I have successfully installed Suse 11.1 on an external USB hard drive - but now cannot boot to either Suse or Windows without that external hard drive being plugged in prior to boot. Since I have a laptop, I do not want to have to carry that external drive with me at all times, simply to boot my laptop.
Despite spending several hours reading related posts on this subject, I cannot find a solution that directly addresses the boot issues I am experiencing. Can the members of this forum please help me definitively solve a problem that must be affecting large numbers of new Suse installers/users?
It would be great if we can identify a solution that is broadly applicable, not just specific to my laptop.
The relevant facts:
Competent Windows user
Acer Aspire 5050-5554 laptop
I have PhoenixBIOS v.1.3302 installed - and know how to change it
This version of BIOS does offer options to boot from a USB HD drive or a USB Flash drive…although I am not sure whether these options actually work
120 Gb WD internal HD with Vista Home Premium installed
320 Gb Samsung external USB HD with Suse 11.1 installed
I CAN boot to Suse OR to Vista but ONLY WHEN USB HD is connected PRIOR TO booting
If the USB HD is not connected, I receive a GRUB error
I do NOT want to have to carry my USB HD with me at all times in order to simply boot my PC!
I can run and post the results of any reports which will help you understand the issues occurring with my PC.
You probably have directions pointing to your USB-drive in the GRUB config files, so GRUB(bootloader) “thinks” the necessary files to boot are located there.
In /boot/grub/device.map you’ll find an entry for the USB-drive, and in /boot/grub/menu.lst there will probably entries pointing to it as well.
Point is, that GRUB now needs your USB-drive.
I think, cannot test it, that you need to boot your system, unmount the USB-drive, disconnect it, change the mentioned files and than, as root, do: grub-install /dev/sdX#, where sdX# is the partition you boot from. After that you should be able to boot.
… I hope to move that to a reviewed area soon … I’m just waiting for a review from one of our forum guru’s before I move it to the reviewed section … but I think it still has a lot of good information/guidance.
Dear oldcpu…THANK YOU VERY MUCH for pointing me in the right direction. I followed the excellent directions supplied by snapperfishes - and my boot problems are now fully resolved!
Without the external USB HD connected, now I boot directly into Windows. With the USB HD connected, GRUB loads correctly, and I can successfully boot to either SUSE or Windows. This is EXACTLY what I wanted to be able to do.
Not to be critical in any way, but in the spirit of improving snapperfishes guide for all multiboot users, I noticed a couple of typos within the guide:
The existing code states:
“MbrFix/ drive 0 driveinfo”
this code should be changed to this:
“MbrFix /drive 0 driveinfo”
Additionally for a Vista user like me, the existing code states:
“mbrfix /drive 0 fixmbr /yes”
this code should be changed to this:
“MbrFix /drive 0 fixmbr /yes /vista”
I agree with your assessment that this solution by snapperfishes should be moved to a more prominent area within the install/boot/login forum.
Again, thank you very much for taking the time to point me to the solution I needed. I also hope this information will prove to be valuable to many others in the future.
Many thanks for your input. I sent the URL of this thread to the openSUSE Guru who is reviewing snapperfish’s excellent guide. Hopefully between all of us we will manage to make it even better.