Newbie Needs help with Grub [Solved]

[blackpig]

Hi,
    I recently bought a new computer with no operating system installed.
I installed PCLOS wih no problems.
I have an external hard drive of 500GB and installed PCLOS on that but I can't run it.
I don't know a lot about it but I think it may be a Grub problem.
Going into "repair MBR" I get the following:-
/dev/sda1
/dev/sdb1

If i then go to /dev/sda1 I get

timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=50c1338a-fb47-4cc0-830e-159371b6d7e8  resume=UUID=f79ea4c7-b985-4e6c-817d-26e740c5354b splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=50c1338a-fb47-4cc0-830e-159371b6d7e8  resume=UUID=f79ea4c7-b985-4e6c-817d-26e740c5354b
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=50c1338a-fb47-4cc0-830e-159371b6d7e8  failsafe
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the PCLINUXOS standard grub entries
title      Other operating systems:


# This entry automatically added by the PCLinuxOS redo-mbr for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sdb1.
title      PCLinuxOS (on /dev/sdb1)
root      (hd1,0)
kernel      /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32.12-pclos1.bfs root=/dev/sdb1
savedefault
boot

If i then go to /dev/sdb1 I get

timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=11769271-9986-41aa-9691-02dbe6e18f16  resume=UUID=8a114c48-e12f-41c9-b8b7-9adbc851fe9d splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=11769271-9986-41aa-9691-02dbe6e18f16  resume=UUID=8a114c48-e12f-41c9-b8b7-9adbc851fe9d
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=11769271-9986-41aa-9691-02dbe6e18f16  failsafe
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

title PCLinuxOS (PCLinuxOS)
root (hd1,0)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

Neither of which woks. Please help- in basic terms.

[menotu]

Have you been into the Bios to check whether you have the drive you want to boot from as the first one in the boot sequence.?

[blackpig]

If I boot the 'puter in the normal manner I get the option to boot sda1 (machine Hard Drive)
or sdb1 (External hard drive) selecting sdb1 I get error message " disk doesn't exist"
If I boot into "Boot Menu" and select USB I get grub error   

[Joble]

Once the bios selects the usb to boot from it should be hd0 not hd1 but from your post it looks like you tried that already?

* Joble runs for the hills screaming for O-P!

[Old-Polack]

If I boot the 'puter in the normal manner I get the option to boot sda1 (machine Hard Drive)
or sdb1 (External hard drive) selecting sdb1 I get error message " disk doesn't exist"
If I boot into "Boot Menu" and select USB I get grub error   

Step back a few paces. Does your BIOS have a specific setting to boot from USB HDD, or, if the USB drive is connected and turned on when entering BIOS, besides the boot order, (cdrom, floppy, hard drive) is there a separate section that asks for the hard drive order from which you wish to boot? I'm not referring to the choose on boot menu you've already described, but a setting under possibly Advanced BIOS Features, which is where this is located in my Award BIOS.

[blackpig]

The boot order in the bios is :-cdrom, floppy, hard drive usb and I can't alter it.

[Old-Polack]

The boot order in the bios is :-cdrom, floppy, hard drive usb and I can't alter it.

If you can't alter that, yours is the first BIOS that can't be altered. If this order were hard wired and unalterable, there would be no need to list it in BIOS. That aside, is there a hard drive boot order section, as I asked before?

[blackpig]

Sorted - see thread Installing to hard drive

[menotu]

Sorted - see thread Installing to hard drive

Can you provide a link to the thread.

The boot order in the bios is :-cdrom, floppy, hard drive usb and I can't alter it.

Its often changeable (moves drive up or down in the list) by selecting the item and pressing the +  or - keys. (or Shift and +/-)

Your boot time is slowed down having the boot order as it is coz your system first looks to boot from a CD, when it can't find it, it looks for the floppy and when it can't find that it goes to the HD....

For optimal boot speed it should be HD first and then the others (except when you WANT to boot from another drive first)

The image below if for a Phoenix bios and yours maybe a tad different but you should get the gist of it.

[blackpig]

Sorted - see thread Installing to hard drive

Can you provide a link to the thread.

The boot order in the bios is :-cdrom, floppy, hard drive usb and I can't alter it.

Its often changeable (moves drive up or down in the list) by selecting the item and pressing the +  or - keys. (or Shift and +/-)

Your boot time is slowed down having the boot order as it is coz your system first looks to boot from a CD, when it can't find it, it looks for the floppy and when it can't find that it goes to the HD....

For optimal boot speed it should be HD first and then the others (except when you WANT to boot from another drive first)

The image below if for a Phoenix bios and yours maybe a tad different but you should get the gist of it.

Link
            http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,75542.0.html
I agree that you can move the boot sequence but I'm loath to fiddle around as it's only a matter of seconds only.

Just timed it - 10 secs to show main drive boot and 30 secs to the login screen

[Old-Polack]

Sorted - see thread Installing to hard drive

Can you provide a link to the thread.

The boot order in the bios is :-cdrom, floppy, hard drive usb and I can't alter it.

Its often changeable (moves drive up or down in the list) by selecting the item and pressing the +  or - keys. (or Shift and +/-)

Your boot time is slowed down having the boot order as it is coz your system first looks to boot from a CD, when it can't find it, it looks for the floppy and when it can't find that it goes to the HD....

For optimal boot speed it should be HD first and then the others (except when you WANT to boot from another drive first)

The image below if for a Phoenix bios and yours maybe a tad different but you should get the gist of it.

Bad idea there. If one is to be able to use the liveCD, either to install or as a rescue disk, cdrom must come before the hard drive. If one wishes to boot from a USB device, when one is present, it also must be before the hard drive. Not everyone has a floppy drive these days, but if one has one, and uses it to boot rescue, or boot floppies, (I still do) it also must come before the hard drive. In other words, the hard drive is always the last device in the chain. Setting the hard drive first, to save a few seconds of boot time will come back to haunt one the first time one needs to boot to the liveCD, a liveUSB stick, or a USB hard drive. Any time saved in booting will more than be lost having to reset everything in BIOS repeatedly.

[blackpig]

I agree with old-polack- altering it caused me no end of problems, only sorted out when I re set to default

Seehttp://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,75542.msg622227.html#msg622227

[menotu]

Bad idea there. If one is to be able to use the liveCD, either to install or as a rescue disk

That's what I said:

For optimal boot speed it should be HD first and then the others (except when you WANT to boot from another drive first)

[blackpig]

I know I'm a newbie but isn't this going round in circles?
I installed PCLOS on an external HD instead of buying a laptop (I had an external 500GB HD lying around)
the idea being when I visit relatives (3or4times a year) I can work on my computer.
In order to boot my Ext. HD I have to go to boot menu anyway.

[Old-Polack]

Bad idea there. If one is to be able to use the liveCD, either to install or as a rescue disk

That's what I said:

For optimal boot speed it should be HD first and then the others (except when you WANT to boot from another drive first)

Which in real life is always. Removable media devices are always before fixed hard drives in the boot order chain. If no bootable removable media is present, the check for it is in milliseconds, before defaulting to the hard drive at the end of the chain. Only if it's found is there a major delay in getting to the hard drive, but then again, that's because it's booting to that removable media, instead of the hard drive.

As a matter of optimal efficiency, the hard drive should never be anything but last in the boot chain. It certainly should never be first.