GRUB Boot Floppy
GRUB can run from a floppy and give you a command shell.

Create GRUB boot floppy.


   cd /boot/grub
   dd if=stage1 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1
   dd if=stage2 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 seek=1

Boot from the GRUB floppy. It will give you a GRUB shell prompt:

grub>

Boot into Linux (if you know the location of the kernel and root):

   grub> root (hd0,0)
   grub> kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.19.2 root=/dev/hda1
   grub> initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.19.2
   grub> boot

Note: root (hd0,0) above is the partition where the kernel is located: drive #0, partition #0, which is hda1

Use GRUB commands to quiry the parameters if you don't know them. Kernel partition:

   grub> find /vmlinuz
   (hd0,0)

System root partition (location of /sbin/init):

   grub> find /sbin/init
   (hd0,0)

The complete name of the kernel:

   grub> null (hd0,0)/boot/vm  Press TAB key  
   possible files are: vmlinuz-2.4.17-2-386, vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-686, vmlinuz-2.6.19.2

The complete name of initrd.img file:

   grub> null (hd0,0)/boot/init  Press TAB key  
   possible files are: initrd.img-2.4.17-2-386, initrd.img-2.6.18-3-686, initrd.img-2.6.19.2