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Installed GRUB on 3rd hard drive, how do I boot 1st drive?

Hi,
I have 3 hard drives with several different partitions.
I have 2 copies of Windows XP Pro, Ubuntu linux, and Fedora Core 2 linux all installed on the first physical hard drive (different partitions obviously)
I have been using Grub to boot between them all but yesterday Windows got messed up and required me to reinstall. After that I was unable to boot Linux so I installed another version of Fedora Core 2 onto my third physical drive.
Now the new install of Fedora (on the third drive) boots but not any of the other versions.
I tried configuring grub.conf to boot the others but I am assuming that it is failing because of grub being installed on my third drive (hdd) but the other OSs are all installed on hda.
I do not have a GRUB boot partition on hda because I was not aware of how much trouble it would save me in the long run.
Here is my grub.conf as well as my hard drive information:

grub.conf

Code:

# 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 (hd2,0)

#          kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hdd1

#          initrd /boot/initrd-version.img

#boot=/dev/hda

default=1

timeout=10

splashimage=(hd2,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title Fedora Core 2 (2.6.5-1.358)

        root (hd2,0)

        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.5-1.358 ro root=LABEL=/1 rhgb quiet

        initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.5-1.358.img

title Fedora Core 2 (.771)(hda7)

        root (hd0,7)

        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-1.771_FC2 ro root=/dev/hda7

        initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.10-1.771_FC2.img

title Windows XP a

        rootnoverify (hd0,0)

        chainloader +1

title Fedora Core 2b

        rootnoverify (hd0,6)

        chainloader +1

title Windows XP b

        rootnoverify (hd0,4)

        chainloader +1

title Ubuntu

        rootnoverify (hd0,8)

        chainloader +1

The first boot option, "Fedora Core 2 (2.6.5-1.358)" is the only one bootable. It was automatically set when Fedora installed it. All the other entries were desperate attempts, by myself, at getting the other OSs to boot.

Here is my drive information:

Code:

[root@localhost root]# /sbin/fdisk -l

 

Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40027029504 bytes

16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77557 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

 

  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

/dev/hda1  *          1          20321    10241406    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

/dev/hda2          20321      77552    28844676+  f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)

/dev/hda5          20321      36577    8193118+    b  W95 FAT32

/dev/hda6          36577      38665    1052226    82  Linux swap

/dev/hda7          38665      57009    9245376    83  Linux

/dev/hda8          57009      59097    1052226    82  Linux swap

/dev/hda9          59097      77552    9301603+  83  Linux

 

Disk /dev/hdc: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

 

  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

/dev/hdc1  *          1      19457  156288321    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

 

Disk /dev/hdd: 33.8 GB, 33820284928 bytes

16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 65530 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

 

  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

/dev/hdd1  *          1          30883    15565000+  83  Linux

/dev/hdd2          30884      32508      819000  82  Linux swap

/dev/hdd3          32509      34133      819000  82  Linux swap

I'm sure this is something really easy to fix or at least an easy answer of the best way to start over.
Thanks for any help,
Stephen

I'm at a lost to explain why XP won't boot - maybe try adding makeactive to each entry.
For the other Fedora, try

Code:

title Fedora Core 2 (.771)(hda7)

        root (hd2,0)

        kernel (hd0,6)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-1.771_FC2 ro root=/dev/hda7

        initrd (hd0,6)/boot/initrd-2.6.10-1.771_FC2.img

Wow, quick reply.
I have worked on this for so long and retyped the entries so many times and Windows never worked but I guess I did something right at one point and never checked again as I pull all my focus on getting Fedora to boot. Windows does boot.
After editing grub.conf with the alterations you suggested it works like a charm. Thanks!
I'm just trying to understand this now... Why would Windows boot but not Linux (well, didn't) when they are both on the same drive? I read the:

Quote:

# 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 (hd2,0)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hdd1
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img

but couldn't make sense of where to put "(hd2,0".

Also, Now that I have it all running again, what should I do to be prepared for next time I can't boot (either after reinstalling windows, reinstalling linux, or just boot failure.)? Since I have access to everything right now I would like to be prepared next time. Just the info that I've learned so far will help out allot, but is there a way to make a backup or something?
Thanks again for the quick response! You have no idea how long I tried doing this on my own!
-Stephen

Quote:

Originally posted by jesusphreak
I'm just trying to understand this now... Why would Windows boot but not Linux (well, didn't) when they are both on the same drive?

Nothing to do with the physical drive - more the partition. Once loaded, ntldr has all the info it needs in the XP partition. Grub simply needs to know where it is, and transfer control to it. After all, ntldr *is* a boot-loader, and handles it all itself.
For Linux, you need a boot-loader - all the smarts are in the directory you installed grub to.
Hence the need for the root(hd2,0) directive - this is for grub.
Normally you would have your kernel images in here too, but as you see, you can address it absolutely in need.

Quote:

Also, Now that I have it all running again, what should I do to be prepared for next time I can't boot (either after reinstalling windows, reinstalling linux, or just boot failure.)? Since I have access to everything right now I would like to be prepared next time. Just the info that I've learned so far will help out allot, but is there a way to make a backup or something?

All you need is grub.conf. Create a copy on disk, put another on floppy, whatever.
Trying to backup the MBR is a mugs game. Seriously not worth trying.
Better option is to re-install if it gets over-written/corrupted.