OK so after messing around with opensuse 11 in vmware, I decided to install it on a seperate hardrive along side of Vista on the other hard drive.
Everything went ok but after the reboot it doesnt even give me the option to boot into opensuse? I can get into vista just fine.
Seems Im having the oposite problem most people have. Any help?
If this is your second INTERNAL hard drive and you didn’t flip drive priority in the bios first (i.e. if it was a straightforward vanilla install) then use the install dvd to boot the installed openSUSE and reinitialise the MBR including instructing it to lay code in the MBR
Here’s that said in many more words: GRUB Boot Multiboot openSUSE Windows (2000, XP, Vista) using the Grub bootloader.
OK tried that and getting same error. “no such partition” I have tried a bunch of different things in that repair boot loader option on the dvd and every time I make a change I get that???
Can you confirm that it was a vanilla install with no switching of drive boot priorities in the bios?
OK – This is what I meant by “reinitialise”:
Boot Suse by using the install dvd and go about three screens into the installation to just past the license screen and then select “other” rater than to install. And under “other” select to boot the installed system.
Once Suse has fully booted and settled down, go to Yast → System → Boot Loader. The Grub configuration screen comes up with the Tab “Section Management” activated. In the lower right is a drop-down selector labelled “Other”. Select from “Other” the option “Propose New Configuration” and then wait for Grub to analyse your partitions and display a new configuration. This may take a while. Important: When that finishes, activate the tab labelled “Boot Loader Installation” and select to “Boot from the Master Boot Record”. [Yast will often default to booting from the root or boot partition rather than from the MBR but that’s for experts only – always choose the MBR.] Then click Finish to save the changes and install the reconfigured Grub into the hard drive’s MBR. If you get a message that "The bootloader boot sector will be written to a floppy disk … don’t bother with the floppy – just click OK to proceed and install to the MBR. Reboot and you should be able to boot to openSUSE using the Grub menu screen.
That’s kinda what I had in mind when I gave you that link.
Try that.
I dont ever see anything that says other on the opensuse 11 dvd?
SOUNDS LIKE WINDOWS OVER WROTE THE MBR WITH WINDOWS BOOT LOADER. OR YOU NEED TO GO INTO YPOR BIOS IF IT IS A SECOND DRIVE. i INSTALLED WINDOWS ON THE SAME DIVE. i PUT IT IN THE BACK OF THE DRIVE ON A SEPERATE PRIMARY PARTITION. THEN SET A CHAIN LINK IN GRUB. i SET GRUB FOR O BLOCK SPACE AND CHECK THE BOX MAKE C:/ DRIVE ACTIVE AT BOOT. HOPE THIS HELPS
Well what happened is Vista was already installed on one hard drive. I then changed the empty hard drive priority to boot from before the vista drive and installed opensuse on it. It had issues installing the boot loader for some reason.
Anyways as of right now if I try and boot from the opensuse drive in the bios I get nothing but a black screen. I then changed the boot priority back to vista drive and vista boots right up.
I was going to try what was metioned above but those instructions are for opensuse 10.X and not 11.
Im not even sure if this has ever been done before with opensuse 11 but I hope I can get it working because I really like it.
I see that you don’t have a vanilla install. That you’ve switched drives in bios to install Suse. To boot it (when it’s working) you use the F8 (or equivalent) boot-selector menu and select to boot from the second drive.
To fix it do this:
Temporarily switch in the bios to boot off the second drive, the Suse drive. And now insert the DVD and boot off that and commence the installation process: BUT only carry it forward a few steps. Click “Next” thought the Language screen. In the Media Check screen, do not click “Start Check” but simply click “Next” to skip to the the next screen. Agree to the Licence and “Next” to the Installation Mode screen. Here you select “Other Options”. That will allow you to select to “Boot Installed System”. Select that and click “next” to proceed.
When you have openSUSE 11 working, goto the next step:
Reinitialise and Reinstall Grug: Once Suse has fully booted and settled down, go to Yast → System → Boot Loader. The Grub configuration screen comes up with the Tab “Section Management” activated. In the lower right is a drop-down selector labelled “Other”. Select from “Other” the option “Propose New Configuration” and then wait for Grub to analyse your partitions and display a new configuration. This may take a while. Important: When that finishes, activate the tab labelled “Boot Loader Installation” and select to “Boot from the Master Boot Record”. [Yast will often default to booting from the root or boot partition rather than from the MBR but that’s for experts only – always choose the MBR.] Then click Finish to save the changes and install the reconfigured Grub into the hard drive’s MBR. If you get a message that "The bootloader boot sector will be written to a floppy disk … don’t bother with the floppy – just click OK to proceed and install to the MBR. Reboot and you should be able to boot to openSUSE using the Grub menu screen.
Windows likely will be on this menu but it most likely won’t boot and should be deleted in Yast later, or just ignore it because you can boot from the first drive for windows.
Ok now rebooot and change the bios back to booting from the first drive.
Now when you boot you can use the bootup F8 key (or whatever) to select which drive to boot from, and therefore which OS to boot.
