ruadhan
asked on
Gentoo Linux & WinXP dual boot
Hi,
I have a laptop (IBM T41) with Gentoo Linux installed, with GRUB as the boot loader. I wanted to make this a dual boot system, so I installed WinXP in another partition. I didn't realise winxp would write over the boot partition.
Using fdisk I was able to change the active partition, but if any other partition other than winxp is set active, I get an "error loading operating system" message.
Next I downloaded KNOPPIX (linux on disc), and this boots fine off the cd. I can access the linux partitions and the winxp partition, so, at least none of the information is lost.
I now need to make the original gentoo linux bootable. I presume this means rewriting over the MBR, but I have no idea how. Also, I don't have a linux boot disk...
Can anybody help?
Thanks in advance,
Ru
I have a laptop (IBM T41) with Gentoo Linux installed, with GRUB as the boot loader. I wanted to make this a dual boot system, so I installed WinXP in another partition. I didn't realise winxp would write over the boot partition.
Using fdisk I was able to change the active partition, but if any other partition other than winxp is set active, I get an "error loading operating system" message.
Next I downloaded KNOPPIX (linux on disc), and this boots fine off the cd. I can access the linux partitions and the winxp partition, so, at least none of the information is lost.
I now need to make the original gentoo linux bootable. I presume this means rewriting over the MBR, but I have no idea how. Also, I don't have a linux boot disk...
Can anybody help?
Thanks in advance,
Ru
Dont forget to chroot to the root of your orginal install of Gentoo
Before running the grub-intsall
/Rob
Before running the grub-intsall
/Rob
ASKER
Hi,
Do I edit grub.conf before I run grub-install?
Currently in /mnt/hda1 I have a grub/ folder which contains a grub.conf file.
Ruadhan
Do I edit grub.conf before I run grub-install?
Currently in /mnt/hda1 I have a grub/ folder which contains a grub.conf file.
Ruadhan
ASKER
oh yeah, nearly forgot, the /boot folder is on the same partition as the rest of the linux stuff (hda4)
is this ok?
ruadhan
is this ok?
ruadhan
ASKER
tried to execute, but I get the following output:
root@ttyp0[grub]# chroot /mnt/hda4/ grub-install
/sbin/grub-install: lin 59: cannot create temp file for here document: Read-only file system
Looks like knoppix doesn't want to write anything to the disk
what can I do now?
Cheers
root@ttyp0[grub]# chroot /mnt/hda4/ grub-install
/sbin/grub-install: lin 59: cannot create temp file for here document: Read-only file system
Looks like knoppix doesn't want to write anything to the disk
what can I do now?
Cheers
ASKER
ok made the partitions writable
then i executed the following and got some output:
root@ttyp0[/]# chroot /mnt/hda4 grub-install /dev/hda
/dev/hda does not have any corresponding BIOS drive
then i executed the following and got some output:
root@ttyp0[/]# chroot /mnt/hda4 grub-install /dev/hda
/dev/hda does not have any corresponding BIOS drive
Thats because you chroot i think, try writing the
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/hda/
without chroot first.
/Rob
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/hda/
without chroot first.
/Rob
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ASKER
Hi Cicha
Do I have to write directly to /dev/fd0? Currently the only floppy drive I have is an external pcmcia one, but KNOPPIX doesn't support it. I have a new one on order, but until it arrives...
Can I copy these files to a temp folder, transfer them to another machine, burn to cd, and then boot off the cd. How do I make the cd bootable if I do this?
Do I have to write directly to /dev/fd0? Currently the only floppy drive I have is an external pcmcia one, but KNOPPIX doesn't support it. I have a new one on order, but until it arrives...
Can I copy these files to a temp folder, transfer them to another machine, burn to cd, and then boot off the cd. How do I make the cd bootable if I do this?
Can you just start command grub ?
ruadhan,
> root@ttyp0[/]# chroot /mnt/hda4 grub-install /dev/hda
> /dev/hda does not have any corresponding BIOS drive
This is because you changed root first.
just write the grubb-install /dev/hda
with out changeing root.
/Rob
> root@ttyp0[/]# chroot /mnt/hda4 grub-install /dev/hda
> /dev/hda does not have any corresponding BIOS drive
This is because you changed root first.
just write the grubb-install /dev/hda
with out changeing root.
/Rob
ASKER
Hey
Thanks for all the help. I managed to get a USB floppy installed. KNOPPIX couldnt see it straight off, so had to mount it as a SCSI
# mkdir /mnt/usbdisk1
# mount -t vfat /dev/sda /mnt/usbdisk1
Then to make the boot disk was
# dd if=stage1 of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
# dd if=stage2 of=/dev/sda bs=512 seek=1
and the rest was just like cicha said.
Thanks again for all contributions
ruadhan
Thanks for all the help. I managed to get a USB floppy installed. KNOPPIX couldnt see it straight off, so had to mount it as a SCSI
# mkdir /mnt/usbdisk1
# mount -t vfat /dev/sda /mnt/usbdisk1
Then to make the boot disk was
# dd if=stage1 of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
# dd if=stage2 of=/dev/sda bs=512 seek=1
and the rest was just like cicha said.
Thanks again for all contributions
ruadhan
grub-install /dev/hda (assume hda)
Edit the /etc/grub.conf
default=0
timeout=10
#(hd0,0) if you have the linux /boot partition on hda1
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/s
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-10)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.7-10 ro root=/dev/hda6
initrd /initrd-2.4.7-10.img
title Windows XP
# If you have linux on hda3
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
chainloader +1
#end
/Rob