F8/F9 Multiboot question

[Daniel B. Thurman]

Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
>
> Tim wrote:
> > On Sun, 2008-08-03 at 15:56 -0700, Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
> >> What is the command for installing the "MBR" and grub into each
> >> of their respective partitions?
> >>
> >> I tried: grub-install --recheck /dev/sdc1, and likewise for /dev/sdc2
> >> and /dev/sdc3 but nothing happens.
> >
> > I've never bothered with grub-install, other than the one time it 
> didn't
> > do what it was supposed to.  After that I decided not to bother with it
> > again.  I issue the real commands directly:
> >
> > The grub command to enter a GRUB shell.  The root command to tell GRUB
> > where /boot will be (and GRUB's root is
> > held).  The find command to check that GRUB can find the files it
> > needs.  The setup command to setup which drive MBR to write to, or 
> which
> > partition.
> > And the quit command to write all the changes and exit.
> > Pasting of a session is below, the GRUB input prompts are beside
> > "grub>", the rest is output.
> >
> > [root at localhost ~]# grub
> > Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
> >
> >
> >    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 else TAB lists the
> > possible
> >   completions of a device/filename.]
> > grub> root (hd0,0)
> > root (hd0,0)
> > Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
> > grub>  find /grub/stage1
> > find /grub/stage1
> > (hd0,0)
> > grub> setup (hd0)
> > setup (hd0)
> > Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... no
> > Checking if "/grub/stage1" exists... yes
> > Checking if "/grub/stage2" exists... yes
> > Checking if "/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
> > Running "embed /grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"...  23 sectors are embedded.
> > succeeded
> > Running "install /grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+23 p
> > (hd0,0)/grub/stage2 /grub/grub.conf"... succeeded
> > Done.
> > grub> quit
> > quit
> > [root at localhost ~]#
> >
> > My set of examples picks my first boot partition (the root command), 
> and
> > writes back to the disc's MBR (the setup command).  You'd change the
> > root and setup parameters to suit each installation, to install GRUB
> > "stage ones" into each boot partition.  In your case, you'd pick the
> > same drive and partition for the root and setup commands.
> >
> > By the way, grub-install is just a script.  You can read it and see how
> > it works, if you really want to.
> Ok, I did.  Thanks.
> >
> >> Since I had copies of /boot for f8 and f9 I simply copied f8's boot
> >> files into /dev/sdc2 and f9's boot files into /dev/sdc3 but
> >> for /dev/sdc1 (boot-sys), I copied f8's boot files into /dev/sdc1,
> >> removed initd*, vm*, and System*, edited grub/grub.conf with the
> >> chain-loaders like you said.
> >
> > Hmm, I don't know exactly what you mean by "boot files".  Each /boot
> > partition would have that OS's kernel files, and a grub sub-directory
> > for that installation's GRUB files (menus, stage loaders, etc.).  There
> > shouldn't be any need to copy things about.
> >
> > Inside /boot/grub:
> > [snip!]
> Yes, that is what I meant by (grub) "/boot files"
> >> But I am at loss to figure out how to get each of the 3 partitions
> >> with it's own "MBR".
> >
> > Terminology problem...  MBR is Master Boot Record, there's only one of
> > them per disc.  Initial stages of GRUB can be put in the disc MBR, 
> or at
> > the beginning of individual partitions (not a MBR, but something
> > similar, and a mental blank strikes me as to its proper name).
> Well, I know there is only one MBR, but I was trying to identify the boot
> record for each partition and I did not have a name for it, which is why
> I quoted "MBR" - I did not know the proper name either!
>
> HELP!  All of my (fedora) drives are no longer bootable!  When I boot,
> all I get is one message at the top-left corner: "GRUB"  I cannot type
> anything at this point, it just hangs.  So what do I need to do to 
> recover
> grub?
>
> P.S: I tried to re-install grub via Fedora "Live" CD, but it seems I am
> unable to.
>
Never mind!  I got myself out of the problem!

Dan