Need Help With XP / 11/ 11.1 Multiboot

I have had so many problems with 11.1, I decided to revert back to 11. However, I’d like to keep an 11.1 install handy on the same system in case some of the problems are fixed later on.

I spent several hours last night installing 11, configuring it, then installing and configuring 11.1 on the same system. Everything was fine until I went into YAST and changed the bootloader in 11.1 to use Suse 11 as the default OS. When I rebooted, I got the dreaded “No Operating System Found” message.

Using the repair options from the 11 and 11.1 install discs just generated a bunch of errors and fixed absolutely nothing.

So I formatted the Linux partitions and started over again. I now have XP and 11 dual booting successfully, and I have about 15 gigs set aside for 11.1.

Can anyone advise me on how to get 11.1 installed successfully without trashing my system again?

Nobody knows how to fix this? That’s depressing.

This quest for assistance has become tiresome.

Hi
When you install 11.1 make sure you point the 11.1 bootloader to the
boot (11.1) partiton rather than the MBR, then reboot.

You should then still only see XP and 11, boot into 11 and manually add
the 11.1 boot info into 11’s /boot/grub/menu.lst and you should be
good to go at the next reboot;

To get the boot info to add, just manually mount the 11.1 partition to
get access to the menu.lst on what to copy.


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-4-default
up 2 days 16:33, 1 user, load average: 0.31, 0.12, 0.09
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

Hi
Here is an example from this machine (using 11 as the boot loader);
http://www.nopaste.com/p/aTLwTAaUJ


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-4-default
up 2 days 16:43, 3 users, load average: 0.94, 1.10, 0.58
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

Thanks Malcolm, you are definitely the most helpful poster on the board.

Just to clarify, at what point in the install process will I be able to “point the bootloader to the 11.1 partition”? Is this at the very beginning? What if I just don’t install a bootloader for 11.1 at all? Would that work?

Thanks in advance!

Hi
Plenty of other more knowledgeable posters here than me :slight_smile: I think with
things being so busy after 11.1 release, Xmas and New Year hangovers, we
all miss some posts that’s why it’s good to bump them if you haven’t
had a reply :slight_smile:

It’s at the screen where you see a list of what is being installed etc,
down the list is a section on the bootloader… Click on the link to
change it. The screen just before you hit the ‘Install’.


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-4-default
up 2 days 17:30, 1 user, load average: 0.12, 0.11, 0.12
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

OK I so just installed 11.1, and what I did was, right before I hit “Install” I clicked on the “change” menu and selected “Bootloader” and changed it to boot into 11 by default, then I installed 11.1 normally.

Now when I boot up, I get the 11.1 bootloader, which boots into 11, then it goes to the OpenSuse 11 bootloader, which proceeds to boot into OpenSuse 11.

Kinda clunky, but it seems to work OK. Thanks Malcolm, once again.

Changing the “default” changes which stanza in menu.lst is used by default, but it does not change which menu.lst is called from grub’s stage1 (stage1 is what is installed to the MBR or a chainloaded boot sector, it is installed with a pointer to the grub stage2 loader and the menu.lst for stage2 to use).

What it sounds like you have is a grub stage1 pointing to your 11.1 stage2 and menu.lst. Within that menu.lst is a stanza which calls the menu.lst that is in your 11.0 instance (this uses the grub “configfile” parameter). If you wish, you can install grub stage1 in the 11.0 root partition boot sector pointing to the 11.0 stage2, and create a chainloading stanza in the 11.1 menu.lst - that will boot 11.0 directly rather than routing thru its menu.lst.