Reinstalling windows in dual boot (SOLVED)

[P38Lightning]

I did run it as root.  I opened terminal, typed su, then the password, it switched to root localhost, and then I typed grub.

You didn't run grub as root.

[Old-Polack]

I did run it as root.  I opened terminal, typed su, then the password, it switched to root localhost, and then I typed grub.

You didn't run grub as root.

[polack@fatman ~]$ grub
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.


    GNU GRUB  version 0.97  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
   completions of a device/filename. ]
grub> find /boot/grub/stage2
find /boot/grub/stage2

Error 15: File not found
grub>

[root@fatman ~]# grub
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.


    GNU GRUB  version 0.97  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
   completions of a device/filename. ]
grub> find /boot/grub/stage2
find /boot/grub/stage2
 (hd0,0)
 (hd0,6)
 (hd0,7)
 (hd0,8)
 (hd0,12)
 (hd0,13)
 (hd0,14)
 (hd0,16)
 (hd1,0)
 (hd1,7)
 (hd2,0)
 (hd2,2)
 (hd2,4)
 (hd2,5)
 (hd2,6)
 (hd2,8)
 (hd2,9)
grub>

You are, again, telling a story, without any actual terminal output to back it up. Above is the difference between running grub as a normal user, and as root, on my installation. I should say installations, because it works the same on each of the installations indicated by the grub output above.

From the terminal, as root;

[root@localhost ~]# fsck -fy /dev/sda5               <Enter>

[root@localhost ~]# fsck -fy /dev/sda7               <Enter>

[root@localhost ~]# fsck -fy /dev/sda8               <Enter>

When that is finished;

[root@localhost ~]# grub                             <Enter>
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.


    GNU GRUB  version 0.97  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
   completions of a device/filename. ]
grub> find /boot/grub/stage2                     <Enter>

Post your results.

[P38Lightning]

Here is the command line output after I did your first step, and just before I hit enter after typing grub:

[root@localhost root]# fsck -fy /dev/sda5
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
/dev/sda5: 438540/999424 files (0.1% non-contiguous), 3432755/3994152 blocks
[root@localhost root]# fsck -fy /dev/sda7
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
/dev/sda7: 49/598016 files (2.0% non-contiguous), 78263/2389660 blocks
[root@localhost root]# fsck -fy /dev/sda8
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.18
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
/dev/sda8: 19392/4718592 files (0.7% non-contiguous), 1121446/18856285 blocks
[root@localhost root]# grub

Here is what I get after I hit enter and do the second step:

    GNU GRUB  version 0.97  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word,
 TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the
possible
   completions of a device/filename. ]

grub>
      find /boot/grub/stage2

Error 15: File not found

grub>

[P38Lightning]

Oh, if you can't find a fix for me that is alright, I will just do a clean install.  I am sorry that I am soo noobish, I am not trying to be obnoxious, I really am trying to do what you want.

[Old-Polack]

Oh, if you can't find a fix for me that is alright, I will just do a clean install.  I am sorry that I am soo noobish, I am not trying to be obnoxious, I really am trying to do what you want.

I believe you. 

It's just that with no commands used, and output shown, there's no way to know for sure what is going on, on a computer only you can see. I, or anyone else seeing this thread, can only see what you provide, and copy/paste directly from your terminal is still the next best thing to actually looking over your shoulder.

Assuming that /dev/sda5 is your installed / partition, do the following;

[root@localhost ~]# mkdir -p /mnt/here               <Enter>

[root@localhost ~]# mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/here                   <Enter>

[root@localhost ~]# ls -l /mnt/here/boot                    <Enter>

Post your results.

[P38Lightning]

Here it is typos and all:

[root@localhost root]# mkdir -p /mnt/here
[root@localhost root]# mount /dev/sda5 mnt/here
mount: mount point mnt/here does not exist
[root@localhost root]# mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/here
[root@localhost root]# ls -l /mnt/here/boot
total 0
[root@localhost root]#

[Old-Polack]

Here it is typos and all:

[root@localhost root]# mkdir -p /mnt/here
[root@localhost root]# mount /dev/sda5 mnt/here
mount: mount point mnt/here does not exist
[root@localhost root]# mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/here
[root@localhost root]# ls -l /mnt/here/boot
total 0
[root@localhost root]#

Well, if there is nothing in /boot, maybe this isn't the / partition. Let's see what is there.

[root@localhost ~]# ls -l /mnt/here                    <Enter>

Post your results.

