Dreaded Error 15

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LinuxForever

Dreaded Error 15

Post by LinuxForever »

When I try to install 048 I get the Error 15 message. I have to ask if I'm doing this right because I get the same error message with everything based on Ubuntu 8.04.

I'm not using the whole drive for the install. I'm trying to install into a partition. The only other thing on the drive is a swap partition. This is my second drive I'm trying to install to. It's set up as slave.

So I use Custom install and set up to format with ext3 and set the partition as /. The install goes okay, then I click on reboot, the grub screen comes up showing Linux Mint at the top of the list with the little count down circle thing and then it goes to a text screen with the Error 15 message.

What am I doing wrong?

I should say two things. First, I installed PCLOS 2007 into that same partition without no problems. No Error 15 message. Never had any Error 15 messages from Mandriva, opensuse, debian and fedora. Never had Error 15 message from any Ubuntu before 8.04. Second I've only seen this Error 15 message with Ubuntu 8.04 and anything based on Ubuntu 8.04.

The last thing I had on this partition was freespire 2.0.3 which is based on Ubuntu 7.10 and no Error 15 message when I booted that distro.

There must be a solution to this 8.04 installer Error 15 message. Thankx for any help.

NB I have mandriva installed on my first drive. But I don't think that's the problem cus it didn't cause any problems with other distros I've installed in to the partition on my second drive.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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67GTA
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Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by 67GTA »

It sounds like the installer might have put grub in the MBR of the slave drive, and not in the MBR of the primary drive. Did the installer show both drives during installation? Post the output of

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l
from a terminal, and post your /boot/grub/menu.lst from the Mint install.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke
Nomad

Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by Nomad »

This is a bug in Ubuntu 8.04. You might boot the live CD and see if the installer even put the /boot/grub in.
LinuxForever

Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by LinuxForever »

Thandx for your help 67GTA and Nomad.

67GTA the installer did show all 3 of my drives in the installation menue or window or whatever you call it. I told the installer to put GRUB in the mbr of hdb. I have mandriva on my first drive and I didn't want to overwrite the mandriva GRUB. Are you saying I should overwrite it anyway with the Mint GRUB? I could try that first and see if it works. I've been using BIOS to change drives in the past.


Nomad a thread at ubuntu lead me to a bug report about the installer. It was something about the kernal and via. I should have bookmarked it. It said replace the kernal and the via something but who knows how to do that. I only know how to click on buttons. I'm not a command line kind of person I guess. I looked at the 048 live cd to see if it had a MintGRUB thing that I could access GRUB with and fix the GRUB but it doesn't. That might be a good thing to have for dummies like me.
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67GTA
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Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by 67GTA »

I'm not sure what is what without actually looking at your info. Post the out put of

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l
and a copy of Mint's menu.lst.
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Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by merlwiz79 »

When trying to boot into Elyssa edit the top line.
Which probably says something like this.

Code: Select all

root		(hd1,X)
Try changing it to:

Code: Select all

root		(hd0,X)
Don't change the value for X.
Image
LinuxForever

Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by LinuxForever »

67GTA this is the info you asked for. Thankx for the help.

bruce@bruce-desktop ~ $ sudo fdisk -l



Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x9d279d27



Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 1 1019 8185086 83 Linux

/dev/sda2 1020 4865 30892995 5 Extended

/dev/sda5 1020 1528 4088511 82 Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sda6 1529 4865 26804421 83 Linux



Disk /dev/sdb: 40.9 GB, 40971829248 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4981 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x90909090



Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sdb1 * 1 4888 39262828+ 83 Linux

/dev/sdb2 4889 4981 747022+ 5 Extended

/dev/sdb5 4889 4981 746991 82 Linux swap / Solaris



Disk /dev/sdc: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00063242



Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sdc1 * 1 14469 116222211 83 Linux

/dev/sdc2 14470 14593 996030 5 Extended

/dev/sdc5 14470 14593 995998+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

bruce@bruce-desktop ~ $






# 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



gfxmenu=/etc/grub/message.elyssa



## timeout sec

# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry

# (normally the first entry defined).

timeout 10



# Pretty colours

color cyan/blue white/blue



## password ['--md5'] passwd

# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing

# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the

# command 'lock'

# e.g. password topsecret

# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/

# password topsecret



#

# examples

#

# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000

# root (hd0,0)

# makeactive

# chainloader +1

#

# title Linux

# root (hd0,1)

# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro

#



#

# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST



### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified

## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below



## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs



## ## Start Default Options ##

## default kernel options

## default kernel options for automagic boot options

## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z

## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.

## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro

## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro

## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro

# kopt=root=/dev/sdb1 ro



## default grub root device

## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)

Also this is what I got after the grub boot screen changed.
Root (hd1,0)
Filesytem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=/dev/sdb1 ro quiet splash

Error 15: File not found

Press any key to continue..._
LinuxForever

Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by LinuxForever »

merlwiz79 I changed root (hd1,0) to root (hd0,0) and it worked! It booted Mint and went into the desktop which is where I'm posting this from. I tried rebooting but the fix wasn't there so I had to type it in again. Is there anyway to make this fix permanent? Thankx very much for the help.
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Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by merlwiz79 »

LinuxForever wrote:merlwiz79 I changed root (hd1,0) to root (hd0,0) and it worked! It booted Mint and went into the desktop which is where I'm posting this from. I tried rebooting but the fix wasn't there so I had to type it in again. Is there anyway to make this fix permanent? Thankx very much for the help.
Back up the /boot/grub/menu.lst and edit it there.

Code: Select all

title		Linux Mint , kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root		(hd0,0)
Image
LinuxForever

Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by LinuxForever »

merlwiz59 Okay, I turned my computer off for about an hour and when I booted it up again I changed root (hd1,0) to root (hd0,0) and it started booting Mint, the progress bar went back and forth 5 times and the Mint boot went to a text screen and started booting mandriva on sda1. So I'm back to first base again. I can't boot into Mint.

I've been trying to find a fix for this Ubuntu bug since April, 28th when I D/L'ed an iso of Kubuntu-kde-4-8.04 and I'm beginning to lose the will to live.

Has anyone ever thought about a distro of Linux Mint based on Debian or Mandriva?? Just a thought. Ubuntu's based on Debian.
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Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by merlwiz79 »

LinuxForever wrote:merlwiz59 Okay, I turned my computer off for about an hour and when I booted it up again I changed root (hd1,0) to root (hd0,0) and it started booting Mint, the progress bar went back and forth 5 times and the Mint boot went to a text screen and started booting mandriva on sda1. So I'm back to first base again. I can't boot into Mint.

I've been trying to find a fix for this Ubuntu bug since April, 28th when I D/L'ed an iso of Kubuntu-kde-4-8.04 and I'm beginning to lose the will to live.

Has anyone ever thought about a distro of Linux Mint based on Debian or Mandriva?? Just a thought. Ubuntu's based on Debian.
Why does the hard drive order keep changing?
What type of hard drives do you have?
Seems the hard drive master and slave changed after you turn off the pc.
This is what hard drive grub is installed to.

Code: Select all

root		(hd0,1)
This is the hard drive the Linux install is on.
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash
Image
LinuxForever

Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by LinuxForever »

Merlwiz79 The first drive is a 40GB Seagate, Second drive 40GB Maxtor DiamondMax VL, third drive 120GB Western Digital WD1200JB.

One other thing, when I install a distro on hdd0,0 I set my bios to boot from that drive after the floppy and cdrom. When I install a distro on hdd1,0 I set my bios to boot from that drive after the floppy and cdrom so after installing the distro my computer will boot right into the new install.

One thing I learned about 8.04 is if I set bios to boot hdd0,0 the 8.04 installer sees my drives out of order. If I set bios to boot from hdd1,0 the 8.04 installer sees my drives in the correct order.


Damintdan Thankx for the linkx.

In searching I also found this one Super Grub Disk http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

And this one Grub From the Ground Up http://www.troubleshooters.com/linux/grub/grub.htm

I'm busy this weekend so I'll have to get back to this Monday. I really appreciate all the help guys.
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Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by 67GTA »

