[gentoo-user] Problem installing GRUB

[gentoo-user] Problem installing GRUB

[Marco Schuler]

Hi all,

after using other distributions for years I finally decided to go with
gentto to have to most flexibility. So here I am :-)

I got trough the gentoo installation up to the point of installing
grub. After the command 'grub-install /dev/hda' my machine hangs
displaying the following meassage:
   Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time

I already searched the net to find a solution. The only thing I could
find was on http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/grub-error-guide.xml

The comment on my problem:
One reported cause was an exotic configuration of disk devices, like
ultra/non-ultra DMA disks on one cable.

I am installing on my notebook (only one HD) so the hint above did not
help me very much...

Any hint or tips? Thanks a lot in advance!

--
Cheers,
 Marco
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Problem installing GRUB

[Radosław Grzanka]

Marco Schuler napisał(a):
> Hi all,
> 
> after using other distributions for years I finally decided to go with
> gentto to have to most flexibility. So here I am :-)
> 
> I got trough the gentoo installation up to the point of installing
> grub. After the command 'grub-install /dev/hda' my machine hangs
> displaying the following meassage:
>   Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time
> 
> I already searched the net to find a solution. The only thing I could
> find was on http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/grub-error-guide.xml
> 
> The comment on my problem:
> One reported cause was an exotic configuration of disk devices, like
> ultra/non-ultra DMA disks on one cable.
> 
> I am installing on my notebook (only one HD) so the hint above did not
> help me very much...
> 
> Any hint or tips? Thanks a lot in advance!

Hi,
   Do you have floppy drive? I am not sure what was actuall message of 
grub while trying to probe non-existent floppy drive but try running it 
with --no-floppy switch. I've seen broken grub-install scripts that did 
not respect this though. If so, then your only option is to try to 
install grub manually by using 'grub' command (search the web for details).

Cheers,
   Radek.

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gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Problem installing GRUB

[Marco Schuler]

On 2/26/07, Radosław Grzanka <radekg@tygrysek.hopto.org> wrote:
> Marco Schuler napisał(a):
> > Hi all,
> >
> > after using other distributions for years I finally decided to go with
> > gentto to have to most flexibility. So here I am :-)
> >
> > I got trough the gentoo installation up to the point of installing
> > grub. After the command 'grub-install /dev/hda' my machine hangs
> > displaying the following meassage:
> >   Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time
> >
> > I already searched the net to find a solution. The only thing I could
> > find was on http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/grub-error-guide.xml
> >
> > The comment on my problem:
> > One reported cause was an exotic configuration of disk devices, like
> > ultra/non-ultra DMA disks on one cable.
> >
> > I am installing on my notebook (only one HD) so the hint above did not
> > help me very much...
> >
> > Any hint or tips? Thanks a lot in advance!
>
> Hi,
>    Do you have floppy drive? I am not sure what was actuall message of
> grub while trying to probe non-existent floppy drive but try running it
> with --no-floppy switch. I've seen broken grub-install scripts that did
> not respect this though. If so, then your only option is to try to
> install grub manually by using 'grub' command (search the web for details).

Hi,

no, I don't have a floppy drive installed at the moment (I have two
cd-drives where one of them is exchangeable with a floppy drive, but
these are connected internally via USB).

I will try to run grub-install with --no-floppy option or manual
installation. Unfortunaltely I don't have my notebook at hand right
now. Would come back with questions in case it does not work out.

Thanks anyway so far!

--
Cheers,
 Marco
éí˘‹Źz¸\x1ežÚ(˘¸&j)bž	b˛

Re: [gentoo-user] Problem installing GRUB

[Mick]

On 26/02/07, Radosław Grzanka <radekg@tygrysek.hopto.org> wrote:
> Marco Schuler napisał(a):
> > Hi all,
> >
> > after using other distributions for years I finally decided to go with
> > gentto to have to most flexibility. So here I am :-)
> >
> > I got trough the gentoo installation up to the point of installing
> > grub. After the command 'grub-install /dev/hda' my machine hangs
> > displaying the following meassage:
> >   Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time
> >
> > I already searched the net to find a solution. The only thing I could
> > find was on http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/grub-error-guide.xml
> >
> > The comment on my problem:
> > One reported cause was an exotic configuration of disk devices, like
> > ultra/non-ultra DMA disks on one cable.
> >
> > I am installing on my notebook (only one HD) so the hint above did not
> > help me very much...
> >
> > Any hint or tips? Thanks a lot in advance!
>
> Hi,
>    Do you have floppy drive? I am not sure what was actuall message of
> grub while trying to probe non-existent floppy drive but try running it
> with --no-floppy switch. I've seen broken grub-install scripts that did
> not respect this though. If so, then your only option is to try to
> install grub manually by using 'grub' command (search the web for details).

If that doesn't work you may want to tell us what's your:

fdisk -l

/boot/grub/grub.conf

mount
-- 
Regards,
Mick
éí˘‹Źz¸\x1ežÚ(˘¸&j)bž	b˛

Re: [gentoo-user] Problem installing GRUB

[Alan McKinnon]

On Monday 26 February 2007, Marco Schuler wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> after using other distributions for years I finally decided to go
> with gentto to have to most flexibility. So here I am :-)
>
> I got trough the gentoo installation up to the point of installing
> grub. After the command 'grub-install /dev/hda' my machine hangs
> displaying the following meassage:
>    Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time


You are installing grub to an IDE device. Is that how you normally 
address that device? It might be a SATA drive

What is the contents of your device.map file? I've seen that cause grub 
to search endlessly for a device that isn't there

alan


-- 
Optimists say the glass is half full,
Pessimists say the glass is half empty,
Developers say wtf is the glass twice as big as it needs to be?

