I want to remove a SSD (hd1) from my computer but I can’t because I always get the “error 21” before the actual grub menu. I have also an extra harddrive for win7 and and one for Opensuse 12.1 (LVM).
Grub sees the SSD as an bootable disk (windows 2) and when I try to remove it , grub doesn’t work any longer. The funny thing is that I have never used it for Linux but as a fast disk for Windows games. Never for any operation system.
Also if I try to delete it from the devicemap and the menu.lst does not change anything. “windows 1” is the win7 harddrive while hd0,0 (instead of hd0,1) is actually the correct parameter for booting windows.
This is what Yast proposes for grub:
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 12.1
root (hd2,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-3.1.10-1.16-desktop root=/dev/system/root resume=/dev/system/swap splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x345
initrd /initrd-3.1.10-1.16-desktop
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 1###
title windows 1
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 2###
title windows 2
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 12.1
root (hd2,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-3.1.10-1.16-desktop root=/dev/system/root showopts apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 nomodeset x11failsafe vga=0x345
initrd /initrd-3.1.10-1.16-desktop
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Kernel-3.1.10-1.16-desktop
root (hd2,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-3.1.10-1.16-desktop root=/dev/system/root resume=/dev/system/swap splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x345
initrd /initrd-3.1.10-1.16-desktop
device.map
(hd2) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WCAZAC494823
(hd1) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-OCZ-VERTEX2_OCZ-2IG70BB3MTWXQL8I
(hd0) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST31500541AS_6XW0RLM0
I hope someone can help me. I was thinking of playing with the hdx,y values or using a Knoppix CD and make a new grub but I am a little bit afraid of messing up everything.
That is quite possible. GRUB refers to disks by BIOS scan order number; so if BIOS has only two disks, they are most probably hd0 and hd1.
Do you get GRUB menu after error 21? If yes, you could edit menu entry and replace all occurrences hd2 with hd1 to test if it boots. If not, you probably need to boot from rescue CD and reinstall bootloader.
I get the error always before the grub menu and can’t do anything but reboot and connect the harddisk again.
I think I am going the risk it and change the bootloader in yast and I hope that grub finds everything in hd1 instead of hd2 after I have rebooted the pc.
And yes, if it goes bad I need the rescue CD.
If you cannot boot without SSD, it is unlikely to help - you will have the same three disks in the wrong order.
OK, after error 21 you should be left in Grub command line. Now try “find /grub/menu.lst”. This hopefully should spit out ‘(hd1,0)’. Now do “configfile (hd1,0)/grub/menu.lst”. This should load your menu. Now press ESC to exit graphical mode (if you use one), use ‘e’ to edit menu entry and replace (hd2,0) with (hd1,0). Press ESC when finished editing. Press ‘b’ to boot edited entry. This should hopefully let your kernel boot (notice that depending on other system settings your kernel may now be confused by changed disk names …). If you will be able to boot, you can reinstall boot loader now.
If it does not work there may still be some other way before rescue boot.
I can not get any further. I can login as root and also have access to all encrypted LVM volumes but can not get into SUSE.
It still expects the SSD as /windows/D
Then login, edit /etc/fstab and remove reference to no more existing drive. If in doubt, check whether device given on /etc/fstab line actually exists (ls … or similar).
If you followed my advice (it is not clear from your reply), this is not permanent change. You will need to do it every time until you reinstall bootloader.