[SOLVED] grub error 17

[djoeha]

So, finally I decided to have a look at Linux. Trying to minimize the hassle I thought I’ll take SUSE 9.3, letting her do partitioning to enable dual boot with my win xp. It went wrong. As said I’m new to Linux and any help (in small words) will be appreciated.

Details:
IBM thinkpad G40 with 40g hard disk and windows xp pro

Tried to install suse 9.3 package (downloaded form novell)

After installing first CD the troubles started. It should have booted with grub but it didn’t. The only way to continue installation was to boot from the first CD and then using the option boot existing system. I’ve repeated installation, with a newly downloaded CD, but problem persist.

It says loading grub 1.5 and then error 17 (cannot mount or something like this)

GRUB details:

boot loader type GRUB

location: 1.IDE 37.2GB, /dev/hda, IC####-0 (MBR)

default location:suse linux 9.3
available locations: suse 9.3(default), windows, floppy, failsafe--suse linux 9.3
activate boot loader partition: no
replace code is mbr: leave untouched
use dedicated boot loader area: yes
back up affected disk areas: yes
add saved mbr to boot loader menu: no

what is wrong?

In the mean time, I can only log to the computer using the mention method of using the first CD and using the option of booting existing system. But then I get to see Linux… :) all files and folders from win xp still exists.

Is there a quicker way to log on to the computer?

Thanks, djoeha

[Choozo]

A quick search for 'grub' and 'error 17' on www.google.com/linux returns plenty of hits.

[saikee]

I have a go at this one.

The Grub 17 is "Cannot mount selected partition".

First of all you need to create (or allow Suse installer to create) two partitions for installing a Linux. One for the Linux to reside in and another for Swap. The latter is a scratch area about the size twice of PC physical memory. Your description doesn't show this part has been accomplished.

It is traditional that XP will grab all the hdd space for itself and you may need a 3rd party software like Partition Magic to squeeze some unallocated space back for the Suse installation. I would say a 5Gb for Suse and 1Gb for Swap should be ample. My Suse 9.1 is 2.83Gb large.

I suggest you to get hold of a Live CD like Knoppix (one that can be installed without the need to reside in a hard disk), as I am not sure if yourcurrent Suse can install itself without getting into the hard disk. A Live CD can allow you to rescue the Suse if it becomes unbootable. The Linux fdisk and cfdisk commands are good tools to view and alter the partition table. The chroot command allows you to break into an unbootable Linux, edit its bootloader menu (in Suse's case it is a text file called menu.lst stored in /boot/grub directory) and make the Linux bootable again.

Last thing - It is natural for you to lose the XP in some stage so be prepared. You need the XP installation CD for restoring the MBR.

Both XP and Linux are not know to trash each others partition and no damage is done normally if you confine each in its own partition. You need a Live CD to rescue an unbootable Linux and a XP installation CD to make XP bootable again.

Let us know your progress.

[djoeha]

the swap section exists. when i tell Yast to fix the GRUB she identifies it. being new to linux i just let SUSE install itself, i didn't change a thing in the installation options. it took itself about 2 G and about 0.5 g for the swap.should i make it bigger?
SUSE has a live CD version but when using installation CD i can boot to the existing SUSE on the hard drive and get to all folders of windows as well but not boot to windows. the problem is that it take ages to boot this way. is there a quik way to boot into the existing suse?

[saikee]

It it takes ages to boot then you could be working on the Live CD and the Suse isn't the version in the hdd.

I got a feeling the 2G partition may be good for the Live CD version which is smaller than a full blown version.

OK this is how you can check your system

Once booted with the Live CD and log in as the root user just click the monitor icon for terminal mode. Do a "fdisk-l" (without the quote) and see how the hdd has been partitioned.

If you do have Suse installed then you can list the content of "fdisk-l" amd /boot/grub/menu.lst here.

Suse normally needs 3 lines of command to boot a system, be it a Windows or a Linux so it is no rocket science to fix it.

[saikee]

If you have a bit of time read up Grub Howto link in my signature.

