New install triple boot Grub problem

[gandy]

I searched but didn't find any answers.

My friend's computer is running WinXP and PCLinuxOS 2009.2. I installed a third hard drive(SCSI) and partitioned it with the 2011.6 LiveCD and ran the install. Everything went well but when I rebooted the old Grub menu came up with no entry for the new OS. Anyone know what happened? I've tried to redo the MBR with no luck.   

[Old-Polack]

I searched but didn't find any answers.

My friend's computer is running WinXP and PCLinuxOS 2009.2. I installed a third hard drive(SCSI) and partitioned it with the 2011.6 LiveCD and ran the install. Everything went well but when I rebooted the old Grub menu came up with no entry for the new OS. Anyone know what happened? I've tried to redo the MBR with no luck.   

How would we, with so little information? I would hazard a guess (but only a guess) that you installed the newest grub to the newest hard drive, but left the older drive as the boot drive. You could also have installed grub to the / partition of the newest installation, rather than the MBR of that drive, or not have installed grub at all.

As stated, those are just guesses based on the most common user errors when installing multiple OS on the same machine. There could also be other reasons that are not so common, but we'd need much more information to even have a clue as to what they might be.

[gandy]

Sorry for the lack of info. I'm not at that computer now.
I basically just installed and accepted the default choice offered by the bootloader installer. I thought it knew where it was. Should I be overwriting the Windows MBR? 

[Old-Polack]

Sorry for the lack of info. I'm not at that computer now.
I basically just installed and accepted the default choice offered by the bootloader installer. I thought it knew where it was. Should I be overwriting the Windows MBR? 

Grub has no idea where it is, or will be, unless you tell it. Once you decide where you want it, you have to know enough about how your computer works to be sure your BIOS communicates with grub properly, as in defining which hard drive will be the boot drive.

I personally wouldn't overwrite the Windows drive MBR, as it's unnecessary and dangerous to grub. I would tell BIOS to use the new grub, if it's installed on the newest hard drive's MBR, by designating that drive as the boot drive, or I would add a new stanza to the older grub's menu.lst to boot the new system from there. Once you choose to multi boot your system, it's up to you to tell the system how you want it to work.

[gandy]

Thanks O-P. I think I'll try changing the boot drive in the BIOS, tomorrow.

[gandy]

OK, I worked on that machine yesterday. I lost the internet yesterday also.

I looked in the BIOS to see if I could change the boot order but there was no way.
I tried to use Redo MBR and it gave me two choices, the old Linux install and the new one. Previously I had selected the old Linux install so this time I chose the new install. Reboot, still no entry for the new install and still the old grub screen.

So, I went through the install again. This time when I got to the grub installer I clicked the dropdown to see what the choices were.

This is what I got for choices
/dev/sda (followed by the name of the drive)
/dev/sdb                 "
/dev/sdc                 "
/dev/sda1
/dev/sda5
/dev/sda6
/dev/sdc1
/dev/sdc5
/dev/sdc6

I believe the default choice was the first one.

XP is installed on sdb
PCLinuxOS 2009.2 is on sda
PCLinux is installed on sdc

I know it's probably not enough info but it's a start. I've never had a problem like this before so it's a new one for me. I just did this very thing on my machine a few months ago and everything just worked. My machine is identical to their machine. Of course, I don't have Windows installed on mine.

This may take a few days to get worked out because, unlike me, these people have a life and I have to work out a time to get over there. Luckily they live two houses down the block. They lost internet yesterday also. At least it's back now.

[Old-Polack]

gandy:

How old is the machine in question? Every machine I've seen since 2003 has a choice in BIOS for hard drive boot order. I have a 2002 Compaq that does not allow other than the first hard drive in the chain to be the boot drive, but that machine has no SATA controllers, only IDE/PATA. Are your drives IDE/PATA or SATA?

[gandy]

The machine is an IBM Intellistation ZPro. The drives are SCSI. I can see the boot priority in the BIOS but can't change anything.

[Old-Polack]

The machine is an IBM Intellistation ZPro. The drives are SCSI. I can see the boot priority in the BIOS but can't change anything.

Look under Advanced settings in BIOS.

[gandy]

You're correct O-P I found how to change the boot order. I'll play with that next chance I get.