Hey there everyone, in short, my problem is the following, I have XP installed on a partition (c and ubuntu installed on another partition (it was installed b4 XP) I tried using grub4dos and initiating it from the boot.ini, the GRUB worked fine but the when it tries loading ubuntu it gives me an error message -> Error 26: Disk Read Error
So what should I do?

consider using a linux bootloader that comes with your distro

lilo or grub should be there....read my signature if you prefer grub

I dun think it would work either (its grub BTW), coz I could access it with the ubuntu recovery mode and still got the same error when I tried loading with it!

ok try the troubleshooter....or post what partitions you have for linux.

now might be a good time to download a live cd such as knoppix ?

Google is leading me to this page. Thanks for using grub4dos.

Disk Read Error: Possible cause: the file you are trying to access is located after 1024 cylinder of the disk, and the BIOS does not support EBIOS functions (sometimes called LBA), or, you encountered a real disk I/O error.

Copy the file to another place that BIOS can access, and try again.

try removing the line "savedefault" from bootconfig,
or delete the line manually while in boot menu
(push "e"; worked for me)

I guess, writing back the default boot configuration fails.

frosh

frosh.....has grub worked b4....its not likely to be a bios issue...grub supports LBA and cylinders beyond 1024 for long time.
cheers

2) But now that I read the op again it struck me that linux was on it then xp installed and therefore the xp bootloader NTLDR and that leads to more questions
a) Could the op say if xp put into the first partition that may have been the /boot partition for linux?
b) has the op read my tutorial on how to use partition swapping on how to use grub to boot a non-first partition microsoft ?
c) or the link to use image of the grub - stage 1 file which is the bootini technique similar to the grub4dos way I suspect?
d) did the op use any partition tool including MS to resize b4 installing ms?

3) the reasoning is I am now thinking that either ms overwrote the booting files or the partition table was altered

Yep, ubuntu 6.06LT worked b4, until I did the recent update. Here is my partition and boot scheme:
sda1 (80GB) winxp
sda5 (20GB) reiser
I have installed
NTLDR - mbr
(XP - XP safe - wingrub)
and
GRUB - bootsect 5
(ubuntu - ubuntu safe - NTLDR)

basically I can boot from NTLDR to GRUB and back by menu, before OS comes up
wingrub just boots up bootsector 5 with GRUB via chainloader and vice versa.
I stumbled across a comment in the menu.lst, not to use "savdefault", there's some trouble with reiser
hope thet helps,

frosh

I think the problem here is what the author of Grub4Dos (tinybit) has stated.

The OP used NTLDR to boot.

It boots up, as an alternative to XP, Grub4Dos which is a Dos embedded with Grub. That embedded Grub has a limitation with 1024 cylinders because it is inside a Dos. The normal GNU/Grub on the other hand has no such limitation. The OP was hoping to use Grub4Dos to launch Ubuntu.

The cures I see are

(a) Restore Ubuntu's Grub back to the MBR. Edit its Grub's menu.lst to dual boot XP.

(b) Restore Ubuntu's Grub in its root partition. Copy its Grub's first 512 bytes (of the root partition) into the XP's "C" drive. Edit NTLRD's boot.ini to dual-boot Ubuntu.

(c) May be wingrub can overcome the problem experienced by Grub4Dos.

Both ways should wok fine.

For route (a) check the Task B4 of the last link in my signature.

For route (b) Check the Task D2 and Task E4 of the same link.

For route (c) check Grub4Dos web site to download WinGrub.

I agree with all of saikee's wise words but would spruik that nornal grub is a better option due to its abililty to be used in command mode if its stage 1 file is in the mbr as per my troubleshooter link or saikee's excellent posts.

Naturally the op is free to choose whatever they like...good luck

I don't think my words are wise and I do make mistakes from time to time.

What I try to do in many occasions, as in here, is to make connection between various posters' contributions to highlight the simiarilarities and differences, in a hope that we can all understand the problem better and focus on finding the solution.

As a previous reply suggested, it's quite likely that Windows overwrote some part of GRUB, as it typically does. NOTE: Always install Windows before Linux.

I don't know anything about this GRUB4DOS, but have had ALOT of troubleshooting experience with regular GRUB - my main problem was running two seperate drives.

My suggestion would be to reinstall Ubuntu in a repair or upgrade mode if it has it (I don't use Ubuntu - hate it... GO SUSE!).

Reinstalling or repairing the bootloader from the Ubuntu installer should give you a nice clean GRUB install that Windows hasn't messed with, and if it is smart enough, should automatically give you Windows as a boot option.

Best of luck.