Q4OS Forum

MetalTrabant

Member

Registered: 2024-05-25

Posts: 2

Can't install GRUB to start the system

Hello everyone!

I'm trying to revive an old Asus EeePC 2G by installing Q4OS 5.4 i386 32-bit version on an SD-card.

I was successful once, but on a too small card, and without swap partition the system easily runs out of the full 512 MB's of RAM...

But even on that install I had the issue where GRUB failed to install. It turned out it could only be installed by blocklists, but I needed to use the --force option for grub-install to do that, and after to do an update-grub. I could only reach the system from the GRUB rescue menu of an MX Linux live SD-card I had around to do all these, but after that, it started successfully by itself.

So I was trying to do the same on a larger SD-card, but with a swap partition. I've put /boot on a separate primary partition, to the beginning of the disk, with boot flag turned on. Then came the swap partition, and then / on a 3rd partition. I did the 'hack' like before to force grub-install with blocklists, also tried using the --removable parameter. But no success this time.

When I try to start the machine, it just hangs with a blinking cursor on a black screen. I can reach the installed system by using the method described above, but it can't start itself for some reason. Help and suggestions would be appreciated

slightlygood

Member

Registered: 2024-05-27

Posts: 4

Re: Can't install GRUB to start the system

Can confirm, having the same issue on a 32 bit HP 2000 with 2 GB memory. Grub doesn't install no matter which install method I try, not even OEM. The only time it worked fine was when I tried installing it alongside Windows 7 32 bit. When I try giving the whole disk to Q4OS and install it standalone, it fails to install bootloader every time I try.

MetalTrabant

Member

Registered: 2024-05-25

Posts: 2

Re: Can't install GRUB to start the system

For the record, I've kept trying and searching, and found this:

https://unix.stackexchange.com/question … m-isnt-emb

Realized I've used /dev/sdc1 instead of /dev/sdc in grub-install, as apparently GRUB doesn't like a separate partition, so it needs a device, not a partition as parameter. Now I'm not sure which GRUB the system uses, as I have two now, one on a separate partition, and one on the root, but doesn't really matter, the system is finally able to start itself.