MBR Corrupt During opensuse gnomeLiveCD installation

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Am fairly new to linux and like opensuse distro so far and determine to get it to install on my system along side my default windows OS, iva tried 11.1 and manage to get it working, however my main goal was to set it up as a development environment i.e php,java, i had to remove it later on due to certian circumstance, lastweek ive decide to try gnomelivecd 11.2 but ran into a few errors during the final stages of installment while it was Automatically Creating Configuration, with the help of oldcpu i manage to ran installation again without a black screen but this time at the same instance where the error occurs first then direct me to the failsafe screen and am stuck there ever since. Am now downloading 11.3Mildstone6 which was recommended so what am asking now is help to remove those portions,grub and restore MBR. I have tried repairing it by booting from both a winodws7 DVD and external HD but failed, the error returned was an unexpected error occurs try again. However i can boot into gnome from the live CD and Check System > Boot Loader another error popup stating that

Because Of The Partitioning, The Boot Loader Cannot Be Installed Properly.
any help would be highly appreciated

#2

Have a look in the Linux file system in the root partition for

/boot/grub/menu.lst

Does one exist. If it does try following this:
Re-Install Grub Quickly with Parted Magic - openSUSE Forums

You could actually use a SUSE live CD
Open a terminal and type su
hit enter and you will be root - and then follow the instructions.

Or perhaps you should post the result of

fdisk -l

for us to look at?

#3

Thanks for the quick response

These are the results of fdisk

Disk /dev/sda: 60.0 GB, 60011642880 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7296 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x20000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 10 80293+ de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 11 1316 10485760 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 1316 5039 29904997 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 * 5039 7296 18133467 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 5207 6082 7036438+ 8e Linux LVM
/dev/sda6 6083 7296 9751423+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 5039 5048 68374 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 5048 5206 1277136 8e Linux LVM

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 16.0 GB, 16028794368 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 15286 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6de64dcf

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 693 709632 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb1: 726 MB, 726663168 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 693 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6de64dcf

 Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdb1p1 * 1 693 709632 83 Linux

Disk /dev/dm-0: 1379 MB, 1379926016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 167 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-0 doesn’t contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-1: 10.3 GB, 10267656192 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1248 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-1 doesn’t contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-2: 6840 MB, 6840909824 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 831 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-2 doesn’t contain a valid partition table

and menu.lst

Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Tue May 18 22:55:17 EST 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 (hd0,6)/message
##YaST - activate

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.2
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.31.5-0.1-default splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x317
initrd /initrd-2.6.31.5-0.1-default

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

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 2###
title windows 2
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
chainloader +1

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe – openSUSE 11.2
root (hd0,6)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.31.5-0.1-default showopts apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x317
initrd /initrd-2.6.31.5-0.1-default

#4

I’ll have to come back to this tomorrow, I have to crash now. Don’t panic it all looks OK

#5

Unfortunately I know little of LVM
And from all I have seen they generally cause complications at install.

As you have already had help, you mention from @oldcpu, it seems likely you already know the importance of having done the media check on your install media. Correct?

As for installing M6 or M7, I would say: Consider first if you are prepared to loose whatever you have on your system?!

Have you tried re-installing grub with the guide I posted earlier?

#6

From what I recall from this thread: Urgent help please - openSUSE Forums none of my help worked.

This is an OLD pc, with RADEON XPRESS 200M graphics. ATI have abandon’ed support for that hardware. It also does NOT work well with the 11.2 packaged version of the radeon open source driver.

I know this is telling you to close the barn door after the horse is gone, but one should ALWAYS check before installing Linux, to confirm that there will be good compatibility. If you had asked before installing if the Radeon Xpress 200M worked ok with openSUSE-11.2 I would have warned you off.

DenverD in the previous thread suggested you may have a hardware problem. Did you consider that possibility?

#7

actually oldcpu i did state that in post #10, however i have now manage to overwrite the MBR and everything is running ok am now running 11.3 mildstone 6 as u recommend and its looking good, i do however need some assistance in this thread Nokia Internet Modem opensuse 11.3 Milstone 6 - openSUSE Forums , thanks again to everyone who assists me

#8

Well done on getting this far. If you find you do not get your Nokia Internet Modem working, you can always write a bug report on it, as that will obtain the attention of the packagers for openSUSE (and writing a bug report on 11.3 is often an excellent way to get their attention). There is guidance here: Submitting Bug Reports - openSUSE

Note you should in that thread you reference provide more details on your hardware. Thats very important. Even though the thread is in a milestone/beta area of our forum, you should read the stickies here: Wireless - openSUSE Forums which are:

and provide the information they suggest to provide. Again, provide the information in THAT thread, NOT in this thread.