Alan McKinnon
alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za
+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Problem installing GRUB

[Marco Schuler]

Hi,

On 2/26/07, Alan McKinnon <alan@linuxholdings.co.za> wrote:
> On Monday 26 February 2007, Marco Schuler wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > after using other distributions for years I finally decided to go
> > with gentto to have to most flexibility. So here I am :-)
> >
> > I got trough the gentoo installation up to the point of installing
> > grub. After the command 'grub-install /dev/hda' my machine hangs
> > displaying the following meassage:
> >    Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time
>
>
> You are installing grub to an IDE device. Is that how you normally
> address that device? It might be a SATA drive

The device that I am installing grub to is a IDE device. So the
addressing should be ok. It is also mounted as /dev/hdaXY.

> What is the contents of your device.map file? I've seen that cause grub
> to search endlessly for a device that isn't there

As yesterday, I don't have my notebook at hand. I will check tonight.
What should be the content of device.map? Is it generated by grub?

--
Cheers,
 Marco
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Problem installing GRUB

[Alan McKinnon]

On Tuesday 27 February 2007, Marco Schuler wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On 2/26/07, Alan McKinnon <alan@linuxholdings.co.za> wrote:
> > On Monday 26 February 2007, Marco Schuler wrote:
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > after using other distributions for years I finally decided to go
> > > with gentto to have to most flexibility. So here I am :-)
> > >
> > > I got trough the gentoo installation up to the point of
> > > installing grub. After the command 'grub-install /dev/hda' my
> > > machine hangs displaying the following meassage:
> > >    Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long
> > > time
> >
> > You are installing grub to an IDE device. Is that how you normally
> > address that device? It might be a SATA drive
>
> The device that I am installing grub to is a IDE device. So the
> addressing should be ok. It is also mounted as /dev/hdaXY.

OK, that's all fine then

> > What is the contents of your device.map file? I've seen that cause
> > grub to search endlessly for a device that isn't there
>
> As yesterday, I don't have my notebook at hand. I will check tonight.
> What should be the content of device.map? Is it generated by grub?

With your one and only drive it will look like this:

(hd0)   /dev/hda

It describes a mapping between linux disk devices and what grub will 
call them. 

I just thought of something else: when you run grub-install, are you 
doing it from a properly booted system, from inside a chroot, from a 
rescue disk (where your gentoo filesystem is mounted somewhere), or a 
different environment altogether?

alan


-- 
Optimists say the glass is half full,
Pessimists say the glass is half empty,
Developers say wtf is the glass twice as big as it needs to be?

Alan McKinnon
alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za
+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Problem installing GRUB

[Marco Schuler]

Hi,

On 2/27/07, Alan McKinnon <alan@linuxholdings.co.za> wrote:
> On Tuesday 27 February 2007, Marco Schuler wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > On 2/26/07, Alan McKinnon <alan@linuxholdings.co.za> wrote:
> > > On Monday 26 February 2007, Marco Schuler wrote:
> > > > Hi all,
> > > >
> > > > after using other distributions for years I finally decided to go
> > > > with gentto to have to most flexibility. So here I am :-)
> > > >
> > > > I got trough the gentoo installation up to the point of
> > > > installing grub. After the command 'grub-install /dev/hda' my
> > > > machine hangs displaying the following meassage:
> > > >    Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long
> > > > time
> > >
> > > You are installing grub to an IDE device. Is that how you normally
> > > address that device? It might be a SATA drive
> >
> > The device that I am installing grub to is a IDE device. So the
> > addressing should be ok. It is also mounted as /dev/hdaXY.
>
> OK, that's all fine then
>
> > > What is the contents of your device.map file? I've seen that cause
> > > grub to search endlessly for a device that isn't there
> >
> > As yesterday, I don't have my notebook at hand. I will check tonight.
> > What should be the content of device.map? Is it generated by grub?
>
> With your one and only drive it will look like this:
>
> (hd0)   /dev/hda
>
> It describes a mapping between linux disk devices and what grub will
> call them.

Who generates this file? Grub, default from Gentoo?

> I just thought of something else: when you run grub-install, are you
> doing it from a properly booted system, from inside a chroot, from a
> rescue disk (where your gentoo filesystem is mounted somewhere), or a
> different environment altogether?

I am following the Gentoo Linux x86 Handbook. So I run the
installation cd, and call grub-install from within the chroot
environment (I work remotely using a ssh conection to the installation
machine)

--
Cheers,
 Marco.
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Problem installing GRUB

[Alan McKinnon]

On Tuesday 27 February 2007, Marco Schuler wrote:
> > > As yesterday, I don't have my notebook at hand. I will check
> > > tonight. What should be the content of device.map? Is it
> > > generated by grub?
> >
> > With your one and only drive it will look like this:
> >
> > (hd0)   /dev/hda
> >
> > It describes a mapping between linux disk devices and what grub
> > will call them.
>
> Who generates this file? Grub, default from Gentoo?

I believe grub-install creates it. 

> > I just thought of something else: when you run grub-install, are
> > you doing it from a properly booted system, from inside a chroot,
> > from a rescue disk (where your gentoo filesystem is mounted
> > somewhere), or a different environment altogether?
>
> I am following the Gentoo Linux x86 Handbook. So I run the
> installation cd, and call grub-install from within the chroot
> environment (I work remotely using a ssh conection to the
> installation machine)

OK. 

Do you have a separate /boot partition? Is it mounted? If so, you should 
be using:

grub-install --root-directory=/boot /dev/hda




-- 
Optimists say the glass is half full,
Pessimists say the glass is half empty,
Developers say wtf is the glass twice as big as it needs to be?

Alan McKinnon
alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za
+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five
--
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list