Frugal Puppy won't boot, Error 15: file not found (Solved)

[Sp3ctre18]

[RESOLUTION: Keep your save file (.2fs or.3fs, ) in same folder as your frugal install's .sfs file, which is also where vmlinuz and initrd is. IF this doesn't work, then read on; hopefully the other suggestions in this topic will help.]

Hi everyone, if all goes well hopefully I'll be a new Puppy user, though I expect to be on a newer computer with Ubuntu on my every day computer instead of this ancient one I'm trying to run Puppy on.

So I think I got everything set up pretty well. I was following the manual english frugal install instructions along with the on-screen install instructions and notes. This is frugal, 512mb save file of ext3, on ext3 partition.

(btw, was frugal the way to go? I have exactly 256mb PC66 sdr ram. It's a small 8gb bigfoot IDE HDD with Dos and XP on it so I've only got like 1.3gb available for linux. It definitely seems to run well; I'm just a bit concerned about the ram as install more programs...)

I ran grub config [EDIT: not Grub4Dos; instructions said grub config] because everything I read seemed to say only Grub would be able to boot linux....although I think I just read at lin win newb that I could have used boot.ini??? If so, I would have done that; I know how to that and had to mess with it to dual boot DOS and XP.

But I don't have time, so I'm not going to go back now. I've searched and looked for how to fix, but you know, unless I find something EXACTLY like my situation, I'm a linux noob, I can't figure out what to do. Not to mention I see people putting or suggesting slightly different additional commands to the menu.lst so I don't get it.

Dos is on 1st partition, XP on 2nd, and Puppy on 3rd (an ext3 partition). Puppy shows this drive as sda3. The folder I think grub looks for / is isntalled to is LucidPuppy525Rhoi. The files in this folder are Lupu_525.sfs, ATAHD, initrd.gz, and vmlinuz (which I copied from CD when I noticed it was missing).


Here's my menu.lst, so I hope someone can tell me what needs to be fixed. Thanks!

`````````````````````````````````
`````````````````````````````````

# GRUB configuration file '/boot/grub/menu.lst'.
# generated by 'grubconfig'. Mon Aug 15 02:15:34 2011
#
# The backup copy of the MBR for drive '/dev/sda' is
# here '/boot/grub/mbr.sda.15153'. You can restore it like this.
# dd if=/boot/grub/mbr.sda.15153 of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
#
# Start GRUB global section
#timeout 30
color light-gray/blue black/light-gray
# End GRUB global section
# Other bootable partition config begins
title DOS (on /dev/sda1)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
# Other bootable partition config ends
# Other bootable partition config begins
title Windows (on /dev/sda2)
map (hd0,0) (hd0,1)
map (hd0,1) (hd0,0)
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1
# Other bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins
title Lucid Puppy 5.2.5 Frugal (on /dev/sda3)
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
kernel /LucidPuppy525Rhoi/vmlinuz pmedia=idehd psubdir=LucidPuppy525Rhoi
initrd /LucidPuppy525Rhoi/initrd.gz
## title Linux (on /dev/sda3)
## root (hd0,2)
## kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 ro vga=normal
# Linux bootable partition config ends
title Install GRUB to floppy disk (on /dev/fd0)
pause Insert a formatted floppy disk and press enter.
root (hd0,2)
setup (fd0)
pause Press enter to continue.
title Install GRUB to Linux partition (on /dev/sda3)
root (hd0,2)
setup (hd0,2)
pause Press enter to continue.
title - For help press 'c', then type: 'help'
root (hd0)
title - For usage examples, type: 'cat /boot/grub/usage.txt'
root (hd0)

[starhawk]

What version of Puppy are you using? This is always very important info.

I would, first of all, junk XP if you at all can. You're already running it at the absolute minimum RAM spec, so it would be dead-dog slow if you ever turned it on. Personally, I'd send Win98 packing too, since it's long since become outdated, and its security settings leave a lot wanting.

Second of all, I would use 256MB (or better yet, 512MB) of your space formatted as linux-swap. That's not gonna leave much, even with a frugal install. You're going to have less than a gig left (by a good bit) if you don't get rid of *something*.

Thirdly...

Frugal is almost always the way to go. I've never done a full install, and I never want to. Full installs are for Ubuntu and the like, which Puppy (in some very profound ways) is most certainly not!

I would suggest removing your GRUB files and using another bootloader called GRUB4DOS. That will let you also keep your Windows versions if you absolutely have to. (You should be able to copy over your files from Windows and expect to be able to still use them. Be careful with NTFS filesystems though; Linux and NTFS have kinda a love-hate relationship.)

Lastly, welcome, as we say, to the Kennels.

[bigpup]

You installed grub where?
You do what?
You see what?

[Sp3ctre18]

Thanks for the reply and welcome.

I do have in my post that I'm running Lucid Puppy 5.2.5; you can also see it in my menu.lst.

