Re: Why Andy is Cool (yeah right)

From: Andy Fraser (andyfraser31_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 05/20/04 

Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 02:22:59 +0100

In alt.os.linux, Matthew Crouch uttered these immortal words:

> Andy,
>
> You are cool for helping this guy. I wonder if you could help me a bit:

I can but try.
 
> I'm trying to add a bootable Fedora to a machine running rh8.0
> Fedora works fine, but the rh8 kernel can no longer be found (I presume
> by grub), so I gues now I'm trying to get back my rh8, which is on hda3

You might not need this but you can check /dev/hda3 has the needed kernel
and initrd files by mounting it under Fedora. eg (as root):

mkdir /mnt/rh
mount -t $FS_TYPE /dev/hda3 /mnt/rh
 
> grub.conf has this in it:
> title rh8
> rootnoverify (hd0,0)
>
> kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-28.8 ro root=/dev/hda1
> initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.20-28.8 img

Is that all that's in grub.conf and is this the version of GRUB that's
installed in the MBR? Why is it titled "rh8" when it's booting Fedora?

You can add some stuff to the end eg:

title RedHat8
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-$RH8_KERNEL_FILE $ADD_YOUR_PARAMS_HERE
initrd /boot/initrd-$INITRD_FILE_FOR_ABOVE_KERNEL
 
> I did this because the top of grub.conf says:
>
> # NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
> # all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
> # root (hd0,2)
> # kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda3
> # initrd /boot/initrd-version.img

This looks like what you have to put back because it refers to (hd0,2) which
is GRUB for /dev/hda3.
 
> The only other thing I can think of is that when I was making the
> partitions (via diskDruid) in the Fedora install procedure, I made hda3
> (fedora) mount-point at "/" and I don't think I did the same with hda1...

The bottom line is if you can verify that Fedora and RH8 are in the right
places you need a set of "title/root/kernel/initrd/$MAYBE_OTHER_STUFF"
lines for each distro which you don't appear to have right now.

> Make any sense to you?

Yes and no. I'm getting a bit confused now. Near the top you say RH8 is
on /dev/hda3 but above you seem to say that Fedora is on that partition.
Most of what you need to know is in this post. Clarify what's where and
adjust accordingly. Post back if you need more info.
 
> PS: This happens every time I decide to tinker with a new distro, i.e. I
> get the new one working fine and can't boot the old one.

The answer is simple. Learn the bootloader you're using. By that I mean read
the docs and get to know it intimately. It might sound like a lot of work
but it's worth it.
         

-- 
Andy.

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