Kieth Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 (edited) Well, because of my great talent, I somehow managed to mess up my boot loader. I'm writing this using my Mandrivia live disk. I use grub. Is there anyway to get to the boot loader file, to fix it, using this live disk (or doing it another way)? While writing this, I am downloading the Mandrivia One iso file, in case I have to use it. Thanks, Kieth Edited January 2, 2008 by Kieth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 What is the partition layout? Drives? What did you do? Of course it can be fixed by using the editor in a live disk. But more details would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieth Posted January 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Well, I'll see if I can explain what I did. I was trying to install the kernel source, via urpmi in terminal, and I ended up adding a source I didn't want. No problem, I took it off. I decided to boot into WXP, and I noticed in the "logout" box (in Mandrivia) that I had another option: alt_linux, along with my "normal" choices. In MCC, in the boot option, I deleted it. The other options were still present, listing my correct kernel as the linux boot option. Afterwards, I logged out, and choose the option to reboot into WXP. It booted OK. Then from WXP, I choose to option to reboot, to get back into Mandrivia. At the boot screen, there were my 2 chooses, WXP and Linux. Only, nothing happened, and I couldn't do anything. Everything was frozen. I could not even boot into WXP. I have 2 hard disks, 80 gigabit each. One has linux, the other has WXP and a 10gb fat partition. Now, with the live cd, opening konqueror with terminal (in root) I can get into the fat partition, but not the others. I'm told I do not have permission. Kieth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 When working with a live cd and performing repairs, you must become the root user. Root can do all, see all, be all. ;) Now, by details, please tell me the following: ide or sata? Which position is the windows drive? Linux drive? What are the partition placements? With this info, I can tell you exactly what to do in grub. (which will be located at /boot/grub/menu.lst) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieth Posted January 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 I see that I didn't explain myself well. I am in root, and the only partition I can mount is the fat one. I'm denied entrance into the others. Therefore, I cannot get to the menu.lst file. The system: ide Partitions: 10G (fat) , 36G, 41G, 71G I can't remember the other information. Kieth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 If you have the 3CD- or the DVD-version, you can try to boot the CD/DVD, go to rescue mode and reinstall the bootloader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Use any live CD, navigate to your installed Linux /boot/grub folder, and copypaste here the contents of menu.lst It's utterly unlikely you cannot enter there- unless you have borked the whole filesystem. Run (from the liveCD) gparted, and check your HD root partition. Does it find any errors? For that you can use the gparted liveCD- its a relatively small download. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffi Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 I see that I didn't explain myself well. I am in root, and the only partition I can mount is the fat one. I'm denied entrance into the others. Therefore, I cannot get to the menu.lst file. The system: ide Partitions: 10G (fat) , 36G, 41G, 71G I can't remember the other information. Kieth I think you are saying you are in the root partition? You have to become root, ie in a konsole type su and then your password now from the konsole you can start konqueror or kwrite with administrator priviledges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieth Posted January 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 OK, I finally resolved the problem. Strange though, as I was working with konqueror in root (from a konsol, I typed su, then the password, then konqueror), I was not allowed to enter into the linux or ntfs partitions, but only the fat one. This morning I "dummy loaded" Mandriva with my cd live disk. It changed the boot loader, but I still wasn't able to boot into either linux or WXP. I then just did a live update, which of course resolved everything. My biggest question is why couldn't I read all the partitions, even if I was root? Thanks for the replies/help. Kieth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffi Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 (edited) Ah maybe the partitions weren't mounted or you used the media:/ url (when you use the shortcuts in de media tab) which only works for the logged in user and not for other users using a console to log in.... Edited January 2, 2008 by ffi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kieth Posted January 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 I went to devices (the icon on the desktop), media:/, just like you said. That was the only way I was able to find the partitions/hard drives. Kieth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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