Grub Prompt

I was updating my menu.lst file and then thought I had to run grub-install so I ran the following command
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/boot hd0
No Errors.
But when I rebooted I was presented not with my menu.lst, but the GRUB prompt.
I manually ran the menu.lst commands into grub and then booted successfully.
But every time that I reboot I get the grub prompt.
I have a separate boot partition on /dev/sda1 (I only have one hardisk).

Firstly, you don't have to run grub-install after editing menu.lst. -- I know that now . . .
# Config file for GRUB - The GNU GRand Unified Bootloader
# /boot/grub/menu.lst
# DEVICE NAME CONVERSIONS
# Linux Grub
# /dev/fd0 (fd0)
# /dev/hda (hd0)
# /dev/hdb2 (hd1,1)
# /dev/hda3 (hd0,2)
# FRAMEBUFFER RESOLUTION SETTINGS
# +-------------------------------------------------+
# | 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024
# ----+--------------------------------------------
# 256 | 0x301=769 0x303=771 0x305=773 0x307=775
# 32K | 0x310=784 0x313=787 0x316=790 0x319=793
# 64K | 0x311=785 0x314=788 0x317=791 0x31A=794
# 16M | 0x312=786 0x315=789 0x318=792 0x31B=795
# +-------------------------------------------------+
# general configuration:
timeout 5
default 0
color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue
# boot sections follow
# each is implicitly numbered from 0 in the order of appearance below
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro vga=773
initrd /kernel26.img
# (1) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux Fallback
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro
initrd /kernel26-fallback.img
# (1) Windows
#title Windows
#rootnoverify (hd0,0)
#makeactive
#chainloader +1
/dev/sda3 on / type ext3 (rw)
none on /dev type ramfs (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext2 (rw)
/dev/sda4 on /home type ext3 (rw)
I do understand about the grub prompt. I am becoming better and better at it.

Similar Messages

Installed, but stuck at GRUB prompt

After 4 tries, I have managed to install 0.8. On the reboot, however, I only get as far as a "GRUB>" prompt.
If I put the install disk in the drive, enter "reboot" at the GRUB prompt, and choose the option "Run installed system (/boot on a separate partition)", I am able to get a login prompt and start what appears to be a functional (base) system. But I have clearly missed something in the installation. I have a /boot/grub/menu.lst file; the noncommented lines are as follows:
timeout 5
default 0
color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue
# (0) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro
initrd /kernel26.img
# (1) Arch Linux
title Arch Linux Fallback
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro
initrd /kernel26-fallback.img
kernel26.img and kernel26-fallback.img are both in the /boot directory.
What do I need to fix to make the system boot without a rescue disk?

If you indeed have a boot partition on first partition of first drive (hd0,0; sda1) and a root one on third partition of a first drive (sda3), then your grub config seems to be alright. The example above is appropriate if there's no separate /boot partition.
When you're in a GRUB prompt, try entering those root/kernel/initrd lines by hand and check the output.
Last edited by lucke (2007-04-08 15:51:32)

Solaris Installation just give me a "grub " prompt,

Hi Solaris Experts,
Upon installing the solaris in 32 bit pc intel celeron single core, when I already boot the installation disk it just give me "grub>" prompt it will not go with the boot menu of the solaris. What will I need to do. Is there hardware compatibility?
How will I also install solaris into logical partition, is it possible? Any idea? I will mutli boot it along with other os.
Thanks.

jharky17 wrote:
Hi Solaris Experts,
Upon installing the solaris in 32 bit pc intel celeron single core, when I already boot the installation disk it just give me "grub>" prompt it will not go with the boot menu of the solaris. What will I need to do. Is there hardware compatibility?Which version of Solaris exactly? If its OpenSolaris OS, then there is a device compatibility test app on the live CD desktop. Otherwise, look for the HCL on BigAdmin.
From the grub command line, there are things that you can type to try to manually poke around and boot.
How will I also install solaris into logical partition, is it possible? Any idea? I will mutli boot it along with other os.No, Solaris doesn't support logical partitions. Multiboot shouldn't be a problem though.
Paul

