[chip14]

I just got done installing Fedora Core 2 on my multi-boot computer. I already had Gentoo Linux 2.4.26 and Windows XP. I just stuck Fedora Core 2 on an empty partition I had. My problem is that when I rebooted into my new system, only Windows XP and Fedora Core 2 work from the GRUB menu. When I go to the Gentoo entry, I get the following error:

Error 13: Invalid or unsupported executable format

Now, I looked up this error on Google and found out this happens when the kernel image that is being loaded isn't understood by the system. However, this is a Linux bz-Image and that is listed as supported by GRUB. Also, I booted into a LiveCD (specifically, the Gentoo Install LiveCD), and mounted my Fedora Core partition (/dev/hda6). I then modified my grub.conf file to include the path to my kernel. It still says the same error, but now before the error it says:

[Linux-bzImage, setup=0xa00, size=0x11da64]

So, my question is, How can I resolve this problem? I know for a fact that my kernel image is a bzImage, since I compiled it myself. Why would GRUB not understand the executable format? Thanks for any help,

Rob

[tsunam]

okie what we actually need is your grub config and your drive setup so we can see how you are setup.

also in your main /boot you should have 2 different files that are kernels... see if you have 2 or if one got overwritten

[chip14]

I'm not home now so I can't get you the GRUB setup, but something you said interested me. You said my main /boot should have two kernels. Well, I have two /boots. Here is my hard drive setup.

hda1 - /boot for Gentoo
hda2 - Extended
hda3 - Gentoo ext3 Root
hda4 - Windows XP NTFS
hda5 - Linux SWAP
hda6 - Fedora Core Root/Boot

You see, my Fedora Core hda6 has the /boot included in the root partition. Should I move my Fedora kernel to my hda1 and change the GRUB config to fit that?

[chip14]

OK, now I am at home. Here is my GRUB config file. Fedora Core II installer made everything except I edited the Gentoo entry when I was trying to fix this problem. The things under Gentoo are the same things I have under Gentoo in my Gentoo grub.conf file.

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,5)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda6
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,5)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 [blah blah.. you don't need to know this]
title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358smp)
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358smp ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.5-1.358smp.img
title Fedora Core-up (2.6.5-1.358)
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
title Gentoo
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.26-gentoo root=/dev/hda3
chainloader +1
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,3)
chainloader +1

[tsunam]

alright...2 boot sections, That is unfortunately sort of impossible. since you did the fedora after the gentoo I'm going to assume that fedora automatically rewrote the mbr with its grub information. on the fedora /boot drive do you have the gentoo 2.4.26 kernel?

otherwise you mgiht want to try for

title Gentoo
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.26-gentoo root=/dev/hda3

replacing the kernel line with

kernel (hd0,0)/kernel-2.4.26-gentoo root=/dev/hda3

[chip14]

Yes, I know for a fact that Fedora rewrote the master boot record, since my GRUB configured under Gentoo had no graphics, and the current GRUB has graphics. I think I am going to try to copy my Gentoo kernel temporarily into some tmp mount (most likely on my Gentoo root drive), then copy everything in Fedora's /boot to the hda1 drive, overwriting everything I had there. Then, I could move the Gentoo kernel back into the hda1 drive and reconfigure the entire GRUB conf to look something like this:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,5)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda6
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 [blah blah.. you don't need to know this]
title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358smp)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358smp ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358smp.img
title Fedora Core-up (2.6.5-1.358)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
title Gentoo
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.26-gentoo root=/dev/hda3
chainloader +1
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,3)
chainloader +1

The only thing I'm not sure about here is what Fedora's images are trying to do when they say root=LABEL=/ ? I know in Fedora's fstab LABEL or something is the same as the root partition, but I don't know where that is specified? Should I just change it to root=/dev/hda6 ?

[chip14]

Ok. I did what I said above, including changing the LABEL thing in both fstab and grub.conf to /dev/hda6. Everything now works. Thanks for the assistance.

[tsunam]

no problem glad to hear that it all works.

[missmarymack]

i also get error message 13 when i try to start up my computer.

I'm a first-time pc builder who's in the process of installing Gentoo linux 2.4.62; it's my only OS as of now.

i don't know much about linux, so i think something as highly configurable Gentoo was a bit of a leap for me, but i've tried to keep setup simple.

my grub conf looks like:

default 0
timeout 5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.26-r6
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.26-gentoo-r6 root=/dev/sda3

with something that simple, i'm not sure how i messed it up, but . . . ::shrug::

any input would be muchly appreciated

[missmarymack]

ach . . .

i just turned my comp on, for kicks, and NOW it's giving me error 15 messages.

blast.

[tsunam]

15 : "Error while parsing number"

This error is returned if GRUB was expecting to read a number and encountered bad data.

That seems to be error that you are talking about, perhaps something to be concerned about perhaps not.

When you copied the kernel bzImage over to your /boot partition what did you name it? If you can't remember you can put the gentoo disc back in..mount the /mnt/gentoo and the /mnt/gentoo/boot and then chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash. then you should cd to /boot and look at what you named the kernel just to make sure its exactly the same as what you have in your grub.conf file.

Edit: also missmary its alright to start a new topic for a grub problem you are having. A bit easier to track but we'll remember that for next time