GAG, the Graphical Boot Manager

# GAG
the Graphical Boot Manager
FAQ

1. Do I have to pay money for GAG?
2. Where's the mouse cursor?
3. What is the Boot Floppy option intended for? Can I delete it?
4. How can I uninstall GAG?
5. I want a version of GAG in my language. What do I have to do?
6. I can't boot Linux from GAG. What can I do?
7. I have an AZERTY keyboard, and I can't do some actions.
8. I have two (or more) MS-DOS/WINDOWS primary partitions. I was able to access to them, but now with GAG I can only read the boot partition. Is it a bug?
9. When I install GAG 4.0 in my hard disk, I receive a 'Disk error' message, but GAG 2.1 works fine. What's the problem?
10. I can't boot OS/2 with GAG. What do I have to do?
11. When I choose the 'Add operating system' option, GAG doesn't show all my partitions. What happens?
12. Does the floppy disk image file must have 1.44 megs of length, or can I cut it?
13. I don't want LILO/GRUB to ask me for an operating system, after being booted from GAG. Is there any solution?
14. How can I select what Linux kernel I want to boot from GAG?
15. GAG shows some partitions in black, and others in blue. What does it mean?
16. I want to boot a Linux partition that is beyond the 8 Gigabytes limit, but LILO stops loading, showing a 'LI' line in the screen.
17. Can I boot a Windows installed in the second, third... hard disk?
18. When I boot a Windows 95/98/ME installed in the second, third... hard disk, I can't see the CD-ROM icon. How can I fix it?
19. After uninstalling GAG, my system doesn't boot because my primary partitions are still hidded. What can I do to fix it?
20. After uninstalling GAG, I can't boot my computer. It shows me an error message. What does this mean?
21. Can I use a bootable CD-ROM instead a floppy to boot the installer?
22. How can I create more than one DOS primary partitions? The Windows'FDISK doesn't allow to do it.
23. When I boot Windows from the second/third... hard disk, I receive a virus alert. Why?
24. How can I put latin characters in the Rusian version?
25. I choosed a QWERTY keyboard and Rusian language, and now I can't configure GAG. Why?
26. What about Windows XP or Vista?
27. I booted the GAG installer from a CD and I can't install it in a floppy
28. I forgot to install GRUB in the partition, and now I can't boot Linux
29. Can I boot GAG from an USB pendrive?

1. Do I have to pay money for GAG?

   No, you haven't. GAG is free software, distributed under a GPL license. Of course, if you want to pay money you can do it, just write me (look my e-mail address at the end of the text). For more details about the GPL license, read it in the main menu.

2. Where's the mouse cursor?

   GAG can't use (yet) the mouse. You must use the keyboard.

3. What is the Boot Floppy option intended for? Can I delete it?

   You can delete it and add it again later if you want or need it. That option allows you to boot a disk from GAG, so you can disable the option of booting from floppy in the BIOS SETUP. If you need to boot from a floppy, you can use GAG instead of enabling it again. This is good because if you restart your computer, you don't need to drop out the floppy from the drive. I hope to add support for booting from CD-ROM too.

4. How can I uninstall GAG?

   Just boot with the installation floppy (or CD) and choose the option 5.

5. I want a version of GAG in my language. What do I have to do?

   Just write me, and I'll send you the files you have to translate and how.

6. I can't boot Linux from GAG. What can I do?

   Be sure you have installed LILO or GRUB in the SuperBlock of your Linux partition. That is, if your root partition is /dev/hda8, be sure you install LILO or GRUB in /dev/hda8, not in /dev/hda.

7. I have an AZERTY (or QWERTZ) keyboard, and I can't do some actions.

   That's because the PC computer's BIOS were developed to use QWERTY keyboards. In France it is common to use AZERTY keyboards, they have a different layout of the keys. The same occurs in Germany, where they use QWERTZ keyboards.

   To fix your problem, just select AZERTY or QWERTZ keyboard when the installation program asks you.

   To know what kind of keyboard you have, just see the first six letters in the upper left corner.