[SOLVED] After latest upgrad. Boots to grub prompt

Hi,
I just upgraded my Thinkpad T61 following
https://www.archlinux.org/news/binaries … ervention/
After completeing the upgrade I got an error "Unable to start shell:/bin/bash" in Terminator. I commented out /dev/pts in /etc/fstab following
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=169076
the problem did not go away. I decided to reboot After which the computer boots only to a grub prompt.
I'm posting this after booting with a linuxmint USB stick so Ihave access to the / partition on the laptop.
I've been on systemd for a while now. However I now suspect that I was not fully migrated to systemd. I did do a pacman -R initscripts during the latest upgrade.
Does anybody know how I can recover from this?
need all the help I can get on this one!
Last edited by emk (2013-09-02 03:22:05)

Trilby, you are correct the empty /boot was because I neglected to mount the /boot partition. My mistake.
2. I did have errors as per https://www.archlinux.org/news/binaries … ervention/ i.e the upgrade failed because /bin /sbin were still in the filesystem. I followed the steps in the link and found some files that were holding things up.
I removed the following files
pacman -R gen-init-cpio wlan-ng26-utils consolekit dcron hpoj initscripts tcp_wrappers
I boot via systemd though I suspect now I was not fully migrated.
3. Output of ls on boot partition:
mint e3beb7a9-4c88-4688-8a2d-a00946489a3f # ls -l
total 21258
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Sep 2 00:22 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 14869898 Sep 2 00:25 initramfs-linux-fallback.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3010076 Sep 2 00:25 initramfs-linux.img
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 28 Aug 21 2011 kernel26-fallback.img -> initramfs-linux-fallback.img
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 Aug 21 2011 kernel26.img -> initramfs-linux.img
drwx------ 2 root root 12288 May 11 2010 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Sep 2 00:28 syslinux
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Aug 21 2011 vmlinuz26 -> vmlinuz-linux
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3783360 Aug 30 09:33 vmlinuz-linux
mint e3beb7a9-4c88-4688-8a2d-a00946489a3f #
4. You are probably right. I have both grub 0.97 and grub 2 in the pacman pkg cache
5. I did follow the steps except that trying to close a terminal once the bash error croped up led to my being logged out before I could run the last two commands 'pacman -S bash and Pacman -Su'
Thanks Trilby. I feel like my Linux chops are evaporating the older I get :0

Recovering Arch from Grub prompt (GRUB4DOS)

Long story short, I needed to install Windows 8 with my Arch already installed, wiping out the bootloader (I don't get what actually happens so I might be wrong here on the technical side).
I've tried different methods, from using programs like EasyBCD to command-line work (detailed here https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … #p1344396), and I've reached the conclusion that perhaps I need to work on the GRUB prompt itself. As described in that link, I might have been on to something with
root (hd0, 2)
setup (hd0)
except that the command setup cannot be found.
Also, I'd like to point out that sometimes my computer boots into a black-and-white list (kinda like GRUB), and sometimes it uses the metro-style "Choose an Operating System", the one with the light blue background.
Any help please? I'd just like to get my Arch setup back.
Last edited by jddantes (2013-11-06 11:56:37)

I ran it again, and it showed other devices:
Boot Info Script 0.61 [1 April 2012]
============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================
=> Syslinux MBR (4.04 and higher) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
=> Syslinux MBR (4.04 and higher) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
sda1: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD
sda2: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Windows/System32/winload.exe
sda3: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files:
sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: SYSLINUX 4.04 2011-04-18
Boot sector info: Syslinux looks at sector 1053216 of /dev/sdb1 for its
second stage. SYSLINUX is installed in the directory.
The integrity check of the ADV area failed. No errors
found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /syslinux/syslinux.cfg /ldlinux.sys
============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2,048 718,847 716,800 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 718,848 155,650,047 154,931,200 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3 155,650,048 228,614,143 72,964,096 83 Linux
Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 7731 MB, 7731314688 bytes
237 heads, 1 sectors/track, 63714 cylinders, total 15100224 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2,048 15,099,903 15,097,856 b W95 FAT32
"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 2A7699B97699866B ntfs System Reserved
/dev/sda2 7044B3C644B38CFA ntfs
/dev/sda3 31df11a9-14a7-44f7-80c9-763ee40106c5 ext4 LFS Partition
/dev/sdb1 8E5A-F18E vfat MYLINUXLIVE
================================ Mount points: =================================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sdb1 /cdrom vfat (ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
=================== sda3: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
= boot/grub/stage2 1
========================= sdb1/syslinux/syslinux.cfg: ==========================
# D-I config version 2.0
include menu.cfg
default vesamenu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 300
ui gfxboot bootlogo
================= sdb1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
?? = ?? ldlinux.sys 1
?? = ?? syslinux/chain.c32 1
?? = ?? syslinux/gfxboot.c32 1
?? = ?? syslinux/syslinux.cfg 1
?? = ?? syslinux/vesamenu.c32 1
============== sdb1: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============
syslinux/chain.c32 : COM32R module (v4.xx)
syslinux/gfxboot.c32 : COM32R module (v4.xx)
syslinux/vesamenu.c32 : COM32R module (v4.xx)
=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
./bootinfoscript: line 1646: [: 2.73495e+09: integer expression expected
No volume groups found