I have an nLite-customized version of XP, and it's slimmed down. It runs slow, but decent. I will keep it there until I know if Puppy will be enough or if I like some other distro like Linux Mint and decide to put it on this old pc (most distro's need like min 2.5gb of space).

Puppy did make swap of that size.

Sorry, my mistake. I DID use Grub4Dos. Like, I said, I was following this.

The grub boot menu comes up just fine on PC boot; but when I choose my puppy listing, I get error 15.

[bigpup]

Try changing the pmedia=idehd in the Puppy entry kernel line to
kernel /LucidPuppy525Rhoi/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=LucidPuppy525Rhoi

The menu.lst you posted is a Grub menu.lst not a Grub4dos menu.list.

A grub4dos menu.lst looks like this.

# menu.lst produced by grub4dosconfig-v1.7
color white/blue black/cyan white/black cyan/black
timeout 10
default 0

# Frugal installed Puppy

title Luci 268 (sda3/luci268)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /luci268/initrd.gz
kernel /luci268/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=luci268 pfix=fsck
initrd /luci268/initrd.gz

title Luci 268 (sda3/luci268) RAM mode\nBoot up Puppy without pupsave
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /luci268/initrd.gz
kernel /luci268/vmlinuz pmedia=atahd psubdir=luci268 pfix=ram,fsck
initrd /luci268/initrd.gz

title Lupu 527 (sdb1)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /lupu_527.sfs
kernel /vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash pfix=fsck
initrd /initrd.gz

# Full installed Linux

title Lucid Puppy 525 (sda2/boot)
uuid afe7e00e-0410-458e-928c-8f0c7e6ec419
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda2 ro

title Lucid Puppy 268 (sda5/boot)
uuid 7583001a-8d7c-470d-8c87-4d392d846552
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro

title Linux Mint 8 Helena - Main Edition (sda7)
uuid 2a7dc791-ef27-4a70-ae9e-f59d14bdfa18
kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda7 ro
initrd /initrd.img

# Windows
# this entry searches Windows on the HDD and boot it up
title Windows\nBoot up Windows if installed
errorcheck off
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /bootmgr
chainloader /bootmgr
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /ntldr
chainloader /ntldr
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /io.sys
chainloader /io.sys
errorcheck on

# Boot from Partition Boot Sector

title Unknown (sda1:PBS)
uuid 01C87C6601B97960
chainloader +1

title Lupu 527 (sdb1:PBS)
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map --hook
uuid 4E39-6D17
chainloader +1

# additionals

title Find Grub2\nBoot up grub2 if installed
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /boot/grub/core.img
kernel /boot/grub/core.img

title Grub4Dos commandline\n(for experts only)
commandline

title Reboot computer
reboot

title Halt computer
halt

Maybe this info will help you:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=60302

[Béèm]

Sp3ctre18,

Welcome and congratulations for your first post. A lot of info is already in there.

It is my experience that if the puppy files are in a directory of which the name is more then 11 characters it wont work.
Yours is much larger.
Do a test with a directory of which the name is 11 or less characters.

[ICPUG]

Clarification: the use of pmedia

When you use the boot code pmedia then, in Puppy 5.2.5, the two following are equivalent:

pmedia=idehd
pmedia=atahd

Barry only talks of pmedia=atahd but within the Puppy starting up script (init) if idehd is specified it gets recognised and changed to atahd. I should say I have only really checked this is series 4 Puppy but I have no reason to believe it is not in Puppy 5.2.5 and I use pmedia=idehd OK.

I suspect Beem has the correct solution to the problem.

[tikbalang]

i don't use "pmedia" at all and it works fine for both usb and hd frugal install. just add the version to the folder name if you're keeping multiple versions.

Code: Select all

title Lupu
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /lupu/vmlinuz
kernel /lupu/vmlinuz psubdir=lupu pkeys=us
initrd /lupu/initrd.gz

[rcrsn51]

GRUB Error 15 has nothing to do with the pmedia argument. It specifically refers to locating the files vmlinuz and initrd.gz.

Arguments like pmedia, psubdir and pdev1 come into play when Puppy searches for its sfs file and pupsave file. The more information you provide, the faster Puppy will start.

[Sp3ctre18]

bigpup, thanks for that clarification. My mistake, I DID NOT use grub4dos. The instructions said to do the regular grub config, so I followed the steps for that, and used grub config to install to mbr.

I tried renaming my folder from LucidPuppy252Rhoi to LuPu525Rhoi (11chars) and even to just LuPu525. Then I changed menu.lst to reflect that name change. I don't know if it was ok for me to simply rename but I thought I'd try it before posting. Still no difference.

Should I really be using Grub4Dos then? How do I change or remove this setup to use grub for dos?

I tried Boot Loader Manager to edit the grub entry for puppy but it didn't make a difference. It added a uuid line which shows up before the Error 15.

[rcrsn51]

vmlinuz (which I copied from CD when I noticed it was missing).

