Grub serious problems
 

I'm a newbie, and so i post here. I want your help on some problems i have with my dual boot (win xp).
hda has 2 partition, in the first one (basic) has windows
hdb has 4 partition, first (basic) mp3, and 2 logical drivers (downloads) and 2 logical drives for linux (swap and os).

First of all, i cannot boot with Grub in Windows XP. I can only have both OS working, when i boot in redhat only with the boot disk. If I type grub-install /dev/hda then i cannot boot in windows, and then i use fdisk /mrd, so i fixed it, but still i cannot have REAL DUAL BOOT. :(
any ideas, about how should i configure some files (plz mention) in grub loader, in order to have REAL DUAL BOOT (without the boot disk)

and lastly, i have some NTFS partitions. i d/l the package for NTFS support in linux, but it doesn't load more than one NTFS partitions. :D (i mean, i changed the fstab settings, but i was only able to mount ONE and only ONE NTFS partition. (the basic one) in the hda [so hda1]

I hope I get an answer and fix this whole problem.

Ps. I am a newbie in linux, but i should remind you that i managed to make a system bootable disk for dos thru win2k!! [you know where /s parameter in format doesn't exist]. So if i managed to do this, i hope with your help, i will be able to boot to linux and windows the same time, without boot disks, and without only ONE partition seen thru linux red hat 8.

thanks in advance! :)

well, it found out, that in order to mount logical partitions you start to count from 5. so i managed to mount every partition except the hdb1 (ntfs) partition.
i wanted this partition to be FAT 32, but i had an error saying LOGICAL DRIVE TOO BIG. so i had to use NTFS in the primary partition of the second disk (hdb1 i think)
but, eventhough it is a primary slave partition, i get an error when i mount it in redhat saying that i should consider about hdb1 being a logical partition.
mount -t ntfs /dev/hdb1 /mnt/disk2p1
doesn't work.
any ideas?

Try to use grub-install once again and add the following to the /boot/grub/grub.conf

title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Hope, it will do.

i tried grub-install. but the i should go to dos thru a boot disk and type fdisk /mbr in order to work.
cause when i run grub-install /dev/hda windows WONT boot.
this code you posted, is already there. and it is the msg grub gives me when i try to boot into WINDOWS.

after this code, it shows me ERROR READING HARD DISK.
is this so difficult?
how the f##k am I going to say to grub, that windows start from hda1 (ntfs) and linux start from hdb7(ext3)?
so dificult is this for LINUX? :( :( :( :( :(

Why you did not post previously that the XP boot process was started but with an error? It changes the problem!
I understand that you can boot linux succesfully but the trial of booting XP gives you the error.
It looks like the '+1' parameter is wrong.
Please post the grub.conf and the result of commands
fdisk -l /dev/hda and
fdisk -lu /dev/hda.

grub.conf
# 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 (hd1,5)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hdb6
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd1,5)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-14)
root (hd1,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-14 ro root=LABEL=/
initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.18-14.img
title WINDOWS
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


[root@localhost root]# fdisk -l /dev/hda

Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 1653 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 622 4996183+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 623 1653 8281507+ f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 623 1653 8281476 b Win95 FAT32


and


[root@localhost root]# fdisk -lu /dev/hda

Disk /dev/hda: 255 heads, 63 sectors, 1653 cylinders
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 63 9992429 4996183+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2 9992430 26555444 8281507+ f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 9992493 26555444 8281476 b Win95 FAT32

Well, everything looks ok. I really do not know why it doesn't work.
Try use 'chainloader --force +1' but I am not sure it helps.
But please post more info about ERROR READING HARD DISK message. When it occurs (step by step)?. It is very interesting for me to study the problem you have got :)

ok. assuming you have read my first post (where i describe the partitions i have on my pc), i must also say, that i did that kind of partitions thru windows 2000 logical manager. I should also say that i had a problem with my second hd. (in windows hd1). it is 80 gb, and i wanted the first 40 gb in the primary partition (for mp3s) an the other 40 gb as an extened partition in which i should make the logical drives. I had problems formatting them in FAT32 (windows were saying after they have finished formmating in fta32 the primary partition, that LOGICAL DRIVE WAS TOO BIG!) and the disk was formatted but with an unknown FILE SYSTEM.
So i formated the primary partition as NTFS (and everything worked fine). the is a pre-history of my problem? don't know. I give all the details.
I should also say that i can see GRUB loader, but when i choose WINDOWS i get an error 25.
I'll try -force , but i'm not sure that this is the solution.
I am really sad, cause i find it hard that grub can't work with both OS fine.