Booting into empty grub prompt and slow GDM

Hello,
I haven't performed update for long time and I did last day. I had issues related to /sbin exists etc which I have resolved by following the instructions posted in the Arch linux website. However after a successful update, I have the following issues.
(1) - When I log in back, it puts me into an empty grub prompt. I figured out that pacman changed menu.lst to menu.lst.pacsave. So from the grub prompt, I did
configfile /grub/menu.lst.pacsave
and I got the arch linux boot screen.
(2) - It started booting and loaded GDM with the login screen. Login and key strokes are very slow here. Even after login, I don't see GNOME shell. I don't see any errors while booting.
Any help to fix these issues would be good.
Cheers
Navaneeth

What exactly did you do when following the instructions? That is, following them is good, but it would be better if people could make sure there was no misunderstanding which might be causing issues.
You need to go back further through the news as you have evidently ignored various changes to Arch.
For example, legacy grub has not been in the official repos for some time. When you updated, grub2 (which is now called grub) replaced grub (legacy). Hence the pacsave. But you still have grub legacy installed as your boot loader. If you want to keep using it, install the AUR package which has been updated to work with the new filesystem package. Otherwise, configure and install grub (i.e. grub2) or install an alternative such as syslinux.
You are likely to have other pacnew and pacsave files. You need to look through pacman's output (/var/log/pacman.log) and follow the instructions there to ensure that your system is properly configured in light of the updates.
Arch is meant to be updated frequently. If that isn't an option, you would be better served by a different distro.

Macbook Air Mid 2011 - Stuck in Grub Prompt

Hi Archers,
I am trying to install Arch on an Mid 2011 Macbook Air. So far it looks ok, I am following the Wiki and this guide. The bootloader stuff is confusing me a little. I do not want to replace the bootloader from OSx, so I do not use rEFInd, right? I want to use the "Press alt while booting"-method, so does the above guide.
First problem:
While generating the standalone "boot.efi" file the "-C" option is not recognized.
grub-mkstandalone -o boot.efi -d usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi -O x86_64-efi -C xz boot/grub/grub.cfg
It complains that -C is not a valid parameter, so I just skipped it.
After deleting the boot partition in OSx and creating the directories and files and copying the boot.efi file I am able to boot from this partition. Problem #2: After booting the partition I am stuck in a Grub prompt. It recognizes HD0 and 1 and after fiddling around with
ls (hd0)
ls (hd1)
ls (hd0,4)
It always complains about an unrecognized partition type.
Any help appreciated. Will I get it working in this state?
Booting from USB and installing the base system worked like a charm, I have a feeling I nearly got it but the bootloader stuff is just plain confusing.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by Urfaust (2014-01-29 18:55:29)

Ok, I cannot find another guide which uses the OSx Bootloader. I installed rEFInd, reformated /boot with mkfs.ext2, chrooted to the base system and:
# pacman -S grub-efi-x86_64
# mkdir -p /boot/efi
# mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /boot/efi
# modprobe dm-mod
# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=arch_grub --recheck --debug
# mkdir -p /boot/grub/locale
# cp /usr/share/locale/en\@quot/LC_MESSAGES/grub.mo /boot/grub/locale/en.mo
The boot partition is recognized in rEFind, if I choose to boot from it Grub is firing up, I can see 2 menu entries (normal and fallback) after choosing the first I get:
error: no such device: someUID
Loading Linux core repo kernel ...
error: no such partition
Loading initial ramdiks ...
unaligned pointer 0x22
Aborted. Press any key to exit
Why won't Grub find the partition?
Last edited by Urfaust (2014-01-30 16:14:39)

