On 25/01/17 08:16, steve wrote:
On 01/23/2017 07:36 PM, Barry wrote:
Hi All, the heading understates my problem - I can no longer boot my
desktop!!!
The setup is I have 2 hard drives, 1 with 6 ptns and the other with
8. Each drive has (or should have) 2 bootable ptns. I am using grub
to start any one of them but none work. All attempts to reinstate
boot records have failed and the mbr has some funny entries.
Rescue disks on hand include install disks for Mageia 4, and Mageia 5
and a live dvd for Mageia 5. Also a Knoppix 5 disk and a
Boot-Repair-Disk. None of the install disks appear to be writing to
the mbr.
Does the live dvd run in a ramdisk only? I have tried to set up a
bootable ptn (sdb1 or sdb6) from this disk several times but it does
not appear to overwrite the mbr by the look of the choices when I
reboot. Also tried to make small changes which should show up on a
real disk later
The last install from the live disk was to /dev/sdb, with bootloader
grub on /dev/sda . This time the grub menu was correct. It started to
boot but stopped when dependencies failed for sda9 (swap) and sdb5
(data)
Help and condolencies will be most appreciated
Barry
The live disk will run purely in memory. This should allow you to see
your disks and hopefully fix your boot problems. First off - can you
see both disks, and are they the right way around?
good luck ( and I still owe you a lunch! ),
Steve
The lunch will be most welcome, where and when Steve???
Not sure what you mean by "right way around"
Now some notes as I "play"...
Running mageia5 live
fsck shows SDB1 & SDB6 clean, neither mounted.
mounted each to /media/SDB1 & /media/SDB6
listed both / ptns, they appear identical.
listed both /root directories. Kernels differ, file structures appear
otherwise ok
Each ptn should show as it was installed from the live dvd
listed /media/boot/grub/menu.lst for both. Entries differ (naturally)
between (HD1,0) and (HD1,5)
Having got this far I want to reinstall grub to the mbr with SDB6 as the
primary boot sector because of its size and spare capacity, and SDB1as
an option. SDA8 would also be desirable but not essential at present.
Need lots of guidance for this, man pages did not help.
Many thanks to my vintage laptop!!!!! (running MGA5 i686)
Thanks for you help.
Barry
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