That suggests that something went wrong with the installation. I would reformat the partition and start again.

But first, boot to the GRUB menu and press the 'c' key to get a command prompt. Type

Code: Select all

find /LuPu525/vmlinuz

and

Code: Select all

find /LuPu525/initrd.gz

Can GRUB find these files?

[Sp3ctre18]

Puppy.....half lives!

Thanks for the find suggestion. That helped me figure it out. It found initrd.gz but not "vmlinuz" so I tried "vmlinuz." and it found it. So I went back into Puppy, renamed "vmlinuz." (that's how it came from CD) to "vmlinuz" and now it boots from grub!!! I didn't know the period was a problem; I figured it just meant no extension or something.

However, it takes like 2 minutes to load and when it does, it don't load preferences and I see the original wallpaper and personalization settings box come up, even though it did say it loaded LuPu525.sfs into ram (that's the personal file, right?) and it has been working this whole time when I boot from CD.

[rcrsn51]

What does your current GRUB entry look like?

I really doubt that the vmlinuz file on the CD had a period on the end.

[Fossil]

I have exactly 256mb PC66 sdr ram. It's a small 8gb bigfoot IDE HDD with Dos and XP on it

With that specification - and especially using PC66 SDR memory, it would be interesting to know both the speed and make of processor. How old is the computer? It always helps to know these things.

[Béèm]

even though it did say it loaded LuPu525.sfs

This is quite impossible.
The correct name is lupu_525.sfs.
Another file won't load.
The save file starts with lupusave.

Are you writing some phantasies?

[Sp3ctre18]

Are you writing some phantasies?

Possibly. Sorry I didn't specify I wasn't trying to give the exact name there. I'm not at home.

I'll be back home in like 5 hrs and I'll check some of these things again, and post my new menu.lst if I have to.

So everyone can wait till I can check and update.

Fossil, it's a Compaq 5035, all stock hardware except for that RAM upgrade. The CPU is an Intel at 300MHz. Can't find good specs online apart from this:

http://kahlon.com/rn5238_Compaq_Presario_5035.html

Installed OS was Windows 98, not 95.

[Béèm]

Sp3ctre18
If you aren't sure about names, don't write anything.
It confuses people and you waste their time.

Yes copy/paste the menu.lst you have now.

[Sp3ctre18]

k, sorry about that.

Here's the new menu.lst. The windows boot doesnt work but it doesn't matter; I have my old menu.lst as backup and I can fix it. I just need puppy to boot correctly.

````````````````

#GRUB configuration file
color light-gray/blue black/light-gray
#default=0
#timeout=30
#splashimage=/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#gfxmenu /boot/grub/message
#Windows boot part begins
title DOS (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
uuid 3f07-a0fd
chainloader +1
boot
#Windows boot part ends
##########################################
#Customized boot part begins
title Windows (on /dev/sda2)
root (hd0,1)
uuid 784c6c8f4c6c4a48
map (hd0,0) (hd0,1)
map (hd0,1) (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

#Customized boot part ends
##########################################
#Linux boot part begins
title Lucid Puppy 5.2.5 Frugal (on /dev/sda3)
root (hd0,2)
uuid 74ea09f9-249f-4391-8a24-35a0bcc94d9c
kernel /LuPu525/vmlinuz pmedia=idehd psubdir=LuPu525
initrd /LuPu525/initrd.gz
boot
#Linux boot part ends
##########################################
#Customized boot part begins
title Install GRUB to floppy disk (on /dev/fd0)
root (hd0,2)
uuid 74ea09f9-249f-4391-8a24-35a0bcc94d9c
pause Insert a formatted floppy disk and press enter.
setup (fd0)
pause Press enter to continue.

#Customized boot part ends
##########################################
#Customized boot part begins
title Install GRUB to Linux partition (on /dev/sda3)
root (hd0,2)
uuid 74ea09f9-249f-4391-8a24-35a0bcc94d9c
setup (hd0,2)
pause Press enter to continue.

#Customized boot part ends
##########################################
#Customized boot part begins
title - For help press 'c', then type: 'help'
root (hd0)

#Customized boot part ends
##########################################
#Customized boot part begins
title - For usage examples, type: 'cat /boot/grub/usage.txt'
root (hd0)

#Customized boot part ends
##########################################

[rcrsn51]

Remove the uuid lines - legacy GRUB does not recognize them. Then add "pdev1=sda3" to the end of the kernel line.

However, your machine is a little under-powered to be running recent Puppies.

[Sp3ctre18]

still not working. :/ However, I think I know where the problem is.

Puppy boots, but the loading screens don't say anything about preferences file.

With the CD, it does find it, however, I notice it only does it after it does a "deeper search," which comes up after "Searching for Puppy files in disk drives."

I think that's the problem. The LiveCD is searching 2 levels down, but the HDD boot is only searching the main sda3 level.

Can I add that deep search into the grub code? I tried looking but can't find anything.