[Solved] Booted into grub prompt

Hello,
I've followed the wiki to the last step but couldn't get booted into Arch:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_guide
After I've generated the grub.cfg and rebooted.
I got a grub prompt.
I don't know what I am missing so please tell me what to do and I'll post the result.
I'm installing it on qemu. The image is archlinux-2014.11.01-dual.iso
fdisk result of the image:
Disk /shosts/arch.img: 17 GB, 17179869184 bytes
4 heads, 32 sectors/track, 262144 cylinders, total 33554432 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/shosts/arch.img1 34 2047 1008 83 Linux
/shosts/arch.img2 2048 411647 204736 83 Linux
/shosts/arch.img3 411648 31868927 15728576 83 Linux
/shosts/arch.img4 31868928 33554398 842688 82 Linux Swap / Solaris
Warning: Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.
arch.imgX is actually /dev/vdaX
Regards.
Last edited by tgckpg (2014-11-24 07:10:31)

After googling and such.
I tried to use the grub command to boot it manually but couldn't get it work.
I noticed some files are missing in /boot folder.
( Not sure, but from the look of it it seemed
there is no such file initramfs-linux.img and vmlinuz-linux for me to run initrd or linux command in grub )
So I boot back into the CD and ran "pacstrap -i base base_devel" & "grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg" again.
And the file is there!
And I booted into Arch!
cheers:)

Stuck at grub prompt

Hi, i'm new to solaris and am trying to install it on my pc.
I downloaded bot the a and b dvd images and burned them to disc
I then put the disk in and start up, I see:
Loading stage2...
Then I see:
GNU GRUB version 0.95
[some stuff here about minimal BASH-like line editing]
grub>
Now what do I do?
I tried typing install but that was unrecognised.. What do i need to type to start the install process?

The 'a' and 'b' files need to be combined into one ISO file. You can do it like this:
% for i in sol-10-u4-ga-x86-dvd-iso-?.zip; do unzip -p $i; done > sol-10-u4-ga-x86-dvd.iso
Alternatively, if you've already unzipped the files, you can make one file like this:
% cat sol-10-u4-ga-x86-dvd-iso-? > sol-10-u4-ga-x86-dvd.iso
Then, burn the resulting ISO and boot off of it.

How to Restore Arch's grub after Ubuntu install to 2nd disk

I installed Ubuntu to sdb after installing Arch to sda. Ubuntu was installed with LVM, though Arch does not use LVM.
I want to wipe out ubuntu now, but it seems to be in control of my boot process, and as a newb, I'm not quite sure how that process transpires. I have read the Grub article on Arch's Wiki site, but that doensn't help me.
After booting into Arch and running:
# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
and then rebooting, I still have the Ubuntu Grub menu on the next boot. My Arch /etc/default/grub is the same one that I used before installing Ubuntu - I'm not concerned about adding Ubuntu to the menu, so that's not an issue.
What do I need to do to get Arch back in control of the boot process?
Thanks in advance!

