re: grub access

[Melissa Golter]

To Whom:

the other day I was able to use GRUB to boot between 2 hard drives
SCSI hard drive ID 0; 8GB; OS is win2k
SCSI hard drive ID 1; 8GB; OS is rh9.0
The GRUB version/boot situation was working well.

Yesterday I added a third hard drive (SCSI hard drive ID 2, 18.3GB) and
overwrote the original GRUB with a copy (same GRUB, same version off the 
same rh9 rpm discs).

That is, I re-used the same gui rh9 rpm installer discs, but this time 
there was a problem:  GRUB found only the first and third discs (it did
not *see* SCSI hard drive ID 1 -- the one with rh9 on it already).

I added sdc2 from the available GRUB page pull-down list, and to be sure,
on boot-up, the sdc2 appears as an option.  But I believe GRUB is treating
it like a DOS disk, and of a matter of course, it cannot find the right
directory to boot. I have attached an alternative menu.1st -- the 3
commented out lines toward the bottom are what was originally written in
the menu). 

That is, on boot-up when trying to access the second hard drive (SCSI ID
1), I get

Error 13:
booting sdc2
rootnoverify (hd1,1)
chainloader +1
Error 13: Invalid or unsupported executable format

According to the manual: *This error is returned if the kernel image being
loaded is not recognized as Multiboot or one of the supported native
formats (Linux zImage or bzImage, FreeBSD, or NetBSD).*]


[I picked the sdc2 option from the pull-down menu while installing rh9 on
the newest drive, as it seemed the best alternative

the win2k drive showed up as /dev/sdb
the rh9 drive (#2 above) showed up as /dev/sdc 
and the new drive showed up as /dev/sdd
and sdd2 was what GRUB was calling the partition on the drive presently
having its system installed.  Seemed that a DOS drive would choose sdc,
not sdc2...but...however illogical or logical, the drive won't boot.], but
guess this was the wrong choice?  What should I have done?

To start to find a *cure*:
I found the menu.1st on the new drive -- and can change that to read 
title rh7-3YG (2.4.20-8smp)
        root (hd1,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-8smp ro root=LABEL=/1 hda=ide-scsi
        initrd /initrd-2.4.20-8smp.img
title rh7-3YG-up (2.4.20-8)
        root (hd1,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-8 ro root=LABEL=/1 hda=ide-scsi
        initrd /initrd-2.4.20-8.img
rather than
#title rh7-3YG
#       rootnoverify (hd1,1)
#       chainloader +1

(Note, the drive is not called sdc2, but rh7-3YG -- i used sdc2 above for
clarity purposes.  Also, just in case it is confusing to anyone, my
machine has 2 processors, hence the hi and low memory (2.4.20-8smp),
(2.4.20-8) notations ;P )

but i am sure i need to change this elsewhere -- maybe not the mbr --
but at one of the other stage levels, yes?

Would you further info on how can I correct this situation?  (Both my
understanding and the boot-up of /dev/sdc? ;) ). 

Let me know if you need further info on my system?

system info:
dual processor

SCSI Adaptec AIC-7880 Controller card (as I mentioned previously, GRUB did
work...and still does to a certain extent...but thought since the 7880 is 
mentioned in your manual as specifically as it was, that you might be
interested in knowing about how it works here.) 

again, the hard drives:
win2k on SCSI 0 (an 8GB Seagate)
*rh9 on SCSI 1 (an 8 GB IBM)
**rh9 on SCSI 2 (an 18.3GB Seagate)

*is the disc I can't access 
** is the disc that has the new rh install

I don't really know how to access information on what GRUB version came
with rh9 -- but it is a rh9 off downloaded, not from a box...it is same
version GRUB as was previously installed, but per suggestion in the
manual: off new rh9 drive: GNU ld version 2.13.90.0.18 20030206 

Have I left anything critical out?

PS: the reason i ask is not only because i want to correct the situation,
but because I am shortly going to overwrite the older disc (SCSI id 1)
with rh7.3 -- so I need to get a better idea on what is happening, how to
chose, what to look for, why GRUB could not recognize /dev/sdc during the
install, etc., so I can avoid same prob or fix up the next time
round...sorry -- hope you can help someone so new to this... 

Thanks immensely for any info...