Gloria NOT in menu.lst... (SOLVED)

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tenfoot
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Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 4:12 am

Gloria NOT in menu.lst... (SOLVED)

Post by tenfoot »

Having had no success in solving Error 15, I bit the bullet and successfully reinstalled Felicia, to give me a working system.

As I have two hard drive, I then decided to install Gloria on the spare one. I partitioned the drive for /, swap, home, and the installation was successful. However, when I boot the computer, the only option is for Felicia.

Searching the Forum, led me to do a "sudo fdisk -l" and a "cat /boot/grub/menu.lst" Following is the result:

zed@zed-desktop ~ $ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for zed:

Disk /dev/sda: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x69205244

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 3647 29294496 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 3648 3769 979965 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 3770 24321 165083940 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcfd3cfd3

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
zed@zed-desktop ~ $ cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-legacy-doc/.

title Linux Mint 6, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title Linux Mint 6, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title Linux Mint 6, kernel Last successful boot
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/last-good-boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash last-good-boot
quiet

title Linux Mint 6, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
zed@zed-desktop ~ $

You will note that in the interest of brevity I have deleted all the explanations and just left the actual boot commands.

Now, my question is. Is it safe for me to manually enter the commands for Gloria? I am thinking of

title Linux Mint 7, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title Linux Mint 7, kernel 2.6.8-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-generic

title Linux Mint , kernel Last successful boot
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/last-good-boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash last-good-boot
quiet

title Linux Mint 7, memtest86+
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

And another question? If I change Mint 6 commands to (hd1,0) and Mint 7 to (hd0,0), will Mint 7 be the default option? I eventually want to delete Mint 6 format the whole drive to ext and use it for backups.

My apologies for being so long-winded.

Tenfoot
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Aging Technogeek

Re: Gloria NOT in menu.lst...

Post by Aging Technogeek »

tenfoot,

Looking at your fdisk output, I notice that there is a readout for sda showing two linux partitions( sda1 and sda3) and a swap partition. There is no equivalent readout for sdb - the drive that should have Gloria installed. Did you miss this when you were copying the output to your post or is it in fact not there? If it is not in the fdisk output this would mean that Gloria was not installed or was installed improperly and fdisk cannot see it. This could be your problem. Recheck fdisk and see if the readout for sdb shows partitions similar to those on sda. If not, try reinstalling Gloria. If you must reinstall, at step 7, the last before the actual installation begins, Click on "Advanced" in the lower right and verify that Grub is to be installed on (hd0) where it will overwrite the Felicia Grub and set up the dual boot menu.

To change defaults, it is only necessary to change one number on line 13 in the menu.

Code: Select all

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-legacy-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to 'saved' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default		0
The last line reading "default 0" must be changed to point to the menu entry you want as default. In the active menu that begins following the line"## ## End Default Options ##" count the number of Titles listed starting with the first Title as 0. The number of the title you want as default replaces the 0 in the original menu. (ie, if the entry you want is the fifth title, in Grub it would be title 4 and the 0 would be replaced by a 4. Save the changed menu and close the terminal. ( you must count all of the title lines - even the one reading "Other Operating Systems")

After going through that explanation I'll tell you how I usually do it. Open Synapric Package Manager and type startupmanager in the search box. Select startupmanager for installation and install it. Startup Manager is a graphicl application that allows you to edit a great deal of the grub menu without using the terminal, There is one small bug that must be dealt with. The solution is simple and will be found here:

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 18#p159803

Once you fix the launcher, Startup manager will let you choose your default OS from a dropdown menu in the gui.

Whether you use Startup Manager or edit the grub menu manually in terminal, the order of Operating systems in the menu will not change but the default entry will be highlighted.


As to manually entering the Mint 7 lines, if Gloria is installed properly, it should be unnecessary. If you do manually enter them, be aware that the kernal is 2.6.28.11 not 2.6.27.7 ( this is the Mint 6 kernal)
tenfoot
Level 6
Level 6
Posts: 1253
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 4:12 am

Re: Gloria NOT in menu.lst...

Post by tenfoot »

Hi Aging Technogeek

Thank you for a very full explanation. I will work through what you suggest and report back.

Tenfoot
tenfoot
Level 6
Level 6
Posts: 1253
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 4:12 am

Re: Gloria NOT in menu.lst... (SOLVED)

Post by tenfoot »

Hi again Aging Technogeek

The fdisk output was as i copied it in my original request for assistance. So, I decided to do a complete reinstall. At Step 7 it confirmed that Grub was being written on (hd0)l, and I'm delighted to tell you that I now have a working installation of Gloria.

One thing I am a little concerned about. When formatting for Gloria, I did not format a swap partition, as I read somewhere that only one is required. As I will be formattiing the driver on which Felicia is, which has a swap partition, will it be OK if I just reformat all but the area for swap, as ext3. In other words, will swap on a different drive be OK?

Regards from New Zealand on a cold and bleak Tuesday evening.

Tenfoot
Aging Technogeek

Re: Gloria NOT in menu.lst... (SOLVED)

Post by Aging Technogeek »

tenfoot,

When you reformat sda, just add a swap partition after the format is complete. It doesn't matter what drive the swap space is on, Mint will find it if needed. As a matter of fact, many experienced Linux installers recommend splitting swap across all hard drives to improve access times.
tenfoot
Level 6
Level 6
Posts: 1253
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 4:12 am

Re: Gloria NOT in menu.lst... (SOLVED)

Post by tenfoot »

Thanks for the advice. I will do as you suggest.

Tenfoot
Aging Technogeek

Re: Gloria NOT in menu.lst... (SOLVED)

Post by Aging Technogeek »

tenfoot,

I just reread your original post and realized that you are thinking of reformatting the drive that grub is installed on. This could erase your grub installation and keep you from booting Gloria. Instead of reformatting the entire drive, it will be safer to run Partition Editor from the Gloria live CD and delete the partitions you want to get rid of, leaving the boot sector of sda intact so you keep grub intact.
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