Incredible frustration at Grub/linux!

[Anton Markov]

Hi,

Do you have a separate /boot partition?

GRUB uses the /boot/grub/menu.lst configuration file to build the boot 
menu.  Open the file with some text editor, and find the entry for your 
kernel.  It should look something like:

title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-24.9)
         root(hd0,5)
         kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-24.9 root=/dev/hda6
         initrd /initrd-2.4.20-24.9.img

make sure you are editting the right section for your current kernel. 
Actually, you should copy+paste the section and change the title (stuff 
in the "()") to something like "test" so if anything goes wrong you have 
your origional settings.

Next, change the root(hdx,x) entry so it points to the partition 
containing your kernel.  If you have a boot partition, then you probably 
don't need to change this (unless you are also trying to backup and test 
it), but otherwise it should point to your new root partition.  The 
first x is the IDE physical drive ID (0->hda; although there are some 
strange issues that may change these mappings).  The second x is the 
partition number.

Change the root= in the "kernel" line to your new root partition.  It is 
probably set to "LABEL=/" which will always point to your origional 
partition.  Try replacing it with the real device (/dev/hdxx).

Reboot and select the new entry at the prompt.

If you encounter any more problems, can you please attach your menu.lst 
file and the output of:
# /sbin/fdisk -l


I hope this helps.


Madison Kelly wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
>   I have been -trying- to setup a server with a '/' filesystem of 
> 'reiserfs' for later use under LVM and some HA software but I have been 
> absolutely unable to get past the starting gate and on top of feeling 
> flat out stupid I am also getting terribly frustrated.
> 
>   I want to do one, little simple thing - make a backup of '/' to 
> another drive/partition and then reboot using it. It seems that 
> absolutely no matter what I do, what file I edit or what I try to force 
> the system (Fedora Core 1) INSISTS on using the original '/' (in this 
> case '/dev/sda1'). I don't what the heck I am doing wrong but I am about 
> to blow a gasket. I have never been so fsck'ing mad at Linux before. Why 
> is it so damn hard to mount a different '/' partition?!
> 
>   Anyway, I am using Grub because it is the only boot loader available 
> on Fedora. I have tried reading the docs and am doing so again after 
> sending this to see if I missed something simple...
> 
>   Bah, if nothing else this is a rant that may help me cool down enough 
> to find my problem. Sorry for the noise.
> 
> Madison

-- 
Anton Markov <("anton" + "@" + "truxtar" + "." + "com")>

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