I currently have Gentoo and Windows xp setup to dual-boot using Grub, and it works great. I wanted to give Ubuntu a shot, and when in the process of installing it, it asked for a boot-loader, to which I declined since I was already using Grub with Gentoo, and wasn't sure if I'd want to keep Ubuntu around.

After installing Ubuntu without a boot-loader, I booted back into Gentoo to google for how to add Ubuntu options to my grub.conf file, and added this:

After this, whenever I chose Ubuntu, Grub would just say

and it would hang there. I tried variations, including:

I also tried adding "savedefault" and "boot" to the end of those (as I saw in another thread in this forum), but to no avail. I still get the same error message.

I installed Ubuntu with a bootable flag the first time around, and installed it again without the bootable flag, hoping it'd make a difference, but I still get the same message.

My partitions are setup as such:
Windows XP on /dev/hda1 (hd0,0)
Gentoo /boot on /dev/hda2 (hd0,1)
Linux Swap on /dev/hda3 (hd0,2)
Extended partition on /dev/hda4 (hd0,3)
Gentoo root on /dev/hda5 (hd0,4)
Ubuntu on /dev/hda6 (hd0,5)

All these partitions are on a 60 gig disk. If there's any other information I can supply, please say. Thanks for any help/advice. I'm hoping I just made a stupid mistake

Try the following,

title=Ubuntu Linux
root (hd0,5)
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda6 ro quiet splash
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.img

You may need to change the kernel and initrd parts so that they suite your system.

Thanks for the reply Going to try it now. Seems to make sense, so I'm hoping it'll work. I didn't think I'd have to state where the kernel and initrd were again, given I stated where root is. Thanks again.

Seems to be the same error message. I tried both /vmlinuz and /boot/vmlinuz-whatever, with no luck. Any other ideas? Could I install Grub on Ubuntu's partition, and boot into that Grub from my Grub? Just a thought.

Thats probably worth trying, but remember to doa backup of your gentoo grub or make sure you have a boot disk, in case something goes wrong.

I have Gentoo livecd, and just chroot into my Gentoo system and run grub-install. I've tried so many variations, all with no luck. I even tried installing Ubuntu's grub to the MBR just to see what'd happen, and that didn't work just halts on saying "Grub loading, please wait", and I tried installing its LILO to the MBR as well, still with no luck. "L.." appears on the screen, and that's it.

I then tried installing both Grub and Lilo (in turns) to Ubuntu's partition, and booting into that from my MBR Grub/LILO (have tried both), and that didn't work. switched from "image=" to "other=" using two LILO's and still no luck.. A thread on the Ubuntu forums show a number of people have this problem, but there's no solution for it.

It's a shame, too. I really wanted to give Ubuntu a whirl (on my hard drive).

Thanks for your help, it's well appreciated.

I am having grub problem too, just a little bit slightly different.

I have AMD 64bit machine with 40G HD. Already have Windows XP installed on partiotion 1.

Partition 1: Windows XP 20G
Partition 2: Data 10G

Installed ubuntu 64bit version. During the installation, it asked where I want ubuntu be installed and I specified the last 7.2G of the hard disk. It performs partition for ubuntu automatically. ubunu installed fine as well as grub from the CD. When the machine reboots, I had the following error:
Grub stage 1.5

Error 17

and hangs there.

Used a grub boot floppy. Grub boots fine from the floppy. Used "find" command under grub prompt and entered "root (hd0,2)", then "cat /boot/grub/menu.lst". The default entry in the menu.lst has:
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 ro console= tty0 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img
boot

I entered the same lines and it boots! I can get to ubuntu login screen.

So, the problem here is grub cannot boot from hard disk, but boots from floppy fine. I have tried using grub commands "setup (hd0)", "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+16 p (hd0,2)/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst", and in linux, "/sbin/grub-install", all told me installed OK, but I still have the same grub error when reboots.

Although I can get to ubuntu using the grub floppy, but cannot use Windows XP, and every time to boot ubuntu, I have to type several commands.

While someone suggested the boot loader should always been in the first partition but I have seen people install Windows XP in the first partition. Plus, if there is such a restriction, the installation should fail rather than proceed since it detects I am installing ubuntu in the third partition.

I believe there is something wrong with my grub setting. I have spent quite sometime and no luck. Please help!

Try checking out ubuntu's website, maybe they may have a solution to your problem.

I myself have my Windows partition as the first, with my Gentoo partitions on the second, third and fourth, and it boots with Grub and Lilo without fail. I'm not too familiar with the grub commands myself, nor does Grub or Lilo give me any error, they just hang.

I wish I had a floppy to try it, but my drive broke and I never considered replacing it. Still not inclined to, seeing as I can get into Gentoo and Windows okay.

To add to my list of things-I've-tried, I also attempted creating a seperate /boot partition for Ubuntu, and that didn't work either.

I'm about ready to give up on Ubuntu. I might try and install Debian.

OK, the problem is resolved by changing BIOS HD setting to LBA from auto. Everything works fine now. Though I still don't understand the relationship between LBA and Grub stage 1.5 Error 17. According to the menual, error 17 is unrecognized file system.

xkfu, thanks a lot for your post. I can't check right now, but I believe LBA is the source of my problems as well. The Windows XP Installation CD wouldn't boot up at all, booting into Windows was incredibly slow, and Ubuntu and Mepis wouldn't boot either. Surprisingly, Gentoo worked well through all this I disabled LBA, and all is well with Windows again, and I think I can pin the blame of Ubuntu and Mepis not working on this as well. Thanks again.