Invalid partition table - parted magic 5.8 - grub

idee · January 10, 2011, 9:10am

I have read quite a few forum posts on getting grub back. I have downloaded the 5.8 version of Parted Magic. I am looking to reinstall Grub based on what I was able to read here and other places, Re-Install Grub Quickly with Parted Magic , but bash: no command found. So where is grub? I don’t find it on this disk. How do I get it loaded?

I have used what I could find in pm to no avail. Now at boot instead of grub there is

1234F:

any help is appreciated.

It would have been so much easier if they would not have removed the repair tools on the SuSE disc!!

oldcpu · January 10, 2011, 9:19am

You may need to use an older version of Parted Magic, as I suspect (not sure) that v.5.8 of Parted Magic can’t be used for the older version of grub in use by SuSE-GmbH for openSUSE.

caf4926 · January 10, 2011, 9:32am

You will see in my guide a link to the version you need
But here it is again
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/pmagic-4.5.iso

idee · January 10, 2011, 9:46am

I found an older disc I had. It found grub! , but:
setup (hd0)
checking if “/boot/grub/stage1” exists . . . no
checking if “/grub/stage1” exists . . . no

Error 15: File not found.

now what do I do?

thanks

caf4926 · January 10, 2011, 10:00am

did you find a /boot/grub/menu.lst ?

Post your fdisk -l

caf4926 · January 10, 2011, 10:09am

Have to pop out, back in 2hr

idee · January 10, 2011, 10:12am

In the version of Gparted I used it did not find it, but I know the partitions are still intact, because I can mount them in PM 5.8. I am have to run between two floors to get more information. I am on my wife’s computer to get this help. I will get fdisk -l and be back.

caf4926 · January 10, 2011, 10:25am

Even if the partition is intact, the menu.lst could have been nuked
Check in /boot/grub/
and see if there is a menu.lst.old
if yes; check the contents and consider renaming to menu.lst

idee · January 10, 2011, 10:27am

Sorry, it is 3am here, I’m somewhat frustrated and not clear in the head. I just remembered some information that should make a difference. There is no grub on this disk. It is part of a system that had grub loaded in the MBR of a hd that has been removed. The goal here was to reload grub into this hd. The problem came up, that windoze messed up the partition table and the installation disc would not load from the hard drive. I used a tool in partition magic to recreate the table (I hope), and to reset the MBR. Now I think the step is to install grub. I don’t have the full fdisk -l (doing this manually), but it is:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 262 2104483+ 82 Linux Swap
/dev/sda2 263 4179 31463302+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 4180 10707 52436160 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 10708 19457 70284375 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 10708 15276 36700461 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 15277 19457 33583851 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

I believe I saw the menu.lst in /boot/grub when it was mounted in pm 5.8.

I just finished downloading pm 4.5. Will it have what we need on it?

idee · January 10, 2011, 10:48am

I will burn the pm 4.5 to disk, and am going to grab a couple hours of sleep. I’ll come back. thanks

idee · January 10, 2011, 11:05am

I burnt the pm 4.5 to disk and it seemed to do the trick. It found the menu.lst and set up grub. From the grub boot menu I could select the 11.3 install, but it can’t find the disk. Now it is - Error 21: Selected Disk does not exist.

I am assuming this goes back to the original question about the invalid partition table. How do I correct that? I can just reinstall the XP and that should fix some of it, the windows partition. But how do I get the linux partitions back? Oh, but that recovery section on the old installation disks would come in handy about now.

I am going to grab a couple hours of sleep. I’ll come back. thanks.

caf4926 · January 10, 2011, 12:03pm

Whilst you sleep. Think about slowing down and waiting for us to respond.

Look at your disk info:

Device     Boot  Start  End          Blocks        Id  System
/dev/sda1   *      1     262         2104483+    82 Linux Swap
/dev/sda2           263  4179       31463302+  83 Linux
/dev/sda3           4180  10707    52436160    83 Linux
/dev/sda4           10708  19457  70284375    f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5           10708  15276  36700461    83 Linux
/dev/sda6  15277  19457  33583851  c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Can you explain all those partitions.

Also I need clarification on this comment:

There is no grub on this disk. It is part of a system that had grub loaded in the MBR of a hd that has been removed.

If, as that comment seems to imply, you removed a HD. You have some work to do.

