GRUB problem when Dual Booting Win XP and Fedora core 4

[Glorioso 0]

Hi

Im new to this forum and new to linux (dont cringe yet k?). Well anyway I have tried a few times to install fedora core 4 to a system with win XP previously put on the same hard drive but both end up with the same problem. What the problem is, is that when I start the PC up everything seems fine then its says GRUB with a flashing _ like its loading but then nothing happens and I cant access any OS's. So I went to my windows CD and fixed the MBR and now windows boots. So I tryed again later I removed the linux partitions and let fedora set it up automatically by this time I thought that Id maybe left something crucial out before and by this way it would work but alas the same problem. I still have linux sat on my hard drive not doing anything. Id really like to join the world of linux and would appreciate any help I could get.

 

Thanx for your time

Tom

 

p.s Ive looked at http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/dual_boot_fedora_xp_4.php and I think that I followed pretty much all the instructions on here.

[danleff 0]

Welcome!

 

Let's start out with a few bits of information first. This may help us determine what might be happening.

 

The directions that you linked to are for systems with 2 hard drives, using the second hard drive as the Fedora drive. That in mind;

 

1. What system do you have? Is this by chance a Dell or Gateway computer? Some system specs. would help. Amount of memory and how large is the hard drive that you are using?

 

2. What are you using to change your partitions, just the Fedora partitioning utility, or another partition manager?

 

--It sounds like you told Fedora to overwrite the MBR, but the directions also note that they make a "boot" partition. Did you also make a boot partition? This may actually be a problem.

 

3. Since you are installing on the same hard drive as Windows, did you defrag the Windows partition before installing Fedora? This prevents any problem with data residing near the end of your Windows partition that could mess up things when Fedora (or whatever partitioning utility that you are using) attempts

to make the Linux partitions.

 

4. When you go through the installation, what are you picking as the OS to boot first? Windows or Fedora?

 

[Glorioso 0]

hey thanx for replying I was kinda left without a pot to piss in because no one I know uses linux they're all the "theres another OS that isnt windows!?!? type

 

1. Proccesor: AMD Duron, 803MHz

RAM: 256mbs

Motherboard Model: Micro-star MS-6330

chippset: VIA VT8363a KT133A

Monitor: tatung

Graphics card: Radeon 8500 series

Sound card: VIA AC'97 Audio

Drives: liton dvdrw, creative cd

Hard drive: 150GB

 

This is not a dell PC this is a PC that I built myself (As you can see I have rather limited funds ).

 

I have succesfully burnt and run a live distro of kubunto with this pc which worked perfectly.

 

2. Yeah I just used the fedora core 4 partitioning utility im pretty sure that when i let it set up the partitions automatically it set a boot partition. But ive just gone to check recently and im dont think I can find one called \boot but im pretty sure there was one originally maybe when I fixed the MBR using windows recovery cd it got rid of it.

 

3. I didnt defrag the windows partition so that may be the problem.

 

4. I Picked Fedora to boot first

[Edited by Glorioso on 2005-07-24 06:21:40]

 

[mraap 0]

Hi there!

 

Exactly the same story over here. I (a newby to Linux as well) installed Fedora on a second harddrive (hdb) in my Gateway PC, having XP on the first (hda). Installation process indicated the creation of a boot partition on hda, but when I boot my machine, XP comes up and no sign of GRUB whatsoever.

 

Only difference is I choose XP to be the default OS, but I guess that shouldn't matter. I also didn't defrag my XP drive before installing Fedora.

 

Thanks for any help!

 

[Glorioso 0]

Well mine doesnt show no sign of grub it says grub in plain text then a space then flashing _ like its loading then nothing happens. Mrapp whats your msn ?

[mraap 0]

I'm on not on MSN, but on Yahoo! Same account name as I'm using here...

[danleff 0]

Glorioso, try this;

 

Boot the Fedora cd disk #1 (installation disk).

 

At the installation menu, type in linux rescue (hit the enter key)

 

Once the system loads, at the terminal prompt, Type in chroot /mnt/sysimage

 

then;

 

grub-install --recheck/dev/hda

 

This may take a minute or so and should just return a command prompt with no errors. Once it does, type in reboot and see if grub comes up normally.

 

 

 

 

 

[mraap 0]

Worked perfectly for me! Thanks.

 

Hope it does the trick for you as well, Glorioso...!

[Glorioso 0]

Well its actually loading GRUB but now it says

"GRUB loading Stage 1.5

GRUB loading, please wait...

internal error : the second sector of Stage 2 is unknown"

[danleff 0]

Glorioso, then try this;

 

Boot the Fedora cd disk #1 (installation disk).

 

At the installation menu, type in linux rescue (hit the enter key)

 

Once the system loads, at the terminal prompt, Type in chroot /mnt/sysimage

 

then;

 

grub-install /dev/hda

 

We eliminate the recheck code, as grub apparently was on another boot partition.

