openSUSE 11.3 dual boot with LMDE

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Guys, I am having problem here with GRUB, not really a GRUB error but the GRUB can’t find the exact LMDE partition to boot.

I have 4 sata harddisk with 3 OS running on my PC, the fdisk -l return

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19452 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: 0x73c6f49e

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 19452 156247040 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdc: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 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: 0x55ed2e5f

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 38914 312567808 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdd: 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: 0x000c46aa

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 * 1 9328 74920960 83 Linux
/dev/sdd2 9328 9730 3227649 5 Extended
/dev/sdd5 9328 9730 3227648 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 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: 0xc058c058

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 262 2103296 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 * 262 2873 20972544 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 2873 19458 133213184 83 Linux

/dev/sdd belongs to LMDE

boot/grub/device.map

(hd0) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3160815AS_6RX8RCJ0
(hd1) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600AAJS-75B4A0_WD-WMAT21239131
(hd3) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380815AS_5RW15M02
(hd2) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD3200AAKS-75L9A0_WD-WCAV28024927

hd3 is currently where my LMDE is. It is working when I am put this as a first boot priority.

I am trying to put the values into boot/grub/menu.lst

#Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: none#
title LMDE
root (hd3,0)
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/sdd1 ro quiet splash
initrd /initrd.img

Booting into this LMDE will return error of code 15, it is the same value as it was working before, before I changed to new hdd for my LMDE. What I am trying to do is I want legacy GRUB to manages all the booting. Can anybody tell me what are the the mistake there?

Thanks.

2 
(hd0)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3160815AS_6RX8RCJ0
(hd1)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600AAJS-75B4A0_WD-WMAT21239131
(hd3)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380815AS_5RW15M02
(hd2)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD3200AAKS-75L9A0_WD-WCAV28024927

THe device.map sets the boot order as setup in your BIOS and should most likely read:

(hd0)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3160815AS_6RX8RCJ0
 (hd1)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600AAJS-75B4A0_WD-WMAT21239131
 (hd2)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380815AS_5RW15M02
 (hd3)    /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD3200AAKS-75L9A0_WD-WCAV28024927

Which would require its entry to look like:

#Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: none#
title      LMDE
root       (hd2,0)
**kernel     /vmlinuz** root=/dev/sdd1 ro quiet splash
initrd     /initrd.img

Also notice the kernel entry in my menu.lst file below and look at yours above:


kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.36.2-0.5-desktop

Something does not seem right unless the file is called just vmlinuz?

Thank You,

3

Sounds like you just need to pin down the correct order. James may have hit on it for you

Of course you could always use LMDE’s grub. Boot Mint-Debian and run

sudo update-grub

then

sudo grub-install /dev/sda
4

Thanks for the reply, the actual was copied from haf4929’s suggestion here Dual boot openSUSE 11.3 and Mint Linux with some alteration made according into my BIOS boot order and fdisk, booting into LMDE from openSUSE. It was fine with Linux Mint 10 RC, 10 Final and LMDE. But with a new 160gb HD into same slot in BIOS and same boot order, I am unable to boot into LMDE as it always returning error code 15.

Reorder the boot sequence in bios,

(hd0)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3160815AS_6RX8RCJ0
(hd1)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600AAJS-75B4A0_WD-WMAT21239131
(hd2)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380815AS_5RW15M02
(hd3)	/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD3200AAKS-75L9A0_WD-WCAV28024927

Now my LMDE partition is (hd2) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST380815AS_5RW15M02

As per your suggestion, edited the entry on /boot/grub/menu.lst and added /boot into the line

#Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: none#
title LMDE
    root (hd2,0)
    kernel **/boot**/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdd1 ro quiet splash
    initrd /initrd.img

Reboot and still no luck.

