making a bootdisk for f2

[crAss]

alright, i just installed f2 and i go to boot it up after installation and this black screen pops up saying 'grub' in the upper left hand corner then a few seconds later is says 'load error' and i can't find anything on the cd or the site to fix it so i figured i'd just make a boot disk but i can't find any docs or stuff to make one, any ideas?

[crAss]

it accually says grub read error

[JohnT]

Try at the grub prompt ...."grub>? or help"...then try to do a line by line setup.

[JohnT]

Can't get it to work try.........THIS (http://syslinux.zytor.com/)

Or ......THIS (http://www.icewalkers.com/Linux/Software/59680/nuni.html)

[crAss]

how do i use them, i can't do anything on nix and the computer only has linux installed

[JohnT]

Your S.O.L then...unless you made a boot floppy during install or you can get "help" from the Grub prompt. You need an operating system (DOS, Win, Linux) to make these bootdisk.

[crAss]

this computer im on right now is linux, but i looked on the disk and theres nowhere on the cds to make a bootdisk

[crAss]

my bad i mean windows, and i've already tryed to make a bootcdisk in the install and theres nowhere to make one

[saikee]

I am only a few old in Linux but one of the methods fto overcome a situation like yours is to use the original distro CD to reload the system.

Depending on the type of distro some would recognise the installation and provide you with options to change things without going through the whole motion of an installation. To make a bootable floppy is one of these options.

A few distro may just install over itself again from the beginning but at least you can have bite of the cherry.

If the Grub boots just one line will fire up the distro

configfile (hd0,1)/boot/grub/menu.lst

I am assuming your grub-based distro in 2nd partition of the first disk as Grub counts from zero.

If you manage to fire up the distro and while in root one line will make the distro bootable again in the hard disk. The booting sequence is governed by the /boot/grub/menu.lst.

grub-install /dev/hda

Hope this help

[JohnT]

Originally posted by crAss
how do i use them, i can't do anything on nix and the computer only has linux installed What do you mean you cant do anything on nix? Both links I gave you give detailed instructions. If your not able to follow the instructions and you didn't make a bootdisk during install and your not able to access Grub "Help" nor find a bootdisk on the cd the alternatives are less than few. You might try and follow saikee's suggeations and if not just reinstall at this point. You'll know what you need next time when you get in this situation.

[saikee]

John T 's idea of having a bootable floppy in Linux can save a lot of hair from being pull from the head.

Think there are two types of bootable floppies one can ask a distro to make.

(1) A bootable floppy to load up the distro - only usable on that distro

(2) A bootable floppy to load Grub - can be used on other distros that boot with Grub.

One of John T's suggestion is to get a 3rd party bootloader Nuni.

With the PC bootable by a Linux floppy there is at least an access point to do any salvage work.

I haven't experiemented with Lilo much as only Knoppix in my collection uses it but it seems to be similar.

Once I found out a Grub boot disk can work with other distros I no longer make a bootable floppy for every distro uless it uses Lilo.

[JohnT]

I leave nothing to chance.....I've got grub floppies, syslinux, smbt manager, distro floppy and live cd's. I learned the hard way. :(