 

Note if you get any error messages, or if you get some output with no errors.

 

Then type in the command;

 

reboot

 

See if the grub menu comes up and you can choose your os, either Windows, or Linux.

[Glorioso 0]

Yeah I tried that already.

 

It said something like your device are

fdo

hdo or something along those lines.

 

just to note I dont have it on cds I have it on 1 dvd

 

[Glorioso 0]

Well I did all the things above and it didnt work but then I decided to reinstall and I added a extra option to the bootloader and now for some reason it works. Thanks for all you help guys im on FC4 now .

[jeep4wd 0]

what extra option did you add to the bootloader? i am having similar problems with the dualboot install and had no success with the suggestions listed in this thread.

 

thanks.

[danleff 0]

I was a little interested to see what Glorioso used as an "extra option" to get it to work. I did not use grub from Fedora to install to the mbr, as I already had another distro's grub on my system.

 

Did you tell Fedora to install grub to the mbr or a boot partition?

 

Did you pick Fedora as the default boot option during the installation?

 

Do you have Windows (version) on your system also or another Linux distro?

 

Hopefully, Glorioso sees this post and responds.

[bb2222 0]

Why not use the most powerful GRUB FOR DOS?

 

http://freshmeat.net/projects/grub4dos/

 

This is the summary:

 

GRUB for DOS is a build of the GNU GRUB boot manager for DOS, and can be run under real mode DOS. It also has many new features. For example, it can be booted through BOOT.INI of Windows (grldr) and kexec of Linux (grub4lin). The disk emulation feature is another enhancement over GNU GRUB, and can be used to run legacy DOS/Windows9x systems with floppy or hard disk images.

[boatbldr 0]

I have a problem similar to glorioso'a.

I am trying to dual boot WinXP on one drive, fedoraCore4 on another.

 

Details:

Dell Dimension 8250

came with

Pentium 4 2.40 GHz

512 Mb ram

Maxtor 45Gb HD

 

I've added an 80 Gb Western HD: WD800JB-00CRA1

 

 

I initally had installed FC3 on half of the Maxtor, and that worked fine. Started runing out of space, so I added the WD, which I formated for Linux and migrated my /home directory over there.

 

Lately my daughter complained about the windows side being crowded, so I figured I would give the Maxtor back to WINXP completely. That worked OK, and I installed FC4 on the Western, but am not able to boot to it.

I told the FC installer to load grub on /dev/hda (Maxtor), but got a text message :

GRUB

and nothing more.

 

Used Knoppix Hacks to remove the grub, take it back to windows with

install-mbr /dev/hda

 

Now windows boots again, and of course, no Linux.

 

As suggested by bb2222, I tried grub4dos with the menu.lst file attached below after a row of hashes.

 

This boots windows fine, but I get

 

error 23: selected disk does not exist when I try to boot FC4

 

What else should I report?

I put this line in c:\config.sys:

 

install=c:\grub.exe --config-file=(hd0,1)/menu.lst

 

That points to the WinXP system, maybe I'll see if it will work with a pointer to the FC4 menu.lst (I know it's also a grub.conf) file.

 

I also followed this instruction from the grub4dos README:

'Copy GRLDR to the root directory of drive C: of Windows NT/2000/XP and append to C:\BOOT.INI this line:

 

C:\GRLDR="Start GRUB"

'

 

Thanks for any help.

boatbldr

 

Here is the menu.lst file:

################################################################

# This is a sample menu.lst file. You should make some changes to it.

# Added items for installing GRUB [ which is on your DOS drive C: ] to MBR

 

color black/cyan yellow/cyan

timeout 10

default 1

 

title WinXP

chainloader (hd0,1)+1

rootnoverify (hd0)

 

title Fedora 4

kernel (hd1,0)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb1

 

[danleff 0]

Where is the Western Digital drive located and jumpered for?

 

Master slave

Secondary master

Secondary slave?

[boatbldr 0]

The Western Digital drive is connected to the middle of the ribbon cable and jumpered 3-to-4 (of 10 pins), which Western says is Dual(Slave).

The Maxtor is on the end of the cable, jumpered 5-to-6, (of 9 pins, style which looks like is cable-select according to

http://www.maxtor.com/en/documentation/installation_guides/ata_installation_guide.pdf

Hmm, I'll try switching that to 7-to-8 to make it master.

 

The WD sits in a bay above the Maxtor -- is that what you mean about location?

[boatbldr 0]

Still not working.

I switched the jumper on the Maxtor to 7-to-8 to force it to be master, but no luck, the Western is still not recognized.

I also tried building a floppy drive to go right into grub.

When I type

root (hd1,0)

grub gives the error 23 again -- cannot find the drive.

What puzzles me is that the drive shows up fine in the FC4 installer, and in Knoppix.

How can they see it, but grub cannot?

