Installing grub

[big_gie]

Hi,

like you probably read in my last posts, I'm looking toward installing RedHat 9...

Last time doing so, I was told not to use Grub but OSL2000 instead. But OSL2000 cannot boot linux (am I right?) It needs grub...

Actually, I'm booting RH with a floppy.

Heres my hds:
hda1 = XP primary active NTFS
hda3 = "/boot" ext3 primary
hda4 = swap
hda5 = / ext3 extended logical
hda6 = XP program files (NTFS) extended logical
hda7 = personnal data (NTFS) extended logical

I don't really knows what hda2 is...

Now i'd like to install grub, but not on the mbr, it should be on hda3 isn't it? I don't know how I should do this...

I've tryed grubconf and I saw that /boot/grub/menu.lst didn't exist so created one.

But I cannot load Grub... all I've been able to do is get those 2 messages:
GRUB
and:
GRUB geom error

What should I do?

tanks

Edited:
heres \boot\grub\menu.lst

# Generated by grubconf-0.5
default=1
timeout=10

title Red Hat 9
#:0 <-- type: 0 => linux, 1 => windows, 2 => other
	root (hd0,2)
	kernel /vmlinux-2.4.20-8 root=/dev/hda5 initrd /initrd-2.4.20-8.img
title Windows XP
#:1 <-- type: 0 => linux, 1 => windows, 2 => other
	rootnoverify (hd0,0)
	makeactive
	chainloader +1

this gives me the geom error...


I'm also unable to mount my external USB floppy.
there is nothing under /dev/fd0 or sda
All i can find to mount is /proc/bus/usb but mouting this doesn't work...

[schwedenmann]

hallo

1. Go to the homepage of grub (see google for grub, bootloader, linux).

2. Your numbering of the partitions is a little bit curious:
hda3 swap , it must be a primary partition and swap has nothing to do with primary partitions. It must be in my opinion hda6.

3. to use grub, you must first install grub in the MBR of your harddrive
rpm i grub.rpm and than AFAIK grub install --hda must work ??

but before you make grub install, edit the menu.lst in /boot

that´s all.

schwedenmann

[big_gie]

tanks m8

I reinstalled RH and told the installer to install grub on the linux partition boot and not on the mbr. Then installed OSL2000 in the mbr, working great!!!

Except of the nag screen of osl2000... Using GAG actually... since its free

tanks again

[scarecrow]

Linux will load with third party bootmanagers on MBR without LILO or GRUB being installed at all, but your / or /boot partition must be primary and active. Simplest solution for booting from a logical partition is GaG or Osloader, and LILO or Grub at / or /boot. It cannot really get cleaner than that, 2 completely independent OS'es and if something happens to your loader, including MBR viruses, it's fixable within one minute.

[catachresis]

Scarecrow, Schwedenmann & other Linux users, I'm going to install Knoppix on my system, and I'm trying to figure-out a rock-solid safe, convenient system of boot managers that will allow for Windows boot by default and Knoppix boot as option. Forgive me if I seem over-serious and simplistic, but this is my first install of Linux on the harddrives, and I've known friends to wreck their partitions by going at it heedlessly.

Scarecrow, you've suggested using GaG or OSL2000 (most recent version) in coordination with Lilo or grub? Would you stand by these recommendations? Do you have any specific preferences? I want to say that I'm looking for a combination that is not only safe but elegantly simple. Moreover, I'm projecting that once I'm sorted with Knoppix, I'll move to a full install of Debian. Would one of these combinations be preferable for the larger, more complex distribution?

Thanks all for your suggestions.

[scarecrow]

Knoppix does not install "completely" on your puter- it always boots from the CD, what you can install on your harddisk or USB flash drive or whatever is your /home directory. So, you don't really need a bootloader for Knoppix, just some free space- either on an already used partition, or an empty one.
There are some other "live" Linux distributions which can install completely on your HD's if you wish so, but not Knoppix.

[catachresis]

Hey scarecrow, thanks for responding. I trust your judgment on this, but I did find this link that purports to give instructions for fully installing knoppix on the hdd (at least that's how I interpret it).

http://www.freenet.org.nz/misc/knoppix-install.html

If I were to go for a full Debian install (in a few months) what bootload combination would you recommend?

[scarecrow]

I did not know at all about this intricacie- and thanks for the link... much apppreciated.
However, once installed on harddisk Knoppix is just a pretty typical Debian Linux (Sarge, to be more exact-which is the "testing" flavour of Debian). There is also "woody" which is the stable version for server-oriented users and the cutting edge "Sid" for the daredevils.
I guess that sarge should install OK for most users, but why not install the real thing? Sarge is freely available on the net (11 CD's or 2 DVD's- two versions, one with packages "legal" in US of A and one omitting them), and installation is not exactly painless, but nevertheless manageable.
If you are a Linux n00b and you still want to tryout Linux i would (again) suggest Mandrake or it's live version, PCLinuxOS:
http://www.pclinuxonline.com/
Mandrake may be buggy (in fact- no doubt about it...) but its installation is MUCH easier than say a 2000 server installation.