# Nightmare with GRUB / Windows XP / Fedora Core 2



## gorebrush (Jun 10, 2004)

It is, 2:25am

I've been at this thing for a while. I am in need of help. A lot of it.

The system: -

Athlon 64 3200

The setup: -

1 x 120Gb Hard disk, 1 x 160Gb hard disk.

We can forget about the 160Gb hard disk though, it's not concerned here.



On the 120Gb disk, I have the following.

10Gb NTFS Partition (with WinXP on it)
10Gb Linux (8Gb ext3 / 2Gb swap)
90Gb NTFS Partition (sitting inside an extended partition. Again, this is not considered)

What I've managed to do (or at least I think i've done) is had Windows XP installed on the first 10gb with no problems. Then, I decided to take the 2nd 10Gb, and install Fedora Core 2 on it. 

Once i'd installed it all, I booted up the computer into Grub, and had 2 options.

Fedora Core 2.blah blah (the version number)
Other

Where I would THINK other is my WinXP partition.

When I try and use the other option, i get a black dos type screen with the following on it

Booting other...

rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Then nothing.

Fedora has been working fine. But since then and now, i managed to screw up 2 fedora installations, and i even tried the FIXMBR command from the Windows XP CD. Still no Windows.

So i've got Fedora, and i KNOW the NTFS partitions are ok (i've mounted them in Linux and checked that all the data is ok)

So how on earth do i get my Windows XP partition working again??

I have included my grub.conf below, perhaps it may be of use. Beware I am a total n00b to linux, but not to Windows and Computers themselves, I have 14 years of DOS/Windows experience 

Thanks
David

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,2)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda3
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,2)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Fedora Core (2.6.5-1.358)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img
title Other
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


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## tsunam (Sep 14, 2003)

*edit* Welcome to the board btw  *end edit*

Fedora core 2 is very very screwed up when it comes to dual boot of windows and linux. Thats the blunt of it

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/4911 Here is a article about the issue, and a response from a developer. Also it gives a link to the former article. Sorry that i don't have better news. linuxquestions fedora forum or linuxiso fedora forums might have something about a way around it. Let me take a look around but the short answer is not a good situation

http://slashdot.org/articles/04/05/23/1448209.shtml?tid=110&tid=187 <--also a slashdot article about it.


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## Whiteskin (Nov 16, 2002)

Yeah... FC2 kinda has these growing pains. One of which includes nuking your partition table. I'd back up the important stuff to cd, and then go to another distro until they resolve this.


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## tsunam (Sep 14, 2003)

Debian 

Apparently Mandrake 10.0 has the issue as well from what i read. interesting. I haven't heard much about that yet though.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Boot into Linux and logon as root. Do a *fdisk -l* from a shell prompt. Post that info back here.


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## tsunam (Sep 14, 2003)

Try this for the other

root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

see if that works for you, thats what my grub config is on the laptop


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

tsunam said:


> Try this for the other
> 
> root (hd0,0)
> makeactive
> ...


I just noticed that myself as well. Not sure if the makeactive will make the difference or not.


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## tsunam (Sep 14, 2003)

yeah that's why i went and looked at mine. IT should make a difference, if i remember it did for me. since the chainloader just passes it to the windows loader to do its thing.


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## gorebrush (Jun 10, 2004)

Thanks for the responses guys. It looks like im going to have to be doing what i didnt want to do (reinstall windows)



Never mind


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## gorebrush (Jun 10, 2004)

oh btw

Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120000000000 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 232514 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 21229 10699258+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 42458 232497 95779530 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda3 21230 38297 8602272 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 38298 42456 2096136 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda5 42458 232497 95779498+ 7 HPFS/NTFS


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## gorebrush (Jun 10, 2004)

Right, next day.

I've been out all day, and have been at a friends house, and just decided to pop on the internet to see if i can find a solution to my problem. In my research (thanks to the guys who've put links on here), i've dug around and found this link...

http://www.ces.clemson.edu/linux/fc2.html

and some other threads have been useful as well.