 

[darkonc 0]

boatbldr:

Have you tried the 'grub-install' tricks with the FC4 DVDs mentioned above?

 

if that doesn't work, boot the FC4 cd1 (or DVD) with 'linux rescue' and past the results of 'fdisk -l' here. What I'm most interested is the partition numbers and types on your two drives.

 

[boatbldr 0]

Thanks for your ideas.

Yes, I did try the grub-install tricks.

When I do that, I get error 21 and grub does not fully load.

 

[tt]tt

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 30.7 GB

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3738 cyl

units = cyl of 16065 8 512 = 8225280 bytes

 

Device Boot Start End Id System

/dev/hda1 1 4 de Dell Utility

/dev/hda2 * 5 3738 7 HPFS/NTFS

 

Disk /dev/hdb: 80.0GB,

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders

 

Device Boot Start End Id System

/dev/hdb1 * 1 7649 83 Linux

/dev/hdb2 7650 7776 82 Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/hdb3 7777 9729 83 Linux

[/tt]

I hope that makes sense. I see nothing unexpected.

 

Next I'm going to disconnect the Maxtor, set Western to master, and see if it boots to FC4. I'm wondering if I can get that to work, then use the Maxtor as a slave.

 

[danleff 0]

Sorry about the confusion. I should have been more clear.

 

I wanted to know what the cable assignment was (location), which you also answered.

 

Some may not agree, but this is a Dell system with the recovery partition on hda1, so your Windows system is on hda2.

 

The issue as I see it is the designation of the jumpers on the hard drives. These need to be set correctly first, since you have two different makes of hard drives in the system. Consult the Western Digital users manual for the drive in your system.

 

You need to have the Maxtor as the primary drive, as It has the Dell recovery partition there and Windows XP, which I assume was pre-installed on the system. The cable position is ok (upper most pin connection).

 

Your cable assignments look ok, as they should be. But, was the Maxtor set to cable select before you started all this?

 

This is where the documentaion comes in. Two different makes of hard drives sometimes have to be set a certain way for the system bios to see both drives correctly, per the jumpers.

 

Many drives have no jumper set to use the drive as slave. So, there is no jumper used at all. Make sure the Western Digital is set correctly as slave, per the manual.

 

The issue is how were the drives set originally when you installed Fedora? This should be your starting point.

 

Failing this is the issue, try setting both drives as cable select and see what happens. This is often not correct, but in your case may need to be what happens.

 

You have tried too many solutions to tell what grub conf file (menu.lst) is being referenced, but fdisk -l seems to see the drives as Maxtor as primary master and WD as primary slave.

 

I assume Fedora is on hdb1, but what distro of Linux is on hdb3?

 

Unfortunately, I am going on vacation this am and will not be back for a few days, but others, like darkonc should help sort it out.

 

[boatbldr 0]

Thanks for all your help,

 

though it just refuses to work.

 

I've now tried the cable select mode -- no go.

Have looked at the jumper specs for Maxtor (there is no jumper in slave mode, it came as cable select, and worked that way for years)

and for Western (it was set as slave.

 

The menu.lst file I sent above is still my best guess, with WinXP on (hd0,1) and FC4 on (hd1,0) = /dev/hdb1

 

I was going to put Knoppix on /dev/hdb3, but haven't gotten round to it.

 

I'm going to get back to work on the linux side and use the Maxtor as a paperweight for now. Can't spent too much more time on it. You are right, it will not boot windows when the Maxtor is the slave. (But is that the same problem -- it only sees the master?)

 

 

I've just shown my wife how to do her email & word docs in thunderbird & ooffice in FC4. Will try Wine for the one or 2 winApps I occasionally use.

 

Thanks for all your ideas.

 

 

[gosha 0]

Hi!

It worked for me( First from daneleff). WindowsXP on hda, couple of fat partition on hdb, and fedora core 4 on the rest of the hdb. While installing, grub install option was selected to other boot partition (not MBR):

 

"Glorioso, try this;

 

Boot the Fedora cd disk #1 (installation disk).

 

At the installation menu, type in linux rescue (hit the enter key)

 

Once the system loads, at the terminal prompt, Type in chroot /mnt/sysimage

 

then;

 

grub-install --recheck/dev/hda

 

This may take a minute or so and should just return a command prompt with no errors. Once it does, type in reboot and see if grub comes up normally."

 

Thx daneloff!!

[typhoon22 0]

Hi guys,

 

I'm YALN (Yet another linux newbie).

 

Have found the most boring way to get around this.

 

Treat your second hard drive as a master, accept all defaults but change the drive where you need to.

 

Then just alter your BIOS boot order as and when btween windoze XP and linux.

 

This does work but isn't particularly user friendly, I may actually get round to using the (proper?) settings that I found here:

 

http://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/dual_boot_fedora_xp_4.php

 

Typhoon