linux will not boot, boot to grub prompt


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Operating Systems Linux Red Hat linux will not boot, boot to grub prompt
# 1  
Old 01-04-2005
linux will not boot, boot to grub prompt

my redhat 9 will not boot. We had a power failure and when the power came back, my redhat linux will not boot.

The machine come up to grub prompt.

I tried the following from grub prompt

root (hd0, then press tab key

partition num:0 filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x83
partition num:1 filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
partition num:2 filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
partition num:3 filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
partition num:4 filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
partition num:5 filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
partition num:6 filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x83
partition num:7 filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
partition num:8 filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

my boot partition is on 0
so I issued root (hd0,0)

received the error message filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x83

setup (hd0)
checking if /boot/grub/stage1 exist ... no
checking if /grub/stage1 exist ...no

Also try

configfile /boot/grub/grub.conf
Error 15: file not found

configfile /grub/grub.conf
Error 15: file not found

grub> find /boot/vmlinuz
Error 15: file not found

grub> find /boot/initrd.gz
Error 15: file not found

Finally, I tried copy stage1 file and stage2 from an identical machine
to floppy disk then

grub>root (fd0)
error filesystem type unknown, using whole disk
grub>setup (fd0)
error 17, cannot mount selected parttion
grub>quit

can you help, please.
# 2  
Old 01-04-2005
Did something get fried? Check to see that the disks were found in the BIOS. Perhaps something just got out of sync.
# 3  
Old 01-04-2005
you tried booting off the CD into single user mode then running a few checks on the HDD?
# 4  
Old 01-04-2005
The fact that the filesystem type is unknown on the /boot partition doesn't bode well....

If you don't have the original installation media, you should try something like Knoppix/RIP/Toms root boot/whatever and do as woofie says - try mounting /dev/hda1 (or whatever your boot partition was - i'm assuming IDE here) and running e2fsck against it - assuming that the filesystem was originally of ext2 type.

Cheers
ZB
# 5  
Old 01-05-2005
Are you certain your boot disk is hd0,0? Could it be that hd0 is actually the extended partition, and hd0,1 - hd0,8 are the logical partitions.
Use a boot disk, LiveCD, then mount each partition under the LiveCD, then you should be able to determine which part is actually your boot part.

Once you boot up the system with a LiveCD, you can then mount your filesystem, then chroot to your filesystem, fix your boot loader.
# 6  
Old 01-05-2005
when I boot from redhat cd then go to rescue linux, the cd try to mount the sysimage on
/mnt/sysimage but this failed with error message "cannot find linux system image"

I try to manally partitition

mount -t ext2 /dev/sda1 /mnt

mount: mounting /dev/sda1 on /mnt failed: no such file or directory

mount -f /dev/sda1 /mnt
no error but noting appear under /mnt

Any more suggestion, Please

Thanks in Advance
# 7  
Old 01-05-2005
Are you using an IDE hard drive or SCSI hard drive?
The first post you noted hd0, this next follow up your posting sda1??

If your trying to mount the system to a directory, the directory must exist before mounting to it. So be sure to make the mnt directory, then trying mounting to it.
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

How to boot partition from Grub Minimal_BASH?

Hi, someone knows how can I boot my OS or cdrom from a Grub Minimal_Bash? :confused: sorry, I´m a dummy I explain, when I start loading the OS, I get errors, and ends up in the grub bash. This is the minimal_bash and I have no idea of ​​any command. It tells me "unknow partition". The problem is... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: veravera
0 Replies

2. Solaris

How to specify local boot up disk in CD boot Grub?

Hi Solaris 10 Experts, I am wondering what is the correct syntax to edit in Grub when trying to specify the local ZFS boot disk while booting up from a Solaris 10 x86 64bits DVD installation disk. In other word, I try to boot up from local disk without removing the Solaris installation disk... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: gjackson123
0 Replies

3. Solaris

OpenSolaris GRUB> boot failure HELP

Hi, i am running an old Opensolaris 5.11 snv_111b on an x86 server. After almost 4 years of successful service, last night out of the blue started to refuse all connections to it's services, ssh, http,etc. The only visible solution at that time was a restart. But now instead of booting the... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: d_oilen
2 Replies

4. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Grub - how to boot a copy of Linux (full system backup)

Hi All, I have successfully backup & restore (using tar) one of my Debian Lenny Servers. On the restore server (standby machine), everytime i have to erase the disk & extract the tar backup. I want to extract the tar on the running restore server on a directory for e.g /systembackup-01,... (11 Replies)
Discussion started by: coolatt
11 Replies

5. Ubuntu

grub problem - unable to boot

I am not able to boot into my ubuntu. Grub gives me this message How do I boot linux? (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: locoroco
6 Replies

6. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

grub to boot windows

Hello, I am using debian-5.0.0(lenny) . I installed windows xp(a hacked version) on a usb stick. this stick works perfectly well and boots off a windows system successfully. but on linux it is finding problems to do so. So I finally decided to put a grub entry to boot off the usb HDD. ... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: gaurav1086
8 Replies

7. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

using grub to boot from different disks

Hello, I'm working on a x86 machine with 3 disks installed. I need to boot from disk to disk, but I cannot figure out how to do this using Grub. The O/S is Solaris 10 and grub version is 0.95 Can anyone give me any help with this? Thanks, James. (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: eeijmae
0 Replies

8. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Serious GRUB/boot problems

Hi! I got some serious problems with booting the computer. When started it prints GRUB GRUB GRUB all over the screen. tchan on #grub tried to help me but with no result. Here is the log. Mabey there is something that we have missed?:confused: (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: Barfly.se
3 Replies

9. Linux

GRUB cannot boot NTFS partitions?

I have an issue with booting NTFS partitions with Grub. I have two HHD 1st HDD with Red Hat 9.0 and Grub as bootloader 2nd HDD with 8 Win partitions all ntfs. I have added the following line in my grub.conf: title Windows2000/Domino 6 root (hd1,0) makeactive chainloader +1 When I... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: KDE Man
4 Replies

10. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Can't get GRUB to boot Linux!!!

I have installed Linux 7.2 on a IBM xseries 235 server with 5 scsi hard drives and ServerRaid-5i Ultra320 scsi controller. I started my installation by configuring the raid controller. I created 2 arrays, raid 1 and raid5. I then proceeded to install Linux and load the drivers. After the... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: cstovall
2 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question