Louis, Thanks for the very detailed instructions. Lots of good stuff in there. I've printed it and will take it home to get this fixed in the next few hours.
Like you say below - I expect it will take a few tries, and I doubt I'll be any different that you! Thanks very much! Cheers, Mark > -----Original Message----- > From: Louis C. Candell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 11:47 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Create a new grub only partition? Looking for > ideas. > > > "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 > > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list > > -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
