Upgrade from 11.4 to 12.3 , error occurred during boot loader installation

Hi All, so I followed the GUI install and selected the update option. And during the boot manager installation, I received the following dialog box error:


Error  occurred while installing GRUB

GNU GRUB version 0.97 (640K lower/ 3072K upper memory) 


[Minimal  BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists  possible command completions. Anywhere elese TAB lists the possible  completions of a device/filename.]


grub>setup--- stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 -- force=lba (hd0,2) 


Error 21 : Selected disk does not exist 

grub> quit

I’m then given the option to “Retry boot loader configuration”, where I designate the boot loader type to be GRUB and my boot loader location to be “Boot from Root Master Boot Record”

But still no luck

Any advice is appreciated
Phil

11.4 to 12.3 is a major major jump.

I assume this is older hardware and we don’t have to deal with UEFI

So you have any other oddities like maybe RAID???

With that large a jump you are going to have all sorts of problem. I suggest that you bit the bullet and do a new install. reinstalling software will be far easier then fighting the problems due to a version jump that large.

If you have a separate /home partition then doing a fresh install is not as scary as it sounds. You can tell the installer to only format your / partition. I would recommend deleting all your hidden files in your /home partition though as your desktop etc has probably may cause issues with the old config files. But before doing anything make sure you back up your data as there is nothing worse than thinking you’ve covered everything only to come a cropper… most of us have done this a some point…

Hi Penguinclaw, gogalthorp,
Thanks! Im going to take your suggestion here and do a clean install. I do have a separate /home partition. I do have a few more questions.

  1. How do I delete the hidden files under home??
  2. I’ve saved my entire /etc and /usr/local folders. How do I copy them back later? I remember having to mount and dismount something? Sorry, can’t remember exactly.

thanks,
Phil

On 2013-07-17 00:36, phon ca wrote:
>
> Hi All, so I followed the GUI install and selected the update option.
> And during the boot manager installation, I received the following
> dialog box error:

These are the supported upgrade methods:

Online upgrade
method
Offline
upgrade method

Chapter 16. Upgrading the System and System Changes
openSUSE 12.3 Release Notes

Which one did you follow?


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

You probably don’t need to delete them, If you have a problem with any program you can delete it’s hidden file. I went from 11.4 to 12.3 with a fresh install and had no problems with the configs. In my case I reserve an extra 20 gig partition so I can rotate the root for different versions. this allows testing before commiting to a new veersion. But I keep the one home partition. I initial test without mounting my home for tests when happy I simply rename the /home that is in root ant mount my normal home.

Note hidden files/folders start with a period.

Depends on where and how you copied them. We don’t read minds sorry.

Folks, Thanks again for the assistance. I didn’t have to do a fresh install after all. I edited a boot entry in the menu.lst file located under /boot/grub. Originally, the partition for root was designated as

root (hd0) 

but my partition is set up such that its on sda3 so changing that line to

root (hd0, 2) 

fixed the boot errors.

Thanks again!

Carlos, I was doing it offline with a CD.

Cheers!

On 2013-07-17 20:16, phon ca wrote:

> Code:
> --------------------
> root (hd0, 2)
> --------------------
>
>
> fixed the boot errors.

I have seen that before… happened to me, I think, but I did not
recognize the symptoms.

> Carlos, I was doing it offline with a CD.

CD? Not a DVD?


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 12.3 x86_64 “Dartmouth” at Telcontar)

Glad it’s all fixed now! Happy days with 12.3 :slight_smile:

Carlos, sorry. yes, with a DVD, not a CD.