GRUB problem and a couple of other doubts

[sakumar79]

Hi,
Recently bought a new computer... Installed XP, Vista and Linux (in that order). Linux is Vector Linux SOHO from recent PC World DVD (originally tried Ubuntu but the install CD had some problems).

1. During bootup, GRUB gives me error -

Failed to read splash image (overify (hd0,11)/boot/bitmap/boot.xpm)
Press any key to continue

- Originally, it was (hd0,1) which I edited to hd0,11 because the Linux partition was there, but this still gives error, and ends up going to a text-based boot loader... Any idea why? And what is meant by overify?

2. I have SATA HDD and SATA DVD-Writer. The NTFS and FAT32 partitions are to be mounted at every bootup - forgot what config files to modify - please help.

3. By mistake, I clicked on Pidgin icon and it asked for setting up account. I said cancel, but now it asks me at every login. How to stop it from startup?

4. I remember long ago when I used linux, I would set up that using ls would automatically use the -l parameter. I have forgotten how to do it... Please let me know what I have to do...

5. When I was installing Vector Linux, even though I asked to setup Swap partition, it skipped the task... Now how do I configure it? I have left some unformatted space in the HDD for this.

Thanks in advance,
Arun

[mehulved]

1) From a live CD, post your /boot/grub/menu.lst from your installed distro and fstab
2) /etc/fstab
But these days it should be automounted
4) alias ls="ls -l"
Put it in ~/.bashrc if you want it to be permanant
5) Create a partition with fdisk/(g/qt)parted or whatever tool you prefer
then mkswap /dev/<device name> then swapon /dev/<device name> to start using it. You can add it to /etc/fstab too, then.

[Sykora]

1. I think "overify" is a somehow corrupted fragment of "rootnoverify". Remove everything before the (hd0, 11) and try it.

2. You have to modify /etc/fstab. Search for it, it's a pretty common query.

4. Try :

$> alias ls='ls -l'

EDIT : Beaten...

[sakumar79]

Thanks guys... Will check those things out tonight. But what about question number 3? This was:

3. By mistake, I clicked on Pidgin icon and it asked for setting up account. I said cancel, but now it asks me at every login. How to stop it from startup?

Arun

Checked out some info on the splashscreen problem and solved it...

The line was reading "splashimage=overify (hd0,11)/boot/bitmap/boot.xpm" but should have been reading "splashimage (hd0,11)/boot/bitmap/boot.xpm" instead...

Trying out fstab configuration... What is strange is that PCWorld mentioned that Vector Linux automatically mounts the NTFS partitions, but this did not happen here...

Arun

[praka123]

this takes time.since we dont know ur partitions.reg splash,the format u thought is correct.as i have in my /boot/grub/menu.lst
"splashimage=(hd0,x)/thedirectory/ssss.xpm.gz"
so,post ur o/p from terminal(is it kde?) or konsole the output of "fdisk -l" as root permission which u can gain by giving "su -" and entering root passwd.
then we can see about ntfs partns?btwn u shud've tried ubuntu it is better.not trolling though.
also,if u can-attach the menu.lst file.
reg,pidgin u must setup an account when it prompts,eventhough it maybe second time.then edit and remove the not needed one from preferences menu oR u can remove the dir /usr/home/.pidgin something.

[mehulved]

Originally Posted by sakumar79

Trying out fstab configuration... What is strange is that PCWorld mentioned that Vector Linux automatically mounts the NTFS partitions, but this did not happen here...

Arun

Not just Vector Linux but any recent linux distro should auto mount partitions, though most of them automount ntfs as read-only. You need ntfs-3g to read-write to NTFS partition. Not sure if vector provides it out of the box.