[NBLUG/talk] Need help with booting Linux system

Wed Mar 16 15:54:48 PDT 2011

On 03/16/2011 03:41 PM, Todd Cary wrote:
> Scott -
>
> Thank you for the assistance.  While in the /boot/grub/ directory and 
> I enter
>
> # ls -l menu.lst grub.conf
>
> The symbolic link is not produced.  Could this be because menu.lst 
> already exists in the directory?
>

Oh, that command was just to show you that menu.lst was a symlink.

If you're sure you have a good grub.conf in that directory, you would 
use "ln -s" to make the symlink:

# cd /boot/grub
# mv menu.lst menu.lst.backup
# ln -s grub.conf menu.lst

Note that the order of the ln command is important...not a bad idea to 
"man ln" to get a birds-eye view of what it can do. :)

  -Scott

> Todd
>
> On 3/16/2011 3:26 PM, Scott Doty wrote:
>> On 03/16/2011 03:18 PM, Todd Cary wrote:
>>> Here is what I have in my boot partition currently.  Does anything 
>>> seem out of place?
>>>
>>
>> Yes -- on CentOS and Fedora, grub's menu.lst is a symlink to 
>> grub.conf in /boot/grub/ .
>>
>> I would save a copy of both of those files, dig out the grub entries 
>> you want to keep for a new grub.conf.  Here's what it looks like on 
>> that CentOS 5.5 system from earlier:
>>
>> (in /boot/grub )
>> # ls -l menu.lst grub.conf
>> -rw------- 1 root root 1567 Mar 16 11:20 grub.conf
>> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   11 Jul  7  2010 menu.lst -> ./grub.conf
>>
>> If you want folks to check the resulting grub.conf, just send it to 
>> the list. :)
>>
>>  -Scott
>>
>>> Todd
>>>
>>> /boot/:
>>> total 25121
>>> drwxr-xr-x   5 root root     9216 Mar  9 10:31 .
>>> drwxr-xr-x  24 root root     4096 Jan 24 08:34 ..
>>> -rw-r--r--   1 root root    51676 Feb 17 22:41 config-2.6.9-100.EL
>>> drwxr-xr-x   2 root root     1024 Mar  9 10:31 grub
>>> -rw-r--r--   1 root root   444812 May  5  2007 grub-0.95-3.8.i386.rpm
>>> -rw-r--r--   1 root root  1343054 Mar  9 10:29
>>> initrd-2.6.9-100.EL.img
>>> -rw-r--r--   1 root root 13409764 Feb 18 06:25
>>> kernel-2.6.9-100.EL.i686.rpm
>>> drwx------   2 root root    12288 Jan 12  2007 lost+found
>>> -rw-r--r--   1 root root     9371 Aug 12  2006 message
>>> -rw-r--r--   1 root root     9371 Aug 12  2006 message.ja
>>> -rw-r--r--   1 root root  7919724 Aug 13  2006
>>> redhat-logos-1.1.26-1.centos4.4.noarch.rpm
>>> -rw-r--r--   1 root root    67797 Feb 17 22:41
>>> symvers-2.6.9-100.EL.gz
>>> -rw-r--r--   1 root root   770652 Feb 17 22:41
>>> System.map-2.6.9-100.EL
>>> drwx------   2 root root     9216 Mar  9 10:03 .Trash-root
>>> -rw-r--r--   1 root root  1538264 Feb 17 22:41 vmlinuz-2.6.9-100.EL
>>>
>>> /boot/grub:
>>> total 345
>>> drwxr-xr-x  2 root root   1024 Mar  9 10:31 .
>>> drwxr-xr-x  5 root root   9216 Mar  9 10:31 ..
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root     82 Mar  8 17:39 device.map
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   7956 Mar  8 17:40 e2fs_stage1_5
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   7684 Mar  8 17:40 fat_stage1_5
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   6996 Mar  8 17:40 ffs_stage1_5
>>> -rw-------  1 root root    599 Mar  9 10:31 grub.conf
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   7028 Mar  8 17:40 iso9660_stage1_5
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   8448 Mar  8 17:40 jfs_stage1_5
>>> -rw-------  1 root root   4240 Mar  8 20:24 menu.lst
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   7188 Mar  8 17:40 minix_stage1_5
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   9396 Mar  8 17:40 reiserfs_stage1_5
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   3605 Aug 12  2006 splash.xpm.gz
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root    512 Mar  8 17:45 stage1
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root 103688 Mar  8 17:45 stage2
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root  67701 Mar  8 18:30
>>> symvers-2.6.9-89.35.1.EL.gz
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root  68477 Mar  8 18:30
>>> symvers-2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp.gz
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   7272 Mar  8 17:40 ufs2_stage1_5
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   6612 Mar  8 17:40 vstafs_stage1_5
>>> -rw-r--r--  1 root root   9308 Mar  8 17:40 xfs_stage1_5
>>>
>>> /boot/lost+found:
>>> total 22
>>> drwx------  2 root root 12288 Jan 12  2007 .
>>> drwxr-xr-x  5 root root  9216 Mar  9 10:31 ..
>>>
>>> /boot/.Trash-root:
>>> total 19
>>> drwx------  2 root root 9216 Mar  9 10:03 .
>>> drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 9216 Mar  9 10:31 ..
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 3/16/2011 10:08 AM, Todd Cary wrote:
>>>> I did what probably rates as the dumbest thing possible with my 
>>>> Linux server (Centos 4): deleted the boot files.  However, I caught 
>>>> the error *before* doing a reboot and found many (I hope all) of 
>>>> the files, but due to my limited Linux admin experience, I have 
>>>> concern about rebooting without having someone with more expertise 
>>>> than I have to be present at that moment.
>>>>
>>>> I downloaded the latest version of Centos 4.8 and have it on disks, 
>>>> so the repair program is present.  This server is quite simple: 
>>>> just use it to share images, test php applications and to ftp work 
>>>> to others.  For this reason, it only gets touched by me to back up 
>>>> data (unfortunately, not the system) and to do yum updates.  As a 
>>>> result, I do not have occasion to use Linux often enough to keep my 
>>>> skill set up.
>>>>
>>>> For being here to help with the reboot, I am willing to pay someone...
>>>>
>>>> Todd
>>>>
>>>> Petaluma, CA
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> talk mailing list
>> talk at nblug.org
>> http://nblug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk
>>
>>
>