(OLD) (ARCHIVED) Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[WoodLark]

I have installed Puppy many times to many systems with little or no problem, bu today I am having issues.

I am trying to do a frugal install of Tahrpup 6.0.5 to a Dell Precision 690. I reformatted the partitions (ext4) and wiped the previous boot record (there are no other OS's).

I used the Universal Installer and the Grub4Dos wizard (chose all defaults).

When I try to boot from the hard drive, I get the following on the screen:

wee 0> find --seek-root /grldr
(0x80,0)
wee 0> /grldr
wee 13>

and there it stops!

I have repeated the process several times with the same results.
Any ideas?

[rufwoof]

Looks like its not finding the grldr, perhaps the partition table after the MBR doesn't contain a bootable partition ... i.e. you did set the partitions boot flag on?

[WoodLark]

Yes, the boot flag is set.

[mikeslr]

Hi WoodLark,

I'm sorry to say that it may be that you've experienced the same problem discussed in this thread --link is to jd7654's explanation. http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=945820#945820. In that thread, however, the OP had formatted the drive under Lubuntu but then installed grub4dos under Tahrpup.

Unfortunately, the solution found in that thread was a repair using Lubuntu and then adding Tahrpup to Grub2's menu. See posts previous to and after the above.

I can think of three possible --emphasis because I'm guessing-- alternatives. The first is to download the Xenialpup and see if its version of grub4dos corrects the problem. I doubt it, but it's less radical then the next two.

Reformat your drive to Linux Ext3.

Download Slacko and use it to reformat your drive as Ext4 as this may only be a Ubuntu problem.

Hopefully I'm wrong. Alternatively, hopefully someone with actually technical knowledge will respond.

mikesLr

[rockedge]

I had exactly this problem a day ago installing Debian 9 to USB. I also later had the error when using Grub4Dos again when creating XenityDog and TrinityDog. Each time after install I was using a Tahr 6.0.6 version of Grub4Dos to make the USB boot.

I had to reformat and used another method to make the USB drive boot.

[mikeslr]

Hi Rockedge,

"I had to reformat and used another method to make the USB drive boot."

Details about the above, please.

Also, WoodLark, Rockedge, did either of you upgrade Tahrpup's Kernel? Do you know what kernel was being in use during the formatting?

Per jd7654's post the problem "started with 1.43 version of e2fsprogs, which came in with Ubuntu 16.10." If so, how did it get back-ported to Tahrpup? Or am I completely confusing matters?

mikesLr

[jafadmin]

Try slapping another copy of the mbr onto it:

[WoodLark]

I didn't make any changes to the kernel. I did delete the MBR and the partition table and tried again to install Tahrpup 6.0.5 using Grub instead of Grub4Dos. I didn't get the cryptic messages on the screen, but the computer just hung.

I am now in the middle of installing xubuntu. We will see how that goes (I have previously had Mint and lubuntu installed on this drive.

[WoodLark]

I finally got Tahrpup to boot, but not the way I would have liked. I installed xubuntu first, then installed Puppy in a different partition. Then, using guidelines I found at www.bleepingcomputer.com, I edited the Grub2 settings to load Puppy.

I don't know why Puppy won't work on its own unless it has something to do with the hardware RAID system in the Dell Precision 690.

[Mike Walsh]

@Mike, WoodLark:-

Don't know if the following might help..?

https://sites.google.com/a/rmprepusb.com/www/tutorials/wee

Wee appears to be related to your 'problem', somewhere along the line; it's a very 'cut-down', single-stage version of Grub4DOS, as opposed to the latter's usual 2-stage approach.....but quite how it's being invoked instead of the main bootloader, I can't yet figure out. Beats me.....

This link will give you the Grub4DOS error codes:-

http://www.easy2boot.com/not-contiguous-error/grub4dos-error-numbers/


Mike.

[mikeslr]

Hi All,

coffy, running Slacko 6.3 has encountered what may be the same problem. http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=111371. Read that thread. And, perhaps, try suggestions posted here: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=965254#965254

Please report both successes and failures.

mikesLr

[Gordie]

Maybe this site has an explanation?

https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/system/grub4dos/

See Note 2

[jd7654]

[mikeslr]

The Note 2 Gordie referred to is:

"Note2: Though grub4dos has ext4 support, its MBR code CANNOT load
grldr (The main boot loader file) from an ext4 partition"

Also note, that the grub4dos used by slackbuilds is "grub4dos (0.4.5b_2011_02_20)" -- which tells me it was built on February 20, 2011.

See the second link on my previous post for details of the current state of grub4dos: antiquated &/or no longer maintained.

mikesLr

P.S. per https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/GRUB_Error_Reference#GRUB_error_15

"GRUB error 17
Situation
root (hd0,0)
filesystem type unknown partition type 0x7

Error 17 : Cannot mount selected partition
Solution
This error is returned if the partition requested exists, but the filesystem type cannot be recognized by GRUB.

Be sure to check the root(x,y) settings in grub.conf."

Note to jd7654 and Devs: Using Grub in place of Grub4dos is a solution. Having to install a different Linux Operating system in order to add Puppy Linux to Grub's menu is not a solution Puppy is likely to survive.

Having to install Grub into Puppies comes under "Catch 22" -- you can't boot into Puppy without it; and you can't get it until you boot into Puppy.

Running Puppy from a CD/DVD or USB-Key (not formatted as Ext4) and installing Grub from Puppy Package Manager is not exactly "user friendly".

And one thing Grub from those repos won't do: generate a "menu" listing for Frugal Installs.

The existence of a "work-around" for those who have sufficient knowledge to use it is not a solution if Puppy Linux --and for that matter debiandog-- has any interest in continuing to be an operating system for the general public.

mikesLr

[jd7654]