<SOLVED> Problem During Boot <Workaround>

[rick2210]

I have a triple boot system: Windows, Linux Mint Debian XFCE, and other linux distro

GRUB was created during Linux Mint installation. When I select 'other linux distro' I get an error message displayed. Something about VGA=788 being depracated and that I should be using "set gfxpayload=800x600x16,800x600"

Only problem is I do not know where to place this so that it will work.

[remoulder]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

[rick2210]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

Nice try but no cigar.

Went to the web page indicated, entered "set gfxpayload" in search which took me to a list of found entries. Selected the first onw whic took me to "https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EpiaP820". Performed the steps under VIDEO and GRUB2 as follows:

Video

user@box:~$ lspci | grep VGA
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VX855/VX875 Chrome 9 HCM Integrated Graphics

Grub2

edit GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in file /etc/default/grub to set VIA framebuffer

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash quiet video=viafb:viafb_mode=800x600,viafb_bpp=32,viafb_refresh=60"

(NOTE: Didn't know for sure what to do here so since I have an ATI Radeon card, change vis to ati in above string)

add the following line to the end of file /etc/grub.d/40_custom

set gfxterm_font="20"
set gfxmode="800x600x32"
set gfxpayload="800x600x32"
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
insmod tga
terminal_output gfxterm

then update grub

sudo update-grub2

THIS DID NOT WORK.

Then I went back to the page you posted and clicked on "Reverting to GRUB Legacy" and followed the instructions posted there.

THIS DID NOT WORK EITHER

There is a mix of grub and grub2 used in Linux Mint that caused grub2 to get reinstalled about 2/3 the way through this process. There was a message to use grub-legacy to revert back so I tried this which DID NOT WORK EITHER.

By the way, the other distro uses the legacy grub 0.97 and does not offer grub2 in their repositories.

[wayne128]

As you have three OSes using their default boot loader that are not playing well with each other.
You probably need to choose one of them as you Master boot loader, controlling MBR.

From your descriptions on issue, I think it is caused by partition counting differently between grub legacy and grub2.

Here I shall describe a way for you, using grub legacy to control MBR.
Please note there are many solution, you can use grub2, or windows boot loader like EasyBCD also.

But my instruction below will be for grub legacy, used in your 'other distros'.

1. boot Live CD of other distros
2. open terminal, get to root

Code: Select all

[wayne@localhost ~]$ su
Password: 
[root@localhost wayne]# 

3. type grub <enter>

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   GNU GRUB  version 0.97  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
   completions of a device/filename. ]

grub> 

4. type find /boot/grub/stage2 <enter>

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grub> find /boot/grub/stage2
 (hd0,0)
 (hd0,5)
 (hd0,10)
 (hd0,11)
 (hd0,12)

you should see only one line, something similar to my list, (hd0,5) means hard disk 1 partition6

Let says yours is (hd0,6)

5. type root (hd0,6) <enter>
grub> root (hd0,6)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

6. type setup (hd0) <enter>

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grub> setup (hd0)
 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 (hd0)"...  17 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
 Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+17 p (hd0,0)/boot/grub/stage2
/boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.

grub> 

7. type quit <enter>

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[root@localhost wayne]# grub
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
[root@localhost wayne]# 

Now you are back to # prompt
your MBR has been installed with grub legacy.
Thus you can now boot other distros and at the same time can boot also Windows

to be continued if you want it to boot Mint via grub legacy

[wayne128]

This is a work around to your problem.

If you want to stay with grub2 as Master boot loader.

Then, make a change in grub config file, just change a partition number from original number to +1

This is just temporary work around, it might not survive a update-grub or kernel upgrade.

Here is how:
As you can boot to Mint.

Open a terminal.
use your favorite editor, open the file /boot/grub/grub.cfg

look for the menuentry of the other distros,

for example, mine look like this

Code: Select all

menuentry " linux (on /dev/sda12)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos12)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 84b31a08-8c3b-4946-b7a4-6f0d04900055
	linux /boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=84b31a08-8c3b-4946-b7a4-6f0d04900055 quiet vmalloc=256M acpi=on resume=UUID=462c5dae-3c24-496b-8f0c-73b021e30b52 splash=silent vga=788
	initrd (hd0,11)/boot/initrd.img
}
menuentry "linux-nonfb (on /dev/sda12)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos12)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 84b31a08-8c3b-4946-b7a4-6f0d04900055
	linux /boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=84b31a08-8c3b-4946-b7a4-6f0d04900055 quiet vmalloc=256M acpi=on resume=UUID=462c5dae-3c24-496b-8f0c-73b021e30b52
	initrd (hd0,11)/boot/initrd.img
}

Change the menuentry with a slightly different title and add 1 to partition like this
on red highlight


menuentry "This one change linux (on /dev/sda12)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos12)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 84b31a08-8c3b-4946-b7a4-6f0d04900055
linux /boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=84b31a08-8c3b-4946-b7a4-6f0d04900055 quiet vmalloc=256M acpi=on resume=UUID=462c5dae-3c24-496b-8f0c-73b021e30b52 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,12)/boot/initrd.img
}
menuentry "linux-nonfb (on /dev/sda12)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos12)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 84b31a08-8c3b-4946-b7a4-6f0d04900055
linux /boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=84b31a08-8c3b-4946-b7a4-6f0d04900055 quiet vmalloc=256M acpi=on resume=UUID=462c5dae-3c24-496b-8f0c-73b021e30b52
initrd (hd0,12)/boot/initrd.img
}


after that, save the changes to the same file.

Reboot, select other distros, and see what happen...

[rick2210]

Thanks for all your help and interest.

The other linux distro has a routine to rebuild the MBR with the latest info. I used that and everything is working.

Seems to me that GRUB2 as installed in Linux Mint Debian is a hybrid of GRUB legacy and GRUB2 and as such does not play nice with GRUB legacy. Also, it appears not to have any code to allow for being used with another distro still using GRUB legacy. Oh, well.... Maybe sometime in the future .