I’ve had dual boot 11.1 and XP working fine, just using the installation defaults, but then decided to make XP the default (I’m setting up the machine for a Windows user not quite ready to adopt Linux full time yet). Started YAST, edited bootloader by marking XP as default (also changed the description from simple Windows to Windows XP), closed Yast, and rebooted: “Error No operating system. Reboot and Select proper Boot device”.
OK, I thought, reboot from SUSE DVD and choose “Repair installation”. But that only offered to rewrite the GRUB menu without XP, and it’s unclear how to add another OS from here.
Any suggestions as to how to achieve what I want without reinstalling everything?
There is good HowTo here
GRUB Boot Multiboot openSUSE Windows (2000, XP, Vista) using the Grub bootloader.
you don’t need to re-install, just read the above carefully, print it if you need to.
Many thanks, that worked a treat (turns out GRUB was written to boot partition rather than MBR during original installation). Only one problem: I’ve lost the tasteful SUSE boot splash screen in the process and get all those boot text messages - how do I restore the pretty splash screen?
In
/boot/grub/menu.lst
Top section should have eg: from mine…
Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sat Dec 20 05:14:37 UTC 2008
default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message
##YaST - activate
as in BOLD
BUT. (hd0,1)
must be edited to match YOUR root of install
see default boot section for openSUSE lower down the list
section after title
root (hd…???)
edit as super user
Hmmm, it already has that line. But I ntocied that in the section actually loading SUSE, it says splash=silent. I suspect that’s the culprit, and if so, do I just delete it or have something like splash=noisy 
Leave that as it is.
Post here your
/boot/grub/menu.lst
/etc/fstab
Yup, will do tomorrow: writing from different machine now, makes cut and paste a bit difficult… Thx for your help, strange to sit here in the hot Sydney summer being helped by a friendly geek freezing to death somewhere round Windermere
Oh Man I am so jealous of you down-under. I love Hot weather.
Windermere is 15 miles from me. Cool as it can be, and often wet, the Lake District is without question, one of the most beautiful parts of the world. It’s a small world for sure these days.
I know, I’ve been to Windermere and the rest of the district - lived in England for nearly thirty years before getting remission for good behaviour and being allowed to escape to Oz
Anyway, back to business, here’s /boot/grub/menu.lst:
Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sun Dec 28 17:52:24 EST 2008
default 1
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,4)/boot/message
##YaST - activate
###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3250410AS_6RYBDF5K-part5 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3250410AS_6RYBDF5K-part6 splash=silent showopts
initrd /boot/initrd
###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe – openSUSE 11.1
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3250410AS_6RYBDF5K-part5 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe
initrd /boot/initrd
###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Kernel-2.6.27.7-9-pae
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-pae root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3250410AS_6RYBDF5K-part5 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3250410AS_6RYBDF5K-part6 splash=silent showopts
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-pae
And here’s /etc/fstab:
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3250410AS_6RYBDF5K-part6 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3250410AS_6RYBDF5K-part5 / ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3250410AS_6RYBDF5K-part7 /home ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 2
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3250410AS_6RYBDF5K-part1 /windows/C ntfs-3g users,gid=users,fmask=113,dmask=002,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs noauto 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0
I suspect the hd (0,4) is wrong in menu.lst? Trying to figure out this stuff.
Check in Yast - System - etc/sysconfig Editor
System - Boot - Splash
Make sure it is set to YES
Yup, it’s set to Yes.
Anyone with any ideas as to how I can get my bootsplash back? Would a repair install help?
Try booting with the last entry in your grub menu it is called Kernel-2.6.27.7-9-pae
Just did. Just scrolling text messages, no bootsplash.
I was wondering why you have 2 boot entries for SUSE default 1st and last entries
Check the kernel you have in software mangement, I suspect it will be the pae, last entry in menu.lst
Re-install the kernel anyway, see if that brings splash back.
And edit menu.lst to put the pae boot option at the top of the list and remove the first entry.
Done all that. Still no splash…
Everything else being OK, I’d guess you need to include the vga=0xNNN boot option. Mine has vga=0x31a. you could try that or 0x317.
... resume=/dev/sda1 splash=silent showopts vga=0x31a
Yes I have no vga mode option. But which one do I enter? And if I enter the wrong one, what happens?
Tried 0x31b, for 1280x1024 at 16bit colour depth, and got a much nicer text console display but no bootsplash!
AFAIK
splash=silent
and
vga=0xNNN
should be enough. I’m puzzled. 