#haf4929, I can boot fine by using LMDE boot GRUB without any problem but I am prefer openSUSE to handle the booting :wink:

5

This is the kernel you can not load:

#Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: none#
title LMDE
    root (hd2,0)
    kernel /boot/**vmlinuz** root=/dev/sdd1 ro quiet splash
    initrd /initrd.img

For the above entry, can you give us a directory listing of the /boot folder? For instance, here is a directory of my boot folder:

james@linux-wlh2:~> dir /boot
total 35492
-rw------- 1 root root      512 Dec 31 15:33 backup_mbr
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root        1 Dec 14 14:39 boot -> .
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     1236 Oct 19 05:50 boot.readme
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   120725 Dec 13 07:14 config-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 Jan  2 14:39 grub
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       28 Dec 31 16:27 initrd -> initrd-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12216066 Dec 31 16:27 initrd-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   417792 Dec 31 15:33 message
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   561177 Dec 13 09:45 symtypes-2.6.37-rc5-12-default.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   561907 Dec 13 09:35 symtypes-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   548063 Dec 13 05:35 symtypes-2.6.37-rc5-12-xen.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   196219 Dec 13 09:30 symvers-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  2244410 Dec 13 09:10 System.map-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  4978847 Dec 13 09:36 vmlinux-2.6.37-rc5-12-default.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  5290474 Dec 13 09:30 vmlinux-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  4622148 Dec 13 05:30 vmlinux-2.6.37-rc5-12-xen.gz
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       29 Dec 31 15:22 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  4552416 Dec 13 09:10 **vmlinuz-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop**

Here is the line that loads the kernel in my Grub menu.lst file:

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Desktop -- openSUSE 11.4 Milestone 5 of 6 - 2.6.37-rc5-12
    root (hd0,4)
    kernel /boot/**vmlinuz-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop** root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_7H500F0_H81AGJDH-part5 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_7H500F0_H81AGJDH-part1 splash=silent quiet nomodeset showopts vga=0x346
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop

My load kernel line says vmlinuz-2.6.37-rc5-12-desktop which I can find in my /boot directory. Can you find a file just called vmlinuz in yours?

Thank You,

6

Are referring to the LMDE vmlinuz don’t you?

This is what I got from the LMDE boot dir, viewing from openSUSE

drwxr-xr-x 3 root root    4096 2010-11-26 19:00 boot
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  106064 2010-11-26 04:16 config-2.6.32-5-amd64
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root    4096 2011-01-01 23:21 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 7047632 2011-01-01 21:01 initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1661358 2010-11-26 04:16 System.map-2.6.32-5-amd64
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2416608 2010-11-26 04:14 **vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64**

Taking vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 and adding into /boot/grub.menu.lst

#Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: none#
title LMDE
    root (hd2,0)
    kernel /boot/#Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: none#
title LMDE
    root (hd2,0)
    kernel /boot/**vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64** root=/dev/sdd1 ro quiet splash
    initrd /initrd.img

Still no go, error code 15 :\

7

Well now, we seem to be getting somewhere, try this instead:


title LMDE
    root (hd2,0)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=/dev/sdd1 ro quiet splash
    initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64

I have not even tried to figure out the entry above this one, but it is wrong as well. How did you come by your original bogus entry anyway? This would never fly with the grub that comes with openSUSE. You must specify the entire name of the kernel files that you are loading, on every line in your menu.lst file.

Thank You,

8

Try running this
Re-Install Grub Quickly with Parted Magic
Make sure you download this version of PM
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/pmagic-4.5.iso

9

Sorry for the late reply, got something on to do these few days. Thanks for the hard explanations. Maybe this is only for my experiments, I swapped the LMDE into Mint 10 at the same boot sequence (hd2,0) /dev/sdd1 and create the earlier entry into menu.lst. And this is my current entry for Mint 10 :-

#Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: none#
title Linux Mint 10 64bit
    root (hd2,0)
    kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/sdd1 ro quiet splash
    initrd /initrd.img

Without any specific kernel arguments, I am able to boot into Mint 10 successfully :\ I’ll try again with new LMDE later on and see what is the result.

Thanks again for your time.