How to configure Grub for HD installation?

Booting, installing, newbie
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HoldTheOnions
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon 31 Mar 2014, 17:29

How to configure Grub for HD installation?

#1 Post by HoldTheOnions »

Hi,

So I created a precise puppy 5.7.1 usb key using Linux Live and booted from usb first time without issue.

1) I installed to hard drive and it told me to edit the grub menu file, but I could not find the grub menu file. I previously had partitioned the drive into 3 partitions, sd1 for Linux, sd2 for swap, and sd3 for data. To install puppy Linux I did not blow out the drive, I just installed on sda. I am assuming the grub file is somewhere else, but I could not figure out how to find it.

2) After searching for the grub file for a while, I had to go so I shut down my computer and now I can no longer boot into precise puppy usb again, it tells me every time:
Searching for Puppy files.............puppy_precise_5.7.1.sfs not found. Dropping out to initial-ramdisk console...
I could not find someone with the same problem on the forum. I verified that the file is on the usb, then I tried creating the usb again, I tried putting on a different usb port, I tried deleting and redownloading the ISO file in case the original was somehow corrupted, and I tried using a different usb key. I don't have a cd drive and I've tried to start at least a dozen times since the first time and I'm out of ideas. First time was apparently beginners luck :(

Thanks for any help.

mill0001
Posts: 358
Joined: Thu 01 Feb 2007, 16:30
Location: "People's Republik of Kalifornia"

#2 Post by mill0001 »

HTO: Is there a file called "menulist" on the stick?

jp734
Posts: 119
Joined: Sat 29 Mar 2014, 17:59

#3 Post by jp734 »

After seeing the message:
"Searching for Puppy files.............puppy_precise_5.7.1.sfs not found. Dropping out to initial-ramdisk console...", you need to create a directory where you can mount your hard drive. Let's use 'temp' for example.

type at the # prompt:
#mkdir temp

then mount the drive to the directory
#mount /dev/sda1 /temp

After that you change directory to temp (#cd temp) and you can check if you have '/boot/grub' folder. If not, grub is probably not installed. If you do, then you can edit the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file and make sure the path for the puppy...sfs file is correct and check the name as well.

HoldTheOnions
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon 31 Mar 2014, 17:29

#4 Post by HoldTheOnions »

Hi, thanks for your response,

Sorry, but I didn't fully explain, after installing precise puppy to the hard drive, I looked for the file in the boot/grub folder, and the folder existed, but the folder was empty. So I tried to boot to the hard drive anyway and it tells me
error: file '/boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found.
Entering rescue mode...
grub rescue>
So I am pretty sure grub is installed, but it is still looking for the previous installation of Linux, which doesn't exist anymore.

I am getting the "Searching for Puppy files..." error when I am trying to boot to the USB to try to find and fix the grub file, not when I am booting to the hard drive.

Tonight, I am going to try to boot to another version of a puppy USB or another Linux if necessary and try to find where the grub stuff is. My other thought is maybe I need to create the file from scratch?

As a last resort, I will blow out the whole drive and restore my data from backup, which I would rather not since this will take hours and hours, but I am just not happy with other versions of Linux on this machine.

If you have any better ideas in the mean time, that would be great.

Thanks again!

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mikeb
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Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006, 13:56

#5 Post by mikeb »

Thats left over from grub 2 so a waste of time for your existing install setup.

If the installer added vmlinuz and initrd.gz to the hard drive (might be in boot or puppy folder ) then the puppy grub4dos installer wizard should sort out booting for you.

You have to do that anyway since the universal installer does not.

Mike

HoldTheOnions
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon 31 Mar 2014, 17:29

#6 Post by HoldTheOnions »

mill0001 wrote:HTO: Is there a file called "menulist" on the stick?
Sorry, didn't see this originally. No, I don't see that file.

HoldTheOnions
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon 31 Mar 2014, 17:29

#7 Post by HoldTheOnions »

mikeb wrote:Thats left over from grub 2 so a waste of time for your existing install setup.

If the installer added vmlinuz and initrd.gz to the hard drive (might be in boot or puppy folder ) then the puppy grub4dos installer wizard should sort out booting for you.

You have to do that anyway since the universal installer does not.

Mike
So I downloaded Lucid and was able to run the grub4dos, got it working now. Thanks everyone!

HoldTheOnions
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon 31 Mar 2014, 17:29

#8 Post by HoldTheOnions »

Had it working for about 15 minutes, then internet cut out, I tried to restart and shut down, but it wouldn't do either, so I pulled the plug and when I tried starting again it would only boot to the command prompt. Puppy Linux odyssey is over, going back to my slow but reliable setup. :-)

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mikeb
Posts: 11297
Joined: Thu 23 Nov 2006, 13:56

#9 Post by mikeb »

Well there are other distros....
(and other puppies for that matter)

But like me reliability is the most important factor

mike

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