PCLinuxOS doesn't boot after last update (dualbooting with w7 using EasyBCD)

[Just17]

The only thing I noticed about the menu.lst is that you have the last entry selected as default and not the first, as expected.

The only further suggestion I have for you is consider changing to the default grub bootloader .....  it is after all what EasyBCD is calling anyway ...

regards.

I installed the pae kernel and set it as default. I thought I have to do this, otherwise I would boot the original kernel which ships with the PCLOS 2011.6.
How can I change this?

thanks, nixus

The newly installed kernel is automatically set as the 'generic' default ....  the first boot stanza.
The only case where I have seen this not to happen is where the menu.lst file has been edited.

So if you check, by booting the first entry, to see which kernel is in use .....  uname -r ....  that should clarify matters.

I am somewhat worried about this. So you would suggest to use grub instead of EasyBCD and install it over the win boot loader? How could I do that without reinstalling PCLOS? Just using the LiveCD?

Presently you are using both EasyBCD AND Grub ....  EasyBCD is calling Grub ..... so it is more a matter of trimming things - and not use EasyBCD - as Grub is quite capable of managing your booting without EasyBCD being involved.

There is no need to reinstall an OS just to re/install Grub.

Boot into PCLOS and follow the instructions in the post o-p linked to ....  making changes dependent on the results of the commands used.

regards

[nixus]

The newly installed kernel is automatically set as the 'generic' default ....  the first boot stanza.
The only case where I have seen this not to happen is where the menu.lst file has been edited.

So if you check, by booting the first entry, to see which kernel is in use .....  uname -r ....  that should clarify matters.

I checked and the pae kernel is set as the 'generic' default

great, thanks a lot for your great support,
nixus

[nixus]

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,62786.msg508062.html#msg508062

Many thanks! I will definitely try this,
nixus

[nixus]

Unfortunately I get this:

Code: [Select]

grub> find /boot/grub/stage2

Error 15: File not found
I checked the boot directory and the stage2 file is there. Did I miss something?

regards,
nixus

[johnmart]

Hi Nixus,
Excuse me for popping in here.
Are you trying that using a live cd? According to O-P's link you have to be running from a live session.
Otherwise you could try PC>More Applications>Configuration>Redo MBR

But,,,,,following O-P's advice is a great way to learn cli from a master. 

[Old-Polack]

Hi Nixus,
Excuse me for popping in here.
Are you trying that using a live cd? According to O-P's link you have to be running from a live session.
Otherwise you could try PC>More Applications>Configuration>Redo MBR

But,,,,,following O-P's advice is a great way to learn cli from a master.  

Any running system that uses legacy grub should work. It could be either an installed system or liveCD session. From my machine, as I type this;

 grub> find /boot/grub/stage2
 (hd0,0)
 (hd0,6)
 (hd0,7)
 (hd0,8)
 (hd0,12)
 (hd0,13)
 (hd0,14)
 (hd0,15)
 (hd0,16)
 (hd1,0)
 (hd1,7)

nixus:

Do you by chance have a separate boot partition? If so try this;

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

My boot partitions show up with the first command, also, because I created a link named boot there, pointing to the root directory of that partition;

[root@fatman ~]# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot
[root@fatman ~]# ls -l /mnt/boot |grep boot
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root       1 Dec 26  2008 boot -> ./

Without the link, only the second command would work to reveal the presence of grub on the boot partitions.

[ElCuervo]

Unfortunately I get this:

Code: [Select]

grub> find /boot/grub/stage2

Error 15: File not found
I checked the boot directory and the stage2 file is there. Did I miss something?

regards,
nixus

Must enter grub as root (su, password).

[Old-Polack]

Unfortunately I get this:

Code: [Select]

grub> find /boot/grub/stage2

Error 15: File not found
I checked the boot directory and the stage2 file is there. Did I miss something?

regards,
nixus

Must enter grub as root (su, password).

Good point. When I wrote that, I threw a generic [prompt]$ to indicate it was not just a PCLinuxOS only liveCD prompt. I should have at least used the # to indicate a root prompt. Being as it is an often quoted post here, I've now made the proper changes, so there's no doubt as to the need to be root.

Funny, in all that time since it was written (September 28, 2009) this is the first time I've seen the "need to be root" question brought up. I thank you, ElCuervo, for bringing the matter to my attention, so I could make the proper corrections.

[Just17]

I think it must depend on the group membership of the user, whether root permission is needed or not .....  I have not needed to be root for a long time to use Grub in this manner.

[Old-Polack]

I think it must depend on the group membership of the user, whether root permission is needed or not .....  I have not needed to be root for a long time to use Grub in this manner.

You may also have a point there. On a couple of my installations I've made myself a member of the root group to be able to edit certain files owned by root:root, where I've also given that group write permission for those specific files. I don't recall ever doing that with grub, but it's possible it could have some effect. I would think that one would still have to be running as root to do the actual setup stage successfully, as one is writing to the disk in a completely restricted area.

Is it possible you have set up sudo, and aliased grub to sudo grub?

