Plop can't find cd drive

[nlgootee]

I have a new Lenovo notebook that came with Win8 64 bit. Then openSUSE 12.3 was installed on it which made it unable to boot into windows. I have been told that if I fix the windows boot, it will delete grub and I won't be able to boot Linux. I found a post that said that I could use the Plop Boot manager to boot Linux and fix grub, so I downloaded the iso and burned it to a CD. When I start the notebook using the disk, I get a list: hda partition 1, floppy, cdrom, usb & network. I pick cdrom and I get: Loading cdrom driver, then I get: No cdrom found. This makes no sense, because I am using a cd and it is in a cd (dvd writer) drive. If I choose hda partition 1, I get: Load profile data, MBR: check, MBR: is valid, Checking Autosector, WARNING: No valid bootsector signature, Continue Boot? [Y/N]

At this point I stop. I am not feeling adventurous today. Any ideas on why it won't boot from the CD?

[Elmar]

At this point I stop. I am not feeling adventurous today. Any ideas on why it won't boot from the CD?

the cd driver supports only ide drives. i am sure, your drive is a sata drive.

[jan4]

Hello,  nlgootee
How dit you install openSUSE and where is grub?
If you installed all in the same partition than the only thing that can work is chainloading windows boot manager by grub or chainloading grub by windows boot manager.
I never done that use operating systems in its own primary partition.

Then you can have windows with boot manager in one partition and have linux with boot manager in another.

The only thing that has to be changed is the bootflag (for convinience you can install plop in the Master Boot Record to do that for you).
Chainloading grub from windows bootmanager or chainloading windows boot manager chould work too.

The CD option in plop is only for systems that can't boot from CD , your system (and all with SATTA disks can) So no need for that.

I don't know if you can use plop "no valid bootsector signature" is a bad sign , so try to get it working without!!

[nlgootee]

Yes it is a SATA drive. Do you think that it will work if I burn the iso to a usb drive?

[Elmar]

no, and it makes absolutely no sense to boot the boot manager from cd and then use the cd option to boot another cd. when you are able to boot from a cd, then boot the cd that you want without using the plop boot manager.

however, the plop boot manager cannot help you to fix grub. maybe you understood something wrong. plop linux can fix grub. there are also many other linux livecd's that are able to fix grub.

[nlgootee]

This is the post that gave me the idea that I could use Plop Boot Manager.

Situation

After installing Windows alongside Linux, GRUB has been replaced by the Windows bootloader. How do you get GRUB back into the MBR?
Procedure

You have to make sure to be able to boot into openSUSE. You can do this either by using the Rescue System mode on the installation DVD or by using a CD with Plop Boot Manager or Super Grub Disk, for example. Note that you can let boot any ISO on USB with UNetbootin. Then you can repair the Master Boot Record with a few commands:

Open a terminal and type (no 'sudo' is required in Rescue System mode):

sudo /usr/sbin/grub

Then execute the following commands:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage2 (will show the path of actual grub installation, you will need on the next step)
grub> root (hdx,y)
grub> setup (hdx)
grub> quit

Caution: x represents the disk number and y represents the partition number where GRUB stage2 is installed. The numbering starts at 0. For example, if the first command outputs (hd0,5) you should do root (hd0,5) followed by setup (hd0). After rebooting, the GRUB menu should reappear.

This solution was sourced from please_try_again on the forums.

[Elmar]

You can do this either by using the Rescue System mode on the installation DVD or by using a CD with Plop Boot Manager or Super Grub Disk, for example. Note that you can let boot any ISO on USB with UNetbootin.

i think they mean that you can use the plop boot manager to boot a linux from usb. that would make sense.