[nflug] GRUB error 18

[Steve Petersen]

Thanks for the help!  I'm afraid I can't make much of it though.  As I say,
I've been using linux for about 10 years, but that doesn't mean I've been
/understanding/ much of it.  I have only the vaguest grasp of UUIDs and
cylinder geometry.  I don't know what the "stanzas" are and I'm not sure
what you mean by "the actual drive /dev use" (unless you just mean /dev/hda,
which I believe it is, though there is a second hard drive I mount
separately).

Below I give the "fdisk -l" output.  Thanks again for any help.
Steve

Disk /dev/hda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0x0008fac7
>
>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/hda1   *           1       38560   309733168+  83  Linux
> /dev/hda2           38561       38913     2835472+   5  Extended
> /dev/hda5           38561       38913     2835441   82  Linux swap /
> Solaris
>
> Disk /dev/hdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
> 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
> Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
> Disk identifier: 0x000b8293
>
>    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
> /dev/hdb1               1       19103   153444816   83  Linux
> /dev/hdb2           19104       19457     2843505    5  Extended
> /dev/hdb5           19104       19457     2843473+  82  Linux swap /
> Solaris
>


On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 9:40 PM, Cyber Source <peter at thecybersource.com>
wrote:

> Whatever the bios is told as a boot device, if it's a hard drive, it
> will go to "first" partition on that drive that has a "boot" flag (fdisk
> -l), it will be the partition with a "*" declared.
> First off, I would suspect a problem with the CHS (cylinder,head,sector)
> geometry that the drive has or is being interpreted by the bios as, to
> the kernel.
> Second off, I would think it's how the stanzas are written and the
> UUID's (always a problem I've seen) are being used. Try changing to the
> actual drive /dev use.
> Tell me those things and I'll tell you my reasoning later, if
> applicable, sorry lazy typer.....
> Steve Petersen wrote:
> > Hi NFLUGgers,
> >
> > I've been using some form of linux for about 10 years, but I'm still a
> > newbie in many ways, and I wonder if you can help me.  For some time
> > now my home desktop computer - which has Ubuntu 7.10 on it and nothing
> > else - won't boot any of the more recent kernels the update-manager
> > downloads.  It gives me
> >
> >     Error 18:  selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS
> >
> >
> > until I choose in GRUB an old enough kernel that BIOS can reach,
> > apparently.  I don't know if I have a separate boot partition; it's
> > however Ubuntu set it up default.  (No separate boot partition shows
> > up on the 'mount' command - but would it?)  I also don't know what my
> > motherboard is - that's where the BIOS lives, right?  As you see I'm
> > still pretty ignorant of some basic computing concepts.
> >
> > Anyway this has been going on for over a year, probably, but the
> > kernel's old enough now that (without good evidence either way) I'm
> > starting to worry it'll be sub-optimal in noticeable ways.  It's
> > 2.6.17-10-generic, though /boot lists versions as recent as
> > 2.6.22-14-generic.
> >
> > Thanks in advance for any help or thoughts.
> >
> > Steve
> >
> > --
> >
> > http://stevepetersen.net
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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-- 

http://stevepetersen.net
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