As my normal user, on this installation, I can start grub, but get the same file not found error when entering the command find /boot/grub/stage2.

[Just17]

No ....  no sudo set up for Grub and not a member of the root group correction ...  yes a member of the root group .......  but some time ago I tried to make sense of what each group allows the user to do and decided that (IMO) it was a complete mess and just didn't make any sense ......  overlapping permisisons for some commands and others that were related needing a second group membership .....  I gave up in frustration  

I have no problem installing Grub either .....  maybe check if the 'disk' group membership affects it ....

Code: [Select]

[user@AMD ~]$ groups
user root disk lp floppy cdrom usb cdwriter audio video dialout users mythtv usbmux lpadmin pulse-access mysql polkituser avahi vboxusers
[user@AMD ~]$
EDIT
         I recall that the different versions of PCLOS also had different 'permissions'/groups by default

[Old-Polack]

No ....  no sudo set up for Grub and not a member of the root group correction ...  yes a member of the root group .......  but some time ago I tried to make sense of what each group allows the user to do and decided that (IMO) it was a complete mess and just didn't make any sense ......  overlapping permisisons for some commands and others that were related needing a second group membership .....  I gave up in frustration  

I have no problem installing Grub either .....  maybe check if the 'disk' group membership affects it ....

Code: [Select]

[user@AMD ~]$ groups
user root disk lp floppy cdrom usb cdwriter audio video dialout users mythtv usbmux lpadmin pulse-access mysql polkituser avahi vboxusers
[user@AMD ~]$

Added myself to the disk group, and now get the following from grub, after logging out and back in as the normal user;

[polack@fatman ~]$ grub

    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
 (hd0,0)
 (hd0,6)
 (hd0,7)
 (hd0,8)
 (hd0,12)
 (hd0,13)
 (hd0,14)
 (hd0,15)
 (hd0,16)
 (hd1,0)
 (hd1,7)

grub> root (hd0,0)
 Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

grub> setup (hd0)
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
 Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"...  17 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
 Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+17 p (hd0,0)/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.

grub> quit

[polack@fatman ~]$

It would seem that root, by adding one to the disk group, allows those group members to run grub in his stead.

[nixus]

In my case # of course ;-)

now I get this:

Code: [Select]

grub> find /boot/grub/stage2
 (hd0,4)
and yes I have a separate boot partition sda1 which I suppose is h0,0.

Would it be correct to do the following. Please check, just to be on the save side :-)

grub> find /boot/grub/stage2                          <Enter>
 (hd0,4)

grub> root (hd0,4)                             <Enter>
 Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

grub> setup (hd0)                         <Enter>
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
 Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"...  15 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
 Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+15 p (hd0,4)/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.

grub> quit                                     < Enter>

[root@localhost ~]#

regards,
nixus

[Old-Polack]

In my case # of course ;-)

now I get this:

Code: [Select]

grub> find /boot/grub/stage2
 (hd0,4)
and yes I have a separate boot partition sda1 which I suppose is h0,0.

Would it be correct to do the following. Please check, just to be on the save side :-)

grub> find /boot/grub/stage2                          <Enter>
 (hd0,4)                                   <-- Yours will vary depending on where Linux is installed. Use your results for next command.

grub> root (hd0,4)                             <Enter>
 Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

grub> setup (hd0)                         <Enter>
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
 Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
 Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"...  15 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
 Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+15 p (hd0,4)/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.

grub> quit                                     < Enter>

[root@localhost ~]#

regards,
nixus

That would be the correct procedure if you want the grub on (hd0,4) to be the master grub. If you want the one on (hd0,0) to be the master grub, which is what most people with a boot partition want, you would use that as your root; ie    root (hd0,0)

Did you try;

grub> find /grub/stage2

to see  if the grub on (hd0,0) is recognized?

[Just17]

It would seem that root, by adding one to the disk group, allows those group members to run grub in his stead.

Other commands also may be affected ....  fdisk and such, maybe.

I had been trying to figure out how to give a normal user complete control of a removable media device ....  on the basis that if a user can insert it physically then user ownership of the device could be assumed ......  while at the same time preventing a normal user from having similar control over fixed devices.

Essentially I wanted a user to be able to use fdisk completely on a USB disk, while preventing that user from using fdisk on a fixed drive. Similar to apply to other commands.

There did not appear to be sufficient separation of fixed and removable drives and the permissions applied to the various commands to allow it.
Seemed to be some legacy schemes preventing what I wanted to achieve.

In its simplest form I wanted a user to be able to completely wipe a USB flash drive, using any and all commands which might require root privilegs on a fixed disk, and use other commands to rebuild the flash disk.

I got totally confused with the number of groups that seemed to be in play .....
root
disk
floppy
usb
usbmux
users
audio
video
cdrom
cdwriter
fuse (maybe)

It would be extremely helpful to see a table of each of the groups displaying the powers bestowed on their members. Those powers apparently change with distro ...  and maybe for other reasons too ..

Adding another group to the list would, IMO, only complicate things even more ......  but I suppose it would get the desired result as outlined above.

Sorry for taking this OT ..... it is a subject that needs its own thread methinks .....  

regards