I'm currently 75 minutes from home, so hopefully when i get back i'll be able to have a look 

cheers again
dave


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## tsunam (Sep 14, 2003)

hmm thanks for the link gore, I'll have to remember that. Let us know if it works.


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## gorebrush (Jun 10, 2004)

well

one of the first ideas was to try LBA mode in BIOS.
This was not successful. 

there are other possibilities. and i'm not about to give up easily.

Dave


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## gorebrush (Jun 10, 2004)

the nightmare continues 

in my haste, i deleted the partition table. i now have a nice clean formatted disk, i've lost some important data, but nothing i'll lose sleep over.

With the clean drive, i put fedora on, THEN windows, with the hope of using bootmagic from the powerquest suite.

here we go..


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

I am just a newbie trying my hand on Linux last week for the first time.

I bypassed the dual boot hassle by using spearate hard disks. Some time ago I decided as a policy to use only mobile racks so that my hard disks can be pull in and out just like floppies.

With that arrangement I managed to load several versions of Linux without bothering the XP at all. My own data is stored in yet another hard disk normally goes with the main PC in the home network. This allows me to use two different operating systems on the same data (not simultaneously of course).

Mobile racks are dirt cheap nowaday for ATA up to 133Mb/s (about £9 to £10) and price for SATA mobile racks are droping too.

I also find some external casings, using USB 2 connection, can accept mobile racks so that the hard disks can be prepared, formatted and filled with the necessary data externally without going anywhere near a PC.


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## Topazz (Sep 16, 2000)

I had problems with the Fedora Core2/Win XP dual boot issue as well and now have my setup the same as saikee. Win XP has a hard drive to itself, as does FC2 and both are in removable caddies so that I can swap them around when needed. The third, fixed, hard drive contains my data so that it can be accessed by either OS.


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

Since then I have bought a commercial version of Suse 9.1 professional because it has got manuals which I desperately need. In fact I like Fedora 2 better even though I haven't made the sound work yet.

I managed to load the Suse after my XP (a backup copy wiith which I can screw without suffer the consequence). The two work seamlessly. Can't remember exactly what I did but the Linux bootload comes up first to present the choices of the two systems. I have kept the Fedora on a separate hard disk.


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## Topazz (Sep 16, 2000)

I am not sure if I have got sound yet.  

Still fiddling around trying to load my music partition which is being rather stubborn. Will have to try and make some system sounds sometime to see if any noise comes out of the speakers.  

It would be good to know how the thread starter, gorebrush, got on with things.


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

Being less than two weeks old in Linux I am just starting to look at the various components of the system. Hoever I am hopeful by the fact that Suse has managed to trigger the sound while Fedora failed. So Linux can work with the sound, at least in the same PC. At the moment I am trying to have a go at the GRUB by its horns. If I manage to beat it into submission then the rest should be easier to deal. With multile boot I can boot one Linux to see its sound configuration and compare it with the one that fails. Anyway that is my game plan at the moment.


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## blenheim (Jul 2, 2004)

I also installed this new FC2 onto my computer. And I have a same problem as you guys. I have a little experience from Mandrake 9.1 and a lot of experience from Windows'. 

When I try to boot Other it says to me that NTLDR is missing and then some Intel stuff is getting on to find other places where to boot. Over the network. And other problem too. I can't access my hard disks. I have two separate HDD's, one for Linux and one for WinXP. I can't access that win disk. I checked that everything was safe on that other disk with my other computer. Everything was ok. 

I've tried to mount it but nothing. That Fedoras own hardware management system finds this other disk and says its format right, vfat (Fat32). And it also finds Linux partition on this disk. So, what to do? 

I've read those articles in your posted links, useful i think. Hope that I would have enough time to do what they say. Fortunately weekend is coming, and I've got a lot of cofeine pills  !!!

P.S. Sorry about my crappy english, I live in Finland so I don't use english at everyday life. Hope that you understood what I mean !


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

I am still searching in the dark but between FC2, Suse 9.1 and Mandrake 9.2 the last two trigger the sound system in my computer so there must be hope.

I haven't come round to deal with the sound yet in FC2 as I need to move my different Linux to one HDD first. At the moment they are on mobile racks/caddies allowing me to choose the system just by inserting the appropriate HDD. My long term plan is to put the Linux systems together and manage them by Grub bootloader.

If the Win partition is within the same HDD the cmmand "mount" without any parameter seem to get the Win partition up in Linux.


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## serebren (Jul 19, 2004)

First, GRUB must NOT be installed in the MBR.

Full How To here:http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html

If you already wrote GRUB to the MBR, you must clear it and may even have to zero out the entire hdd. I am not certain about that, but you WILL have to at LEAST zero out the MBR. Windows XP puts a lot of files in the middle of the hdd, so if zeroing out the MBR does not work...

You can zero out the MBR (first 63 sectors) or the entire drive with an hdd utility (which should also contain format and partitioning tools). I use Maxtor hdd's, so I have their large disk format utility CD.

Hope this helps, and you DON'T have to zero out the whole drive! An 80GB drive took me 6 hours!


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## Whiteskin (Nov 16, 2002)

What the guy is adressing is really how to preserve the winnt boot loader (" This HOWTO applies if: # Your machine already has Windows installed, and you are installing Linux as a second operating system, and
# You want to leave the Windows boot loader (NTLDR) on the MBR (Master Boot Record). This allows you to continue to boot Windows with no issues. I've heard that Windows 2000/Windows XP or anti-virus software may complain if the MBR does not contain the Windows boot loader"). you don't NEED it, though in some setups it can be helpful. Grub can boot *BY ITSELF* most operating systems, including windows with a little caveat. http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#DOS/Windows


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## saikee (Jun 11, 2004)

Personally I think it rather silly to regard MBR as a no-go area. I have worked with 6 to 7 Linux systems in the four weeks so far in Linux and I have lost count the number of times I put NTLDR, Lilo and Grub into MBR. They can all be there one at a time. It is just up to the user what he want to do with it. Windows MBR can always be restored by the installation CD and both Grub and Lilo never write code into MBR longer than the position of the partition table. You let Grub or Lilo into MBR so that Linux controls Windows. NTLDR can be modified so that Linux is managed by Windows. However if one decide to leave Windows' MBR untouched and still want to use Linux he can do it by activing the desired partition.

A Linux can be installed one after the other behind Windows with whatever bootloader as long as it is confined to its own primary partition. Each of the Linux is bootable simply by making its primary partition active (thereby deactivating Windows and its MBR). More details is this post

None the my Linux systems and Windows would do damage to each other. The damage is usually a result of a user not knowing how to partition the hard drive and say yes the first time an OS offering to grab the whole disk for its own.

I have also described Mr. Windows and the Linux brothers going after Miss MBR in a sex story in the latter part of the thread in here


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## serebren (Jul 19, 2004)

I found out that the real cause of this problem is:

Fedora installation changes the CHS disk geometry information in the MBR.

You would think that when using LBR this would not matter. Firstly, Fedora install should not need to change the CHS info. Secondly, Windows XP/2000/NT shouldn't check the CHS info. You would be right in theory, but unfortunately Fedora install changes the CHS info, and Windows XP/2000/NT checks it and will not load if it is not standard CHS info.

You can tell Fedora what CHS info to put in the MBR, and copy the current CHS info. More info on that here: http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2004-May/msg00908.html

Hope that helps everyone!


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## NyahLevi (Jun 9, 2004)

I had the same problem, do a google search, there's an easy way to fix it using sfdisk, but I don't have the article handy. I appologize for mentioning another forum, but the answer I got came from www.linuxquestion.net. It's appearently a Linux 2.6 core problem. The gist of it is that you generate a text file with sfdisk and remove the comments and move it into a configuration file. Nyah Levi
Okay I found the exact article for fixing this problem. here's the link: 
http://www.fedorazine.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=191
Best of luck NL


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## I Fix 4 U (Jul 19, 2004)

all problems fixed by using two hardrives here. besides i didnt want2 resize my ntfs on my first harddrive, so i bought a new one.


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