Kilz wrote:Here is an option in case you cant figure it out. Rename the /boot directory in the ubuntu install and copy the /boot directory from Arch in its place. Reboot, if everything works fine delete everything in the Ubuntu partition but /boot. Rename the /boot directory in the Arch install then shrink the ubuntu partition and mount it in the arch install as /boot. in the end you will just have a separate boot partition that will take up little space.
Thanks again. I finally got it working, but via a different, somewhat convoluted route.
I screwed things up and ended up with only a grub prompt at boot. Following instructions found online, I was able to boot my arch disk (sda), then ran grub-install and grub-mkconfig. The install ran without errors (as before) but grub-mkconfig reported errors. I had been disregarding these errors, because I thought they were related to the custom font and background in my /etc/default/grub file, and another source explained that I could ignore errors when setting fonts and background there (not sure if that source was reliable). But one of the errors on grub-mkinstall reported it couldn't find device.map. There was no device.map in /boot/grub.
Also of note, I had renamed the old /boot/grub/grub.cfg and left the /boot/grub directory without a proper grub.cfg file - probably why I got a grub menu at boot!
In the end, I created a device.map in /boot/grub/ and re-ran grub-mkconfig, but still got an error. So I commented out the font and background lines in /etc/default/grub and also renamed my old backup /boot/grub/grub.cfg-backup to the proper "grub.cfg", then re-ran grub-mkconfig. This time there were not errors reported from grub-mkconfig and with a quick glance at the contents, I was able to figure out that the menu entries looked good.
I was able to reboot with the appropriate arch menu at this point! While I'm not sure which step "fixed" my problem, I wanted to at least record my steps here for future users - perhaps one of the options above will help someone else. Worth mentioning is that the ubuntu (sdb) drive was LVM, and I think that might have played into some of my difficulties, but I'm not sure about that.
The device.map that I created looked like this, where sda is my arch disk and sdb is the ubuntu installation (still not sure if it is needed, though):
(hd0) /dev/sda
(hd1) /dev/sdb
Last edited by stringchopper (2013-02-14 08:38:52)

Solaris 10 x86 ends in grub

Hi Frends!
When I try to boot Solaris 10 on my x86 PC it takes me to the GRUB> prompt.
Solaris 10 been a perfect gem of an Operating system been working perfectly fine till now.
My PC spec:
x86 PC Celeron 2.0 ghz
735 mb ram.
s3 prosavage ddr onboard
Primary : 5 GB Solaris
Primary: 10 GB Free FAT32
Primary: 5 GB Windows XP NTFS
Primary: 54 GB Free NTFS
Cause of the problem is as follows:
I wanted to install Netbeans and other SUN software so tried to make room my mounting the 10 GB FAT32 partition manually in solaris.
mount -F pcfs /dev/dsk/c0d0p0:1
This worked allright. To automate the process I added entry in /etc/vhstab file
#device device mount FS fsck mount
#to mount to fsck point type pass at boot
/dev/dsk/c0d0p0:1 - /c pcfs - yes -
Till here it worked fine.
After reboot the GRUB menu was gone and all I could get was the
GRUB> prompt
I tried the following in the GRUB>
root <enter>File system type unknown; parttype 0x7
root (hd0,0)File system type unknown; parttype 0xbf
root (hd0,1)File system type unknown; parttype 0x7
root (hd0,2)File system type unknown; parttype 0x7
root (hd0,3)File system type unknown; parttype 0x7
root (hd0,4)No filesystem
(hd0,0) contains the solaris10
GRUB>root (hd0,0)
GRUB>kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot
Error 17: could not mount selected partition
or
GRUB>kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot kernel/unix -s
Error 17: could not mount selected partition
or
GRUB>kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot kernel/unix -B
Error 17: could not mount selected partition
GRUB>module /platform/i86pc/boot_archive
GRUB>boot
also tried
GRUB>find /grub/stage1
file not found
GRUB>find /grub/stage2
file not found
also tried
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0,0)
Error 17: could not mount selected partition
Is there a way out of this or do i need to reinstall a fresh copy or repair using the Solaris DVD.
Please suggest a method by which i will be able to boot into the system from the GRUB> prompt and restore the system.
I faced a similar situation earlier but then i was able to follow the above steps to boot into the system and restore the menu.lst by using installgrub.
Please help.
Thank You in advance.

