[nflug] GRUB error 18

[Cyber Source]

Show me your /boot/grub/menu.lst file

Steve Petersen wrote:
> 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 
> <mailto: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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>
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