[ale] GRUB issue on boot

James Sumners james.sumners at gmail.com
Thu Apr 13 11:07:21 EDT 2006


I suppose being able to edit the configuration for the bootloader from
the bootloader itself is nice. I really don't have a need for it,
though. SOMETIMES I need to specify different kernel options when
booting and that is done quite easily with LILO; just type the name of
the image you want to boot followed by the options. It couldn't be any
simpler.

I loathe Grub because of things like this thread. It breaks for
absolutely no reason and typically there is no information available
to fix it. You are correct, in my situation it wouldn't finish loading
Stage 1.5. But! That is after I had reinstalled Grub. Initially it
wouldn't finish loading Stage 2 (and it was still doing the reboot
dance).

I'm sorry if my opinion of Grub offends anyone, but I think it is
garbage. LILO just works. Yes, you have to remember to update the
bootsector when the kernel changes. That is the only catch I have
experienced, though. The configuration is simple and the bootloader
actually loads the kernel.

On 4/13/06, Michael B. Trausch <fd0man at gmail.com> wrote:
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> James Sumners wrote On 04/13/2006 09:39 AM:
> > Install lilo. I don't know why distributions are moving to Grub. I
> > have never seen an installation of it that doesn't screw up at some
> > point. I recently added a kernel switch to the Grub config on my SuSE
> > 10.0 box and it caused my machine to reboot every time Grub started to
> > load. I reinstalled Grub several times and the same thing kept
> > happening. Surprise, surprise, I installed lilo, with a basic config,
> > and I could boot my machine again.
> >
>
> That is interesting -- I've been using GRUB for quite some time now, and
> I've never experienced a problem with it unless a drive was dying or
> dead.  It's more flexible and versatile, because it doesn't rely on a
> block-list for a new kernel, and you can edit the command line options,
> and everything about the boot process, before the system even boots.
> You don't even need to reinstall GRUB when you edit the boot script,
> which is one of the strong points behind it.  Also, the GRUB is great
> for when you have several operating systems that you need to boot
> between, and any of them are Multiboot systems.  I've experimented in
> the past with creating OS kernels that the GRUB can boot (writing a
> 32-bit protected mode version of "Hello, World" with a small multiboot
> kernel and such, never really got that much further then that, though I
> wanted to).
>
> > Just grab a copy of SysRecueCd (http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page),
> > boot from it, mount your root partition, and chroot to it. Then you
> > can try to re-install Grub or install a boot manager that is more
> > stable (doesn't suck).
> >
>
> With LILO, the most you can do is change the command line that the
> kernel receives, IIRC.  You don't have the flexibility of changing
> things like what initrd is loaded if you're testing new things or
> anything similar to that.  I would try to find out the root cause,
> rather then bailing out so quickly.  If there is a problem with the GRUB
> booting up, I'd be inclined to say that it means that stage 1.5 isn't
> loading.  (I'm not sure, but I think the Stage 1.5 is loaded from a
> block list since the initial boot sector only has 512 bytes to play
> with, and it's rather hard to write something that can read and
> interpret a filesystem in that small of a space when you have other
> considerations to make during system boot).


--
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
CH:D 59



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