Grub Legacy under Mageia doesn't recognise all systems!
 

Hi friends,
This is my first posting ,,,
I am new here, but not new to linux!

I installed 3 different distributions (Ojouba 4, Mint Lisa and Mageia 1) on different partitions (beside Win7). Bootloaders of Ojouba and Mint ON THEIR OWN partitions, Mageia1 bootloader on MBR (to load all OS from it). As much as I know, Mageia 1 is still using Grub Legacy (0.97), and it cannot 'see' the other 2 linux systems (Ojouba and Mint)! ,,, but it is starting correctly Mageia and win7.
How should I proceed to have Grub (or Grub2 if necessray) load all systems?
Can I uninstall Grub Legacy from inside Mageia and install Grub2 from a live-cd for ex.?
If so, how to do it?
Any other ideas / solutions?

I would appreciate any help :-)
Thanks
Kaspi

Probably easiest to just chainload to the other Linux' the same as for Win7. Means you have to traverse two grub menus to get to them, but saves having to worry about updated kernels and such-like.
If you don't insist on Mageia in the MBR, once you get into Mint, use it in the MBR instead - uses grub2, which has better tools for this. For grub classic, it was up to the distro to provide the tools.

@ syg00

Thank you very much for taking time to reply :-)

- If I understand correctly, you suggest that I chainload the other Linux' manually, adding the entries to menu.lst?
If so, I suppose that I should do this from inside Mageia?
And if I do so, updating kernels later in the different Linux' would not be a problem?

- Actually, I don't insist on anything :-) ,,, I just want to have a 'clean' solution, booting all my OS'
My actual problem is that, with the Grub I installed in MBR through Mageia, I CANNOT GET INTO MY INSTALLED MINT (nor into Ojouba)!

- Maybe I should do the following:
1- Uninstall Grub from MBR.
2- Install Grub2 in MBR.
If so:
How should I do all this in a console?
and the main question is: Can I do such a work from inside Mageia, or from a Live-CD / Live-USB?

(As explanation for 'why I do all this':
I used to install many Linux' on my own PCs and on systems of friends (to learn & test!) and I always proceeded as follows:
- One Swap Partition for all Linux',
- One Data Partition for all OS'
- One Linux into one Partition, with own bootloader in the same partition.
After installing all systems -->
- last system was almost always a Mandriva (before Mageia was forked out of it!);
and I always installed Grub in the MBR through Mandriva, which always was able to 'see' and boot all OS'!
This is exactly what I did this time, except that this time, it didn't work! :-( ,,,

Thanks again for your help!

Kaspi

I always prefer to test changes from the grub command prompt - one-time change that doesn't affect anything if you screw it up. Requires you to know where (as in which partition) the other systems are installed.
From the boot menu, enter a "c" to get into command mode and enter the commands by hand - sayYou should be able to get to both other systems. Once in, look around, then update the menu.lst in Magaei.

From Mint you should just be able to use "sudo grub-install /dev/sda" to fix things (for all systems).

@syg00

Thanks again :-)

Solved it the following way:
edited menu.lst manually and chainloaded the other 2 Linux' ,,,
it is working fine ,,, posting now using Mint ;-)
To tell you the truth, I don't know if this solution is 'clean' enough ,,,
but I will leave it like this for the moment being ,,, and will install Grub2 from Mint later,
since I don't know if Grub2 will overwrite the MBR (Grub Legacy) in a clean way!
What do you think?
One question re chainloading:
I used 'chainloader +1' after sepcifying of course the Partition ,,,
but without pointing to the kernel of Mint! It is functioning ,,,
but, What the hell is the difference between pointing and not pointing to the kernel of the Linux?
I am really confused & perplexed as to: Grub Legacy / Grub 2 / Grub4DOS!? :-(

Do you have any idea as where to find a good documentation & comparison of all the 3 of them?

Again: thank you very much for your advice & help.
This is really a nice forum ,,, and you are a nice guy! :-)

(alone thinking together ,,, is very helpfull!) ;-)

kaspi

Here is good documentation on grub2

grub2

Pay attention to Section 12 working with any live cd using grub2.

I make a separate partition (approximately 20 meg) for my boot partition. This way I can update my distros without worrying about booting the partitions.

@Larry Webb

Thanks a lot :-)
I will carefully study the documentation.

re Boot Partition:
I have 100 Meg as a boot partition ,,, but it is not from me!
My Laptop has Win7 preinstalled with this 100 Meg as Boot Partition.
Maybe I can resize it and have 20 Meg as a Boot Partition for all distros + Win7 ,,,
If I understand correctly, on this Boot Partition, there will be no OS at all?
Only the few files which are necessary for Grub2 to boot? Is this correct?
If so, I would need only a very small partition of few Meg, on which Grub2 will be installed.
or am I mistaken?

What if I install a real bootmanager like PLOP,
Which is -it seems- much easier to manipulate ,,, does it make sense?

thanks for your help.

Kaspi

(NB. I have some questions re Bios and Bios manipulating ,,, Since I hate how these Bios' come
already manipulated by Samsung & co! ,,,, have no idea where I should post!
Would be thankfull if you tell me :-)

I can not answer this, I am not familiar with windows 7 and its boot loader.

I use 20 meg as a average, it depends on the hd and the partitioner. some end up at 13 meg. Leave a little extra room in case you want to play with splash screens.

I am not familiar with any boot managers except grub.

@ Larry Webb

Thank you very much for your answers.

The documentation of Grub2 is really good and very interesting :-)

Kaspi