installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

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anirban

installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by anirban »

Hello, it's good to be back to mint after more than a year (used to use 10 KDE), later went to openSUSE. :D
Neways, here what I did. I have Win 7 sp1 on my computer. I installed mint 12 kde upon it, by manually partitioning the disk (y no mint4win? :p). So my root partition is SDA10 and /boot partition is SDA9. a healthy 2.5 gb swap was allotted on SDA11. bootloader was kept in sda ,rebooted and it was done alright. 8)
Now it so happens that I am also a sucker for RPMs (dont hate me! :roll: ) so after updating and fiddling with mint a bit, I went on to install PCLOS 12. This time root was on SDA6 and /boot on SDA5. Swap was already there..
now while installing I did import windows and mint onto the grub menu. I labelled it, gave the root partition. but how on earth do I give the image? (maybe it's sumthing like /boot/vmlinuz..?) but how do I get the exact name? :shock:
so I went ahead and installed it anyway. now PCLOS boots fine, windows is fime but not mint 12. :cry:
Any help? :?:
[spare me the 'post this on PCLOS forum' lecture and deb v/s RPM debate :oops: ]
thanx.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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xenopeek
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Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by xenopeek »

Moved here by moderator

I think PCLinuxOS is using GRUB Legacy. Linux Mint is using GRUB2. You installed GRUB2 first to /dev/sda, from Linux Mint, and then I gather you overwrote it with GRUB Legacy from PCLinuxOS? Kindly confirm the GRUB version PCLinuxOS is using and if indeed you had PCLinuxOS overwrite /dev/sda.

Side note for the future: it is easier not to overwrite GRUB (whatever version) at /dev/sda if you already have it there from another Linux distro that you intend to keep. Instead then install it to the root (or /boot) partition of the new to install Linux distro, and have your currently installed GRUB detect it there so it can chainload it.
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Bolle1961
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Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by Bolle1961 »

had the same problem.
PClos uses Grub1 instead of Grub2, so it will not recognize your Mint partition

2 ways to fix this

repair the grub bootloader with a Mint or Ubuntu cd / dvd, or reïnstall MInt. of course the first option is the best
anirban

Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by anirban »

@vincent, Grub version is 0.97 and yes I did overwrite. was installing two distros on a single machine for the first time. My bad.
@Bolle1961, yup, making a bootable usb now. Will report the result in a bit.

@both , thanks
anirban

Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by anirban »

so i am thinking of downloading Super grub disk (dedoimedo recommends it). but I dunno which 1 to download. the grub legacy version or grub2 version?
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GoustiFruit
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Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by GoustiFruit »

Simply start PCLinuxOS and run "redo-mbr", it will detect all you OSes and add the correct entry in grub. Works perfectly with Mint, been doing it for years.
anirban

Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by anirban »

ok, Super grub2 disk and mint live didn't work. Reinstalled mint. now PCLOS is broken.. :o
now will follow vincent's and Gostifruit's recommendations..
will report back. :!:
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GoustiFruit
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Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by GoustiFruit »

Don't you care ! Run PCLinuxOS LiveCD and launch redo-mbr as I told you. No need to reinstall anything (though I don't know to what point you destroyed things by using supergrub !)
anirban

Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by anirban »

my bad! I thought I needed to do that from installed PCLOS (and not live session)...will report back.
thnx goustifruit :)
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GoustiFruit
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Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by GoustiFruit »

Both are possible ;-)
anirban

Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by anirban »

ok, a kwriter application pops up.. what do I have to write in there? If I dont write anything and reset the bootloader, I still have the mint and win7. but no PCLOS..
@goustifruit a li'l detail help perhaps?
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GoustiFruit
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Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by GoustiFruit »

Then there is a problem. I don't know the ins and outs for redo-mbr but kwrite should pop-up with a grub file populated with OSes entries. Usually you just review them, adjust the default OS and boot time if needed, save and quit, and the script does it magic.
Try going to PClinuxOS Control Center instead and use the "boot" tool... :?
anirban

Re: installing PCLOS makes mint non-bootable

Post by anirban »

what I gather is that I need to install the bootloader of the new distro that is being installed later to the /boot of that distro. Tried this with Chakra 2012.2 and it worked.
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