On Tue, 2004-06-01 at 01:41 -0400, Joe(theWordy)Philbrook wrote:
... snip ...
With grub, if I make a working boot floppy with "grub-install /dev/fd0"
then the one I had in /dev/hda is broken (infinte loop of the word grub
being printed to the screen) If I boot from the floppy and do a
"grub-install /dev/hda" The mbr can boot again, but now the grub floppy
boot is broke...
1) is it possible to install the same grub to start from the mbr OR from
a floppy depending on which bios finds first?
That's the way is should work.
Seems grub-install does cause such problems. Doing it interactively MAY
help. IIRC goes something like this if /boot is on /dev/hda3.
# grub
grub> root (hd0,2)
grub> setup (hd0)
The attached script will create DOS format GRUB floppy with a copy of
your current menu that can then be mounted and edited to customize.
2) In case I must depend on the rescue mode sometime, Will it be able to
find the right linux installation on a system with
FC2, FC1, MDK9.1, SuSE 7.3, Win98se, AND Dr Dos on it. Or would the
following partition tables confuse it
Ya' got me. Probably will be confused. Please try it and let us
know. ;^)
[root@localhost jtwdyp]# fdisk -l /dev/hda /dev/hdc
Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 638 5124703+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda2 639 1217 4650817+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda3 1218 3162 15623212+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 3163 4865 13679347+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda5 639 1021 3076416 b W95 FAT32
/dev/hda6 1022 1148 1020096 83 Linux
/dev/hda7 1149 1217 554211 82 Linux swap
The above looks very strange. The # of blocks in the extended partition
should be the sum of all those below it.
If you really want to confuse boot loaders and rescue disks try
something like this (-:
[root@tabb1 scr]# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hde: 46.1 GB, 46115758080 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 89355 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hde1 * 1 44673 22515066 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hde2 44673 89346 22515097+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hde5 44673 64994 10241406 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hde6 64994 89346 12273628+ 83 Linux
Disk /dev/hdg: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 232581 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdg1 * 1 249 125464+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdg2 250 2234 1000440 82 Linux swap
/dev/hdg3 2235 33981 16000488 83 Linux
/dev/hdg4 33982 232581 100094400 83 Linux
Disk /dev/hdh: 46.1 GB, 46115758080 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 5606 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdh1 * 1 7 56196 83 Linux
/dev/hdh2 8 2050 16410397+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hdh3 2051 3075 8233312+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdh4 3076 5606 20330257+ 5 Extended
/dev/hdh5 3076 3271 1574338+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdh6 3272 5606 18755856 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sda: 18.3 GB, 18309995520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2226 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 17 136521 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 18 2226 17743792+ 83 Linux
Disk /dev/sdb: 18.3 GB, 18309995520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2226 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 197 1582371 82 Linux swap
/dev/sdb2 198 2226 16297942+ 83 Linux
Getting BIOS and GRUB to agree is a bit tricky.
Phil
P.S. Have you tried the GRUB "map" command on your DR-DOS problem to
fool it into thinking it's on the first disk? Perhaps:
title DR-DOS on hdc
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
Might also need "makeactive" after "rootnoverify".