8. I have two (or more) MS-DOS/WINDOWS primary partitions. I was able to access to them, but now with GAG I can only read the boot partition. Is it a bug?

   No, it isn't a bug. To allow users to have more than one version of DOS, or to have DOS and Windows, or DOS and OS/2, or Windows and OS/2, GAG will hide all the primary partitions located BEFORE the boot partition (this is a new behaviour; in old versions, all partitions were hidden). This is done to avoid interferences during the boot proccess.

   Starting from GAG 4.3 you can choose the behavior of this option. If you want to be able to see your primary partitions, just be sure that the option "HIDE PRIMARY PARTITIONS" is DISABLED (this is, it has no "OK" arrow).

9. When I install GAG 4.0 in my hard disk, I receive a 'Disk error' message, but GAG 2.1 works fine. What's the problem?

   GAG stores itself in the first track of the hard disk. This track is reserved for this kind of programs. The versions 2.1 and earlier were much smaller and could be installed in only 17 sectors. The new version 4.0 needs 42 sectors. If your hard disk is old (maded before 1992) and/or you haven't the LBA mode active in the BIOS, it is possible that it has not enough sectors in the first track to store GAG 4.0, so you must use GAG 2.1. But don't worry, with newer hard disks (made after the year 1992) this will no happen.

10. I can't boot OS/2 with GAG. What do I have to do?

    GAG can boot OS/2 only if it is installed in a primary partition. If your OS/2 is installed in an extended partition and you want to have the benefits of GAG, you must still use the IBM Boot Manager. To do this, just put the IBM BM timer to zero seconds, and configure the icon of OS/2 to boot the partition where the Boot Manager is stored.

    Another problem is when OS/2 is installed in a primary partition in a hard disk that is not the first hard disk. In this case, you must say YES to the option 'Exchange drive letters' when you add the OS/2 partition to GAG. In this case you don't need to use the IBM Boot Manager.

11. When I choose the 'Add operating system' option, GAG doesn't show all my partitions. What happens?

    There are two possibilities:

    a) It is possible that you have one or more partitions that starts beyond the 8 Gigabytes limit, and your BIOS is old and does not support the extensions that allows to boot from them. In that case, GAG has to use the old access method, which cannot access data located beyond that limit. This occurs in motherboards with BIOSes created before 1998, and in old SCSI adapters.

    b) You are attempting to add a partition that is in the second, third... hard disk. GAG shows only the partitions for ONE hard disk each time, so to list the partitions in the second hard disk, you must press the '2' key. Then, GAG will show you the content for the second hard disk. If you press the '3' key, GAG will show you the content for the third hard disk, and so on. (easy, isn't it? :-)

12. Does the floppy disk image file must have a length of 1.44 megs, or can I cut it?

    Not really. Currently, the GAG disk image needs about 600 Kbytes. But in a near future, new language versions could be added, so I strongly recommend to use the whole 1.44 megs file, instead of cutting it.

13. I don't want LILO/GRUB to ask me for an operating system, after being booted from GAG. Is there any solution?

    Yes, there is. Log into your Linux box as root, and edit the file /etc/lilo.conf. There you must delete the lines:

    delay=nnn
    prompt

    (where nnn is a number). After saving the file, just run 'lilo' (without quotes) from a shell or command line window.

    For GRUB, just edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst. There you must modify the line:

    timeout = X

    (where X is a number). Just change X to 1 (1 second) and save it. Now just run 'grub-install /dev/XXX', being /dev/XXX the root partition (ex: if your root partition is /dev/sda8, just run 'grub-install /dev/sda8').

14. How can I select what Linux kernel I want to boot from GAG?

    GAG can't select a kernel to load (this is why you must still use LILO or GRUB), but there's a trick to do it.

    You will need as many EXT2 partitions as kernels you want to boot. But don't worry: you can count your 'root' (/) partition, your '/home' partition, your '/usr' partition, etc. into this, so if you want to boot two kernels and you have your system divided into two or more partitions, you don't need to create more.

    You have to install a different LILO in each partition, with one kernel selected in each one. To do this, you must select a different map file in each lilo.conf file that you create, because that file contains the data for LILO's second stage for each boot.