We need you to explain the partitions you have.
We need to see the system file:
/boot/grub/menu.lst
/etc/fstab

idee · January 10, 2011, 10:39pm

A little sleeps helps. Sorry for the panic, it was late and an unplanned outage. I am up and running again, but with a minor challenge (XP was successfully moved but won’t boot), I will try to work through that for awhile.

The bottom line is that PM 4.5 did reinstall Grub, thank you very much. There was nothing for it to see because the hardrives had been changed (the reason for the rework to begin with) and the menu.lst was being directed to (hd1,1), but it should have been (hd0,1). I changed that manually while booted in PM. I also modified the device.map for the same reasons. Wa-la, we have SuSE once more. Below are all of the pulls if it makes any difference to anyone.


menu.lst													

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Mon Jan 10 12:18:05 EST 2011
# THIS FILE WILL BE PARTIALLY OVERWRITTEN by perl-Bootloader
# Configure custom boot parameters for updated kernels in /etc/sysconfig/bootloader

default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Desktop -- openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.7
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-0.7-desktop root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Hitachi_HDS721616PLA380_PVF904Z23A71RN-part2 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Hitachi_HDS721616PLA380_PVF904Z23A71RN-part1 splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x348
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.34.7-0.7-desktop

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.7
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-0.7-desktop root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Hitachi_HDS721616PLA380_PVF904Z23A71RN-part2 showopts apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 nomodeset x11failsafe vga=0x348
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.34.7-0.7-desktop

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
    rootnoverify (hd0,5)
    chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Floppy
    rootnoverify (fd0)
    chainloader +1


cat /boot/grub/device.map
(fd0)	/dev/fd0
(hd0)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Hitachi_HDS721616PLA380_PVF904Z23A71RN
(hd1)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380815AS_6RW0L125
(hd2)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-IBM-DJNA-351520_G80GLW4M080


fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xad69ad69

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1         262     2104483+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2             263        4179    31463302+  83  Linux
/dev/sda3            4180       10707    52436160   83  Linux
/dev/sda4           10708       19457    70284375    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5           10708       15276    36700461   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           15277       19457    33583851    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000d9e73

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1        2550    20482843+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb2            2551        9729    57665317+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 15.4 GB, 15377080320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1869 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00037716

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *           1        1868    15004678+  83  Linux


sh findgrub

Find Grub Version 2.2b - Written for openSUSE Forums


 - reading MBR on disk /dev/sda                    ... --> Grub found in MBR
 - skiping partition   /dev/sda1   (swap)         
 - reading bootsector  /dev/sda2   (LINUX)         ...
 - reading bootsector  /dev/sda3   (LINUX)         ...
 - reading bootsector  /dev/sda4   (Extended)      ...
 - reading bootsector  /dev/sda5   (LINUX)         ...
 - searching partition /dev/sda6   (FAT32)         ... --> Windows NT/2K/XP Loader found in /dev/sda6

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can add the following entry to /boot/grub/menu.lst :

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: WindowsBootLoader###
title Windows on /dev/sda6
    rootnoverify (hd0,5)
    makeactive
    chainloader +1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 - reading MBR on disk /dev/sdb                    ...
 - reading bootsector  /dev/sdb1   (LINUX)         ...
 - reading bootsector  /dev/sdb2   (LINUX)         ...
 - reading MBR on disk /dev/sdc                    ... --> Grub found in MBR
 - reading bootsector  /dev/sdc1   (LINUX)         ...
 - reading MBR on disk /dev/sdd                    ...
 - searching partition /dev/sdd1   (FAT16)         ...
.


sh halinfo.run -uV 
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| dev  mount   fs       label          uuid                                     diskID                                                      start          size |
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| sda1         swap                    4f128a35-874f-44b2-8191-539d5e4eeae6     ata-Hitachi_HDS721616PLA380_PVF904Z23A71RN-part1               63       2055 MB |
| sda2    *    ext4                    37b60f6a-2012-4fbd-848a-d8edf4671faa     ata-Hitachi_HDS721616PLA380_PVF904Z23A71RN-part2          4209030      30725 MB |
| sda3    *    ext3                    30e91ddb-3182-44dd-bded-53a883ebeaf1     ata-Hitachi_HDS721616PLA380_PVF904Z23A71RN-part3         67135635      51207 MB |
| sda4         DOS Ext                                                          ata-Hitachi_HDS721616PLA380_PVF904Z23A71RN-part4        172007955      68637 MB |
| sda5    *    ext3                    de99d9ce-98a3-46f8-a4e6-c2d8102b2433     ata-Hitachi_HDS721616PLA380_PVF904Z23A71RN-part5        172008018      35840 MB |
| sda6    *    vfat                    47C0-D00A                                ata-Hitachi_HDS721616PLA380_PVF904Z23A71RN-part6        245409003      32796 MB |
| sdb1    *    ext4                    a0e47e9d-eaef-414b-95df-30ff15f80939     ata-ST380815AS_6RW0L125-part1                                  63      20002 MB |
| sdb2    *    ext4                    92a20ef1-30e3-4255-8a57-38a696f098e5     ata-ST380815AS_6RW0L125-part2                            40965750      56313 MB |
| sdc1    *    ext4                    b4a6c0b9-596f-404c-94e7-ddfec3583733     ata-IBM-DJNA-351520_G80GLW4M080-part1                          63      14653 MB |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will need to get XP working for a couple of apps, but I don’t use it much, so it is not near as urgent.

