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,
November 10th, 2004, 08:33 AM
J_K9

Shrekkie: do you mean to show you my /boot dir in hda1 (Fedora Core 1) or hda6 (Mandrake), because it doesn't let me mount hda6 (or I just don't know how to do it properly! ) :D ). When I booted into Fedora and typed in

Code:

ls -l /boot .... grub initrd-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.img .... vmlinux-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl -> ../lib/modules/2.4.22-1.2115.nptl/vmlinux vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl

But that is /boot in Fedora. I don't know how to get Mandrake's one...

Thanks,

J_K9
November 10th, 2004, 08:50 AM
Shrekkie

Hrmm, did you let Mandrake setup a different /boot ?

If so you can change the boot-first value to the hda6 in the bios, that way it'll start from the mandrake hdd.
but that doesn't solve your problem.
Let me try to help.

So you have the mandrake entries in your grub.conf.

Code:

title='Mandrake' root(hd0,5) kernel /<the-kernel-image-in-the-hda6/boot> root=/dev/hda6

So,

Let the bios thus boot first from your Mandrake hdd. Once in Mandrake list and write down whats in your boot dir.
Reboot and reset to boot from fedora again. Change the above kernel-mage line with the kernel-image you found in Mandrake. Make sure you always type "mount /boot", before you list the /boot, otherwise it might show just nothing in there.

That should do it. ;)
November 10th, 2004, 09:00 AM
J_K9

Thank you very much, I completely understand what you said. But there seems to be just one conflicting problem: if I change Fedora Core in the grub.conf file to boot up from:

Code:

root (hd0,5) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi rhgb initrd /initrd-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.img

Then it is telling it to boot from Mandrake Linux, with Fedora's kernel filename and version. Wouldn't that then mean that I couldn't boot up either of them? I new to linux, so I'm sorry if I'm misusnderstanding you. Thanks,

J_K9
November 10th, 2004, 09:05 AM
Shrekkie

NO no,

Don't change the fedora entry. You had an Mandrake-entry in your grub.conf of your fedora partition.
Just change that entry.

You want your system to boot off the fedora-bootloader, but you want fedora to point the right direction to the mandrake, therefore you need the right kernel-image of the mandrake system ;)

Cheers

**EDIT Don't worry, we all were linux-n00bs once, and i know i liked it back then people helpeing me too.

The world can learn alot from the linux-community. That aside.
November 10th, 2004, 09:28 AM
J_K9

OK at the moment here is everything in my grub.conf file (exc. the comments):

Code:

default=0 timeout=50 splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz title Fedora Core 1 root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi rhgb initrd / /initrd-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.img title=Mandrake 10.1 root (hd0,5) kernel /**I will change this when boot into Mandrake and back into Fedora** root=/dev/hda6

That's all that is in there. Plese feel free to quote and alter what you think I need to alter now to boot into Mandrake. Thank you very much for everything,

J_K9
November 10th, 2004, 09:37 AM
Shrekkie

Looks ok for me.

Try it out ...

Although it might be possible we need to change the "root (hd0,5) " part to the /boot partition of the mandrake distro, but we'll see for that later.
November 10th, 2004, 12:34 PM
J_K9

Nope, this still says:

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...

So this is what I have in my grub.conf file as mentioned above (note that "kernel" under mandrake is still just the version):

Code:

default=0 timeout=50 splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz title Fedora Core 1 root (hd0,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl ro root=LABEL=/ hdc=ide-scsi rhgb initrd / /initrd-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.img title=Mandrake 10.1 root (hd0,5) kernel /2.6.8.1**I will change this when boot into Mandrake and back into Fedora** root=/dev/hda6

[EDIT]

Also, would I also need to specify an "initrd" for Mandrake (I dont have a clue what it is, but just curious if it is needed :D.

[/EDIT]

Thanks,

J_K9
November 10th, 2004, 12:58 PM
Shrekkie

ok then try this,

You needed the kernel-image anyway.

Code:

title=Mandrake 10.1 root (hd0,x) kernel /2.6.8.1**I will change this when boot into Mandrake and back into Fedora** root=/dev/hda6

Change the x in root(hd0,x) with the /boot partition equivalent from your mandrake installation.
Where /dev/hda6 would be root(hd0,5) and for.ex /dev/hda4 would be root(hd0,3)

Lemme know or join me on irc, read my sig.

*** the initrd is not necessary to boot, it just makes it look nicer. btw did you remove the **note*** in your kernel-line ?
November 10th, 2004, 06:45 PM
hypronix

Quote:

Originally posted here by .: Shrekkie :.
Lemme know or join me on irc, read my sig.

You don't have one Shrek! :)

I wasn't very clear, I apologize. J_K9, do you remember whether you have a separate partition on your HDD for the Mandrake /boot, or is it under the root partition? It is important because you need to be pointing out to the correct partition in order for grub to get the right kernel image booting.
November 10th, 2004, 07:24 PM
J_K9

/boot is within the root partition ("/") (hda6). Basically, Shrekkie gave me a renewed grub.conf file which was customised to my system (because with his help I managed to find out the details and passed them on to him: thanks Shrekkie!). But now, when I select Mandrake at the start-up, I get about a page and a half of lines scrolling down and then it just stops. Here are the last 5 lines:

Code:

PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfd7ae, last bus=1 PCI: Using configuration type 1 mtrr: v2.0 (20020519) ACPI: Subsystem revision 20040326 ACPI: IRQ10 SCI: Edge set to Level Trigger.

And there it just jams: and I have to power it down manually.

Attached is the grub.conf file which I copied and pasted into my own grub.conf file. This file was customly made for me by Shrekkie, and for that I give him my thanks. If you have realised that maybe I need to add something to the file then please just let me know, and I will do it, if it will make Mandrake boot up fully like it should. Thanks to all of you who have helped me get this far!

J_K9
November 10th, 2004, 10:33 PM
J_K9

Thanks everyone for everything: Mandrake 10.1 is now fully up and running, thanks to Shrekkie. It was just a minor alter to the grub.conf file. Thanks to everyone who posted here, especially for the quick replies.

Yours Sincerely

J_K9
November 10th, 2004, 10:42 PM
Shrekkie

For the ones interested and for the ones who have this similar problem.

He had to add acpi=off to the kernel line behind root=/dev/hdx.

Greetz,