"Error 15: File not found" on booting

[Neumann]

Yes, to confirm, it was via SL menu re. "chainloader +1..." I thought that small difference was somewhat an indication the issue(s) was specific to SL menu creation and perhaps no deeper. (Aren't I naive?) Meanwhile, yes, a 'pure' Mandriva boot still works fine.

DOS fdisk results here:
Part Status Type Label Mbytes System Usage
1 Non-Dos 1,035 13%
2 A Non-Dos 18,763 100% (openSuse)
3 Ext DOS 12,143 100% (Mandriva)
4 Non-Dos 12,002 1 (truncated?) (Sabayon)

Backtrack fdisk:
Device Boot Start End Blocks ID System
/dev/hda1 1 132 1060258+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda2 * 133 2524 19213740 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 2525 4072 12434310 5 Extended
/dev/hda4 4073 5602 12289725 83 Linux
/dev/hda5 2525 4072 12434278+ 83 Linux

NOTE: Remember too, I still find Sabayon intact (appearing fully installed) through either openSuse or Mandriva's Dolphin file managers. -It's just that it won't boot.

Separately, one 'small' oddity I just noticed when touring via Suse/Mandriva Dolphins: The Sabayon's /boot includes another /boot alongside /grub, then that sub-/boot contains another /boot alongside another /grub, then that sub-/boot contains... (I only went down about 6 levels.) -Very weird! I don't think this happened the first install. And, I recall this happened w/ a Suse install once, and I simply deleted the 2nd level /boot and all was fine. (I think this may be a separate issue.)

[DontPanic]

Let's eliminate some easy stuff.

It's saying "File not found". I don't see where we've confirmed the files are there yet in this thread (I apologize if I missed it).

From one of your working installations (Mandriva or Suse), mount your Sabayon drive, and post the /boot directory contents:

Code: Select all

# ls -Fla <path-to-sabayon-partition>/boot/

[Neumann]

My linux box is not accessible 'til perhaps this evening. Meanwhile, I recall seeing files in the /boot folder that coincided w/ menu (grub.conf) file called. i.e. from earlier notes: "initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon" and "kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon"
-Are these what you are looking for? Also, recall this install worked just fine on a single drive by itself. (I think these issues are under multi-boot environments.)

[DontPanic]

"root (hd0,3)
Filesystem type is reiserfs, partition type 0x83
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda4 dolvm
init=/linuxrc splash=silent,theme:sabayon vga=791 console=tty1 quiet resume=swap:/dev/sda1 real_resume=/dev/sda1
[Linux-bz-Image, setup=0x3a00, size=0x4d0fd0]
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon
[Linux-initrd @ 0x37b04000, 0x4ebe5a bytes]
savedefault

Error 15: File not found

Press any key to continue"

Looking back at your third post in the thread, it does seem like grub is finding the kernel and initrd.

It might be worth while to try a simplified grub entry like:

Code: Select all

title Sabayon Simpler Boot (2.6.31-sabayon)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 \
        real_root=/dev/sda4 init=/linuxrc vga=791 console=tty1 verbose
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon


Leave off the "savedefault" default line for now.

[Neumann]

DontPanic,
So, that works, but let's break that down a little more instead of 'playing tag' so much.
New grub.conf, tested once, 'right down the line'...
-------------------BEG--------------------
title Sabayon Simpler Boot (2.6.31-sabayon) - Okay, it boots but break it down as below....
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 \ real_root=/dev/sda4 init=/linuxrc vga=791 console=tty1 verbose
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon
# savedefault

title Sabayon (with a backslash "\") (2.6.31-sabayon) ("Error 15: File not found" on booting)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 \ real_root=/dev/sda4 dolvm init=/linuxrc splash=silent,theme:sabayon vga=791 console=tty1 quiet resume=swap:/dev/sda1 real_resume=/dev/sda1
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon
savedefault

title Sabayon (w/out ",theme:sabayon") (2.6.31-sabayon) ("Error 15: File not found" on booting)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda4 dolvm init=/linuxrc splash=silent vga=791 console=tty1 quiet resume=swap:/dev/sda1 real_resume=/dev/sda1
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon
savedefault

title Sabayon (w/out swap i.e.: " resume=swap:/dev/sda1 real_resume=/dev/sda1") (2.6.31-sabayon) ("Error 15: File not found" on booting)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda4 dolvm init=/linuxrc splash=silent,theme:sabayon vga=791 console=tty1 quiet
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon
savedefault

title Sabayon (No "dolvm") (kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon) ("Error 15: File not found" on booting)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda4 init=/linuxrc splash=silent,theme:sabayon vga=791 console=tty1 quiet resume=swap:/dev/sda1 real_resume=/dev/sda1
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon
savedefault

title Sabayon (No double-space) (kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon) ("Error 15: File not found" on booting)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda4 dolvm init=/linuxrc splash=silent,theme:sabayon vga=791 console=tty1 quiet resume=swap:/dev/sda1 real_resume=/dev/sda1
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon
savedefault

title Sabayon (w/out "savedefault") (2.6.31-sabayon) - Works! (Boots just fine!)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda4 dolvm init=/linuxrc splash=silent,theme:sabayon vga=791 console=tty1 quiet resume=swap:/dev/sda1 real_resume=/dev/sda1
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.31-sabayon
# savedefault
...
-------------------END--------------------
I had actually tried modifying grub.conf entries to get it to boot -just never commented out 'savedefault' until now. -Go figure... Well, better late than never, as I was just about to pull the plug on this OS here.
It appears 'savedefault' is having some difficulties, probably hard-coded to look for a standard file/folder not created (or in same place) under the manual method. Are you one of the developers? Please remedy, of course. -I would have no idea...
Meanwhile, once booted, it appears as though most everything else is intact.
Although, remember a separate issue encountered during manual installation: The "Force to be a primary partition" checkbox option was not working properly -apparently instead always forcing a primary partition also when NOT checked.
Oh, and the /boot within /boot, within /boot, ... ? I just deleted the 2nd level /boot, but it may also be another issue for clean-up (?)

Please confirm fixes.
Thanks.
Al

[DontPanic]

The 'savedefault' keyword is supposed to save the selection as the default the next time you boot.

Here's some documentation on it:

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/savedefault.html

If grub has trouble finding a file named /boot/grub/default on the grub root partition, apparently its gives off this kind of error.

[Neumann]

Thanks for the confirmation -Apparently it's 'default' file is absent w/ a manually designed (assigned patititon) installation. I imagine we could make our own 'default' file and "limp along" from there...

Meanwhile add this and the other- (a) "Force to be a primary partition" checkbox, and (b) "/boot within /boot -issues, there's a lot of little "nuisance" issues we quickly encountered. i.e.: (c) Icons get re-shifted to upper, left of screen upon small changes to widgets, (d) Newly created icons just get piled on top of each other into the far upper, left corner of the screen, (e) When readjusted (reducing) icon size via settings, thse that were original icons are reduced but those we (right-click) copied from menu to desktop were not reduced. (We experienced none of these issues with other PSs like openSuse 11.2)
Now if these little issues are any sign, coupled with the deeper ones initially encountered, who knows what else... ?

We've looked into a lot of Linux OSs as a 'standard' for migrating from MS, not only openSuse and Mandriva. Sabayon's a nice concept- initially very attractive -but I think we'll need to go with openSuse as a 'standard' to start with -where we didn't experience any of these (or virtually any) issues. So, I believe this issue (all of these issues) are effectively closed for us here.

Thanks for all your input.
Al