Debian 6.0.4 grub installation failed

Well, I'd like to share a problem which I had a few days ago. Hope the solution will be helpful to others who got into the same trouble.

Problem:

I downloaded and burnt Debian 6.0.4 distro into a DVD, and starts to install it. Everything was okay, but the grub installation failed. Then I skipped that step and let it to continue. Once it finished the installation, it rebooted the machine and there was nothing to boot.

Solution:

The reason for the above problem is, the boot loader wasn't found. The solution is too easy, all you need to do is, install the grub boot loader manually. Unlike grub version 1, in grub version 2, you need to install a package called "grub-pc". But how ?

• Put your Debian 6 DVD and let it boot.
• Then you will get a menu where you need to choose "Rescue mode"
• There will be a process somewhat similar to installation process. 
• When you get a list of partitions to boot, select the previously installed partition and run the shell on it. (you will get an option)
• It will load a simple shell, where you have only basic commands. 
• To install the "grub-pc", you need to add the cd-rom to the repository list. "apt-cdrom add"
• As usual run "apt-get update"
• Then install grub-pc, "apt-get install grub-pc"
• You are done !!!

Install tar.bz2 in linux

If you want to install an application which is not listed in your linux distro sources you need to find an installable file which suitable to your distro.

example:

                for debian/ubuntu, you need to download .deb files

                for fedora/suse/redhat you need to download .rpm files

If you can find .bin file, that would be the easiest way to install the application.

In this post I'm going to show how to install the application from the hardest way. (only use this method if you fail to find above files, and this method can be use for any linux distro)

Ok, now I'm going to install seamonkey. (a web browser based on firefox)

1. Download tar.bz2 file.

2. Make a directory and move the downloaded tar.bz2 file to that directory.

To make a directory ( "seamonkey" is the name I have used)

mkdir seamonkey

To move tar.bz2 file ( "seamonkey-2.0.11.tar.bz2" is the name of tar.bz2 )

mv seamonkey-2.0.11.tar.bz2 ./seamonkey/

cd seamonkey/
 

3. Extract .tar.bz2 file ( you can use full name without using * )

tar jxvf sea*.tar.bz2

4. Change the directory to seamonkey which has been extracted.

cd seamonkey/

5. Finally run the application by using

./seamonkey

6. Configure the application launcher ( the way is depends on the desktop environment )

for GDM

FYI: This method is for seamonkey, for the other applications, open the .tar.bz2 file then you can find the README.txt. You will find a similar method as above.

Reinstalling grub boot loader

This post is only for the Linux users. If you want to use Linux with Windows you need to install a boot loader. Most of the latest distros provides a boot loader (ex: grub) and it installs automatically with the OS. If you install Windows after installing Linux the boot loader will disappear, in other words, you are unable to load Linux OS. To solve this problem you need to reinstall grub boot loader. First of all, you need to find a live Linux CD and boot it without installing. ( http://www.livecdlist.com )

1. Open a terminal and log in as root.

:~> su -

or use "sudo"  

               
2. run grub

 :~# grub

or :~> sudo grub

3. finding master boot record

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

 

4. If you know where the master boot record

grub> root (hd0,6)

5. Setup the boot loader

grub> setup (hd0) 

grub> quit

 Now you can have both operating systems.