Again I apologize for the panic. This is where I come for help, there is usually someone with a suggestion or answer. Thanks again,

idee

I just noticed that I forgot fstab, I’ll add that later.

caf4926 · January 10, 2011, 10:52pm

Check this: SDB:All about GRUB - openSUSE
You may need to add the map function to the XP part

please_try_again · January 10, 2011, 11:32pm

According to findgrub output, you have ntldr on /dev/sda6, which is a logical partition. Although you can install XP entirely in a logical partition, you need to put ntldr and two or three other files (I don’t remember exactly which ones) on a primary FAT or NTFS partition (could be very small too) in order to boot XP on that computer.

please_try_again · January 10, 2011, 11:41pm

Of course, you can ignore that advice:

You can add the following entry to /boot/grub/menu.lst :

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: WindowsBootLoader###
title Windows on /dev/sda6
    rootnoverify (hd0,5)
    makeactive
    chainloader +1

findgrub was not that clever to figure out that you would try to boot Windows from a logical partition, as it is an uncommon and impossible situation.

idee · January 11, 2011, 4:06am

Thank you both. I will dig through these in the next couple of days. The work week is back and it will take a bit of time.

I had forgotten about windows not in the extended partition. I will read through the links you mentioned and see what I can get. I will get back when I can to either let you know, or for help.

thanks again,
idee

LostFarmer · January 11, 2011, 4:37am

XP will run entirely in a logical partition with no problems, I have one that way , need no other XP partitions. What can not be done is a clean or repair install if the boot files are not on a primary partition, “boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com”, but it will run. I do not advice it.

please_try_again · January 11, 2011, 5:08am

Hi LostFarmer !
I knew you’ll look around here sooner or later.

Just for the records, how did you manage that? Did you copy boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com afterwards to a logical partition? Did you use a specific bootmanager which could hide partitions and present a logical as if it were a primary? Or is that really possible out of the box to install XP including ntldr to a logical parttion (I doubt it).

And - if I may ask - why do you have ntldr in a logical partition? Are all your primaries on that machine occupied by Unix, OS/2, Plan9, Netware … or whatever OS might require a primary partition? (in that case, there are never enough).

LostFarmer · January 11, 2011, 4:14pm

I try to pop in and create more discussions .

Or is that really possible out of the box to install XP including ntldr to a logical parttion (I doubt it).
Out of the box, no. Could some install file be edited to do so , just like installing on an external hdd , maybe but do not know how.

Did you copy boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com afterwards to a logical partition?
Did not try that but would think it would create problems with the registry. Basically that would be like moving XP from D: to C:, combining the boot and system partitions.

Did you use a specific bootmanager which could hide partitions and present a logical as if it were a primary?
The first time I made a logical volume , converted it to primary , installed XP then manually converted it back to logical. I used ‘xosl’ as the boot manager.

Normally just copy/clone to logical volume , but the first time booting does require no other partition that XP can read. If there is a different XP install, on first logical volume booting, it will cross boot to both XP’s even it the other XP is on a different hdd. It will also hang on booting if there is a fat/ntfs primary partition it can find. This problem is due to registry entire HKLM\system\mounteddevices being incorrect for the OS’s partition, it will correct it self if there is no other possible partition to look at.

The other way this happens is with linux install where it changes the XP primary to a logical volume, which should not be happening. Which is likely what happened to the ‘op’.

I do not suggest doing it this way. Why did I do it ? Because every thing I read on the net said you can not and I wanted to verify it.

My main hdd has ‘plop’ as boot/partition manager where I have 10 different primary partitions. Only have 98,xp, linux , they are hard enough to keep up on.