[SOLVED] Install fine, GRUB in MBR throws error 2.

Jyde · 04-23-2010, 12:52 PM

(I hope this is the acceptable place to post this, despite using the latest MeanPUP.
Also note that I got the exact same result with the latest two Puppy proper versions.)

Trying to bring some life into an old laptop (Fujitsu Lifebook C, 64Mb RAM) I have now reinstalled MeanPUP from CD countless times, always ending up with GRUB not working, throwing an error 2 (after stage 1.5).

I boot from CD, all is fine. I run the Universal installer, full install to HDD. The GRUB install also runs fine, installed to MBR.

On reboot, the said error occurs.

I noticed that initrd was not copied over, so I did that manually and added it to menu.lst. Still the same.

Latest, I tried manually copying over the pup_202.sfs session file from the CD, still same error... on top of that, even when booting from live CD, it now mounts the HDD and run thats .sfs file. In order to have a live CD run again, I must manually delete this file.

I actually managed to get all this going just once, with Puppy proper, but I reqally do not remember any difference to what I am doing now... just that it was a lot of work! The installer should really be able to handle this automatically.

I have searched, googled and re-tried and I am getting somewhat cross-eyed by now, and - to be honest - real tired of this, so if someone has and extra hand and a few suggestions, please chip in!

Cheers!
CJ

Larry Webb · 04-23-2010, 02:36 PM

I am not sure about MeanPUP but I installed a version of pup on a computer last week and set it up to chainload and had no problems. You might try chainloading by making a separate partition (2 meg) for grub. If MeanPUP has grub2 disregard above advise.

Wu2wei · 04-24-2010, 11:55 AM

Puppy works much better in a frugal install.

So, instead of a full installation, try a frugal installation variant following these directions.

http://www.puppylinux.org/main/index...-English05.txt

If you still get the same error, please post the content of your /boot/grub/menu.lst

amani · 04-24-2010, 12:34 PM

anything special about the hard drive

boot options?

Jyde · 04-26-2010, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry Webb

I am not sure about MeanPUP but I installed a version of pup on a computer last week and set it up to chainload and had no problems. You might try chainloading by making a separate partition (2 meg) for grub. If MeanPUP has grub2 disregard above advise.

No, it's still on Grup '1'. I think I did try this, though not sure. I will give it a try.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wu2wei

Puppy works much better in a frugal install.
So, instead of a full installation, try a frugal installation variant following these directions.
If you still get the same error, please post the content of your /boot/grub/menu.lst

Thanks for replying. Sorry, but I am not interested in frugal, as I want to be able to access my files from other on the file system in case something goes south and I need to use another live CD to access the laptop.
Also, this is not a question about Puppy working better, as it works fine... it's the irritating grub error that ends the joy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

anything special about the hard drive
boot options?

To the best of my knowledge, no.

With the danger of repeating myself, I did get this to work once. I had to copy vmlinuz and initrd over manually, but this is not enough in itself.
Another indicator that the fault is not with the OS or the PC as such is that e.g. DSL can run and install fine.
Hm, would there be a way I could boot into DSL and get that to set up grub for Puppy? I will give it a go.

So, at the risk of sounding ungrateful, I'd prefer not to have workarounds on a fresh install but rather see if I could get the problem solved. After all, it's just the boot-up that's at fault, or...

Thanks for your suggestions and help, much appreciated.

Cheers!
CJ

Jyde · 04-26-2010, 06:34 AM

For completeness, here is my menu.lst:

Code:

timeout 4
color light-gray/blue black/light-gray

   titel MeanPUP (on /dev/hda1)
   root (hd0,0)
   kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1 ro vga=normal
   initrd /boot/initrd.gz

amani · 04-27-2010, 10:23 AM

try root=/dev/sda1

or use labels

(do it from a live cd)

Jyde · 04-28-2010, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amani

try root=/dev/sda1

Code:

Error 11: Unrecognized device string

I also tried with hda1 as fdisk reports.

I have attempted to run the manual grub commands from another live CD (DSL-N) and it too give me errors.

