Grub not being written to boot drive

I'm a longtime Linux user.  I've been using it since 1999.  I've had 
several linux/windows dual boot systems.  I've used Mandrake, then 
Mandriva, Suse, Debian and it's spin offs Ubuntu/Kubuntu and their spin 
off Mepis, Gentoo and Sabayon

Here are my system stats:
HP/Compaq Computer
3ghz P4
1.5 GB Ram

Primary Hard Drive (sda):
160 GB SATA 3G

CD Drive:
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive

Linux Drive (hdb):
15 GB Quantum Fireball configured as slave off the CD Drive

Windows XP w/SP2

Choose a Linux, any Linux, I've tried 10 different Distros and get the 
same problem.

I insert the CD, the installation begins and proceeds normally with 
Linux being installed on hdb.

When it get to the point that it configures the bootloader, I tell it to 
write to the MBR of the SATA Drive.  The computer says it is.

We get to the point where it tells me to remove the CD from the Drive 
and restart.

When the system restarts it goes directly to XP.  There is NO boot menu 
to choose from.

I'm assuming that the distro actually got installed on hdb.

Anyone have any suggestions?  I really miss my Linux and need it back.

John Batt

"jbatt" <jbatt@bresnan.net> wrote in message
news:LPednX0NzLzQNUDanZ2dnUVZ_jqdnZ2d@bresnan.com...
> I'm a longtime Linux user.  I've been using it since 1999.  I've had
> several linux/windows dual boot systems.  I've used Mandrake, then
> Mandriva, Suse, Debian and it's spin offs Ubuntu/Kubuntu and their spin
> off Mepis, Gentoo and Sabayon
>
> Here are my system stats:
> HP/Compaq Computer
> 3ghz P4
> 1.5 GB Ram
>
> Primary Hard Drive (sda):
> 160 GB SATA 3G
>
> CD Drive:
> 16X DVD(+/-)R/RW RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
>
> Linux Drive (hdb):
> 15 GB Quantum Fireball configured as slave off the CD Drive
>
> Windows XP w/SP2
>
> Choose a Linux, any Linux, I've tried 10 different Distros and get the
> same problem.
>
> I insert the CD, the installation begins and proceeds normally with
> Linux being installed on hdb.
>
> When it get to the point that it configures the bootloader, I tell it to
> write to the MBR of the SATA Drive.  The computer says it is.
>
> We get to the point where it tells me to remove the CD from the Drive
> and restart.
>
> When the system restarts it goes directly to XP.  There is NO boot menu
> to choose from.
>
> I'm assuming that the distro actually got installed on hdb.
>
> Anyone have any suggestions?  I really miss my Linux and need it back.
>
> John Batt
> jbatt@bresnan.net


First off, are you sure it says it's being written to sda?
Just wondering if it's picking up your SATA drive.

In the bios , set your "hdb" drive as the boot drive
and see if grub was perhaps installed there.

Also: I too have been a long time Linux user
and as of late have noticed in a few cases I also had problems with Grub...
but LILO worked. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of distros still around
that will
give you a LILO option...so you may want to try that if it's not an SATA
issue

philo wrote:
> "jbatt" <jbatt@bresnan.net> wrote in message
> news:LPednX0NzLzQNUDanZ2dnUVZ_jqdnZ2d@bresnan.com...
>> I'm a longtime Linux user.  I've been using it since 1999.  I've had
>> several linux/windows dual boot systems.  I've used Mandrake, then
>> Mandriva, Suse, Debian and it's spin offs Ubuntu/Kubuntu and their
spin
>> off Mepis, Gentoo and Sabayon
>>
>> Here are my system stats:
>> HP/Compaq Computer
>> 3ghz P4
>> 1.5 GB Ram
>>
>> Primary Hard Drive (sda):
>> 160 GB SATA 3G
>>
>> CD Drive:
>> 16X DVD(+/-)R/RW RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
>>
>> Linux Drive (hdb):
>> 15 GB Quantum Fireball configured as slave off the CD Drive
>>
>> Windows XP w/SP2
>>
>> Choose a Linux, any Linux, I've tried 10 different Distros and get the
>> same problem.
>>
>> I insert the CD, the installation begins and proceeds normally with
>> Linux being installed on hdb.
>>
>> When it get to the point that it configures the bootloader, I tell it
to
>> write to the MBR of the SATA Drive.  The computer says it is.
>>
>> We get to the point where it tells me to remove the CD from the Drive
>> and restart.
>>
>> When the system restarts it goes directly to XP.  There is NO boot
menu
>> to choose from.
>>
>> I'm assuming that the distro actually got installed on hdb.
>>
>> Anyone have any suggestions?  I really miss my Linux and need it back.
>>
>> John Batt
>> jbatt@bresnan.net
> 
> 
> First off, are you sure it says it's being written to sda?
> Just wondering if it's picking up your SATA drive.
> 
> In the bios , set your "hdb" drive as the boot drive
> and see if grub was perhaps installed there.
> 
> Also: I too have been a long time Linux user
> and as of late have noticed in a few cases I also had problems with
Grub...
> but LILO worked. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of distros still around
> that will
> give you a LILO option...so you may want to try that if it's not an SATA
> issue
> 
> 
> 
OK, I checked and it was written to the MBR of hdb.  No I need to get it 
to recognize my NVIDIA card and not the onboard Radeon card.  The boot 
crashes when GDM is trying to set up the onboard grahics card and not 

