[LBo] I've lost SuSE since dual booting!

[Jisao]

Grasshopper wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> A very brief background to the problem.  Running SuSE 10, I decided to
> dual boot Fedora 5.
>
> After muddling my way through the installation, I got to the install
> GRUB boot loader.  I added SuSE, and made it the default O.S. The rest
> was pretty painless, though it did not recognize my monitor.
>
> At that time I was not able to connect to the internet and decided to
> exit Fedora, boot into SuSE and connect, then boot back into Fedora. 
>
> That is when the trouble started.  I saw a screen with the Fedora
> background 'booting SuSE'.  I then got the following screen:
> "booting SuSE rootnoverify (hd0,0) chainloader + 1"
> I then decided to boot from hard disc using the SuSE CD, again the same
> error as above.
>
> I think I have to add something to the, I think it's called the system
> log.
>
> Any help much appreciated.
>
> Grasshopper
The easiest way to dual boot with grub is to have one "main" grub, then 
install one grub for each your other Linux OSes, on the partition.  Then 
you chainload the other OSes to the main one (there is a wiki page on 
this on LBo).  So, if Suse 10 is your main distro, you have the grub of 
this OS installed in the MBR (to be more precise, it is not installed 
there, but the MBR points to that install of grub).  Then when you 
installe Fedora 5, you install grub in the partition (not on the MBR).  
Then you go to Suse grub and add an entry to /boot/grub/menu.lst file.

I believe you installed the Fedora 5 grub in the MBR, so you fubared 
your initial SUSE grub.   The booting Grub is now Fedora 5.  If you want 
Suse to be the booting grub, you will have to reinstall grub in Suse.  
Otherwise, if you don't mind booting from the Fedora 5 grub, and if you 
feel patient, you can try to tweak your Fedora 5 grub to load Suse (if 
that is at all possible, meaning that the Suse grub is not missing 
something important from the MBR - I don't know for sure).

To tweak grub (which I tried), start your computer.  When you get to the 
grub screen, press any key to stop the countdown. Then read the 
instructions on the screen. Grub, on top of being a bootloader, is also 
a shell.  You have access to shell command which allow you to 
change/edit the line to load grub. When you find the combination that 
boots your Suse, then put it in the /boot/grub/menu.lst file.

I hope this is clear.  It is often easier to show than to explain...  So 
don't hesitate to ask for clarification if I was clear as mud.

Jisao