For instance, trying to use Grub>setup (or grub-install) says it cannot find the stage1 file.

I then did a chroot to mounted system, this time it could fine stage1 but gave me an error about stage1 not being in the right format (sorry, I do not remember the exact error).
Googling, I got as many - conflicting - answers as results as to what the error meant. The most authoritative I could find was that the error was misleading and it normally indicated a mismatch between the file systems (I assume from the run CD and the HDD). I have tried installing on both ext2, ext3 and ext4, no difference.

When opening stage1 in a text editor, it just says 'kH_' (the underscore is actually an 'upperscore' in as much as it is a line from the top of the H).

So, is the stage-files corrupt? If yes, can they be copied from another, functioning setup?

Cheers!
CJ

syg00 · 04-28-2010, 06:59 AM

From an install/live CD do a "file" command against the (hard-disk) /boot/vmlinuz (initrd too - why not).

Jyde · 04-28-2010, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

From an install/live CD do a "file" command against the (hard-disk) /boot/vmlinuz (initrd too - why not).

Code:

vmlinuz: x86 boot sector
initrd.gz: gzip compressed data, was "initrd-tmp", from Unix, max compression

Cheers!
CJ

syg00 · 04-28-2010, 07:36 AM

Hmmm - that don't look right. Hence the "error 2" maybe. This is my (obviously) Fedora12

Code:

/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32.11-99.fc12.x86_64: Linux kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 2.6.32.11-99.fc12.x86_64 (mockb, RO-rootFS, root_dev 0x902, swap_dev 0x3, Normal VGA

Been a while since I looked at puppy - might be time again.
Last time I ran it everything (except wifi IIRC) worked out of the box.

Jyde · 04-28-2010, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

Hmmm - that don't look right. Hence the "error 2" maybe. This is my (obviously) Fedora12

Code:

/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32.11-99.fc12.x86_64: Linux kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 2.6.32.11-99.fc12.x86_64 (mockb, RO-rootFS, root_dev 0x902, swap_dev 0x3, Normal VGA

Been a while since I looked at puppy - might be time again.
Last time I ran it everything (except wifi IIRC) worked out of the box.

Mine, from another PC running PCLOS gives similar different answer:

Code:

vmlinuz-2.6.33.2-pclos1.bfs: Linux kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 2.6.33.2-pclos1.bfs (root@local, RO-rootFS, root_dev 0x805, swap_dev 0x1, Normal VGA

I must confess this is beyond me by now...

Cheers!
CJ

Jyde · 04-29-2010, 06:34 PM

Hm, just had a thought: Could the fact that I had to copy initrd.gz manually from the live CD have anything to do with this? I have checked the permissions (root), but could there be anything else that might be affecting this?
I copied the file from the CD to /boot by simply dragging it from one instance of Rox to another, selecting copy.

Cheers!
CJ

bobbio · 05-02-2010, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jyde

Hm, just had a thought: Could the fact that I had to copy initrd.gz manually from the live CD have anything to do with this? I have checked the permissions (root), but could there be anything else that might be affecting this?
I copied the file from the CD to /boot by simply dragging it from one instance of Rox to another, selecting copy.

Cheers!
CJ

A "full" install of puppy does not have initrd.gz line in menu.lst
Go to the puppy forum, click the search box, type: full install....
type: catdude for author.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/vie...8540782#201565

2.02 is quite old and may not have enough hardware support for you.

Jyde · 05-03-2010, 06:55 AM

Bobbio, thanks for you reply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbio

A "full" install of puppy does not have initrd.gz line in menu.lst

I found a load of posts to the opposite effect, i.e. that it should be inserted. Never mind, as I have tried without too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbio

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/vie...8540782#201565

I did already come across the post, but that is if things works out of the box, which they do not for me. There really is nothing to installing it as such and those are the steps I have followed, but grub still throws the said error.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbio

2.02 is quite old and may not have enough hardware support for you.

As for version, I have tried with the latest two Puppy proper as well... not to mention that the laptop I am trying it on is very old too.

And once again I mention that other distroes (e.g. DSL, DSL-N) install grub fine and working.

Cheers!
CJ