Possible to boot w/out CD after installing to HD?

[Wretched]

Hi, I'm new to Puppy/Linux and not very tech-savvy. Since I want this to be my only OS now, I just did a full install to HD and wiped Windows/Ubuntu clean off. However, when I turn the machine on without the Live CD in, I get this:

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GNU GRUB version 0.97

[Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible completions of a device/filename.]

grub>

I have no idea what any of this means, but if I hit TAB it gives me some possible commands, like it says it will. The only relevant ones seem to be "boot" and "reboot." If I type "boot" I get:

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Error 8.  Kernal must be loaded before booting

If I type "reboot" the machine will try to reboot but just take be back to the first menu, and I have to put the CD in to get it to start Puppy. How can I set it up so that all I have to do is press the power button on the cabinet and the computer will automatically boot up to the Puppy desktop without my inserting the CD or having to type anything?

Again, I'm not too keen on the technical commands, so if anyone can explain it to me simply I would appreciate it very much. Thanks!

[EamonM]

Wretched,

Can you please post a copy of your menu.lst file? When you boot from the LiveCD and mount the local HDD it should be at /boot/grub/menu.lst.

E.

[rjbrewer]

It might be best to install again;
Here's an easy to follow link.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 782#201565

[Wretched]

Wretched,

Can you please post a copy of your menu.lst file? When you boot from the LiveCD and mount the local HDD it should be at /boot/grub/menu.lst.

E.

Ok, the menu.lst file says:

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# GRUB configuration file '/boot/grub/menu.lst'.
# generated by 'grubconfig'.  Fri Aug 28 23:06:08 2009
#
# The backup copy of the MBR for drive '/dev/sda' is
# here '/boot/grub/mbr.sda.8577'.  You can restore it like this.
# dd if=/boot/grub/mbr.sda.8577 of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
#
# Start GRUB global section
#timeout 30
color light-gray/blue black/light-gray
gfxmenu /boot/grub/deep_stage1
# End GRUB global section
# Linux bootable partition config begins
  title Linux (on /dev/sda1)
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=normal
# Linux bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable initrd config begins
  title Linux initrd /tmp/boot/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic (on /dev/sda1)
  root (hd0,0)
  kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ramdisk_size=19395 root=/dev/ram0 rw
  initrd /tmp/boot/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
# Linux bootable initrd config ends
title Install GRUB to floppy disk (on /dev/fd0)
pause Insert a formatted floppy disk and press enter.
root (hd0,0)
setup (fd0)
pause Press enter to continue.
title Install GRUB to Linux partition (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0,0)
pause Press enter to continue.
title -     For help press 'c', then type: 'help'
root (hd0)
title -     For usage examples, type: 'cat /boot/grub/usage.txt'
root (hd0)

I have no idea what any of that means, so if I need to change something please be precise. Thanks!

[rjbrewer]

It doesn't look right.
It has a standard full install section plus a section
that contains initrd, which probably means you tried to
make a save file.

Start over using the link I posted.

[James C]

The part of the menu lst , about initrd 2.6.28-11 looks suspiciously like Ubuntu.

A fresh install probably would be the easiest plan of action.

[Wretched]

Yes, I had Ubuntu installed before I decided to switch to Puppy. I tried to do a fresh install but had trouble because the computer knows that Puppy is already installed, so the steps it points me to are different than in the link rjbrewer posted. Maybe I'll just re-install Ubuntu (to get rid of my bad Puppy) then re-install Puppy following rjbrewer's link. Seems like a silly course of action but it's all I can think of.

[rjbrewer]

No need or sense in installing Ubuntu again.

The partition has to be formatted with Puppy.

[davids45]

G'day Wretched,
Having a quick look at your posted menu.lst.
A couple of early queries.

Are you sure this is the menu.lst being used? These things tend to breed with each linux install.

Anyway, in your posting, I see the line:

# timeout 30

This starts with the # which means this line is not run or executed by grub; with a #, this is just a remark line.

So I think when you were booting up, you would not have seen a grub menu screen of the start-up options?? If executed, the "timeout 30" tells grub to display the boot options menu for 30 seconds and then if you did not select an option, start up the computer with the first active option in the list.
With no timeout set, grub tries to run the next line in the menu.lst (the next line without any starting #).

If you wanted to play around with the menu.lst you have and not immediately go for the already recommended completely fresh format & install, I'd first remove the # from the timeout line. I usually use a 10 second delay on my grubs (I change the 30 to 10), e.g.

timeout 10

The line after the # timeout 30 says what colours to use for the menu display (if it was to be displayed for enough time to see it).

The next line starting:

gfxmenu /boot/grub/deep_stage1

is to me an odd one, which could be where grub is getting confused and dropping out to the display you posted. Again, if you are the dogged type and haven't done the quick Puppy re-install, could you try a # in front of this line...

# gfxmenu /boot/grub/deep_stage1

Making these two changes in menu.lst, saving & re-starting, you may see the basic grub menu screen which I think you hadn't been seeing, judging from your original postiing.

Your first listed OS boot option looks OK for a full Pup in sda1 (hd0,0).
"title Linux (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=normal "

Is Puppy's vmlinuz installed in a directory in sda1 called /boot, by the way? Grub will whinge (Error 15) if it cannot find a file where you tell it to look.

