Linux No Grub menu after installing Arch in dual boot system! help!!

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halo_3

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background info on my drives and partitions:

1 drive, 4 partitions

sda1 (c: drive in windows), ntfs, data drive (primary)

sda2 (d: drive in windows), ntfs, windows drive (primary)

sda3, ext3, installed arch on this drive (primary)

sda4, swap drive (extended)

sda5, ext3, linux data drive (extended)

Windows xp was already installed and I am following the beginners install guide and uncommented the default statements in grub.lst and pointed windows loader to hd(0,2).

According to the arch wiki guide for dual-boot installations, I should install grub to boot partition or root partition if there is no boot so I installed grub to sda3.

Now on restarting, I only find the default windows menu and there is no grub. what do I do? Please help me!!
 
u need to mark that partition as active.

OR install grub to the Primary partition..i.e. the windows partition..
 
I don't think marking the partition active would make much difference since the MFT still has windows boot record installed. You will need to reinstall grub from a livecd and you cannot install grub to a windows partition ;)

^^ I think you may be confusing drives with partitions :D

pm me and I will try and help you fix the problem :) (Just keep in mind I am in California... so if you are in India there will be a time lag difference)
 
^^ Actually I have no idea why I said mft... I was actually think MBR when I wrote that :P
@halo_3 if you need to.... this will reinstall grub

Boot to livecd and open a terminal window and make sure you are root then type

grub
root /dev/sda3 -or you may have to do it like this- root (hd0,2)

then as previously mentioned to install it to mbr keep the terminal window open and type

grub-install /dev/sda
 
PiXeLpUsHeR said:
Boot to livecd and open a terminal window and make sure you are root then type

grub

root /dev/sda3 -or you may have to do it like this- root (hd0,2)

then as previously mentioned to install it to mbr keep the terminal window open and type

grub-install /dev/sda
Click to expand...

I tried that but it did not work!! Here is what I did:

1. logged into root through the live cd

2. type grub to enter grub console

3. typed root (hd0,2)

Output was "Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83"

4. typed grub-install /dev/sda

Output was "Error 27: Unrecognized command"

Please tell me what to do!! Thx!

edit: I also tried grub-install hd0 and grub-install /dev/hd0 but I get the same error :(
 
grub-install is a shell command, and is not to be typed in the grub prompt. Use that instead of typing "grub", but first make sure that the entries in /boot/grub/menu.lst are correct.
 
I think that this has dsomething to do with ext3 file system and grub... they seem to be a little buggy when working together. Here I found this confirmation here.

There are some “interesting” issues being raised due to an incompatibility between e2fsprogs and GRUB legacy that results in non-booting systems. Newer versions of e2fsprogs default to creating new Ext3 filesystems with 256-byte sized inodes, instead of the old default of 128. GRUB legacy has absolutely no clue what to do with 256-byte inodes, so it barfs up the “Error 2: unknown file or directory type” message and sits back down. GRUB legacy will not be patched to support 256-byte inodes. Yay! But this is a transitional problem; read all about it here:
Click to expand...
 
Solved the issue with the help of trusty google lol

I booted using the livecd and logged in as root.
Typed find /boot/grub/stage1 which returned result as (hd0,2)
Then I typed root (hd0,2)
after that, the final step was setup (hd0) which wrote grub to the appropriate mbr.
Rebooted and now I have grub!

thanks to all who helped! :clap:
 
halo_3 said:
Solved the issue with the help of trusty google lol

I booted using the livecd and logged in as root.

Typed find /boot/grub/stage1 which returned result as (hd0,2)

Then I typed root (hd0,2)

after that, the final step was setup (hd0) which wrote grub to the appropriate mbr.

Rebooted and now I have grub!

thanks to all who helped! :clap:
Click to expand...

I think I must be smoking some of that California Medicinal Herb or something... cause this is the second time this week I have not completed something I intended as help.

setup (hd0)

should have been the last sentence I posted on my reinstall grub info....

So sorry I somehow missed it :'(
 
halo_3 said:
Solved the issue with the help of trusty google lol

I booted using the livecd and logged in as root.

Typed find /boot/grub/stage1 which returned result as (hd0,2)

Then I typed root (hd0,2)

after that, the final step was setup (hd0) which wrote grub to the appropriate mbr.

Rebooted and now I have grub!

thanks to all who helped! :clap:
Click to expand...

You are confused man ! You only restore the grub and you are asking for installing it.. If you can log in to the grub prompt its already installed :P

Please be clear before asking help :P
 
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