    Save each lilo.conf with the configuration of each kernel to boot with a different name in /etc. As an example, you can name them as 'lilo.conf.1', 'lilo.conf.2', and so on.

    install each lilo.conf.n file with:

    lilo -C lilo.conf.n

    This will install lilo using the file 'lilo.conf.n' instead of the default 'lilo.conf'. Since each 'lilo.conf.n' file has a different partition target, kernel and map file, you will install a different LILO in each partition.

    Finally, go to GAG and add each partition with LILO to it (of course, with different names, or you will not be able to distingish between them :-)

    Remember: use a different map file (map=/etc/map.n) in each lilo.conf.n file. If you don't do this, only one partition will boot successfully, and the others will hang with a 'LIL-' text on the screen when you try to boot them.

    And don't worry: the map file is created by LILO each time you run it. You don't need to create one before.

15. GAG shows some partitions in black, and others in blue. What does it mean?

    Don't worry, it's not a bug. Black partitions are the primary partitions, and blue partitions are the extended partitions. I added this to help people to configure GAG more easy.

16. I want to boot a Linux partition that is beyond the 8 Gigabytes limit, but LILO stops loading, showing a 'L' (or 'LI') line in the screen.

    That's because you need a recent version of LILO (21.3 or greater) in order to be able to boot. You must also put the string 'lba32' in your lilo.conf file and re-run 'lilo', to tell it that it must use the new BIOS extensions to boot Linux. If you don't do this, LILO will use the old BIOS calls and it will not be able to boot a partition located beyond the 8 Gigabyte limit.

17. Can I boot a Windows installed in the second, third... hard disk?

    Yes, you can. You only have to answer 'yes' to the option 'Exchange drive letters?'. But warning, read the question 18 too.

18. 18. When I boot a Windows 95/98/ME installed in the second, third... hard disk, I can't see the CD-ROM icon. How can I fix it?

    When you boot an operating system with the 'Exchange drive letters' option active, GAG installs a little resident program in the memory that intercepts all the read and write calls for the hard disks, and change the parameters in a way that the calls for the first hard disk will be redirected to the other drive, and viceversa. When Windows 95/98/ME detects this, it doesn't use its 32bit drivers for disk access. It uses the MS-DOS that is under it (yes, even under Windows ME is an MS-DOS). Since MS-DOS has not the ability to access a CD-ROM, ZIP drives, etc. without a driver, Windows also cannot access them.

    To fix it, you only need to reboot in MS-DOS mode (see below how to do this in Windows ME) and install the MS-DOS drivers that comes with your nonworking drive. As an example, in the case of a CD-ROM, you have to install in the CONFIG.SYS a file called in a similar way to CDATAPI.SYS, which is in the floppy that comes with the CD-ROM drive, and in the AUTOEXEC.BAT you have to install the MSCDEX.EXE file, which is in the WINDOWS directory. Of course, you must add the right parameters in order to make it work. But don't worry if this sounds complicated, because it is very common that the floppy has a little BAT file that install it automatically. Just read the README.TXT file that should come on the floppy with the drivers.

    After that, reboot, and Windows will be able to work with it without problems.

    Doing this in Windows ME is a little more complicated, because the MS-DOS is hidden. To gain access to it, you have to install a little patch that you can download from:

    http://www.geocities.com/mfd4life_2000

    Once you have done this, you can install the MS-DOS CD-ROM driver as I explained before.

19. After uninstalling GAG, my system doesn't boot because my primary partitions are still hidden. What can I do to fix it?

    In order to make your hidden partitions visible again, you need to use an FDISK program that allows to change this status. You can use FDISK from Linux (just booting from an install CD-ROM) or use a commercial program like PARTITION MAGIC.

20. After uninstalling GAG, I can't boot my computer. It shows me an error message. What does this mean?

    The boot code that GAG puts in the MBR after uninstall, can return three possible errors:

    DISK ERROR: this means that the MBR code found a bad sector in your hard disk and can't load it in order to boot. It means you have a damaged hard disk, so be careful with your data.