And already noted by earlier repliers, the second listed boot section looks like a generic listing for an Ubuntu install. If you did not want to simply delete these lines:

title Linux initrd /tmp/boot/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ramdisk_size=19395 root=/dev/ram0 rw
initrd /tmp/boot/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic"

you could try putting a # in front of all of these lines to 'comment them all out' and see what happens. Left there without the #s, grub should display the "title" line on its start-up menu display but below the title line for the Puppy install.

But I'd be re-installing Puppy as already suggested - it's just so quick, once you get the hang of it (and grub).

David S.

[EamonM]

Wretched,

I could suggest a revised menu.lst that would probably work, and if you want I will do so, but I agree that you would be beter off with a clean install.

To do this, boot from liveCD with the boot parameter:

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puppy pfix=ram

This will get you into puppy without using the HDD. To check this none of the drive icons in the bottom left corner of the screen should show a yellow indicator.

Start Gparted (menu=>System=>GParted partition manager)

Delete the partition that the existing puppy is installed on, and apply the change.

Create a new ext2 or ext3 partition in the free space. (I would go for ext3 with a full install, but wiser heads may dissagree with me.)

At this point you can follow the process on the link posted by rjbrewer.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 782#201565

Slan,

Eamon

[rjbrewer]

The menu lst shows that the drive was not wiped clean of
Ubuntu before the attempt to install Puppy.
Puppy will not work on a partition formatted with a recent
Ubuntu cd because of inode incompatibility.
Trying to fix it by changing the menu list is futile.
The partitions should be deleted and reformatted with
Puppies' gparted.

[EamonM]

Thanks rjbrewer,

I'd missed that inode incompatibility which rules out a repair. The reinstall procedure I have suggested should sort the problem out though.

Slan,

Eamon

[Wretched]

Thanks for all your help guys. I formatted the HD and reinstalled using the instructions in rjbrewer's link.

Works great now, but it still asks me to choose Linux before every boot. (I.e., it begins to boot up, but then comes to a blue Puppy splash screen which asks me if I want to boot to Linux or install to a floppy, or a couple other options, I can't remember.) Is there any way to make it automatically boot into Puppy without my having to choose every time I turn on the machine?

[rjbrewer]

Congratulations;

To skip the boot-splash screen, click the drive icon (sda1)?

go to boot->grub->menulst

a few lines down you will see......# timeout xx(number of secs.)

remove #......make number of secs. 0

I'd recommend 2 secs. or so in case you want to use the boot
options eventually.

edit:
don't forget to click save after modifying menu.lst

[egehrke]

I have followed your procedures exactly on my Dell Inspiron 2600 with 324MB RAM and a 20GB hard drive. Here is my menu.lst file:
# GRUB configuration file '/boot/grub/menu.lst'.
# generated by 'grubconfig'. Tue Sep 8 06:17:32 2009
#
# The backup copy of the MBR for drive '/dev/sda' is
# here '/boot/grub/mbr.sda.25481'. You can restore it like this.
# dd if=/boot/grub/mbr.sda.25481 of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1
#
# Start GRUB global section
timeout 30
color light-gray/blue black/light-gray
# End GRUB global section
# Linux bootable partition config begins
title Puppy 424 Linux (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=normal
# Linux bootable partition config ends
title Install GRUB to floppy disk (on /dev/fd0)
pause Insert a formatted floppy disk and press enter.
root (hd0,0)
setup (fd0)
pause Press enter to continue.
title Install GRUB to Linux partition (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0,0)
pause Press enter to continue.
title - For help press 'c', then type: 'help'
root (hd0)
title - For usage examples, type: 'cat /boot/grub/usage.txt'
root (hd0)

I did the installation several times, reformatted the hard drive to ext2 and ext3 with swap file and used Gparted each time. The HD had Windows XP on it originally and I had tried Mint and Slax on the same drive before I reformatted several times to install Puppy 4.24.
The system acts like it is not reading the menu.lst file at all even though it exists in the /boot/grub/ directory.
I appreciate your suggestions.
Erich

[rjbrewer]

424!!

That is Barrys' new 4.3b test os.

I can't get that to do a full install either!!!

Try 4.1.1 or 4.1.2

[egehrke]

Hi John,
Thank you for your quick reply. I downloaded the Puppy 4.1.2-k2.6.25.16-seamonkey.iso file and then tried to install it on my Dell Inspiron 2600. I tried several installations, which included reformating the hard drive but the issue remained the same and I was unable to install the puppy on the HD. I found that the swap file partition could not be deleted, even when I booted from the CD.

I finally got the the system to to boot from the HD after I used my Windows XP system disk to delete the two partitions, created one Fat32 partiton and then ran GParted within Puppy installation to repartition the hard drive and format it to ext2. I only used one partition because of the issue with being unable to remove the swap patition, even with a CD installation and running in completely in RAM.
I was then able to do a HD installation using your exact procedures.

It looks like the puppy installer is very sensitive to the OS previously installed on the HD. I had installed Xubuntu on the HD before the puppy installation and that some how prevented puppy from properly installing on the HD.

Thank you again for your detailed procedures and expert advice.
Erich