Dual Boot Problem: FC4 and Win XP; GRUB not appearing
 

I'm having problems with my FC4 installation. I have two hard drives installed.

Hard Drive # 1: 80GB (Windows system, NTFS - 3 partitions) - hda
Hard Drive # 2: 20GB (FC4) - hdb

Problem

I tried to install FC4 on hdb. During installation I installed GRUB on /dev/hda.

The setup seemed to go fine. However, when I rebooted the system - GRUB did not appear rather the system goes directly to Windows XP boot sequence.

Can someone help me over come this problem.

I need not add that I'm totally ignorant on LINUX !!

For some reason grub must have failed to write to the MBR of the drive, as /dev/hda is definitely what you want. I would try a manual install of grub, see if you can follow these steps:

1. Boot with the FC4 CD #1

2. At the prompt type 'linux rescue'

3. After it sets up the rescue environment you should get to a shell prompt

4. Type 'chroot /mnt/sysimage' (you should see this mentioned)

5. Type 'grub' then you will get a grub> prompt

6. Type 'root (hd0)' press ENTER then type 'setup (hd0)'

7. Exit out of the install and reboot (type 'exit' or press ctrl-alt-del)

I just checked grub.conf and the following came out...does this make any sense ?

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd1,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.11-1.1369_FC4)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgbquiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.img
title Other
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
~
~
"grub.conf" [readonly] 20L, 669C 1,1 All

Also my drives are setup in the following manner:

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 4863 39062016 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 4864 9729 39086145 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 4864 8511 29302528+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda6 8512 9729 9783553+ 7 HPFS/NTFS


Disk /dev/hdb: 20.0 GB, 20020396032 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2434 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/hdb2 14 2434 19446682+ 8e Linux LVM

It makes sense, but it doesn't tell us where the grub bootloader is installed. Did you try what I suggested?

I tried as suggested Dudydoo. When I typed 'root (hd0)' and entered i got an error msg:

filesystem unkown, using whole disk

another question which i wanted to know, shouldn't the default value in grub.conf be 0 rather than 1 ?

Try 'root (hd0,0) then 'setup (hd0)'


The default=x option determines what OS to boot by default, either after by pressing enter or after the timeout. In your case 0=WinXP and 1=Linux.

If the above does'nt work, from the rescue shell try 'grub-install /dev/hda'

GRUB and LILO always conflict with Windows. And GNU GRUB is not so robust, causing many problems during boot.

So try GRUB for DOS please. It is a cross-platform boot loader based on GNU GRUB. The GRUB.EXE can be started from DOS/Win9x; and GRLDR can be started from BOOT.INI of Windows NT/2K/XP/2003; and even more, the GRUB.EXE can be started from LINUX via the KEXEC tool.

By using GRUB.EXE or GRLDR, you don't have to touch your MBR. It is the safest way coexisting with DOS/Windows.

You needn't install GRUB for DOS. Just run GRUB.EXE from DOS, or append a line of "C:\GRLDR=START GRUB" into your BOOT.INI(restart and select the "START GRUB" menu item), that will do.

Download GRUB for DOS here: http://freshmeat.net/projects/grub4dos/

There is a fat12grldr.img file with the GRUB for DOS release. You can create a GRUB bootable floppy with this fat12grldr.img file.

Or, you can just copy GRUB.EXE to your DOS floppy and run GRUB.EXE to enter the GRUB environment.

If the system has no DOS/WINDOWS, you may use the bootlace.com utility to write GRLDR boot record onto the MBR.