GRUB is not loading

[vikas1019]

I installed the fedora 11 on the D-drive of the Window vista business but now my GRUB is not loading .I am new at the Linux .Please Help..

[esvom]

Try restore the GRUB with SuperGRUB

There is the website:

http://forjamari.linex.org/projects/supergrub/

Regards,


esvom.

[Geek-9pm]

Also, do a Google on "GRUB and VISTA"  (no quotes).

The problem is very large and you can waste a lot of time trying to get it right.

The lazy Geek will just do to separate installations of two separate hard drives. Then use the BIOS option to select a drive at the POST.

On my machine I press F12 before the loader starts and BIOS gives me a choice of which drive to make as the boot drive.

It can also be either the F8 or F11 key on other systems.

[indogo]

Grub4dos is used by many auto installers but using it directly is pretty straightforward and gives you a better idea of the boot mechanism you are dealing with.
From their wiki http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Grub4dos_tutorial
Grab the latest version...it comes as a zip of the files needed.

Booting GRUB for DOS via the Windows Vista boot manager

Use bcdedit to configure the startup menu:

   bcdedit /create /d "Start GRUB4DOS" /application bootsector
   bcdedit /set {id} device boot
   bcdedit /set {id} path \grldr.mbr
   bcdedit /displayorder {id} /addlast

Then copy grldr.mbr to C:\, grldr and menu.lst to the root directory of any FAT16/FAT32/NTFS/EXT2 partition.

It how you add an entry for grub/linux to a standard Vista menu.
Its the least obtrusive method (handy if retailers throw warranty invalidation at you) and then you create a menu.lst in the usual way to boot whatever....note a recovery partition usually moves partition numbering up one as grub will see it.
bcdedit is run from the console as administrator...see google for that one as even when logged in as admin you have to open the console with extra priviledges. Note {id} is the number returned from the first command..took me a while to realise that one lol.

In your case if you wish to try this you need booting restoring to the standard vista method first.

[ejames82]

Hey Geek-9pm,

does that work with IDE hard drives configured as master/slave on one ribbon cable?
that's a great tip if i can take advantage of it.

[Geek-9pm]

edit: Google search

Yes. Go into your bios setup and look at all the options. If you have two or more drives in you system, there will a boot time menu after you hit the f12* key just before the HDD loader. This should be documented somewhere in the help area.
On my system I can select from one of six drives just after POST.
Floppy
CD ROM
first SATA
second SATA
first IDE
second IDE

This can be very hard to find in the documentation!
http://biosagentplus.com/techsupport/award/awardmanuals/setup600.pdf

* or some other key.

[ejames82]

Geek-9pm,

my fault.  somehow i hadn't noticed that the instructions you gave referred to vista, i'm using xp.
would i still be able to do this?

i'll be checking the link you provide anyway.  i love those kind of tricks.
there's alot of useful tools in the bios.  i have nowhere's near the expertise that i wish i had.

thanks.

[Geek-9pm]

The BIOS boot menu can be used with any OS.  In effect, the BIOS sets which device is the C: drive by a flip-flop on the motherboard.

[ejames82]

Geek-9pm,

i didn't quite realize what you were talking about.  after checking out the link i realized that you were talking about simply changeing the boot order. 
i've got a spare 'test' computer setup right now, so i figured i would just slap a distro on the center plug-in to see what would happen. 
at first it didn't work, because it wasn't detected.  then i changed the jumper and it was detected, but it still wasn't booting to it.  i went into bios and changed the boot order and it went into the other OS.
while i was on a roll, i switched back and forth several times, just to become 'proficient'

i usually prefer dual-boot setups (especially seeing the operating system on the grub menu to choose), but lately i've had graphic/display troubles that couldn't be resolved and had to reinstall.  having bootable single-OS's on a hard drive has it's upside.

thanks.

[Geek-9pm]

We started talking about GRUB and then we got into BIOS boot options.
As I mentioned earlier, it can be do in GRUB, but it takes awhile going through ball the things you have to do to get it right.

Getting GRUB & Vista To Work Together

The BIOS has both a boot order option and a boot menu.

Om a DELL PC it can be F12.
Or maybe F11.
One  machine in the shop has F8 and you have to be quick to hit it before windows starts. Otherwise Windows gives you yet another boot menu. Very annoying .

Look in you BIOS manual.

[ejames82]

Geek-9pm,

sort of like booting into safe mode with windows.  there's maybe a five second window where you're able to get in by pushing f8.
i don't mean to hijack the thread from the OP, wish i had a solution for him.
it's good to be reminded of the capabilities of the bios/setup utility.  anyone who has mastered it, will be benefit greatly.  one step closer to geekdom.   

thanks again.