"Mark Knecht" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Hi,
> I'm wondering about the best way to handle this problem. For a long time
> I've used System Commander to create multi-boot systems. However, it has (or
> maybe I have) finally hosed up things enough playing with Windows
> installations that I'd like to get rid of it totally and just use grub.
> Right now the state my machine is in it will only boot into Windows. When I
> try to boot any Linux distro on the box (Gentoo, Redhat or Mandrake) all I
> get is the message 'GRUB' and everything stops. All the partitions are
> there, but Windows and SC7 have renumbered the partitions so everything is
> hosed up and Linux won't boot.
1.) Download a x86 30-40MB Gentoo Live CD
2.) Burn through Windows (NERO-5 has 30-Day Shareware version -
install, double click nero.exe or whatever its called, say NO to the
wizard, click FILE in toolbar, choose Burn Image from within File
menu, find the *ISO* on your HD, burn it using the default options,
save the disk from here on out so you dont ever have to waste time
searching for things like a floppy based distro.)
3.) Reboot!
3a.) Disregard the above steps if you were bright enough to save your
Gentoo LiveCD installation disk.
4.) Place Gentoo LiveCD into the CD-ROM tray.
6.) Change BIOS to boot from CD-ROM.
5.) Boot machine with Gentoo LiveCD
6.) Change root passwd: passwd (loosah loosah)
7.) You say your partition #'s have changed, so go ahead and use:
$ cfdisk /dev/hd*
making '*' either 'a' through 'd' in order and figure out which
partition is for what on each drive. You need to find the following
Gentoo partitions:
* /
* /boot
* /usr
If you created one large '/' partition then you only need to find the
first two, otherwise, you need at least the three up top if you
created a more complicated partitioning scheme.
8.) Grab a piece of paper / pencil and write down which partitions
goes to what. Once again, you only need to remember where the above
three gentoo partitions lie within your naughty box. You can fix
everything else once you have your normal and functional box with
all the tools *YOU* like later.
9.) You should be able to use CTRL+ALT+F2-F4 and log into another
console if you followed step '6'. You can now log into another
console and log into the LiveCD environment. Once inside, do the
following:
* lynx /install.txt
Scroll to where the chroot section is within the above file and
understand it and cherish it, for it will be your savior for the day.
10.) You want to now use the ever famous friend of all who break their
naughty box - chroot. Use the information you acquired up top in
step '8.)' and chroot the box using the steps on the gentoo install
guide found using step '9', and choosing the sections that apply to
your current situation:
* cd /mnt
* mount /dev/hd* gentoo # * should be your '/' partition
* mount /dev/hd* gentoo/boot # * should be your '/boot' partition
* mount /dev/hd* gentoo/usr # * should be your '/usr' partition
* etc up top for other partitions /var /tmp /home (optional)
I hope you created a separate '/boot' partition as the guide
instructs, otherwise, you can use some spare space on any of the HD's
you have on your box and create a small 10-20MB partition, format it
and copy the information contained within /mnt/gentoo/boot and
mount. Jot down where you make this small boot partition, as you will
need it to set up grub properly.
* chroot gentoo /bin/bash
* grub
You can now pretend you have just installed Gentoo for the first time
and go back into the console window you opened containing 'lynx
/install.txt' and scroll down to the 'grub' how-to. Understand it and
follow the instructions using the above information as your guiding
light. You can also open up another console window and use the
'cfdisk /dev/hd*' command to find information to use within the grub
program you're currently in at the moment. You should also follow the
instructions on editing /boot/grub/grub.conf and edit with proper
information.
* nano -w /etc/fstab
Once again, use either the piece of paper with the information you
wanted, or use the console you just opened up above and use 'cfdisk
/dev/hd*' and find the information required to set up grub and
grub.conf and give '/boot' '/' '/usr' etc. proper '/dev/hd*' entries.
* Pray to YHWH, Jesus, Satan, Allah, Buddah, Louis Candell,
GNU Emacs, Jehovah, Matthew Kennedy or whomever you want to
beg a blessing from for luck and exit the chroot environment
and unmount partitions in reverse order of steps taken to
chroot your box.
* reboot
* Change BIOS to boot from 'C' (if you installed GRUB on the
MBR of '/dev/hda', otherwise, choose 'D' for /dev/hdb etc)
* Leave LiveCD in Tray in case you have to redo the above
steps and try again. Hey, it happens to all of us, so just
leave it in the tray "just in case" ;)
The above steps (excluding the downloading of a LiveCD and burning)
shouldnt take you more than 5-10 minutes. I think last box I "broke"
trying to be slick and moving HD's around took me 4 minutes to fix
through the chroot environment. This, of course, comes from my long
lineage of 'box' breakers (proverted pun intended) ;)
Remember, you can follow the above steps and try again and again if
at first you dont succeed. I know it's taken me a few tries on
certain boxes, so I dont expect you to be any different.
--
Louis C. Candell
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