Thats what I was trying to do. The only problem is that there is no “other” listed with the opensuse 11 dvd. That must be for 10.X dvd??? Do you know how to boot to installed system with the 11 dvd?
If I can figure out how to get to this then Im sure I can get it fixed.
OMG I’ve lost my mind at last – you are right.
I must have got that from a pre release version, an alpha or a beta perhaps.
What you need to do is select to “repair installed system” on the very first screen. Then “Expert Tools”. Then “Install New Boot Loader”. Still check the X in the second tab will put the code in the MBR.Then “Finish”. Then Exit the repair process. That willprobably miss windows out of the new Grub menu bootloader but that’s not a problem for you.
Now rebooot and change the bios back to booting from the first drive.
Thanks, I’ll give that a try. Here is what I want to do in the long run and maybe you can tell me if this can be done.
I want vista on one drive (1), opensuse on the other (2). I would then like to boot from the vista drive (1) and have the option on screen to choose which os to boot into.
You’ve introduced a complication with the swapping in the bios. Are you sufficiently early in the programme to be able to install openSUSE again, the conventional way, the same as you would if the second drive was not a portable drive? If you are then we can make it so it does not break each time you detach the portable drive ---- by using vista’s bootloader to point at the Suse installation rather than by using Suse’s bootloader to point at the vista installation. Would that do?
I have this sort of procedure in mind: Boot Multiboot openSUSE Windows (2000, XP, Vista - any mix) with Windows bootloader.
Read that and decide if you’re cool to try it or if it’s too hard. If it’s a bit daunting, you’d have to stay with the F8 kind of thing.
swerdna wrote:
>
> jaybott;1824036 Wrote:
>> Thanks, I’ll give that a try. Here is what I want to do in the long run
>> and maybe you can tell me if this can be done.
>>
>> I want vista on one drive (1), opensuse on the other (2). I would then
>> like to boot from the vista drive (1) and have the option on screen to
>> choose which os to boot into.
>
> You’ve introduced a complication with the swapping in the bios. Are you
> sufficiently early in the programme to be able to install openSUSE
> again, the conventional way, the same as you would if the second drive
> was not a portable drive? If you are then we can make it so it does not
> break each time you detach the portable drive ---- by using vista’s
> bootloader to point at the Suse installation rather than by using
> Suse’s bootloader to point at the vista installation. Would that do?
>
> I have this sort of procedure in mind: ‘Boot Multiboot openSUSE Windows
> (2000, XP, Vista - any mix) with Windows bootloader.’
> (http://www.swerdna.net.au/linhowtoboot1.html)
>
> Read that and decide if you’re cool to try it or if it’s too hard. If
> it’s a bit daunting, you’d have to stay with the F8 kind of thing.
Quick question for you. Mixing PATA and SATA drives, at least on this
Lenovo desktop, ends up changing the enumeration order of the original
single PATA drive. Is there a command that forces grub to write to the MBR
of a specific device rather than the first drive (hd0) as determined by the
BIOS? Essentially, I want to write the grub loader to the MBR of a
specific drive regardless of BIOS and or Linux enumeration of PATA, SATA,
and SCSI mixes.
–
Will Honea
Boot to Suse
Open root console
check your partitions and drives with “fdisk -l” – suppose you discover you want the Grub code in the mbr of, say, sde, execute these:
“grub” to turn Grub on
“grub-install hd4” to put it in hd4’s mbr (remember, numbering starts at 0, so this is eg drive 4)
OK so now I am just losing it.
For now I am just going to install opensuse on a seperate drive. With vista already installed on another drive. I will just use the bios to select the drive to boot from.
Anyways I unpluged the vista drive’s power cord and only left a blank drive. Tried to install opensuse on that drive I still got the same error!
Do I have to set the suse drive to be on my sata 1 cable??? I just dont get it. All I want to do is install this os on a hard drive! anyhelp
swerdna wrote:
>
> Will Honea;1824191 Wrote:
>>
>>
>> Quick question for you. Mixing PATA and SATA drives, at least on this
>> Lenovo desktop, ends up changing the enumeration order of the original
>> single PATA drive. Is there a command that forces grub to write to the
>> MBR
>> of a specific device rather than the first drive (hd0) as determined by
>> the
>> BIOS? Essentially, I want to write the grub loader to the MBR of a
>> specific drive regardless of BIOS and or Linux enumeration of PATA,
>> SATA,
>> and SCSI mixes.
>>
>> –
>> Will Honea
> Boot to Suse
> Open root console
> check your partitions and drives with “fdisk -l” – suppose you
> discover you want the Grub code in the mbr of, say, sde, execute
> these:
> “grub” to turn Grub on
> “grub-install hd4” to put it in hd4’s mbr (remember, numbering starts
> at 0, so this is eg drive 4)
Simple enough - thanks. Can’t see how to do that in the YAST setup or the
installer just yet but I trust the command line more anyway.
–
Will Honea
It should work if you leave the bios at the first drive, plug the second drive into the first connection, install Suse with only that one drive in the computer, plug the old first drive back in the first connection and the second drive into the second connection and boot with F8