[Tfug] (return to) grub question

Wed Jun 22 13:35:19 MST 2005

Joel,

You know, I have to say that I forgot all about the kernel line, seeing that 
I rarely have issues with things like that and thus since I don't do it that 
often I tend to forget about simple shit like that.. Sorry I didn't think of 
it sooner. As for the X issues, I personally would have to look at something 
like that since it could be a number of things. One thing that I would like 
to know is weather or not this is custom kernel or the stock debian kernel. 
Im thinking that if this is a custom kernel, it could be a wrong/missing 
kernel module. btw, can you pull anything out of the /var/log/messages or 
/var/log/x?/log... I forget what the log is called in this case. Anyway, 
good luck and if you have any issues, I will install x on my Debian server 
and try to recreate the issues.

Matt
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joel Howard" <johord at gainusa.com>
To: "Tucson Free Unix Group" <tfug at tfug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 7:21 AM
Subject: Re: [Tfug] (return to) grub question

> After messing around a little, I discovered that boot prompts run through 
> grub can be made to appear in /proc/cmdline by including them in the 
> kernel line (not in the debian altoptions section), like so:
>
> title           Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.11
> root            (hd0,1)
> kernel          /vmlinuz-2.6.11 root=/dev/hda9 ro mem=512M mem=nopentium 
> nmi_watchdog=1
> savedefault
> boot
>
> Pat Legg deserves credit for this little discovery, and also thanks again 
> for showing me the Slackware grub config file -- it's like a Kia next to 
> Debian's Cadillac, but it looks like it would be a lot easier to park! 
> Unfortunately these boot prompts did nothing to help with the "dazed and 
> confused" kernel message I keep getting whenever doing anything with X 
> (hmmm, or the mouse in X).  Suspecting hardware conflicts or failure.
> JH
>
>
> Joel Howard wrote:
>
>> OK I'm back --yes I'm running Debian though sometimes it runs me...
>> Matt - My original test (changing 512MB RAM to 256MB) was only to see if 
>> the boot parameter actually "took" when I booted.  Apparently not...
>> I started with Mr. Hooper's suggestion (and thanks) pointing me to 
>> /proc/cmdline -- the only thing there was root=/dev/hda9 ro.  None of my 
>> boot parameters seem to be making it, so I started from scratch by 
>> running update-grub and generating a new grub menu.lst, left the 
>> automagic section alone (it detected my kernels OK), and edited in the 
>> boot stuff which is not in the automagic section (from original 
>> question):
>>
>> # altoptions=nmi_watchdog=1
>> # altoptions=mem=512MB
>> # altoptions=mem=nopentium
>>
>> (syntax correct?)
>> Then I rebooted and went back to /proc/cmdline.  It remained unchanged. 
>> Maybe I should be using that copt xyz thing?
>> Joel H.
>>
>>
>>
>> Matthew Eskes wrote:
>>
>>> John,
>>> Ah, wasnt not aware of that. I have never had to use any of those 
>>> commands in automagic. *shrug*
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Gruenenfelder" 
>>> <johng at as.arizona.edu>
>>> To: "Tucson Free Unix Group" <tfug at tfug.org>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 4:11 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [Tfug] grub question
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Wed, Jun 15, 2005 at 04:06:22PM -0700, Matthew Eskes wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Actually, thats not quite the right thinking...
>>>>> The GRUB config file is parsed like any other confile file in Linux,
>>>>> meaning that if there is is a hash mark there, it is ignored. For 
>>>>> those
>>>>> options to take effect, you still need to uncomment them. This leads 
>>>>> me to
>>>>> somewhat of any odd question, if you have a half gig of RAM, why are 
>>>>> you
>>>>> wanting to use only a quarter gig? Anyway, even if it is in 
>>>>> "automagic", if
>>>>> you need to make a change, you still need to uncomment them, iirc.
>>>>>
>>>>> Matt
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Actually, though he did not specifically state it, I believe Joel is 
>>>> using
>>>> Debian.  In the Debian GRUB config file, there are "automagic" sections 
>>>> where
>>>> you can set parameters for all GRUB menu items to use.  These are 
>>>> hidden
>>>> behind hash marks because they are not valid GRUB lines.
>>>>
>>>> Which brings me to a point for Joel:
>>>>
>>>> Though you don't need to run any program to make GRUB itself use the 
>>>> new file,
>>>> if you change the automagic sections, you must run update-grub in order 
>>>> for
>>>> the changes to take effect.  Have you done this?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> --John Gruenenfelder    Research Assistant, Steward Observatory, U of 
>>>> Arizona
>>>>                        johng at as.arizona.edu
>>>> Try Weasel Reader for PalmOS  --  http://gutenpalm.sf.net
>>>> "This is the most fun I've had without being drenched in the blood
>>>> of my enemies!"
>>>>        --Sam of Sam & Max
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