This section lists some of the problems frequently encountered when booting
with GRUB and a short description of possible solutions. Some of the
problems are covered in articles in the Support Database at https://portal.suse.de/sdb/en/index.html. If your specific problem
is not included in this list, use the search dialog of the Support Database
at https://portal.suse.com/PM/page/search.pm to search for
keywords like GRUB, boot, and
boot loader.
- GRUB and XFS
-
XFS leaves no room for stage1 in the partition boot
block. Therefore, do not specify an XFS partition as the location of the
boot loader. This problem can be solved by creating a separate boot
partition that is not formatted with XFS.
- GRUB and JFS
-
Although technically possible, the combination of GRUB with JFS is
problematic. In this case, create a separate boot partition
(/boot) and format it with Ext2. Install GRUB in
this partition.
- GRUB Reports GRUB Geom Error
-
GRUB checks the geometry of connected hard disks when the system is
booted. Sometimes, the BIOS returns inconsistent information and GRUB
reports a GRUB Geom Error. If this is the case, use LILO or update the
BIOS. Detailed information about the installation, configuration, and
maintenance of LILO is available in the Support Database under the
keyword LILO.
GRUB also returns this error message if Linux was installed on an
additional hard disk that is not registered in the BIOS.
stage1 of the boot loader is found and loaded
correctly, but stage2 is not found. This problem can
be remedied by registering the new hard disk in the BIOS.
- System Containing IDE and SCSI Hard Disks Does Not Boot
-
During the installation, YaST may have incorrectly determined the boot
sequence of the hard disks. For example, GRUB may regard
/dev/hda as hd0 and
/dev/sda as hd1, although the
boot sequence in the BIOS is reversed (SCSI before
IDE).
In this case, correct the hard disks during the boot process with the
help of the GRUB command line. After the system has booted, edit
device.map to apply the new mapping permanently.
Then check the GRUB device names in the files
/boot/grub/menu.lst and
/boot/grub/device.map and reinstall the boot loader
with the following command:
grub --batch < /etc/grub.conf
- Booting Windows from the Second Hard Disk
-
Some operating systems, such as Windows, can only boot from the first
hard disk. If such an operating system is installed on a hard disk other
than the first hard disk, you can effect a logical change for the
respective menu entry.
...
title windows
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader(hd1,0)+1
...
In this example, Windows is started from the second hard disk. For this
purpose, the logical order of the hard disks is changed with
map. This change does not affect the logic within the
GRUB menu file. Therefore, the second hard disk must be specified for
chainloader.