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Arch boot dilemma


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I use lilo.conf in Mandriva. When I installed arch I had it configure lilo.conf in /etc so I would see what it should look like. The problem is that arch uses sda8 for it's partition and mandriva won't recognize this because in mandriva it's hda8. I can't use hda8 cause that causes a kernel panic in Arch because it state "no file system, could not mount root". I'm kinda of stuck atm. I've tried googling but there doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there about arch.

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These are the cases a primary boot loader is needed.

You can move lilo in /dev/hda1 in Mandriva (instead of /dev/hda), install Arch's bootloader at its own /dev/sda8 and then install GaG ( gag.sourceforge.net )as a primary loader. It resides only in the MBR and nowhere else, so its completely independent of the existing OS'es, and can be installed/uninstalled in a snap.

To install grub at Arch, even if its not bootable ATM, boot from the installation CD with

arch root=/dev/sda8

and then

pacman -Sy grub (if you don't have it already)

grub-install /dev/sda8

 

You like the solution, or not? :D

Edited by scarecrow
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Ok, I don't know what went wrong so maybe you can help. I put all my lilo.conf on my / partition for that distro. Then I installed Gag from boot CD. It detected all my partitions as ext2 instead of reiser. I chose my / partition for each distro and gave it a name like it asked, then chose one of those awful icons. But then when I went to boot it failed with an error like it couldn't find that drive or something (sorry I should have written it down). I don't understand how it knows to look for lilo.conf since there's nothing in the configuration to point it at that file. So, what am I missing?

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This is what I do with multiple distros...

 

Let Mandriva have it's own bootloader, and Arch have it's own bootloader. Once goes on to the MBR, in this case mandriva. The other, then goes on that distro's / partition. To boot the other, you just pick it in the MBR one, which then starts up the second distro's bootloader. It's called chainloading, and actually pretty easy.

 

Below I assume the Arch partition is recognised as hda8 in Mandriva, and sda8 in Arch. It should just copy paste if i'm right.

 

Install the arch bootloader, lilo or grub (reccomend grub) to the start of the arch / partition, sda8. For lilo, change the boot= option to boot=/dev/sda8

 

Then restore the mandriva to default, on the mbr at /dev/hda, and then just add Arch to it so it can chainload. Go into the mandriva bootloader config or edit it by hand, to have it chainload /dev/hda8:

 

If you do it by hand, an example for grub is:

title Arch
rootnoverify (hd0,7)
makeactive
chainloader +1

 

or for lilo:

other=/dev/hda8
   label=Arch

 

msg me on irc if you have any problems.

 

James

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Howdy,

GaG just searches for the boot status of the above partitions, and loads grub/lilo respectively.

I suspect your hda1/sda8 have not been flagged bootable before installing the bootloaders.

use cfdisk to flag both bootable, reinstall both grub and lilo (just in case), and all should work.

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I tried what you suggested scarecrow and used cfdisk and made the partitions bootable but with the same results. Sector boot not found.

 

James I will give yours a try but first I need to see if I can finish arch's installation. I did a chroot into Arch and I have no network using dhcp which I set up by following the installation guide. I need to at least have a DE to boot into and I have to figure out a lot of things before I can boot into it. I'm sure I'll be back to pester you guys with lots of questions.

 

Thanks!

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