I am trying to make a CDROM Grub boot disc so that I can boot my system
if the MBR is overwritten or the default partition is removed.

I made an eltorito CD with stage2_eltorito and my menu.lst file in the
CD's /boot/grub using the instructions in the manual at
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...ble-CD_002dROM

The CD boots and the blue menu is displayed, but none of the menu items
will boot anything. These are the messages on the screen:

Booting 'Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-3-686'

root (hd0,5)
Filesystem type is extfs, partition type 0x83
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-686 root=/dev/hda6 ro
[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x1e00, size=0x131990]
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-3-686
[Linux-initrd @ 0xfb37000, 0x4a8421 bytes]
savedefault

Error 15: File not found

Press any key to continue...


Pressing a key returns me to the menu. Trying again always results in

Booting 'Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-3-686'

Error 25: Disk read error

Press any key to continue...


Can anyone please suggest why Grub does not boot the system?

--
Chris.


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On Fri February 23 2007 08:55, Chris Lale wrote:
> I am trying to make a CDROM Grub boot disc so that I can boot my system
> if the MBR is overwritten or the default partition is removed.
>
> I made an eltorito CD with stage2_eltorito and my menu.lst file in the
> CD's /boot/grub using the instructions in the manual at
> http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...UB-bootable-CD
>_002dROM.html#Making-a-GRUB-bootable-CD_002dROM
>
> The CD boots and the blue menu is displayed, but none of the menu items
> will boot anything. These are the messages on the screen:
>
> Booting 'Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-3-686'
>
> root (hd0,5)
> Filesystem type is extfs, partition type 0x83
> kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-686 root=/dev/hda6 ro
> [Linux-bzImage, setup=0x1e00, size=0x131990]
> initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-3-686
> [Linux-initrd @ 0xfb37000, 0x4a8421 bytes]
> savedefault
>
> Error 15: File not found
>
> Press any key to continue...
>
>
> Pressing a key returns me to the menu. Trying again always results in
>
> Booting 'Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-3-686'
>
> Error 25: Disk read error
>
> Press any key to continue...
>
>
> Can anyone please suggest why Grub does not boot the system?

I can't see anything wrong with the above.. but the latest etch install disks
do have a rescue mode so you can boot that way if need be.


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On Fri, Feb 23, 2007 at 04:55:14PM +0000, Chris Lale wrote:
> I am trying to make a CDROM Grub boot disc so that I can boot my system
> if the MBR is overwritten or the default partition is removed.
>
> I made an eltorito CD with stage2_eltorito and my menu.lst file in the
> CD's /boot/grub using the instructions in the manual at
> http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...ble-CD_002dROM
>
> The CD boots and the blue menu is displayed, but none of the menu items
> will boot anything. These are the messages on the screen:
>
> Booting 'Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-3-686'
>
> root (hd0,5)
> Filesystem type is extfs, partition type 0x83
> kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-686 root=/dev/hda6 ro
> [Linux-bzImage, setup=0x1e00, size=0x131990]
> initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-3-686
> [Linux-initrd @ 0xfb37000, 0x4a8421 bytes]
> savedefault
>
> Error 15: File not found
>
> Press any key to continue...

so grub cannot find the file, probably the kernel. have you tried the
grub command line? maybe you've got the disks misnamed or something.

A

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Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 23, 2007 at 04:55:14PM +0000, Chris Lale wrote:
>
>> [...]
>>
>> Error 15: File not found
>>
>> Press any key to continue...
>>
>
> so grub cannot find the file, probably the kernel. have you tried the
> grub command line? maybe you've got the disks misnamed or something.
>
>

I narrowed the problem down to menu.lst. Thanks, Andrew, for suggesting
the command line which worked fine, after booting from the Grub boot CD,
despite reporting an error for the "savedefault" command:

grub> savedefault
Error 27: Unrecognised command

This error does not arise when I boot and use the command line from a
Grub boot floppy. I am guessing that this error is something to do with
the CD being read-only.

My solution is to remove all the "savedefault" commands from the copy of
menu.lst on the CD. I have documented the whole process here:
http://newbiedoc.berlios.de/wiki/How...U/Linux_system

Thanks to Alan and Andrew.

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Chris.


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On Mon, Feb 26, 2007 at 01:42:12PM +0000, Chris Lale wrote:
> Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> >On Fri, Feb 23, 2007 at 04:55:14PM +0000, Chris Lale wrote:
> >
> >>[...]
> >>
> >> Error 15: File not found
> >>
> >> Press any key to continue...
> >>
> >
> >so grub cannot find the file, probably the kernel. have you tried the
> >grub command line? maybe you've got the disks misnamed or something.
> >
> >
>
> I narrowed the problem down to menu.lst. Thanks, Andrew, for suggesting
> the command line which worked fine, after booting from the Grub boot CD,
> despite reporting an error for the "savedefault" command:
>
> grub> savedefault
> Error 27: Unrecognised command

I *think* the savedefault command saves to the boot record, which,
obviously, can't be done on a cd. That's just a guess though.

glad you got it sorted.

A

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Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 26, 2007 at 01:42:12PM +0000, Chris Lale wrote:
>> Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
>>> On Fri, Feb 23, 2007 at 04:55:14PM +0000, Chris Lale wrote:
>>>
>>>> [...]
>>>>
>>>> Error 15: File not found
>>>>
>>>> Press any key to continue...
>>>>
>>> so grub cannot find the file, probably the kernel. have you tried the
>>> grub command line? maybe you've got the disks misnamed or something.
>>>
>>>
>> I narrowed the problem down to menu.lst. Thanks, Andrew, for suggesting
>> the command line which worked fine, after booting from the Grub boot CD,
>> despite reporting an error for the "savedefault" command:
>>
>> grub> savedefault
>> Error 27: Unrecognised command
>
> I *think* the savedefault command saves to the boot record, which,
> obviously, can't be done on a cd. That's just a guess though.
>
> glad you got it sorted.
>
> A

Followed the wiki, removed the savedefault command from menu.lst and
still got:

Error 25: Disk Read Error

Hugo


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