For the first time Solaris multiboot users, I recommend installing it as the last OS occupying the last primary partition (hd0,3). But it is possible to install Solaris, Linux then Windows if you are willing to edit menu.lst and add Linux and Windows boot stanzae manually. Any subsequent Windows or major service pack installation would wipe out grub installed by Solaris. But re-installation of grub that comes with Solaris is not that difficult - all you need is a boot cd/dvd or floppy disk containing usf version of grub.
# grub
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
(hd0,0,a) This is the answer from grub and depends on whre your Solaris is located at+
grub> root (hd0,0,a)
filesystem is ufs, partition type 0xbf
grub> setup (hd0)
Checking if boot/grub/stage1 exists...yes
Checking if boot/grub/stage2 exists...yes
Checking if boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 exists...yes
Running embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5(hd0)...16 sectors
are embedded... succeeded
Running install /boot/grub/stage1(hd0) (hd0)1+16p (hd0,0,a)
/boot/grub/stage2/boot/grub/menu.lst... succeeded
Done.
grub> quit
# reboot
Solaris version of grub and Linux version appear and behave much the same but they are not interchangeable. Solaris version has enhanced support for both ufs and ext2 and Solaris slices (sub-partitions) whereas Linux version lacks all these features. Both versions can competently boot Windows by chain loading (pointing Windows boot partition) since all Windows contains its Windows specific boot loader (typically ntldr) pointer within its PBR (partition boot record).
You can however re-install grub within Solaris or Linux PBR instead of MBR so that they can be invoked from chain loading from Windows boot.ini or any third party boot loaders.
Unfortunately GNU grub makes various inconsistent boot scenarios since it writes menu.lst based on disk and partition hierarchy based on BIOS presented order at time of OS installation and has no ability to dynamically rewrite OS location in menu.lst thereafter even though its binary is able to see disk and partition hierarchy change on the fly. Therefore it hands wrong partition information of OS boot kernel image location simply following old menu.lst. That is why Solaris GUI based interactive installation omitted such options to install on a disk other than boot disk set from BIOS.
I do not have any working knowledge of other versions of grub even though their newest versions are 2.x. since the current Solaris and most other Unix like OS including Linux all use grub version 0.9x, If you want to install Solaris or Linux on the disks other than boot disk, then you need a BIOS that can easily re-assign boot order or hide the disk if you install Solaris on the second or third disk in the system that has multiple disks.
Back in Solaris 8 generation, there were debian and slackware linux kernel 2.1.x which can compile to mount, read and write access to Solaris version of ufs (Unix file system). But forget it with current Linux kernel 2.6.x. To boot Solaris manually from ufs version of grub is not as difficult as linux. Solaris kernel name is easy enough to memorise since it does not contain complicated version numbers and decimal points like linux. Good thing about manual boot from grub prompt will bypass wrong 'menu.lst' entry and gives you a chance to re-edit wrong 'menu.lst' entry.
There are no third party boot loaders I know of capable of re-editing Solaris menu.lst dynamically however installing System Commander or Ranish Boot Manager may help understanding various boot techniques. These third party boot loaders require a fat16 partition for its own use or shared with fat16 compatible OS for maximum flexibility since they need to store images of PBR, MBR, real and virtual partition tables, boot codes and the like in its OS management/tracking directory. System Commander can dynamically rewrite boot.ini after each partition change but such capability is limited on Windows platform only.
Learning of manual grub setup or unix/linux 'dd' command to back up MBR would always be great help to restore system after Windows wiping out grub or other boot images.
GNU grub www.gnu.org/software/grub/
GNU Parted www.sorcefroge.net
System Commander www.download.com
pinecloud,

[SOLVED] Black screen after grub in Virtualbox guest install

Hi everyone,
I thought I'd give Arch a try and wanted to install it as a guest VM in Virtualbox. I downloaded the 2013.11.01 release ISO (checked md5 sigs) and went to install in my Virtualbox environment. I'm currently running Gentoo as the host (64-bit) and have 64-bit Windows 7, CentOS, and Ubuntu guests that all run without issue.
Upon booting from the ISO, I get a grub prompt and select the x86_64 option. At this point the Virtualbox screen goes black. Zero output and zero disk activity indicated by Virtualbox. VBox.log doesn't indicate any errors that would cause this as far as I can tell. The only error in fact the following (which appears in other guest logs as well):
"00:00:00.550 ERROR [COM]: aRC=VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80bb0005) aIID={09eed313-cd56-4d06-bd56-fac0f716b5dd} aComponent={Display} aText={Could not take a screenshot (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED)}, preserve=false"
The Hardware Detection Tool runs fine and detects all the Vbox devices w/o issue as well.
If you'd like the VBox.log I can certainly post it, but I didn't see anything. I'm hoping this is something people have run across before.
Also choosing the i686 option doesn't work as it's a 64-bit system just in case someone asks.
Thanks all!
Edit:
Ok so after some more testing it occurred to me that maybe I should just try a prior release. Gave the 2013.10.01 release a go, and everything boots up fine. Now sure what it was about my VBox set up that Arch didn't like, but it's working now.
Last edited by sgt_b2002 (2013-11-19 19:34:41)

As for me, I update my VirtualBox to 4.3.6 and it helps me.

