Error 18

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I had a previously good running 11.2 install. Today, it started stuttering(especially with firefox), and I rebooted.

Grub reported: error 18 selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by bios.

That is a bit odd since everything was flawless 5 minutes before.

I tried to reinstall the boot loader and no dice.

Here is output from fdisk:

linux:/home/linux # fdisk -ls

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xa30da30d

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 12872 103394308+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 12873 60508 382636170 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 12873 17350 35969503+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 17351 28577 90180846 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 28578 29099 4192933+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8 29100 60508 252292761 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19452 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0002c2ce

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2 5222 41937682+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdb2 5223 19452 114302475 83 Linux

All the linux partitions are ext4.

If I remember correctly, the boot loader defaults were accepted on install.

The hard drive is a SATA drive, and all docs that I read say error 18 is an IDE issue.

#2

I get the error with Windows, opensuse and failsafe.

#3

Can you tell us what is on sda6 and sda8
also all of sdb

#4

/dev/sda6 is /

/dev/sda8 is home

On the other disk the fat partition is just backup files for both windows and linux to share. The ext4 partition on the second disk is just a bunch of VM’s.

I finally got it to boot and I get a wall of text scrolling by very fast and the only thing I can make out is {DRDY err}.

I am able to mount all of sda6 and sda8(this one took 5 minutes to mount) when running a live CD and was able to copy critical files off on the second disk.

#5

Not sure about this I’m afraid, but if you Google the error it may reveal something. Good you managed to backup.

Do this as su

touch /forcefsck

And the filesystem will be checked on boot, but only once

#6

All I could find were references to IDE drives.

Well, I got another drive, so to avoid the chance that the current one is dying, I am using that. Since Windows is on the old drive, I kept the other two drives installed, at least for now.

The problem now is that the boot loader doesn’t seem to be properly
installed. I deleted the old root partition, and did not mount the old home or virtual machine partition on disk three.

After I updated the kernel(everything was fine till this step), and reboot, I get a grub prompt. If I put the install disk in and let it boot to disk from the first menu screen, it boots up just fine.

fdisk -ls

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0008bd42

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13055 104864256 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 13056 13708 5245222+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 13709 33289 157284382+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 33290 121601 709366140 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xa30da30d

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 12872 103394308+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 * 12873 60508 382636170 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sdb5 12873 17350 35969503+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb6 29100 60508 252292761 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 160.0 GB, 160000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19452 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0002c2ce

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 2 5222 41937682+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdc2 5223 19452 114302475 83 Linux

Here is /boot/grub/menu.lst

Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sat Mar 27 22:34:51 PDT 2010

THIS FILE WILL BE PARTIALLY OVERWRITTEN by perl-Bootloader

Configure custom boot parameters for updated kernels in /etc/sysconfig/bootloader

default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Desktop – openSUSE 11.2 - 2.6.31.12-0.2
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31.12-0.2-desktop root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1001FALS-00J7B0_WD-WMATV5864918-part1 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1001FALS-00J7B0_WD-WMATV5864918-part2 splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x346
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.31.12-0.2-desktop

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe – openSUSE 11.2 - 2.6.31.12-0.2
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31.12-0.2-desktop root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1001FALS-00J7B0_WD-WMATV5864918-part1 showopts apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x346
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.31.12-0.2-desktop

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

If I go into the repair utility, the bootloader shows sdc2 as the linux boot partition, which is not what it is on the disk. Repairing does not fix the problem either.

#7

Make sure the disk sda is first in bios boot order

You can re-install grub like this
Re-Install Grub Quickly with Parted Magic - openSUSE Forums