Grub is the most powerful bootloader for PC. I haven't exhausted the number of systems it can boot but Lilo, the other major Linux bootloader, can only do 15 while XP drops dead after 10 systems. To control the booting of a PC the controlling bootloader must reside in the first sector of the first bootable hdd. When XP was first installer its bootloader would automatically occupy the MBR (Master Boot Record). When installing a Suse Yast should replace XP's bootloader with Grub.

If Suse installation has been successfull then you should be able to boot to both systems. Suse installation would have been a failure if you are still booting to XP only.

The XP installation CD can restore the Windows XP bootloader. In fact any DOS floppy, with the fdisk command, can do it too but my IBM Thinkpad does have a floppy drive and so I guess your could be the same.

Can your current Grub boot you to Windows successfully now?

[djoeha]

configure - KDE controle module

device mount point fs type total size free size mount options

/dev/cdrecorder /media/cdrecorder subfs noauto, fs=cdfss, ro, procuid, nosuid, nodev, exec, iocharset=utf8
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy subfs noauto, fs=floppyfss, procuid, nodev, nosuit sync
/dev/hda1 /windows/c ntfs 35445 MB 21421MB ro, users, gid=users. umask=0002, nls=utf8
/dev/hda2 swap swap pri=42
dev/hda3 / reiserfs 2228 91MB acl, user_xattr
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620, gid-5
proc /proc proc defaults
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto

i'll get the grub.lst and send it asap
as to your quetions, i cannot log to windows only to linux via the installation disk.
thanks

[djoeha]

the menu.lst is:



# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sun Aug 7 02:32:12 CEST 2005

color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,2)/boot/message

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE LINUX 9.3
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 selinux=0 resume=/dev/hda2 splash=silent showopts
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: floppy###
title Floppy
root (fd0)
chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- SUSE LINUX 9.3
kernel (hd0,2)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off vga=normal noresume selinux=0 barrier=off nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 3
initrd (hd0,2)/boot/initrd


thanks again.

[saikee]

OK although I am still not entirely sure of your problem let me state what the system has to be.

Your Grub has reported

"activate boot loader partition: no
replace code is mbr: leave untouched "

That makes me think that you have chickened out to put Grub in the MBR. If I am right you have installed the Suse OK but not its bootloader Grub. Your computer currently can boot only XP and you can only access Suse via a Suse installation CD. The menu.lst supports the fact that a Linux has been installed in (hd0,2) or the 3rd primary partition of your first bootable disk. Grub counts from zero.

XP is very selfish that it can boot Linux if its arm is twisted. It is fairly involved in twisting its arm as you need to unhide some system files, install the bootloader file in C drive and then hide the system files again.

The quickest way to get Suse up and running is to lose the XP's bootloader in MBR and substitue it with Grub. You can do this with Suse installation disk. Just call up Yast to modify the bootloader. When asked if you allow Grub into the MBR simply say "yes". Suse will then overwite the MBR with Grub. Thereafter Grub should present you with 4 choices of booting as listed in the menu.lst (each starting with ###, 1st Suse, 2nd Windows, 3rd by floppy and 4th another version of Suse with an older or more stable kernel).

I think you are almost there now. The only thing I need to mention is just how to get back the XP's bootloader should one day you want it back for whatever the reason (bearing in mind Grub will boot Xp just the same).

Just boot the PC up with the XP installation disk (even not related to your installed version). when ask if you want to repair the Windows partition reply yes to drop into the recovery console (command prompt mode). Type "fixmbr" and then "exit". On reboot you will see the laptop will boot to XP only as you are now but Suse will be unavailable.

If you want to try XP's bootloader booting Suse the method of twisting XP's arm is here (http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=356414&page=2&pp=15) described rather complete by Ned Slider in #23 post. Sorry fornot sourcing a similar thread from JUSTLINUX as a few members did have explained the method here before. It works but stop if the number of systems exceeds 10. You should master Grub before getting into something 10 times more difficult.

Got the feeling your Suse is about to pop up from your hdd soon.

Let us know the progress.

