GRUB not installing

[oleerik]

I've decided to try sabayon and i love the live cd part!

After installing sabayon, it rebooted and windows started.

I have done the resurrection of grub a lot of times, and tried to install grub on all possible hds, even floppy, but it seems like it didnt write anything to the floppy.

I am using 64bit, if that helps any.

Thanks!

EDiT:

I have windows on sdb1, sabayon on sda2. I think mbr is on sdb2 actually, but i have no idea O.o I hate windows, and i want to know how to replace that fu*king mbr! ^^, Sorry for the language.

Ole Erik

[WarraWarra]

Skip over what you know here.

Is there a anti virus setting in the bios blocking a MBR write to hd ? then disable it in the bios.
How long is the timer on the boot menu and to what OS is the default boot . Might have to increase the time to 10 secs before auto starting into a OS.

MBR is the master boot record of the HD you are using.
Grub / boot stuff is in /boot partition or on /dev/sda2 in the /boot folder.

If you wrote the boot to /dev/sda2 then using the F8 or F12 button the motherboard bios should give you a menu to boot what drive cd usb lan hd1 hd2 and select hd2 if it is 2 hd's in your machine that is linux.

If not then the boot should have been writen to MBR /dev/sda to work properly.
You can fix this by running the live cd / dvd and update instaler + run instaler and using the upgrade + redo boot / redo grub option to /dev/sda or 1st MBR of hd not just to a partition /dev/sda2. Then restart.

Hope this helps.

[oleerik]

Uhm I havent even read about this. I got windows as default OS.

Thank you for writing all that, but it didnt help me anything. I have used gentoo before and then it worked. I havent touched my bios settings.. Last time i installed windows it overwrote the MBR and i removed opensuse(my fav distro)... But last time when it overwrote the mbr it needed access to sdb to overwrite the mbr.. I have no idea what has happend!

Help, anyone?

[WarraWarra]

I have windows on sdb1, sabayon on sda2
Might have to change the boot order as SL might write it to /dev/sda while the pc actualy uses /dev/sdb as boot
OR
Write grub to /dev/sdb as sdb is the actual boot drive likely ?
Fix might be to write it to /dev/sdb using the advanced option in the installer at the boot config window.

Check this using cfdisk /dev/sdb
and then cfdisk /dev/sda in live cd /dvd
"bootable" is the missing link.

[oleerik]

Thank you!

I found that sdb1 (windows) and sda2(linux root) was both flagged as boot.
What should i do now?:)

I have tried to remove the boot flag on the windows partition, how do i save it if this is what i should do?
Thanks! lovely forum!

EDiT: After changing hdd boot order I think grub loaded. I am not sure though, since there where alot of fancy colors and wierd letters. I am now reinstalling Sabayon and i hope that will solve it.

When i press enter at the fancy colors i can barely read something about sabayon and error and press any key to continue. Still fancy colors and stuff though, and when i hit enter my computer restarts.

Thank you so much for the help for now! Hope we have found the solution before the end of this day



EDiT2:
I've tried to burn again and verify the burnt dvd now, and it just fails verifying. Maybe that's the problem. I think my dvd-rw-station(or something) is soon going to die I'll post new post if this helps!

Thank you so much so far!

[WarraWarra]

For iso / dvd bugs first try the torrent program as it should have a force recheck option if you right click it or using a MD5 checksum checker in any of make sure it is happy.
If so the download worked well.
If not then using a torrent program azureus or something start the new download and it will create a new .iso file then close the torrent program.
next replace the orriginal ftp download with the new 0% or 1% torrent iso and open torrent program.
This will something like it is already there should we check it = yes check it.

What you might find like I did is the ftp only downloaded to 99.8% even though it said and checked = 100% ? woot ?

The torrent program will download misising piece and once complete "force recheck" it to make sure it is 100% there = same as MD5 check.

Bruning always burn a 4x dvd at 4x or slower speed and use known good dvd discs or verify it after burn option to make sure it is 100%

Then only use it to install. This fixes download bugs and bad dvd drive bugs.
The fancy colours should not be. Also check the screen cable as it might be loose or not 100% in could also do the clours.

We are here to help so sometimes it will be rubish and sometimes it will be spot on , the problem is finding the ctual problem and that is difficult.

Hope this helps.

[oleerik]

Thank you, but the problem was my dvd-rw-station(or something like that)
I used my mates computer to burn it and now it works like a charm!

Lovely distro! Reminds me of opensuse, but alot faster And sexier and.. you name it

Is there any way making the packagemanager work a litle faster? I cant even search for packages because it uses ages to sync and stuff.

[WarraWarra]

Good stuff.

Let it do it once and it should be much faster.
Also to speed up install's / emerge's / kuroo stuff select "udept" and let it install.

Shout if you need more help.
PS> the "get live help" on the desktop uses IRC and there is most of the time someone on there to imediately help you if you need it. Just greet and give them a bit of time to finish the current conversation, then they will help.