Description of problem: Machine will not boot past BIOS display. Autoreboots, displays BIOS, Autoreboot, display BIOS, etc, etc... Does not even get to visualization of Grub splash screen. Loaded Knopppix 3.3 from boot CD and file system for WinXP and FC3 appear intact. New install of FC3 final. Dell 8600 Inspiron with Windows XP SP2 on hda2 and 12.5 MB free space. Configured Windows as default OS during FC3 install and set boot password option for grub. FC3 installed to the free space with: 1GB Swap, 4.5 GB /, 2GB /opt, 2GB /home, 2GB /usr/local. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install to Dell 8600 Inspiron as second OS 2. Choose WinXP as default boot os 3. Actual results: Machine does not boot past BIOS Expected results: A functional system able to display grub splash screen and boot either OS on the system. Additional info:
More information: /boot/grub/grub.conf -------------------------------------- # grub.conf generated by anaconda # # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file # NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that # all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg. # root (hd0,4) # kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda5 # initrd /boot/initrd-version.img #boot=/dev/hda default=1 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd0,4)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu password --md5 $1$NXG3B1/H$R7cS/REM8ngkrOmtXOyno/ title Fedora Core (2.6.9-1.667) root (hd0,4) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img title Windows XP rootnoverify (hd0,1) chainloader +1 /boot/devices.map ------------------------------------------ # this device map was generated by anaconda (fd0) /dev/fd0 (hd0) /dev/hda fdisk -l -------------------------------------------- Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 1 4864 39070048+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA) Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 1 6 48163+ de Dell Utility /dev/hda2 * 7 2875 23045242+ 7 HPFS/NTFS /dev/hda3 4407 4863 3670852+ db CP/M / CTOS / ... /dev/hda4 2876 4406 12297757+ 5 Extended /dev/hda5 2876 3492 4956021 83 Linux /dev/hda6 3493 3753 2096451 83 Linux /dev/hda7 3754 4014 2096451 83 Linux /dev/hda8 4015 4275 2096451 83 Linux /dev/hda9 4276 4406 1052226 82 Linux swap Partition table entries are not in disk order
What is /dev/sda?
/dev/sda is an exteral usb storage device that I attached while booted in Knoppix. This was to copy data off /dev/hda5 (the / partition) so that I can then mount the device on another machine to post here. Thanks.
I commented out the hiddenmenu option in grub.conf while booting from the knoppix cd, but that had no change in behavior. I then tried other edits such as commenting out the password line, changing the default OS, increasing the timeout, but no change occurred and no additional info was gained. I also ran the Diagnostics setup from the BIOS menu and it passed all tests.
The symptoms for this problem in FC3 were different from the symptoms with the FC2 Dual Boot issue. In FC2 I got the grub menu, but got Disk Read Error when booting Windows. In FC3 I was endlessly rebooting after the BIOS screen. However, it turns out that the solution for FC2 worked with my FC3 install. On a whim, I reinstalled FC3 choosing exactly the same install options, but this time I started the install by specifying the hard disk geometry garnered from the fdisk -l /dev/hda output: Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes At the boot prompt for FC3 installation, I just entered "linux /dev/hda=4864,255,63" and once the installation completed I was able to boot both Windows XP and FC3 successfully. I believe that this problem was reported to be fixed in FC3, but it is obvious to me that it is not.
Steven, Would you please post both grub.conf and fdisk -l from your new working install? Thanks, JG
grub.conf and fdisk -l have not changed. The only difference is that I specified the hard disk geometry for /dev/hda when installing Linux. "linux /dev/hda=4864,255,63"
Fedora Core 3 is now maintained by the Fedora Legacy project for security updates only. If this problem is a security issue, please reopen and reassign to the Fedora Legacy product. If it is not a security issue and hasn't been resolved in the current FC5 updates or in the FC6 test release, reopen and change the version to match. Thank you!
Closing per lack of response to previous request for information. This bug was originally filed against a much earlier version of Fedora Core, and significant changes have taken place since the last version for which this bug is confirmed. Note that FC3 and FC4 are supported by Fedora Legacy for security fixes only. Please install a still supported version and retest. If it still occurs on FC5 or FC6, please reopen and assign to the correct version. Otherwise, if this a security issue, please change the product to Fedora Legacy. Thanks, and we are sorry that we did not get to this bug earlier.