Linux dualboot problem

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November 9th, 2004, 07:22 PM
J_K9

Linux dualboot problem

OK, I just installed Mandrake 10.1 on my box which already has Fedora Core 1 on it. The only problem is that every time I boot up my computer, Fedora comes up! It only allows me to boot from Fedora, and doesn't even give me a chance to boot from Mandrake. Can someone please tell me what to do, because the only other things I've seen about dualbooting are with Windows and Linux, never Linux and Linux. Anyway, could you please tell me what to do so that on start-up I can have the choice to boot from Mandrake 10.1 or Fedora Core 1? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

J_K9
November 9th, 2004, 07:46 PM
Shrekkie

Which bootloader do you use ? I'd say , use fedora's one , edit it and rebuild it.

But first tell us your bootloader-type.
November 9th, 2004, 08:15 PM
J_K9

I'm using Fedora's boot loader (GRUB). I'm a n00b to linux, so I dont really know how to edit the boot loader, or what to do whith it. Thanks a lot for answering though.

[EDIT]

I know how to change to LILO if you want me to.

[/EDIT]

J_K9
November 9th, 2004, 08:37 PM
hypronix

Okay for the following purposes I'll consider you have something along the following lines

/dev/hda1 <- fedora /
/dev/hda3 <- mandrake /

in [hda1]/boot/grub/grub.conf

add a line saying

title='Mandrake'
root(hd0,2)
kernel /kernel* root=/dev/hda3

A quick explanation:

root(hd0,2)

Means disk 1, partition 3 [it starts at 0 as being the first]

So if you have two hdd's and say mandrake is on hdb

root(hd1,0) for hdb1

Kernel* must be the kernel version [exact filename] for you Mandrake distro. Remember that everything you declare in grub.conf is relative to /boot/ not /, so all paths should be referenced accordingly.

If there's anything else, give us your particular set-up.. for example, I have a separate partition for /boot/ that's only mounted while the system boots [and when I add kernels to it :D]
November 9th, 2004, 09:41 PM
J_K9

I know that Fedora Core is on hda1 and Mandrake: "/" is on hda6, "/home" is on hda7.

So here's what I'm typing into /boot/grub/grub.conf:

Code:

title='Mandrake' root(hd0,5) kernel /2.6.8.1 root=/dev/hda6

Is this correct? There is one problem though - I have looked in /dev and "hda6" doesn't appear to be there. Any ideas ?

Thanks a lot for your help so far,

J_K9
November 9th, 2004, 10:05 PM
hypronix

[post got erased x(]

So, try rebooting and selecting this entry from GRUB, and tell us what happens [post an error message from GRUB or something]. You could also run fdisk /dev/hda and see how many partitions you have and what they are.

I'm not sure if there'll be a problem with Fedora not listing hda6 in /dev/, but GRUB doesn't care about it. Did you try mounting the drive?

Another thing.. if you have time, do a man grub and see what happens.
November 9th, 2004, 10:20 PM
J_K9

The error message shows up:

Code:

Booting 'Mandrake' root (hd0,5) Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83 kernel /2.6.8.1 root=/dev/hda6 Error 15: File not found Press any key to continue...

In bash, "fdisk /dev/hda", showed up "hda6 ........ Linux" & "hda7........Linux".

hda6, according to the Mandrake custom partitioner, was the "/" partition.

[EDIT]
I tried to mount it by typing:

Code:

mount /dev/hda6 /mnt/hda6

but didn't work.
[/EDIT]

Thanks a lot,

J_K9
November 10th, 2004, 12:41 AM
hypronix

Under kernel make sure you link to the kernel from the Mandrake distro. In kernel put down the exact filename, not just the version number... for all is worth it, your kernel could be called "punk'd" and GRUB wouldn't care :)

From your code listing it seems that you put down just the version number for the kernel [and I think it's probbaly my fault, so I apologize :)]
November 10th, 2004, 08:09 AM
J_K9

The exact filename?? :confused: Where can I find that? I have looked at the Mandrake website but there isn't anything about the filename of the kernel, just it's version number. Any ideas?

Thanks,

J_K9
November 10th, 2004, 08:21 AM
Shrekkie

Code:

Booting 'Mandrake' root (hd0,5) Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83 kernel /2.6.8.1 root=/dev/hda6 Error 15: File not found Press any key to continue...

Well the problem here is the kernel-line, there you need to point out the absolute filename, being your kernel image.

For.ex. Let me show my system :

I'm gonna mount and show my /boot , the dots represent non-relevant files here.

Code:

root@S04200 / # mount /boot root@S04200 / # ls -l /boot total 16587 ... -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2072261 Aug 5 15:42 bzImage-2.6.7-gentoo-r1 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Apr 12 2004 grub -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 41895 Mar 23 2004 initrd-1024x768 ...

Here's my /boot/grub/grub.conf

Code:

root@S04200 / # cat /boot/grub/grub.conf timeout 30 default 0 fallback 1 splashimage=(hd0,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz title=Gentoo Linux - Kernel 2.6.7-gentoo-r1 root (hd0,1) kernel /bzImage-2.6.7-gentoo-r1 root=/dev/hda4 vga=791 acpi=off splash=verbose initrd /initrd-1024x768 title Windows XP Professional rootnoverify (hd0,0) makeactive chainloader +1

As you can see, my kernel image (bzImage.. ) is absolute in my grub.conf. If it can't find it says file not found. Don't mind you partition reference, that one seems fine.
Maybe show us your boot dir.

Greetz,

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