It sounds like you are making things overly complicated by constantly switching the bios drive order. It would be a lot simpler to learn how to add grub menu entries for the other operating systems to the OS you prefer to boot to by default. Leave one as the primary, and let the grub for the default OS boot the other ones from it's grub menu.
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Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by merlwiz79 »

damnitdan wrote:
67GTA wrote:It sounds like you are making things overly complicated by constantly switching the bios drive order. It would be a lot simpler to learn how to add grub menu entries for the other operating systems to the OS you prefer to boot to by default. Leave one as the primary, and let the grub for the default OS boot the other ones from it's grub menu.
I agree. Fooling with bios isn't the way to go. I might change the boot order if I'm in a bind - say to load up win-xp directly or something like that, but once I've got my drives physically configured, grub's menu.lst takes care of things. Unfortunately in this case, Gusty had a problem correctly defining the drive(s).
This was caused by you making the 2nd as the boot drive in BIOS.(I do this too)
This is not a Gusty bug as when you installed it used everything was correct.
1st hard drive(master) was sda 2nd(slave) sdb.
Anytime you do this it's going to be incorrect when you try to boot with grub.
You need to leave it in one order then edit grub to use it in that order.
Image
LinuxForever

Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by LinuxForever »

damnitdan wrote:
67GTA wrote:It sounds like you are making things overly complicated by constantly switching the bios drive order. It would be a lot simpler to learn how to add grub menu entries for the other operating systems to the OS you prefer to boot to by default. Leave one as the primary, and let the grub for the default OS boot the other ones from it's grub menu.
I agree. Fooling with bios isn't the way to go. I might change the boot order if I'm in a bind - say to load up win-xp directly or something like that, but once I've got my drives physically configured, grub's menu.lst takes care of things. Unfortunately in this case, Gusty had a problem correctly defining the drive(s).
Okay, but my boot distro is mandriva and it's not setup by default to find/see other installed OS's. I was thinking may be I should reformat my drives with Mint and install it on sda and not install any other distros on this computer.

Does every drive in a linux box need it's own swap partition? Say I use sda for Mint, should I put a swap partition on my second drive and format the empty space with ext3 and do the same for my backup drive? I've spent the last year trying out different distros so I'm way behind on learning command line stuff but I'm really good at burning CD's.

The thing I like about having two distros installed is that if I mess up one distro everything I need to do all the things I do with linux are on the other installed distro so I don't lose any time. I can just switch drives with bios so even if the grub on the messed up distro isn't working I can count on the other installed distros grub to work. It's kind of like a failsafe system. And I can use Krusader to copy any files I need from the drive the messed up distro is on and copy them to the working distro and or my backup drive. I think of it as kind of a linux heaven really. The perfect answer to my daily computing needs. Every family should have one.
LinuxForever

Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by LinuxForever »

I solved the problem with the drives being out of order and not being able to boot both distros from the grub on hdd0. I installed Mint 5 on sda and PCLOS 2007 on sdb. I installed PCLOS first then Mint 5. Of course that meant installing Mint 5 messed up the fstab file in PCLOS so I had to reinstall PCLOS. And when I tried to boot PCLOS from the Mint GRUB and it wanted to load the initrd file from hd0,0 but after I changed that to hd1,0 it loaded PCLOS with out any problems.

So the nasty Error 15 message is no more. Thankx very much for all your help guys. Linux Mint has the best forum!
LinuxForever

Re: Dreaded Error 15

Post by LinuxForever »

blues-guy all my drives are IDE PATA drives. I recently changed the distros I had installed from Ubuntu and PCLOS 2007 to Ubuntu and Mint 5 KDE and then to just Mint 5 KDE. I repartitioned and reformatted my 3 hard drives with the PCLOS live CD to change the size of the root and one swap partitions because the set up I had before wasn't the best in the world.

I tried to install Ubuntu first, on the first hard drive. The installer didn't see the 3 drives in their correct order. I rebooted and ran the installer again and still it didn't see the drives in their correct order.

I used the PCLOS live CD to look at the drives as root and found "lost+found" files on each drive and a ".directory" file, so I deleted those and the other few files PCLOS likes to put on every drive PCLOS formats.

I ran the installer on the Ubuntu live CD again and it saw the drives in their correct order. After installing Ubuntu and rebooting my computer, there was no Error 15 message.

The bottom line is I never had the Error 15 message with Ubuntu and Mint until Ubuntu version 8.04. I don't know what Ubuntu did but I wish they had stayed with the installer set up Debian uses because I've never had any problems with the Debian installer. Nor, with the installer in Mandriva and distros based on it.

So, when you install Ubuntu, or any distro based on it, and the installer doesn't see your drives in their correct order, look for configuration files on the drives from a different distro that might interfere with the Ubuntu installer seeing the drives in their correct order.
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