[djoeha]

trying to do it now.
just for the record, though the reason is probably distorted mbr, i cannot log to windows.

[saikee]

That is no big deal. The above replies should enable you to recover both of them.

[djoeha]

he won't change via the installation invoced yast. if i try to chage it loged as root it hangs.each time i change and let the computer reboot i goes back to its error 17. when i go back to repairing option i get the same definitions.

[saikee]

The standard method I use to rescue an unbootable Linux is by a Live CD.

You boot up with the Live CD, log in as root, then drop into the terminal mode.

As a good precaution do a "fdisk -l" to see that you have hda1, hda2 and hda3 listed representing the XP, swap and Suse partitions. Then you make a directory and create a mounting point for hda3 in the /mnt directory of the running Linux. The instructions are

mkdir /mnt/hda3
mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/hda3

Basically you mount the device hda3 as temporary file /mnt/hda3 so that you can access to its content. It works if the Linux doesn't complain.

Then you change root from the Live CD to the Linux inside Hda3. he command is

chroot /mnt/hda3

You should be inside the Suse installed in the hda3 now and still retain the privilege as the root user. Still in terminal mode You can then impose Grub on the MBR by issuing the command

grub-install /dev/hda

Note hda without any number means you want it in the MBR of the whole hdd. If the Suse has been installed as you said then it should work as I did this literally hundreds of times. You should also be able to activate the GUI of the Suse in hda3 by typing KDE or startx. Play around with it. To leave the hda3 Linux back to the Live CD just type exit.

The above steps should have been achieved by Yast of the installation CD.

If the above fails then I could only offer the explanation that the Thinkpad may have been specially rigged and the standard approach may not work. Many Laptops do behave differently. The Thinkpad does have a button for help/restore essential files I think and its MBR could be non-standard or the hidden backup filing system may be hampering the Linux installation.

In the worst case you should be able to recover back to Windows (by doing a fixmbr) without any damage to its content.

[djoeha]

the problem was solved via the BIOS. IBM has an image of the hard disk hidden at the begining of the HDD. the os cannot see this part but when grub tries to mount the disk he gets an error because he think that the partition of windows should start at the begining of the disk but it starts on sector 63.
via the BIOS you can make this section visible and then without further changes the GRUB can mount the disk.
now i have another problem and that is that SUSE won't load in its full glorry but that is because its partition it full. i didn't change its default partitioning and she took less then it actually needs if you install a few extras.
reinstalling or partition magic? i didn't decide yet.
thanks for the help.

[saikee]

I have been getting away for installing over 30 Linux with just 5Gb partition each but I never mix my personal data with an OS so none of them grow much. My Suse 9.1 was 2.48Gb and after a few updates it is now 2.81Gb. I wasn't sure if you ran a Live CD version so I didn't comment on the 2Gb size.

I would go for a reinstall as Suse uses Reiser file system which I don't think Partition Magic supports.

Squeeze more space and leave the empty space unallocated for future use. I just partition everything hdd in blocks of 5Gb each. When I get a new Linux I just install it and gradually fill the disk up. I even have the bootloader edited with entries to boot all the empty partitions. So when a new distro gets in it can be booted by Grub in the MBR straight away.

I am aware XP uses a hidden partition for the backup but I always remove it as it is in the way. I backup XP with Linux, usually the whole bootable partition and it is much faster (about 10 minutes for a 25GB partition). I got a kick out of using Linux to backup XP as Linux officially can't write a NTFS partition. However it can write 0 and 1 in native mode and its "dd" is my favourite command to clone a XP.

Since I do not work on the hidden backup I can't comment much on it but I did include it as a possible culprit to your poblem.

[djoeha]

reinstalled and everything in linux works fine. now just need to learn how to work with it...
is there a short explenation of ow to configure SAMBAS ( or another tool) to recognise the shared files on a windows local networked computer?

again thanks for helping seting linux on yet another computer.

[Choozo]

Please start a new thread for questions not related to the topic (Grub error).

This way it is a lot easier for you to get answers, as people who may contribute to your SAMBA problem would _never_ look for this in a thread about GRUB.