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Linux boot loader not loading at start up


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#1
GameQber

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I have two hard drives on my computer. My C: drive has an installation of Windows XP Professional with SP2. My second drive now has an installation of Fedora Core 4. During the installation, I had it remove all partitions on the second hard drive and install it there, and to install the boot loader on hda1 (my C: drive).

However, the boot loader does not load when I start up my computer. It just goes straight to Windows XP without any prompt for which OS to start whatsoever.


I am somewhat new to Linux, just fyi. Any help would be great.
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#2
dsenette

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hda0 (Zero not the letter) is usually the primary drive...hda1 is usually the secondary...remember...everything in computers begins with 0 (well...almost everything)
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#3
GameQber

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hda0 (Zero not the letter) is usually the primary drive...hda1 is usually the secondary...remember...everything in computers begins with 0 (well...almost everything)


Oops, yeah, that's what I meant. It showed a selection between two hard drives to choose which one would be where the boot loader would install. I know that my two hard drives are different sizes, with the smaller drive being my C: drive. I installed the boot loader on the smaller drive, hda0. The actual Linux OS installation took place on hda1.
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#4
Thef0rce

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this actually happened to me too. I was confused.

turns out that its a bug in fc4. put the install disk back in and when the graphical screen comes up, type linux rescue. then type grub-install --recheck /dev/hda. it'll make some odd noises and then return. reboot and then you're done.

check the syntax though. I think the quality of google searches have mysteriously degraded over a few weeks.. I can't find the exact instructions I used to fix it.
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#5
GameQber

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this actually happened to me too. I was confused.

turns out that its a bug in fc4. put the install disk back in and when the graphical screen comes up, type linux rescue. then type grub-install --recheck /dev/hda. it'll make some odd noises and then return. reboot and then you're done.

check the syntax though. I think the quality of google searches have mysteriously degraded over a few weeks.. I can't find the exact instructions I used to fix it.


No luck. All I got was the following:

/sbin/grub: Not found
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#6
Thef0rce

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syntax for grub-install here

it should work if you use the recheck option. I've had to do this twice already. unless your location is wrong

Edited by Thef0rce, 14 October 2005 - 05:21 PM.

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#7
GameQber

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syntax for grub-install here

it should work if you use the recheck option. I've had to do this twice already. unless your location is wrong


The location is wrong, I'm guessing. I still get the "/sbin/grub: Not Found" error. I did "cd sbin" and "ls", and no grub folder to be found. I have no idea where I could find it or how I would go about correcting this, either.
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#8
GameQber

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I'm guessing everyone's stumped. :tazz:

I'd like to be able to use Linux on my computer. I can't figure out why Grub isn't installing correctly, though.
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