Put TIMEOUT 50 in the extlinux.conf file.

Where can I find that file?

devkid wrote:
Did you read this response to one of your earlier questions?

hi .. I'm trying to boot openelec on an old IDE WD 80GB on a ICH7 intel controller but I'm getting an INIT_4 error .. should I use a custom build? or is there something else I'm missing?
thnx in advance

Hey,

Thank you for this HowTo, it really helped since I wasn't able to boot from USB on one of my HTPCs and was at a blank on how to go about installing openElec on it, used your method described here and worked like a charm.

Again thanks.

Take Care

Hi!

What to do if I’m in the opposite situation?: I have a working usb stick with OpenElec installed on it and I would like to upgrade it to a multiboot system with Win7 and OpeneElec without Ubuntu.

My idea:
1. Shrink OpenElec partition(s).
(Can I use PartitionMagic (installed on my laptop) for it, instead of gparted?
Is it really needed to move this two partitions to the end of the disk or I can leave them on their original place?)
2. Create NTFS partition for Win7
3. Install Win7
4. Install Extlinux boot loader
5. (Customize extlinux.conf)
6. (Any other steps...???)

Is there any difference in steps if I install Win XP instead of Win7?

Please confirm if I think right, or correct me. (And please forgive me, for the silly questions, but I’m not an experienced Linux user.)

Thank you!

Can GRUB be used for the boot menu?

Hello,

partitions do not need to be moved and Windows XP can also be used. If you set the boot options right in the boot config then it will all work. I did the install almost the same as you suggest.
Installed openelec on the disk, resized and then installed Win7.

I just recently updated my openelec XBMC on my multiboot with Windows 7 and that works just fine. I even do not have to uninstall my addons because they still work. Also airplay works great with a IPAD2 with the latest version(OpenELEC-Ultra.x86_64-devel-20111025152423-r8628-vpeter) op the openelec for an xtreamer ultra.

i would think that any bootmanager could be used that can boot from EXT3 or EXT4 but i am not a linux expert.

Anyone created a nice menu with extlinux?

Does anyone know if their HTPC remote allows choosing OS in extlinux?

works on my xtreamer ultra:

@mavvy - how does work your remote on Os boot selection?
Mine (imon-pad) only power on...

My remote(xtreamer ultra) works good on XBMC with OPENELEC, but on the bootmenu it works only if i am close to the receiver and also on Windows 7 it doesn't work great from a distance.

my Logitech Harmony One works much better but also with Windows 7 not as good as with XBMC.

I got Imon-PAD and it work good on XBMC/Openelec and Win7 too - it does not work before Os loaded... so I can't select Os on boot menu, only with the keyboard, there's any solution?

the xtreamer ultra has an inbuilt ir receiver, maybe that's why. your remote control uses usb receiver?

mine (xtreamer ultra original remote and logitech harmony 555) work both for power on, in bios, in openelec and in windows 7 (with ir drivers provided by xtreamer)

i think the ultra is one of the few htpcs that are able to be controlled before the os is booted.

probably u can try an ir receiver via com port, but i'm no expert in that so i can't give a recommendation here.

yes, my reciver uses usb... it's no a big problem but...

I have pretty much followed all the steps you have outlined but my system goes blank after POST as if its not able to find the bootloader.
I am trying to install OE on a usb Drive with the following partitions:

/dev/sdc3 on /media/STORAGE type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
/dev/sdc2 on /media/BOOT type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
/dev/sdc1 on /media/seagate type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions)

sdc1 contains all my media and is the first partition on the drive.
I have Ubuntu 10.04 installed on my sys and extlinux present as well.
sudo extlinux --install /media/BOOT ----> results in /media/BOOT/extlinux.sys .. output says sdc2 is bootable

sudo dd if=/path/to/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdc ---> also runs successfully

KERNEl,SYSTEM,extlinux.conf were copied and restarted followed by forced Boot from USB drive.

Not sure if i should be posting this as a separate thread, but any help is much appreciated. thnx

[EDIT: the idea is to plug the drive to a zotac zbox.. of course i can go the usb stick[boot+kernel] way but just wanna try this as well]

did you use the OE installer ? the installer creates a bootable partition with the kernel and if it boots it uses the storage partition for xbmc(i think).

i don't know what ubuntu has to do with your usb installation ? if you can set a timeout in extlinux.conf you can see if your bootloader works. if it doesn't show a menu with a timeout then something's wrong with the bootloader/partition.

i would suggest if anyone has problems to first try a usb stick and try the default OE installation. if that works it should also work on disks.

The usb stick way works just fine. But the problem is that if i go as per the part 2 installation documentation page of OE on my USB DRIVE it is just gonna wipe the whole drive and then create boot and storage partitions

Hence i wanted to go the manual installation way and ran into the afore mentioned issues.
I have my OS Ubuntu on my fixed sata drive[sda] and i what i meant was that i am running all these commands from my OS(extlinux bin was already installed ..)

At this point after searching the net for lotta related articles i can only assume that the NTFS partition at the beginning of the disk might be messing up someting

edit: the media content is close to 1TB and i don't want to buy another TB drive to take backup