[nendo14]

Linux first-timer. I just installed Fedora Core 2 to a new second HDD; the first is run by WinXP. Now when I start the computer it doesn't boot anything. Instead, it gives the follwing message: GRUB Hard Disk Error. I can still access the BIOS, but once that message hits I'm done. Please Help!

[Dapper Dan]

When it gave you the opportunity, did you create a boot floppy? Did you use a utility to partition your hard drive from Windows, or just allow Fedora to do the work? How did you set up your partition scheme?

[nendo14]

I don't remember Fedora prompting for a boot floppy, but no I don't have one. I didn't partition the drive in Windows. I used Disk Druid in FC2 to partion the drive as follows:

hda: 3 partions (existing drive using Windows)

hde: /boot 200MB (new drive)
/ 75000MB
/swap (some*)MB
*Disk Druid set this up automatically and I can't remember

Unallocated Free Space: ~150GB

[danleff]

[nendo14]

The new drive is a Serial ATA drive and it I had access to it in WinXP, but now that I check the BIOS it doesn't seem to recognize the drive.

I used Disk Druid to partion the drive. This is utility in the FC2 installation process.

Thanks for both of your help.

[danleff]

This is a hard disk id problem, which is why you are getting the message. What motherboard is this? I assume that you are not using raid, which was set up in windows?

Please also check if sata is enabled in the bios.

This is virgin territory for me, but I think we can come up with a solution.

Was the sata drive recognized by Windows before installing Fedora?

[nendo14]

I am using an ASUS K8V Deluxe for an AMD Athlon processor.
Chipset: VIA K8T800, VIA VT8237
Bus: Scalable Hyper-Transport Bus

I'm not using RAID (because I don't really understand it).

WinXP recognized, and could format, the SATA drive.

I just checked the BIOS n couldn't find a place to enable SATA.

[CrazyKillerMan]

For enabling SATA in the bios....look for something that is like "On-board Controller"

My Asus A7V333 has IDE raid, but to enable it, I have to enable the on-board controller (the reg IDE channels work ok regardless of the settings).

[danleff]

Again, I was interested to see if sata was enabled, don't get too hung up on this at first.

In the bios, however, under the advanced window, there are multiple screens. See the bottom of the screen to see how to toggle from one screen to another. One screen option is "Onboard Devices Configuration."

It is there that you will see "onboard stata BootRom" and "Promise raid." See if one or both are enabled by default and let us know.

It looks like the board and Fedora are seeing the sata drive as hde, rather than in ide logical order, such as hda, hdb....

I ran into this on a raid board when I used the raid ide connector for a hard drive. Linux id'ed the drive hde, but also as the first hard drive in the system. In other words, the hde drive was the boot drive, accordng to Linux. I had to reverse the drive configurations in Lilo (which I was using at the time), by using the option "ide=reverse". Don't know about this in Grub, though.

Let's try this. I assume that you told Fedora to use Grub to boot via the MBR? If so, go into the bios and see if changing the first boot device to "scsi" causes the system to recognize Grub properly.

Remember, I don't have sata, so if others have a more logical approach, let us know.

[nendo14]

I can't believe I missed it. Sure enough, under "Onboard Devices Config." I find a prompt to enable "onboard SATA BootROM". After setting it to "enabled" and rebooting, I get the Fedora boot manager. I can now boot up with WinXP and FC2 perfectly. Thanks to this great forum, problem solved.

If I had set the hard-drive up right, I would have installed FC2 problem free. That speaks pretty well of the software considering all the problems some people tend to have.

Thanks again.