So I have done many ubuntu installs in the past successfully, but today I installed it and had a problem. Here is the scenario:
Had a 500gb Windows XP partition that I shrunk by 52gb. I then made a 50gb ext4 partition and a 2gb swap partition, and installed ubuntu. installing went well and ubuntu works perfect. But the problem is when I try to boot into windows XP I get the following:
Now I believe the shrinking of the partition had something to do with this problem. I can still access all of the files on the Windows partition from Ubuntu. I have tried booting the Windows XP recovery environment and running CHKDSK /P /R, FIXBOOT, and FIXMBR in attempt to get windows to boot (fix ubuntu bootloader later), but it didnt work. I then deleted the ext4 and swap partitions and resized windows to original size and ran CHKDSK /P /R, FIXBOOT, and FIXMBR (to fix bootloader), But I still get the Disk Read Error.

Any help is greatly appreciated as this is somebody else's computer and the rest of the users want to use windows.
Thanks in advance!

When you shrunk the windows partition, was it from the front end or the back end of the partition. If it was the front end, then the windows partition number has changed, and your grub config file is incorrect. Try running update-grub from ubuntu, which will run a script called os-prober to detect OSs and rewrite the grub config file, with the changed partition number for windows. Then try booting windows again.

Thanks for the suggestion! I shrunk the partition from the back, but I tried sudo update-grub. Still the same error. I don't think it's grub because it wont boot even with grub gone and windows bootloader back (well soposedly).
Hope you have some other ideas though!

Does this happen after you select windows from the Grub boot menu?
In your first post, you indicate you deleted the Ubuntu partition. Did you reinstall it or were you running update-grub from the CD. If so, that won't do anything. If you are using the CD or have reinstalled Ubuntu, go to the site below and download and run the bootinfoscript and post the results.txt file here as it will show detailed information on your boot files and hard drive(s).

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/

Edit: the error occurs after selecting the entry in grub and also when grub is gone, so it is something o do with windows.
I had actually run sudo update-grub before deleting the partition. I just didn't mention it at first cause I didn't think it was important. I will try running the script as soon as I get the chance and post back.

Edit: even more embarrassing. The person I was trying to help didn't know what the front or back was and told me it was front, when we DID shrink it from the back. You can ignore what I said below.

Ok... Well this is a bit embarrassing. According to the person I have been assisting, the partition was actually drunk from the front (instead of the back like what was sopposed to happen). I was telling him what to do over VOIP so that detail got missed. So sorry for the confusion. Hope this makes it easier to solve!

So I have the results for the boot info script and attached the file. Hope it helps!
Edit: to clear some things up that may be confusing, the computer had a WUBI install of ubuntu that wasnt removed before the full install.

Attached Files

RESULTS.txt (2.8 KB, 13 views)

Are you doing this yourself or having your friend do it and report to you? The information you are posting in regard to the problem does not coincide with the information in the bootinfoscript which shows windows in the master boot record and only one partition, windows with a wubi install in the same partition. Note the last line in the bootinfoscript. Also, the results.txt file you posted only contains about 10% of the information normally seen in the output. Try running it again.

I am having my friend do it and report back to me. Keep in mind that the Ubuntu and swap partitions have been removed in attempt to fix windows first, we are aiming for a full install but the previously installed WUBI is still there. We ran the script again and you were right, there is a lot more information now.

Attached Files

RESULTS2.txt (9.8 KB, 13 views)

Don't think XP supports this - you need separate physical disc's

Sure does. I've done it many times before. Since this thread was given up on, we copied files off and formatted to reinstall. Works perfect now.