[P38Lightning]

here are the results:

[guest@localhost guest]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost ~]# ls -l /mnt/here
ls: cannot access /mnt/here: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]# mkdir -p /mnt/here
[root@localhost ~]# mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/here
[root@localhost ~]# ls -l /mnt/here/boot
total 0
[root@localhost ~]# ls -l /mnt/here
total 256
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 May  3 06:02 bin/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:45 boot/
drwxr-xr-x  35 root root 139264 Jan 11 06:45 dev/
drwxr-xr-x 166 root root  12288 May 25 01:07 etc/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:45 home/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 14:24 initrd/
drwxr-xr-x  17 root root  12288 May  3 06:01 lib/
drwx------   2 root root  16384 Jan 11 06:45 lost+found/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 May 25 01:04 media/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:45 mnt/
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   3590 May 13 17:29 Module.symvers
-rw-r--r--   1 root root      0 Jan 11 07:07 null
drwxr-xr-x  14 root root   4096 May 13 17:27 opt/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:45 proc/
drwxr-xr-x  39 root root   4096 May 25 01:05 root/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  12288 May  3 06:01 sbin/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jul 12  2010 srv/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Feb 22  2010 swap/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:45 sys/
drwxrwxrwt  31 root root   4096 May 25 01:07 tmp/
drwxr-xr-x  18 root root   4096 Apr  3 02:40 usr/
drwxr-xr-x  20 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:24 var/

[Old-Polack]

here are the results:

[guest@localhost guest]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost ~]# ls -l /mnt/here
ls: cannot access /mnt/here: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]# mkdir -p /mnt/here
[root@localhost ~]# mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/here
[root@localhost ~]# ls -l /mnt/here/boot
total 0
[root@localhost ~]# ls -l /mnt/here
total 256
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 May  3 06:02 bin/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:45 boot/
drwxr-xr-x  35 root root 139264 Jan 11 06:45 dev/
drwxr-xr-x 166 root root  12288 May 25 01:07 etc/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:45 home/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 14:24 initrd/
drwxr-xr-x  17 root root  12288 May  3 06:01 lib/
drwx------   2 root root  16384 Jan 11 06:45 lost+found/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 May 25 01:04 media/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:45 mnt/
-rw-r--r--   1 root root   3590 May 13 17:29 Module.symvers
-rw-r--r--   1 root root      0 Jan 11 07:07 null
drwxr-xr-x  14 root root   4096 May 13 17:27 opt/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:45 proc/
drwxr-xr-x  39 root root   4096 May 25 01:05 root/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  12288 May  3 06:01 sbin/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jul 12  2010 srv/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Feb 22  2010 swap/
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:45 sys/
drwxrwxrwt  31 root root   4096 May 25 01:07 tmp/
drwxr-xr-x  18 root root   4096 Apr  3 02:40 usr/
drwxr-xr-x  20 root root   4096 Jan 11 06:24 var/

Lovely! Did you by chance have a boot partition before? Is it one of the other two Linux partitions? Try this;

[root@localhost ~]# grub               <Enter>
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.


    GNU GRUB  version 0.97  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
   completions of a device/filename. ]
grub> find /grub/stage2            <Enter>

Note the absence of /boot in the above command.

Post your results.

[P38Lightning]

grub>
      find /grub/stage2
 (hd0,6)

[Old-Polack]

grub>
      find /grub/stage2
 (hd0,6)

Follow that with;

grub> root (hd0,6)                              <Enter>

... then;

grub> setup (hd0)                              <Enter>

... and when completed, as shown in the other thread;

grub> quit                              <Enter>

... which should get you back to the root prompt.

[root@localhost ~]#

At which point you should reboot to see if you can now log into your PCLinuxOS installation.

Post your results.

[P38Lightning]

It is fixed, thank you.

[Old-Polack]

It is fixed, thank you.

From my machine;

grub> find /grub/stage2
find /grub/stage2
 (hd0,0)
 (hd1,0)
 (hd2,0)

I have a boot partition on each hard drive, that holds the master grub for that particular drive. None of them ever gets mounted, except when I want to add a stanza to its menu.lst.

Is your boot partition mounted anywhere?

From the running installed system, again in a terminal as root;

[root@localhost ~]# mount |grep sda                      <Enter>

Post your results.

At this point, I'm just curious as to why you have a boot partition, and why it's ~9 GB in size? That's a lot of waste space, if there's no need for a separate boot partition. Mine range from 100 MB, on a 750 GB drive, to 1 GB on a 2 TB drive, and I have multiple Linux installations on each drive.

With only one Linux installation, and the drive space fully partitioned on your machine, it seems an unnecessary waste of a good partition that could find better use as a data partition. If you are interested, it's rather simple to move what is on that partition directly into the /boot directory on the / partition, thus leaving the partition free for better, more efficient, use.

[P38Lightning]

It is that big because I wasn't sure how large it needed to be.  Do you suppose that it is a re-sizable thing?
(I'll get you the command line output later, I am on the windows side of the disk right now.)

[Old-Polack]

It is that big because I wasn't sure how large it needed to be.  Do you suppose that it is a re-sizable thing?
(I'll get you the command line output later, I am on the windows side of the disk right now.)

Unless you have multiple Linux installations, there's not much need for a boot partition. If you just want one in which to keep a backup set of multiple kernel/initrd images, 100-200 MB should be more than enough.

With 4 kernels/initrd images, and everything else, the total space used is only 17.9 MB, in a 100 MB boot partition, on my smallest drive.