antiX-forum

I've tried installing antiX-M7.2 twice, checked, re-checked and checked again that my existing grub entry for antiX is correct and I still get the same error message when I press enter after selecting antiX in my grub screen:

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root (hd1,6)
   Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /boot/vmlinux root=/dev/sdb7 nomce nosplash vga=775

Error 2: Bad file or directory type

Does anyone have an idea about what the problem is I'm stumped. I've tried using /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-1-mepis-smp as the entry in grub; I've prefixed the /boot/vmlinuz... with (hd1,6); I've even tried removing nomce and adding the line

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initrd /boot/initrd.img

to the grub entry -- all with the same error

Any help would be tremendously appreciated

Thanks in advance,
-- Dr. U

Try changing root=/dev/sdb7 to root=/dev/hdb7

Are you using antiX's grub or from another distro?

anticapitalista wrote:Try changing root=/dev/sdb7 to root=/dev/hdb7

Are you using antiX's grub or from another distro?

I already have tried changing

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root=/dev/sdb7 to root=/dev/hdb7

but the result is exactly the same (sorry for not mentioning that).

The grub that I am using is from Arch-Linux (grub version 0.97). I noticed that the menu.lst file in the antiX root/boot/grub directory says to use

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root=/dev/sdb7

Any other ideas? Maybe I need to try burning a new CD from the ISO file (whose md5sum is OK)...

Thanks for the reply,
-- Dr. U

Well, I've found the problem: the new e2fsprogs creates 256-byte inodes which the legacy grub that I use cannot read/recognize. I must go to work now, but will try to make the appropriate correction (as described here:
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6480/1/ when I return. I will then let you know how it worked.

Regards,
-- Dr. U

Dr.U wrote:Well, I've found the problem: the new e2fsprogs creates 256-byte inodes which the legacy grub that I use cannot read/recognize. I must go to work now, but will try to make the appropriate correction (as described here:
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6480/1/ when I return. I will then let you know how it worked.

Well, the short answer is: it didn't work

What I did was to run

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mkfs.ext3 -I 128 /dev/sdb7

(as described on page 2 of the referenced article to create 128-byte inodes, which legacy grub can use). This works just fine. Unfortunately, the antiX install script reformats the partition and runs the command

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mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb7

(that is the same command as above but without the -I 128 option) which, using the e2fsprogs program supplied, creates 256-byte inodes (which legacy grub cannot read).

Can I make a backup copy of my current legacy grub menu.lst file, install the (new) grub provided with antiX in the master boot area, then replace the new menu.lst file with the backup (adding, of course, the antiX entry to it) and still access my current partitions, as well as boot antiX when I wish to run it

This is the only solution I can imagine and it seems to be a variation on what is suggested in the third page of the referenced article.

Thanks in advance,
-- Dr. U

Yes try that. antiX might see your entries automatically and add them to grub menu.

You're much better off installing the new non legacy grub onto mbr and letting it handle all your systems. Since all distros in the future will run the new one, and since the the new one starts old style fine, that's the most logical path.

anticapitalista wrote:Yes try that. antiX might see your entries automatically and add them to grub menu.

Thanks anticapitalista and also h2! I installed the new grub in my MBR and copied my backed-up menu.lst into /boot/grub and now everything is perfect

Thanks for the nice work on this distro: I like lightweight WMs and quick booting OSs!

Best regards,
-- Dr. U