I just installed antiX M8 on my HP compaq 6910p laptop. I chose not to install Grub at all during the installation of antix because I wanted to use the Ubuntu grub that is already installed. Since installed antiX, I have four partitions on this machine:

Windows XP on the first partition
Ubuntu 9.04 on the second partition
swap on the third partition
antiX on the fourth partition

I logged in to Ubuntu and edited the menu.lst for antiX, or so I thought. I used the UUID method and it didn't work I got an error (can't remember what number). I would like to keep the Ubuntu grub if possible. How do I go about getting it to boot antiX properly? Let me know how to proceed, thanks!

Editing Ubuntu's grub to add anitX should be enough if it's done correctly. You could also just reinstall the Ubuntu grub, it should pick up antiX and add it to the menu.

I see you have windows also. Do you use grub to boot it?

Here is the relevant section of my menu.lst. Can someone tell me what is wrong with the antix entry that it won't boot?

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-13-generic
uuid 247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic root=UUID=247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-13-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic root=UUID=247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
uuid 247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
uuid 247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

title antiX 8
uuid 0235d15e-75eb-41af-8436-fd91a737643d
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp
root=UUID=0235d15e-75eb-41af-8436-fd91a737643d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

Are you sure that the uuid for antiX is correct?

ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid

This is the format I have.
title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.30-1.dmz.8-liquorix-686
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30-1.dmz.8-liquorix-686 root=UUID=5404e421-0ca5-41e1-96cf-cb03ab0620bb ro splash=silent,fadein,theme:natural_antix CONSOLE=/dev/tty1 vga=791 i8042.nomux=1 elevator=bfq
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.30-1.dmz.8-liquorix-686

It could be because of the extra line you have.

@anticapitalista

Yes, I ran that command and it came up with the same UUID.

@eriefisher

I edited my menu.lst to be similar to yours. When I got rid of quiet and splash in the antiX entry it showed boot text. But now what happens is it goes through a bunch of boot text and sits at the line"Begin: Waiting for root filesystem..." and does nothing. Not sure what else it could be? Here is my updated menu.lst, any ideas?

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-13-generic
uuid 247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic root=UUID=247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-13-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic root=UUID=247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
uuid 247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
uuid 247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

title antiX 8
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp root=UUID=UUID=0235d15e-75eb-41af-8436-fd91a737643d ro vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

I would try deleting the leading kernel and initrd on the antiX entry,

/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp root=UUID=UUID=0235d15e-75eb-41af-8436-fd91a737643d ro vga=791
/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp

cheers,
oldhoghead

oldhoghead wrote:I would try deleting the leading kernel and initrd on the antiX entry,

/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp root=UUID=UUID=0235d15e-75eb-41af-8436-fd91a737643d ro vga=791
/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp

cheers,
oldhoghead

OK, but what should I put there then? What should the antix entry look like?

I got rid of the kernel and initrd words and just had the preceding text in those lines. Still didn't work. Anyone have any ideas what to try next? I'm not sure why this isn't working.

I would try to reinstall the ubuntu grub. it shouls pick up antix.

Here's what I did...

Booted to the Ubuntu LiveCD
Opened a Terminal and ran the following:
sudo grub
find /boot/grub/stage1
It returned (hd0,1) which is Ubuntu and also (hd0,3) which is antiX and I'm not sure why it showed antiX here because I didn't install GRUB at all when I installed it.
root (hd0,1)
setup (hd0)
quit

Rebooted and removed the Ubuntu disc
Selected antiX in the GRUB menu and I am at the same spot.

It shows boot text, and the last line is...

USB 5-2: Product: Fingerprint sensor

I then hit Ctrl+Alt+F1 and it says...

Begin: Waiting for root file system...


That's as far as I Can get. Any idea what to do?

I can only think of using the re-install grub in antiX livecd.
You should keep a backup of the Ubuntu menu.lst.

anticapitalista wrote:I can only think of using the re-install grub in antiX livecd.
You should keep a backup of the Ubuntu menu.lst.

I did that, and it worked. I am using the GRUB installed from the antiX cd. Not sure why the Ubuntu GRUB had so much trouble booting antiX? When I get a chance I will compare the menu.lst files and see what the difference is. Thanks to all of those who helped me out!

The differences could be quite revealing. My guess is that the difference will be subtle, difficult to see without close scrutiny, but I can speculate with a high level of certainty that there will be a difference, and when we see it, we'll all say, yeah, that is what it is. One would think that using the UUID to directly address the antiX component would have been correct, but we'll see if you share with us the final antiX and Ubuntu versions of /boot/grub/menu.lst.

FWIW, the following is how I deal with it; I generally have sidux controlling my MBR, and I install an instance of GRUB on every partition, but only have one at any given time controlling the MBR. Here is a partial snapshot of what mine looks like:

[/color]

Here is the GRUB that antiX installed and it works. Thanks to everyone who tried to help me out!

timeout 15
color cyan/blue white/blue
foreground ffffff
background 0639a1

gfxmenu /boot/grub/message

title antiX
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda4 nomce quiet splash vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img
boot

# title MEPIS at sda4, previous kernel (if any)
# root (hd0,3)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz.old root=/dev/sda4 nomce quiet splash vga=791
# boot

# title MEPIS at sda4, kernel 2.6.27-1-mepis-smp
# root (hd0,3)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-1-mepis-smp root=/dev/sda4 nomce quiet splash vga=791 /mnt/mepis/boot/grub/menu.lst
# boot

title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-13-generic
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic root=UUID=247a3864-52d8-4555-99ee-4ad42907f47d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic

title MEMTEST
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin