[CentOS] "yum update" did not update kernel on one box

Thu May 8 14:39:15 UTC 2008
lannyma at gmail.com <lannyma at gmail.com>

On 5/7/08, Kai Schaetzl <maillists AT conactive.com> wrote:
> Lanny Marcus wrote on Wed, 07 May 2008 15:10:58 -0500:
>> Kai: I am not using Windows Boot Manager. Grub comes up, as on the 2
>> boxes, where things are working properly.
>
> Just to be sure, it's really grub? You get a somewhat blueish screen that
> says "booting centos in x seconds, press any key to see options" or so? I
> think there's also a CentOS symbol on it, but am not sure. We have to be
> absolutely sure about that.

Kai:  On my box (dell2400) it is  GNU GRUB v.0.97, with 3 choices  (2
for Linux, 1 for WInXP). On my wife's box (compaq1300) it is also GNU
GRUB v.0.97, but with 2 choices (1 for the original Linux kernel, 1
for WinXP).

> And if you select Windows from that boot screen, does that boot right into
> Windows or do you get another boot menu that lists only Windows?

Ah. This is where the problem on her box probably comes from! Last
November, when I installed Windows XP, in English, my native language,
I did not understand something in Microsoft's English. There were four
(4) partitions for Windows (C,D,E,F) and apparently when it was
finished, I clicked incorrectly and it installed Windows again,  So,
it installed MS Windows XP onto the four (4) Windows partitions on her
box! If Windows is selected on the GNU GRUB menu, then there is a 2nd
boot menu, of Windows. The one to select is the 2nd from the top. I
would redo her box completely, if she goes out of town, but then she
will need to reinstall a lot of stuff. The installation of MS Windows
on her box is a disaster! Lots of wasted space on the HD too.

>> Questions: (a) Can I copy /boot/grub/grub.conf on my box and replace
>> that file on my wife's box, with my version? Would that work OK? Worth a
>> try?
>
> No, this wouldn't help, because the grub.conf that *we know of* is fine.
> It's just not getting used, because you are booting from another one.
> AFAIK, grub cannot embed a boot menu in the MBR (Master Boot Record), so
> that information must be coming from somewhere else.
> You have *two* grub.conf's (and two /boot partitions) on the machine
> AFAIS. You would have to *merge* the two: you need the options for booting
> Windows from the first one and all the other options from the second one.
> AFAIK, the MBR on your disk does not boot from hd(0,2), but from another
> partition. You have to find out which one that is and change the grub.conf
> on that partition accordingly. The caveat of this is that you would have
> to do this each time the kernel changes or you would need to change a bit
> more, so that this becomes the new boot partition.
> Another option would be to grub-install again and overwrite the current
> information in the MBR, so that it then boots from hd(0,2).
> I'm not confident enough about both options to talk you thru.
> Maybe I'm missing other possibilities why that happens, but the basic
> problem is that your machine does not boot from that hd(0,2), but with
> information from elsewhere.
>
>> There was confusion on my part, when I installed Windows XP on my wife's
>> box. Hers was the first one I installed Win XP on, which I'd never
>> installed before and it ended up getting installed more than once.
>
> Did you install it after CentOS or before it?

When I began using Linux, I read that for dual boot boxes, MS Windows
should always be installed first. So, I always install MS Windows
first and then Linux.

> You will need to make a list of all partitions. Not sure what the best way
> to do this would be. Probably fdisk. Run fdisk, then type "p" (for
> printing the partition table), then leave it with "q". Be careful, as
> printing the table is only the least dangerous action in fdisk!

Per Scott Silva's suggestion:
[root at compaq1300 ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 81.9 GB, 81964302336 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10587 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1         783     5919448+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2             784        5347    34503840    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda3            5348       10586    39606840   8e  Linux LVM
/dev/hda5             784        1566     5919448+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda6            1567        2920    10236208+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda7            2921        3733     6146248+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda8            3734        3747      105808+  83  Linux
/dev/hda9            3748        5347    12095968+  8e  Linux LVM
[root at compaq1300 ~]#

Trying to remember what I did on approximately 24 November 2007 is
difficult. Probably, after shrinking the Windows partition with
QTParted, to allow space for the CentOS installation, I let Windows do
the partitioning and formatting for Windows, since I'd read that it is
recommended to let Windows do that for Windows and Linux for Linux.
However, I may have done the Windows partitionnig with QTParted. Or,
the Windows XP installation may have given me the option to not use
all of the HD for Windows, and if so, I would have elected to do that
and leave space for CentOS5. I believe that I created and formatted
the 4 Windows partitions within the Win XP installation. Not sure what
went on that confused day.
TIA! Lanny