I booted into Mint it started but then a big wall of text (not really text, a lot of hexadecimal output as far as I can see), and then computer froze. I suspect I removed too much? I did the removal in Synaptic btw, not via filemanager nor shell.

I booted up the mint cd to see if there was some rescue mode, but not sure if I can repair from that one? I then booted my debian disc, entered rescue mode to try restore grub in a feeble hope I hadn't really erased the other kernel and that it would magically appear. no luck. I first tried make the Mint disc the main one, but just got me into grub rescue prompt after rebooting, so I went back to the original setup.

When I compare my Debian's boot folder to the Mint one, i see two differences:
1. the Mint one has another boot folder inside containing a grub folder with "linuxmint.png" in it. (i.e. /boot/boot/grub/linuxmint.png)
2. the Debian one has its initrd.img-xxxx gzipped

ls -la on the Mint /boot gives:

total 11692
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 May 21 22:35 .
drwxr-xr-x 23 root root 4096 May 20 06:47 ..
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Nov 26 11:00 boot
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 121645 May 8 14:58 config-2.6.38-2-amd64
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 12288 May 23 07:48 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7315267 May 20 00:35 initrd.img-2.6.38-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1861969 May 8 14:58 System.map-2.6.38-2-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2644912 May 8 14:57 vmlinuz-2.6.38-2-amd64


grub-update done in Debian shows:

Generating grub.cfg ...
Found background image: /usr/share/images/desktop-base/desktop-grub.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
Found Linux Mint Xfce Edition (1) on /dev/sdb1
done

[lmintnewb]

Hmmm, plot thickens ..

Ya kinda went a lil bit wild with the suggestion I made. That last part of it ... didn't say remove whatever lower numbered kernel may be there. Was asking whether you may have been mistaking two closely numbered kernels as being the same one and if so to remove the earlier version of it or if not to check which kernel you were using w that xfce install, mark for removal ... update-grub and see if it started showing 1 kernel entry like it's supposed to.

lol ... seems ya went a lil wild with all that was suggested too. Needless to say and as you've found. Not a good idea to just go on a synaptic kernel removal rampage and expect the system to boot up ... yikes. Think if I were you. I'd go ahead and reinstall grub to sda. A lil forum/google search will lay that out for ya. See if it at least picks up on the debian you have installed and allows you to boot normally with it.

So neither linux partition ( operating sys ) is booting at this point ? Am a lil confused about whatcha did here, in what order it was done ... etc. Which version of linux were you booted into when you nix'ed whichever kernel(s) ? You were seeing duplicate kernels listed in xfce ... Which is why I suggested the above process. But thought I'd outlined some clear steps to follow to ensure ya didn't run into too much trouble. Either way now, reinstalling grub doesn't sound like a bad idea ...

Should at least get you into one of your linux OS's and past the grub rescue screen.

[mintchoklad]

There were two kernels on my Mint install. I deleted the lower numbered one. I think I misread you (I think I did a uname, but not sure It really look at the output of that). But the link to that other page basically says "mark the lower numbered kernel for complete removal and apply". What remains is the higher numbered version 2.6.38-2-amd64.

Grub works on sda (where my Debian install is). From the output of update-grub I mention at the end of my previous post, it does list the (one) Mint install (on sdb), and it shows up in Grub menu, but something is missing or wrong as it crashes almost immediately in the boot process (or init process, maybe that comes first). Is it possible to just reinstall kernel or /boot from the Mint cd? or even copy from Debian install?

[mintchoklad]

I just remembered there is recovery mode option in grub, too. I managed to log in that way, synaptic suggested I should update the "Header files for Linux 2.6-amd64 (meta-package)" (I suspect I erased them or something ). I couldn't get network to work in recovery mode, I did a update-grub tho. Tried rebooting into the regular, full version of Mint,and it works . Upgraded the mentioned header files.

Thank you for your help

Mint XFCE is really nice, btw

[lmintnewb]

Glad da good guys won. Consider linux users the good guys for whatever odd reason. Sounds like ya pretty much sorted out the problems yourself. Guess the only good thing about problems is the sense of satisfaction people get from figuring them out huh ?

Plus ... more times you rescue a borked comp, the more proficient you'll get and uber cool leet ya gonna feel. Haven't tried the Mint xfce version myself. Sure it's some great software though. Tis nice to see the Magic Mint developers focusing on lighter-weight releases like that. For all of us who dislike unnecessary performance robbing bling, eye-candy and bloat.

I used to like xfce much more than I do now. Into lighter-weight windows managers and desktops. Done right they're better looking than xfce. Which to me always seemed pretty blocky and unfinished looking. Though that's just an opinion and personal taste. Never messed too much with theme's for it or trying to change it's default look. Lighter weight DE's are my preference. In Mint 10 main, always found myself spending more time in fluxbox. Than gnome or xfce ...