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:07:58 -0600, jbatt wrote:

> I'm a longtime Linux user.  I've been using it since 1999.  I've had
> several linux/windows dual boot systems.  I've used Mandrake, then
> Mandriva, Suse, Debian and it's spin offs Ubuntu/Kubuntu and their spin
> off Mepis, Gentoo and Sabayon
> 
> Here are my system stats:
> HP/Compaq Computer
> 3ghz P4
> 1.5 GB Ram
> 
> Primary Hard Drive (sda):
> 160 GB SATA 3G
> 
> CD Drive:
> 16X DVD(+/-)R/RW RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
> 
> Linux Drive (hdb):
> 15 GB Quantum Fireball configured as slave off the CD Drive
> 
> Windows XP w/SP2
> 
> Choose a Linux, any Linux, I've tried 10 different Distros and get the
> same problem.
> 
> I insert the CD, the installation begins and proceeds normally with
> Linux being installed on hdb.
> 
> When it get to the point that it configures the bootloader, I tell it to
> write to the MBR of the SATA Drive.  The computer says it is.
> 
> We get to the point where it tells me to remove the CD from the Drive
> and restart.
> 
> When the system restarts it goes directly to XP.  There is NO boot menu
> to choose from.
> 
> I'm assuming that the distro actually got installed on hdb.
> 
> Anyone have any suggestions?  I really miss my Linux and need it back.

I suggest that you boot your system with a Linux LiveCD, mount and take a 
look at hdb to see if Linux has been installed there; and, then, find the 
bootloader config file.  If it's grub, it's /boot/grub/menu.lst or 
grub.conf.  If lilo, IIRC, it will be /etc/lilo.conf.  Check to see if 
'hiddenmenu,' if grub, is there. (I don't remember what the command is 
called in lilo.conf, but it's similar.) If it is, comment it out.  
Hiddenmenu prevents the boot menu from being displayed.  Also, check the 
stanzas to see which OS is set to boot by default.  It may be Windows.  
Without the menu being displayed, so you can choose, Windows will 
automatically boot when the menu times out.

However, it could be that the bootloader is being installed onto the MBR 
of hdb, but check the above first.

"jbatt" <jbatt@bresnan.net> wrote in message
news:foCdnSE9oM5YV0DanZ2dnUVZ_hadnZ2d@bresnan.com...
> philo wrote:
> > "jbatt" <jbatt@bresnan.net> wrote in message
> > news:LPednX0NzLzQNUDanZ2dnUVZ_jqdnZ2d@bresnan.com...
> >> I'm a longtime Linux user.  I've been using it since 1999.  I've
had
> >> several linux/windows dual boot systems.  I've used Mandrake,
then
> >> Mandriva, Suse, Debian and it's spin offs Ubuntu/Kubuntu and their
spin
> >> off Mepis, Gentoo and Sabayon
> >>
> >> Here are my system stats:
> >> HP/Compaq Computer
> >> 3ghz P4
> >> 1.5 GB Ram
> >>
> >> Primary Hard Drive (sda):
> >> 160 GB SATA 3G
> >>
> >> CD Drive:
> >> 16X DVD(+/-)R/RW RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
> >>
> >> Linux Drive (hdb):
> >> 15 GB Quantum Fireball configured as slave off the CD Drive
> >>
> >> Windows XP w/SP2
> >>
> >> Choose a Linux, any Linux, I've tried 10 different Distros and get
the
> >> same problem.
> >>
> >> I insert the CD, the installation begins and proceeds normally
with
> >> Linux being installed on hdb.
> >>
> >> When it get to the point that it configures the bootloader, I tell
it
to
> >> write to the MBR of the SATA Drive.  The computer says it is.
> >>
> >> We get to the point where it tells me to remove the CD from the
Drive
> >> and restart.
> >>
> >> When the system restarts it goes directly to XP.  There is NO boot
menu
> >> to choose from.
> >>
> >> I'm assuming that the distro actually got installed on hdb.
> >>
> >> Anyone have any suggestions?  I really miss my Linux and need it
back.
> >>
> >> John Batt
> >> jbatt@bresnan.net
> >
> >
> > First off, are you sure it says it's being written to sda?
> > Just wondering if it's picking up your SATA drive.
> >
> > In the bios , set your "hdb" drive as the boot drive
> > and see if grub was perhaps installed there.
> >
> > Also: I too have been a long time Linux user
> > and as of late have noticed in a few cases I also had problems with
Grub...
> > but LILO worked. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of distros still
around
> > that will
> > give you a LILO option...so you may want to try that if it's not an
SATA
> > issue
> >
> >
> >
> OK, I checked and it was written to the MBR of hdb.  No I need to get it
> to recognize my NVIDIA card and not the onboard Radeon card.  The boot
> crashes when GDM is trying to set up the onboard grahics card and not
> recognizing the NVIDIA GeForce FX5500 I have installed

If the MBR being written to hdb is OK with you...
I guess you can now try disabling your on-board graphics card and making
your GeForce video
the default...then see if you can get it configured by your Linux
installation.
That card should definately be supported.