did HDD install and system boots to a grub>

[lp]

i type help but nothing seems to work

what next?

lp

[irlandes]

First, google for your title or variations. You would be amazed what stuff can be found on google.One can even enter entire error messages and get real hits. For example, grub> would be a good place to start.

As a wild guess, it is possible the machine is looking for grub.conf in a place where none exists, but see blanket apology below for my possible misunderstandings. See question in next paragraph on this very issue.

Next, post here your setup. How many partitions? Which partition did you put Knoppix on? Where did you put the bootloader, mbr or the same partition?

On your own, you can google for grub manuals, and should soon find commands to type at that prompt, one line at a time, followed by <enter> to do essentially what grub usually does automatically.

I just learned how to load my hda7 from Grub.conf in hda5 with CentOS. Most instructions involve very convoluted methods of chaining, and that is not necessary.

Below lines for CentOS in CentOs grub.conf, using kwrite, I typed the following (for hda7 install) while in CentOs, I told it to install Knoppix boot loader in hda7, but it is not used at all:

title Knoppix
root (hda0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12 root=/dev/hda7
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.12

I also changed timeout=5 for 1/2 second delay in CentOS default to timeout=100

and remarked with a # in front the line that said menuhidden, since I want to be able to use the Grub menu.

I saw a lot of instructions on bootloader with all sorts of convoluted methods that made no sense. The direct approach worked for me. Also, I learned grub project claims you do not need Win in first partition, and you can have multiple Win/dos partitions, using map command to logically swap them. Cool!

Note that you can probably fix this in your default partition USING LIVE KNOPPIX.

Also, if you have another distro then Knoppix, you can also use live CD to see correct names in /boot on Knoppix partition for that distro.

I usually recommend a good, thick wire-wound notebook to make notes, Linux is not simple, and it is frustrating to run into a problem that you remember spending great time on and can't remember what you did.

Please accept my apologies if I have misunderstood your question.

[lp]

thanks for the info
i used google and did find alot of info

and i have made alot of progress

but it still gets an error that i'm trying to work out

it don't seem to like my path to the root

i had been using the same path you had mentioned but i still get errors

your correct about forgetting cause i have already forgotten

i did how ever bookmark the page where i got the info

i have two partitions

1st partition is where everything loads and the second partition is the swap partition

i tried both loading the grub in the mbr and on the disk

i think i have it in the mbr right now the other way i didn't even get to the grub>

i have no grub.conf anywhere

i'm really new at this unix stuff

been a windows guy too long i guess

i really want out of windows and have tried several flavors of unix

some i had been successful in loading but couldn't get the gui to load

when i get in the command line i seem to think DOS and it usually gets me no where

a friend turned me on to knoppix i like how it loads from the cd

but the HDD is faster so i'm trying to get it going

running from the cd i had some problems w/ some of my java apps and streaming news

but i figure there is probally a fix for that

so i want to get it up on the HDD and then work out the details

thanks again for your help

lp