Well, if you can see the GRUB "window" with 2 defined boot choises and you can boot Linux it means that grub works correctly. The only problem is with Windows partition.
In case of Windows-like files systems the grub has almost nothing to do: when you choose such system grub read into memory the partition boot sector and gives control to it. The rest is done by the partition boot sector. Therefore you need use 'rootnoveryfy' command which means for grub not to study the file system but just read the sector or sectors into memory and transfer control. The chainload command provides the infomation which sectors of the partition need to be read. Usually the partition boot sector is the first one on the partition so command 'chainloader 0+1' or in short for 'chainloader +1' works. It means read one ('+1' ) sector starting from the first (zero) sector.
I believe the problem you have is proper chainloader command parameter(s). Unfortunately I do know nothing about NTFS and the boot method of it.

thank you very much for this documentation. I understood that NTFS and linux don't go together, so after backuping for the whole night, I was able to have all my partition in FAT 32 (and i shall never change that in years to come..) :D. only the partition with Windows still remaing NTFS. ( i am afraid to copy, cauz i understand that this partition is set as boot)

after having formated all my other partitions in Fat32, i can mount, read write superb!

PS. i should also mention for those who work on NTFS support what I found. I had my ntfs partition (hdb1 in linux) set as ACTIVE. so REDHAT were UNABLE to mount this partition. I understand sth is going on with ACTIVE (which, i don't what it is)

when we say set as active partition, what do we gain?
thanks a lot dorian.

'Active' means not so much. In fact it is only one bit. MBR consists the partition table. This table has 4 entries (for description for 4 primary partitions). Each entry consists the byte with 'boot indicator' which can be set (exclusively) pointing the bootable partition. But grub does not use this marker. That's all. So I do not see the reasons why NTFS can be or cannot be mounted if this byte is set or unset.
I've googled a little bit for NTFS and I've read that Windows checks the boot indicator. Unless it is set, Windows with NTFS filesystem cannot be properly started. I am not sure if it is true buy you can try to add in grub.conf Windows section additional command 'makeactive' (before 'chainloader'). Let me know the results.

grub problems! HUGE!
 

its like this.. today i decided to remove red hat linux because it sucked, and i was going to install slackware instead..

i (were) running windows xp and red hat linux in a dualboot system that worked great.. since i didnt find any uninstall choice in red hat, i decided to remove all partitions that had to do with linux.. that would mean all partitions except the first one, with ntfs and windows xp installed. i had done this once before, because i had problems with red hat and was reinstalling it. that time it worked fine..

in order to check that everything had gone well, i rebooted the computer. i got shocked when i saw that a grub console was booted.. now i cant start windows!! how do i do, please help me.. anything that could save my windows partition!! im a total noob to linux, so any advice is welcome..

what should i write to get rid of grub.. i dont know any command in grub..

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

please help me!!

i "fixed" it.. i installed a new partition of windows on that unallocated space that remained when i removed redhat.. how do i remove grub? is it on my hda?

ok. NTFS ACTIVE partition no longer exists. sorry dorian. I formated all in FAT 32 thru FDISK in dos mode, (viva MS DOS!) long live my Floppy drive, no matter how slow floppies are!

I had partition in fat32 thru windows disk management, and fdisk wasn't able to see them. Fdisk was right, sth was going on with these stupid partition windows do.

I remind you, xp could not format as fat 32 a 40 gb primary partition, and they gave me an error saing logical drive too big (meaning the 40 gb left, i have 80 wd hard disk. and i was forced to go to NTFS). But after all this, FDISK didn't give me this message, or any other silly message. I sometimes wonder about WinDOZE or DOSE. I think all this time i was getting over-dos(z)ed. :P
viva binary coding (hahhahaha!)
viva greece (that's true)
thanks everyone, i shall be back with more questions in days to come (worry moderators, worry! :D :D).
Thank you dorian33 (33 is your age, right?)
PS. Greece, and Greek EU presidency welcomes the new EU members, one of which is POLAND, your country. ( u see I :study: too much GEOGRAPHY!) :p