Strange dual-boot problem?

zWaR · 01-02-2010, 08:48 AM

Hi guys and girls. I've got pretty strange boot problem I can't solve alone, nor have I found any help anywhere else, so you're really my last resort ....

Here's the deal:
I've got 2 disks (disk 1 is SATA, disk 2 ATA).
that's the fdisk -l output:

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x376d04d4                     

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1        5099    40957686    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2   *        5100        7531    19535040   83  Linux
/dev/sda3            7532       11300    30274492+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5            7532        7653      979933+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6            7654       11300    29294496   83  Linux
omitting empty partition (5)

Disk /dev/sdb: 164.7 GB, 164696555520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 20023 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xeda5eda5

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1        6274    50395873+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2            6275       20022   110430810    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sdb5            6843       20022   105868318+   b  W95 FAT32

The first (bigger) disk has Windows XP installed on the first partition and Kubuntu 9.10 on the second (bootable) partition. The partition /dev/sda6 is my home folder.

The second disk has a abandoned Windows Vista installation (which I will delete soon) and a data storage FAT32 partition.

My goal is to create a boot menu, which will allow me to boot to windows or to Linux. If set my BIOS boot order to boot from the first disk I can get to Linux, but I can not start windows. If I in contrary set the second disk higher in BIOS boot order priority, then I'll get to Windows XP, but I did not find any way to boot to the linux partition.

I tried to modify both boot.ini and grub settings, but I was not able to configure any of the boot menus to let me boot into other OS.

rjwilmsi · 01-02-2010, 09:32 AM

I used to have a similar issue when trying to dual boot with both Windows and Linux on the same hard drive. If at all possible I recommend that you have one disk for each OS (with shared data partitions if you like).

However, for your particular issue I think it revolves around whether you've installed the bootloader into the MBR or the Linux boot partition. To dual boot from the same disk you will need to have the bootloader in the MBR.

tredegar · 01-02-2010, 10:22 AM

Yes, you need to install grub on the MBR of /dev/sda

Be warned that ubuntu 9.10 is using grub2 which is very different from "grub legacy".

There's a good guide to installing grub here: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB2
This wiki is specific to ububtu 9.10: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2

So boot to linux, and install grub to the MBR of /dev/sda. grub2 is quite clever, and should search for, and find, all your windows (and linux) installations, and automatically add them to the grub boot menu.

zWaR · 01-09-2010, 05:10 AM

Thank you guys for the replays. Thank you for pointing me on the right tracks, I'll read the manuals through and try them out.