Usage of grub on primary partition stopping boot of logical partitions

[AS]

Hi dragynn,

Well since it seems the kernel issue has made it completely impossible to boot either one of two partitions, thus rendering them useless except maybe for storing some data or perhaps as a paperweight, under what circumstances would you finally resort to a re-install?

you can test keyboard at 3 different stage:
- at grub screen time it's working or not ? if not the problem is restricted to BIOS and/or grub.
- if yes, then if you boot at runlevel 3 (without X) keyboard is working ? if yes then the problem is probably related to xorg.conf
- at time of  DE, we actually know it's not working.

my 2 cents
AS

[Was_Just19]

Neither a mis-install of Grub or a kernel should warrant a reinstall of the OS.

regards.

Well since it seems the kernel issue has made it completely impossible to boot either one of two partitions, thus rendering them useless except maybe for storing some data or perhaps as a paperweight, under what circumstances would you finally resort to a re-install?

I do not understand this.
Installing a new kernel does not remove the old one, so if the older kernel worked before then it should still work.
The existing kernel cannot be removed until the newer kernel is booted ......  so if the newer one didn't boot, the older kernel should still be available .....  as you can see I am confused by what you report

[Dragynn]

Hi dragynn,

Well since it seems the kernel issue has made it completely impossible to boot either one of two partitions, thus rendering them useless except maybe for storing some data or perhaps as a paperweight, under what circumstances would you finally resort to a re-install?

you can test keyboard at 3 different stage:
- at grub screen time it's working or not ? if not the problem is restricted to BIOS and/or grub.
- if yes, then if you boot at runlevel 3 (without X) keyboard is working ? if yes then the problem is probably related to xorg.conf
- at time of  DE, we actually know it's not working.

my 2 cents
AS

Thanks AS, will do some digging into xorg. Grub screen works great, can boot into current install or winders just fine, but get stopped at log-in screen on the other two partitions with non-functional mouse and keyboard. Cursor frozen in one spot. Yet the actual line where you enter username, has the little blinking line like it's active and ready for you to enter the info, very strange, and since no keyboard or mouse, there's no way to make it shutdown or back out of that screen, only re-course is a hard re-boot.

[Was_Just19]

May I make a suggestion for now ?

If I understand correctly you can boot using an older kernel and somehow get to a working situation, although not ideal.

If that is the case, then install one of the later kernels and test it again.
Things have changed with the partition layout.
Installing a new kernel will allow it to build its initrd as things are at present, and thus may resolve the problem you met with previously.

If the kernel still shows a problem which cannot be over come then it can be uninstalled again.
Of course keep the older working kernel until you are very sure all is OK with the newer one (if at all).

Having just re-read the following, maybe I have the wrong impression of the state of things .....

I hope to be able to get in to the other partitions and re-install the old kernel while leaving things otherwise as they are, to further test whether they are the source of my trouble.

regards.

[Dragynn]

Having just re-read the following, maybe I have the wrong impression of the state of things .....

I hope to be able to get in to the other partitions and re-install the old kernel while leaving things otherwise as they are, to further test whether they are the source of my trouble.

regards.

I think maybe you might, I can boot sda3 with no problem (though it's twitchy when it's running sometimes), sda3 is running the 2.6.38.2 bfs kernel, sda3 grub is the grub in control and the default system to boot to.

What i'm wondering, since the problem seems to be past grub, and deep into the boot sequence of the other partitions where it freezes (both partitions are running 2.6.38.3 bfs) is if that's where the problem lies. And unfortunately, since I can't currently boot into either of those partitions, I can't get in to re-install the older kernel. And i'd really like to isolate the issue and find a fix, as in other respects the kernel is indeed faster, but with issues now with sound and ongoing issues with Nvidia drivers and the same kernels, it's getting way past my ability or desire to troubleshoot, that's why i'm thinking i'm just going to have to delete, re-install, and go back to a stable kernel. Haven't tried the 2.6.37's might have to give them a whirl, but i've already lost a lot of time and work messing with these new ones.

Of course keep the older working kernel until you are very sure all is OK with the newer one (if at all).

THAT is solid advice, that was my mistake.

[Was_Just19]

If you want to have a go at saving the installs, there are some posts by OP giving details how to rebuild the initrd image which may work ......  not something I am sufficiently familiar with to post advice on.

regards

[Dragynn]

If you want to have a go at saving the installs, there are some posts by OP giving details how to rebuild the initrd image which may work ......  not something I am sufficiently familiar with to post advice on.

regards

nah, nothing worth saving there. And I want to go back and re-build  a re-master with a stable kernel anyway.

More troubles with these kernels, Nvidia, and Zen-mini: http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,90433.0.html