    NO BOOT SECTOR FOUND: this means that the active partition (the one that should be booted at startup) has no operating system. To fix this, boot with a floppy or a bootable CD and use FDISK (or its equivalent) to mark another primary partition as the active partition.

    NO ACTIVE PARTITION FOUND: this means that there is no partition marked as active in your hard disk. The way to fix this is the same than in the previous case: just boot with a bootable floppy or CD and use FDISK (or its equivalent) to mark any primary partition (with an OS installed, of course) as the active partition.

21. Can I use a bootable CD-ROM instead a floppy to boot the installer?

    Yes, you can. Just copy the file DISK.DSK somewhere onto the CD-ROM and tell your burn program to use that file as a 1.44Meg floppy image to boot from with the ELTORITO system.

    This method is the best when you want to distribute GAG in a magazine or similar, because people can boot the CD and find the installer, without need to create a floppy.

22. How can I create more than one DOS primary partitions? The Windows'FDISK doesn't allow to do it.

    The various Linux FDISK (fdisk, sfdisk, cfdisk ) can do that. You can also use the FDISK from freedos. Just go to www.freedos.org, and you will find the boot disks and many more.

23. When I boot Windows from the second/third... hard disk, I receive a virus alert. Why?

    That's because GAG has to install a little resident program that intercepts all the hard disk calls, in order to change them. This is similar to a virus (with the difference, of course, that a virus is malign, but GAG isn't), so antivirus programs think that there's a problem, because they can't distingish between this resident and a malign virus.

    The best solution is to not install windows in the second hard disk, and install all of them in sepearated primary partitions on the first hard disk.

24. How can I put latin characters in the Rusian version?

    Lowercase letters are cyrillic characters, while uppercase letters are latin characters.

25. I choosed a QWERTY keyboard and Rusian language, and now I can't configure GAG. Why?

    You MUST use Rusian language and Cyrillic keyboard together. You can't use Cyrillic keyboard with other languages, or Rusian language with other keyboards.

26. What about Windows XP or Vista?

    Everything I said about Windows 95/98/Me applies to XP/Vista, except the detail about CD-ROM drives (they should work without problems).

27. I booted the GAG installer from a CD and I can't install it in a floppy

    Booting from a CD works emulating a floppy; this means that A: is the CD drive, and your physical floppy is now B:. GAG always try to install in A:; it fails because the CD-ROM is read-only.

28. I forgot to install GRUB in the partition, and now I can't boot Linux

    You have to boot from a Live-CD (like the Ubuntu install CD, or a Knoppix CD), open a terminal and reinstall GRUB from there. It's easy to do, just run:

    sudo grub

    It will display a new prompt. There type:

    root (hdX,Y)
    setup (hdX,Y)
    quit

    being X the disk drive number where is located your Linux root partition (being 0 the first hard disk, 1 the second, and so on), and Y the partition number (being 0 the first primary partition, 1 the second primary partition, 2 the third primary partition and 3 the fourth primary partition. Numbers 4 and up are for extended partitions). An example to understand this better: if your root partition is /dev/sda7, then you must do:

    root (hd0,6)
    setup (hd0,6)
    quit

    (0=first hard disk, 6=third extended partition). Another example: your root partition is /dev/sdc2:

    root (hd2,1)
    setup (hd2,1)
    quit

    Now your Linux partition should be bootable.

    BE CAREFULL!!!! Hard disks are numbered as they are mounted AT BOOT TIME. This means that if you have (example) one ATA disk (/dev/hda) and one SATA disk (/dev/sda) and your boot sequence is ATA first and SATA after, then the ATA disk will be disk 0, and SATA will be disk 1; but if the boot sequence is SATA first and ATA after, then the SATA disk will be disk 0 and ATA disk will be disk 1.

29. Can I boot GAG from an USB pendrive?

    In theory is possible, but only installing it from Linux AND if the pendrive has a sector size of 512 bytes. Use gag-install using the pen device name. If the program complains, try to re-create the partitions leaving some free space at the begining.

    I can't guarantee that this will work. The only pendrive I have access to has a sector size of 2048 bytes, and my BIOS seems to dislike it.

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