[PLUG] Grub mess - almost there

[Tony Rick]

The explanation for that command line is at
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/install.html#install

That is actually a pretty good manual. It also suggests that you don't
use the 'install' command, but instead use the 'setup' command.
Here <http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224351> is a Ubuntu Forum 
post from someone who did it that way. The
thread is about installing from a LiveCD, but the method is general
(i.e., doesn't matter where you do it from as long as you booted into
linux somewhere and the grub utilites are installed). You should
verify that the grub stuff is really installed on hda2; I assume that
is your desired root device.

Here is another suggestion. Copy the 2.6.17-10 stanzas (stanza means
everything between 'title' and 'boot', inclusive) from the hda2 menu.list
to the hda3 menu.list, at the bottom. Change hd(0,2) wherever it exists 
in those
stanzas to hd(0,1). (I'm assuming here that the 2.6.17-10 kernel really
is on hda2). Change those ugly-looking root=<nasty-id-string> things
to root=/dev/hda2. Reboot. The 2.6.17-10 kernel selections should appear 
in the boot menu now. Select one, then do the grub
install business. Then do the cleanup business.

- tony

##############################################
John Jason Jordan wrote:
> On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:37:50 -0800
> "Rogan Creswick" <creswick at gmail.com> dijo:
>
>   
>> Just a comment:  Remove the kernels from menu.lst *first*.  It doesn't
>> matter if the files are on disk or not, aside from the aesthetics of running
>> 'ls' in / and /boot, assuming everything works.
>>     
>
> This strikes me as an excellent suggestion. I did verify that my "real"
> installation of Edgy on hda2 has all the files indicated by Tony
> previously for:
>
> 2.6.17-10-Generic
> 2.6.15-27-amd64-Generic
> 2.6.15-26-amd64-Generic
> 2.6.15-25-amd64-Generic
>
> The first one is the one installed by Edgy and, therefore, the one I
> want to list first as the default to boot.
>
> I edited the menu.lst file on hda2 and made it say the above list, plus:
>
> 2.6.15-27-amd64-Generic on hda3
>
> I don't much care about the Dapper installation on hda3 because it has
> never really been used. Push come to shove I can reinstall it with no
> loss. I know it has both the -27 and -23 kernels, but I added just the
> -27 to the menu.lst to keep it short and simple.
>
> I have not touched the menu.lst file on hda3. After saving the new
> menu.lst in /boot/grub on hda2 I restarted the computer. The menu list
> is identical to what it was before -- proof that it is using the
> menu.lst file from hda3.
>
> Now I need to make Grub use the menu.lst file on hda2. I have read the
> official Grub manual, read man grub, read grub info, googled for an
> hour, and I'm not sure what command to enter to do that. Closest I can
> find is a website that suggested:
>
> grub> install (hd0,1)/grub/stage1 d (hd0) (hd0,1)/boot/grub/stage2 p (hd0,1)/grub/menu.lst
>
> Unfortunately, said web site gave zero explanation of what any of the
> above does. I am guessing that it makes Stage 1 on the MBR of hda, then
> tells Stage 1 to display menu.lst from /boot/grub on hda2. But I don't
> have any idea what the "d" and "p" do in the line.
>
> It's hard to find documentation for what I need to do because 99% of
> the Grub documentation assumes there has never been more than one
> menu.lst file.
>
> As usual, suggestions welcome.
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