Need to repair grub/update to grub2 on old standard disk.

Yes, I've botched the recent update. But I'm prepairing to chroot from an arch live disk and follow all the steps. But firstly it seems that my hastily grub update went wrong and I can only boot into the grub prompt. Almost no commands work from there, like 'ls' - Command not found.
Reading the wiki it doesn't clearly state how to update to grub2 (in chroot) on an old standard disk. Only for modern GPT's or UEFI disks. As far as I understand anyway. (My understandning might be limited since I've had no need for GPT or UEFI yet)
So where can I read up on updating to grub2 in the old standard way, with MBR? I've been using grub2 on other distros so no problem handling it.

The wiki, naturally https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Gr … ode_region
Not an Installation issue; moving to NC...

[Solved] Grub Skips Menu

I've just got a new laptop (Asus M50) and I've been trying to get Arch Linux running with encrypted / and /home partitions by following this tutorial: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sys … r_dm-crypt
I installed Grub to my /boot partition (which is unencrypted), but upon reboot I was presented with a blank screen and a flashing cursor. I suspected Grub wasn't installed correctly, so I reinstalled it by running (from the ArchLive CD):
# grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sda
Which seemed to run fine, and Grub now actually loads at startup, but it immediately presents me with a grub prompt. Now I can boot manually from this, for example:
grub> root (hd0, 0)
grub> kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro
grub> initrd /kernel26.img
grub> boot
Allows arch to boot without a hitch. As far as I can tell, my /boot/grub/menu.lst is correct so I don't understand why grub is skipping the menu, and a few hours of searching Google haven't helped much.
EDIT
GRUB looks for its configuration file as soon as it is loaded. If one is found, then the full menu interface is activated using whatever entries were found in the file. If you choose the command-line menu option, or if the configuration file was not found, then GRUB drops to the command-line interface.
Following up on this, ls /boot/grub | grep menu.lst locates the file, but grub> find /boot/grub/menu.lst returns Error 15: File not found. So does anybody know why there would be this discrepancy? I have a feeling that fixing this will fix my problem.
EDIT 2
I'm getting closer... I found a mistake in my previous edit, because grub> find /grub/menu.lst returns (hd0,0), so it was found. I forgot that grub's root was not necessarily the root of the filesystem. So now I can type grub> configfile /grub/menu.lst and it will bring up the menu, but it still doesn't load the menu before going to the prompt, and reinstalling grub yet again doesn't fix this.
Last edited by phinux (2008-07-13 04:00:36)

Aha, success. This guy (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions … ad-562236/) seemed to be having the same problem as me, and his fix worked for me as well. I'll just retype it here in case anybody else has the same problem, but the original post is here.
Reinstall grub:
grub> root (hd0,0)
grub> setup (hd0)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"... 15 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+15 p (hd0,0)/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done
Now for whatever reason the final line (Running "install...") is not correct so if you run it again, but remove "/boot" from "/boot/grub/menu.lst" everything works:
grub> install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+15 p (hd0,0)/boot/grub/stage2 /grub/menu.lst
Reboot and it should go straight to the menu.

Solaris 10 x86 5/08 : Boot from DVD gives 'grub ' and no menu

Hi All,
I just spent a good deal of time downloading the Solaris 10 5/08 x86 DVD images. When I try to boot from disc 'A', I merely get a 'grub>' prompt.
From all I can tell due to searching, this is not right.
Any advice? :(

@cjblaine4
Solaris Operating System, Download and Burning Instructions
[http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/download_instruction.xml]
That link was prominently listed on the pages you used to get to the download page.
Perhaps you overlooked it.
I've saved it as a browser bookmark, and often review it as a reference.
Consider saving it as a bookmark, as well.

Grub Prompt

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