cant read filesystem type on windows partition

Shashank_Rashpa · 05-27-2011, 08:30 AM

I had installed ubuntu 11.04 on my system along with windows vista. After a few days, i decided to remove ubuntu so i just logged into windows and formatted the ubuntu partition using the windows partitioner, then extended my main c: drive to span the whole disk so that i was left with a single partition with only windows vista on it. Later when trying to restart my system couldn't log back into windows.

I kept getting a prompt saying

grub rescue>

After googling around a bit i shrinked and created another partition the disk again and installed ubuntu on it again.
Now ubuntu works fine but im not able to log back into windows still. =/
GRUB doesn't show any windows entry.

I noticed something strange though that when i tried viewing my partitions using parted i didnt see any filesystem type listed besides my windows partition (/dev/sda3). I doubt that is why GRUB does not show any windows entry.
Also i manually tried to boot into windows from the grub prompt using commands...

root(hd0,3)
chainloader +1
boot

but it says 'invalid signature'
Did i somehow corrupted my windows partition during resizing and installing/un-installing?

Plus i also booted with the windows installation dvd and when i typed bootmgr /fixboot
it said something like no valid filesystem found.

yancek · 05-27-2011, 10:28 AM

Quote:

I kept getting a prompt saying

grub rescue>

At this point, you should have used your vista installation DVD to fixmbr. Grub, like pretty much all contemporary bootloaders, resides primarily on a partition with some necessary data in the mbr - the mbr is outside all partitions. Therefore, when you booted after deleting Ubuntu, Grub was unable to find the files necessary to boot as they had been in the partition you deleted.

Boot Ubuntu and open a terminal and post the results of this command: sudo fdisk -l (lower case Letter L)so we can see your partition information.

Quote:

GRUB doesn't show any windows entry.

No windows entry in /boot/grub/grub.cfg file will mean that it won't boot.

When you reinstalled Ubuntu, did you create just one partition? Or, did you create a root filesystem partition and a swap partition?
You indicate after you removed Ubuntu, you created one large partition for the whole drive and at the end of your post you refer to your windows partition as sda3. Where did the other two partitions come in? Do you have separate boot and recovery partitions.

I don't know if this has any bearing but, the entry you posted above needs a space between root and (hd0,3)
Have you tried both fixmbr and fixboot commands from your windows DVD?
Have you tried googling repair vista mbr or gone to the support.microsoft site? They should have info there.
If you post the partition information asked for above you will probably get some help. There are a lot of members here who have expertise with windows, I'm not one however.

Mr. Bill · 05-27-2011, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shashank_Rashpa

i tried viewing my partitions using parted i didnt see any filesystem type listed besides my windows partition (/dev/sda3).

Plus i also booted with the windows installation dvd and when i typed bootmgr /fixboot
it said something like no valid filesystem found.

It appears that you've wiped your Windows filesystem by resizing and re-installing on an already corrupted system, and yes, that is why Grub didn't create a Windows menu entry the second time.

When Grub is installed, the bootloader goes on the MBR, but its config files are stored on the Linux filesystem. When you removed the Linux partition, those files were also deleted, hence the "grub rescue" prompt. At that point you could've used the Windows disk to re-install the Windows bootloader. but unless someone else knows better, the easiest way I see now would be to format the entire drive and re-install Windows.

TobiSGD · 05-27-2011, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek

Have you tried both fixmbr and fixboot commands from your windows DVD?

The correct commands for Vista are

Code:

bootrec.exe /FixBbr
bootrec.exe /FixBoot

Shashank_Rashpa · 05-28-2011, 02:04 AM

Quote:

Have you tried both fixmbr and fixboot commands from your windows DVD?

Yes i tried these. When i typed in

bootmgr /fixmbr

it said "mbr restored/fixed"(something like that). When i typed

bootmgr /fixboot

it said "filesystem not recognized/found".

Quote:

It appears that you've wiped your Windows filesystem by resizing and re-installing on an already corrupted system, and yes, that is why Grub didn't create a Windows menu entry the second time.

When Grub is installed, the bootloader goes on the MBR, but its config files are stored on the Linux filesystem. When you removed the Linux partition, those files were also deleted, hence the "grub rescue" prompt. At that point you could've used the Windows disk to re-install the Windows bootloader. but unless someone else knows better, the easiest way I see now would be to format the entire drive and re-install Windows.

Guess you're right. =/

Shashank_Rashpa · 05-28-2011, 03:39 AM

Output of fdisk -l

Code:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00091649

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1        1216     9764864   83  Linux
/dev/sda2            1216        1277      488448   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3   *        1277       30402   233943040   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 8075 MB, 8075120640 bytes
249 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1021 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15438 * 512 = 7904256 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6f20736b

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   ?       50404      124346   570754815+  72  Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(357, 116, 40) logical=(50403, 232, 11)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(357, 32, 45) logical=(124345, 119, 51)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2   ?       10927      136334   968014120   65  Novell Netware 386
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(288, 115, 43) logical=(10926, 224, 47)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(367, 114, 50) logical=(136333, 143, 42)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb3   ?      121123      246529   968014096   79  Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(366, 32, 33) logical=(121122, 0, 30)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(357, 32, 43) logical=(246528, 167, 39)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb4   ?      186921      186925       27749+   d  Unknown
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(372, 97, 50) logical=(186920, 164, 25)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(0, 10, 0) logical=(186924, 63, 33)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Also when i see disk from parted it looks like:$ sudo parted

Code:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo parted
GNU Parted 2.3
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) p                                                                
Model: ATA WDC WD2500BEVT-6 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 250GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system     Flags
 1      1049kB  10.0GB  9999MB  primary  ext4
 2      10.0GB  10.5GB  500MB   primary  linux-swap(v1)
 3      10.5GB  250GB   240GB   primary                  boot