Could offer some insight in to this problem? I'm posting this after
two days of tracking down many posts on the subject, for example
(redhat.com/archives/fedora-devel-list/2004-May/msg00908)

Trying to install Fedora core3 on to an IBM T42 notebook that
has (had?) windows XP installed. My new laptop that used to run with
WXP boots neither.

I used QtParted on SystemRescueCd V0.2.15 to resize the NTFS (windows)
partition. I then used DISK druid manually to create new partitions as
part of the FC3 installation process. And then stubmled into the
FC3/WXP mess. The only message is "GRUB Loading Stage2..."

Booting up with my KNOPPIX 3.7 disk I was able run fdisk and get
a partition table.

Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 5168 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 1664 12579808+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 4549 5168 4687200 12 Compaq diagnostics
/dev/hda3 1665 3051 10485720 83 Linux
/dev/hda4 3052 4548 11317320 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 3052 3119 514048+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda6 3120 4548 10803208+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

and sfdisk yields
# partition table of /dev/hda
unit: sectors

/dev/hda1 : start= 63, size= 25159617, Id= 7, bootable
/dev/hda2 : start= 68765760, size= 9374400, Id=12
/dev/hda3 : start= 25159680, size= 20971440, Id=83
/dev/hda4 : start= 46131120, size= 22634640, Id= f
/dev/hda5 : start= 46131183, size= 1028097, Id=82
/dev/hda6 : start= 47159343, size= 21606417, Id= c

I could also see files on the various partitions. For example
my grub.conf looks like

# 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=1
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,2)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Linux (FC3) (2.6.9-1.667)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.9-1.667.img
title windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


Looks to me that this is pointing to the correct partitions.
from my Knoppox disk I tried
sudo /sbin/sfdisk -d /dev/hda |sudo sfdisk --no-read -H240 /dev/hda
also with the --force option.
Tried to reboot...NADA

An interesting wrinkle is that IBM no longer ships a restore CD.
Instead they provide a restoration partition on the disk which is
great unless your MBR is having trouble. Tried to use a WXP CD from
my desktop machine. In hopes of restoring the MBR. Got as far as the
question about administrator password, but the admin password I set on
the T42 is not recognized. I'm told I can call IBM and request one.
Is this my only option at this point?

thanks so much!

lrwman,

You've got some wierdness in that partition shceme. Probably due to the oem diagnostics? notice the block numbers 4549-5168. I would bet that grub sees that as the last partition.

Also it makes sense that grub is hanging at stage 2, that is read from /boot/grub. The part of grub that is on the mbr is getting you that far.

My best guess at grub's assignments are

/dev/hda1 * 1 1664 12579808+ 7 HPFS/NTFS (hd0,0)
/dev/hda2 4549 5168 4687200 12 Compaq diagnostics (hd0,5)
/dev/hda3 1665 3051 10485720 83 Linux (hd0,1)
/dev/hda4 3052 4548 11317320 f W95 Ext'd (LBA) (hd0,2)
/dev/hda5 3052 3119 514048+ 82 Linux swap (hd0,3)
/dev/hda6 3120 4548 10803208+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA) (hd0,4)

That is based on the blocks, ie 1 1664. Grub starts at the first as 0 and counts up from there, It gives the extended partition the number before the first logical partition. Notice that the Ext'd and swap both start at 3052.

root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet

That root (hd0,2) has to point to where initrd and vmlinuz reside. You can call root=LABEL=/ root=/dev/hdax where x is where you find /bin /etc, you know the stuff that you normally find under root.

You can boot with Knoppix and compare what you find there to my (hd0,x) guesses.

Good Luck.

Grub's different counting scheme can be a bit frustrating.

Thanks for the suggestions... but no luck so far.


Changed (hd0,2) to (hd0,1) in grub.conf assuming the both for the reference for
splashimage=(hd0,2)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
and
root (hd0,2)

The laptop still would not boot, but hung at Grub stage2..
rather than the previous automatic cycle of (reboot, display Grub message, reboot...)

than changed the line in grub.conf
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-1.667 ro root=LABEL=/root=/dev/hda3 rhgb quiet
and the system goes back into a cycle
of (try to reboot, display Grub Loading Stage2, try to reboot....)

I still don't understand why windows won't boot either as it is the first partition
by either accounting scheme.

That the "Compaq diagnostics" partition is an IBM recovery system I think

I also ran
grub> geometry (hd0)
and the assignments look consistent with
(hd0,0) as the WXP partition and
(hd2,0) as the Linux partition with /

So what happened after this?...

Finally called IBM and requested the rescue CD's.
The are free.
CD's arrived two days later.
Restored system to factory configuration.
Took about two hours to run through the 7 CD's.
System booted into Restore/Recovery mode. Then had to
request recovery factory settings and reboot again.
Another 3 hours of windows/IBM doing stuff and the laptop
was back to where it was a week ago.

tried FC3 installation again, but more carefully.
shrunk NTFS partition to 10Gig
Used disk druid in manual mode to create
hda3 /boot
hda4 extended
hda6 ext3 linux
hda7 FAT32 /share

loaded GRUB bootloader to /dev/hda3. Didn't want to touch MBR.
Followed instructions in
url>http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux...w2k-HOWTO.html<url
to setup dual boot. And that works.