when i installed red hat 9.0 for some reason the boot loader just hangs when ever i try and start my system and i just get the word "GRUB" in the top left corner of my scene and it just hangs. Dose any one know what might be causing this problem. I installed XP first on a new hard drive i bough and then on another partion i put red hat . my config file looks like this:
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd1,5)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
password --md5 $1$dMDbJs6q$fAWragnhJDMiK6RMMzH65.
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.20-8)
root (hd1,5)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.20-8 ro root=LABEL=/ hdd=ide-scsi
initrd /initrd-2.4.20-8.img
title WINDOWS
rootnoverify (hd1,4)
chainloader +1
title DOS
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

any help or idea why the boot loader is hanging when i start my system would be very helpful

thz

Are you sure that your XP partition is on hdb5??There is no primary partition in your new harddisk??I think XP requires a primary partition.Try 'fdisk -l' or 'cat /proc/partitions' to make sure abt your partitions.
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hd0 is hda
hd1 is hdb
hd1,4 is hdb5
hd0,1 is hda2
========================
======================

here are the partitions and XP ran befoer i installed red hat i have 2 installed versions of XP i havnt bothered to format the older one yet
major minor #blocks name rio rmerge rsect ruse wio wmerge wsect wuse running use aveq

3 0 78150744 hda 140 1129 2025 4160 2 0 2 0 -9 8537824 9151979
3 1 32098 hda1 95 698 1073 3710 2 0 2 0 0 1450 3710
3 2 78116062 hda2 28 156 368 270 0 0 0 0 0 270 270
3 64 160086528 hdb 51552 78670 1031373 270050 75245 135138 1683072 2736880 -11 8535184 38032384
3 65 81923436 hdb1 1581 121 12769 3160 0 0 0 0 0 3160 3160
3 66 1 hdb2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 67 25872682 hdb3 49389 77139 1012234 264050 74168 131382 1646016 1107350 0 269910 1374230
3 69 40957686 hdb5 28 156 368 350 0 0 0 0 0 350 350
3 70 200781 hdb6 102 658 1520 690 142 153 592 450 0 1030 1140
3 71 2040223 hdb7 398 40 3264 1400 935 3603 36464 1629080 0 1482330 1630490

yoour hdb1 looks like a primary partition(Must be XP) whereas your hdb3 must be an extended partition.What did 'fdisk -l' (l is a small L) tell??

ofcourse,'fdisk -l' should be run from root login.

primary boot
3 1 32098 hda1 95 698 1073 3710 2 0 2 0 0 1450 3710

XP (new) is on here
3 69 40957686 hdb5 28 156 368 350 0 0 0 0 0 350 350

and here (old)
3 2 78116062 hda2 28 156 368 270 0 0 0 0 0 270 270

and red hat root
3 67 25872682 hdb3 49986 77354 1018730 271040 75431 132932 1668616 1129410 0 276890 1403280

swap
3 71 2040223 hdb7 398 40 3264 1400 952 3650 36976 1674000 0 1527210 1675410

boot
3 70 200781 hdb6 102 658 1520 690 144 157 604 450 0 1030 1140

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 4 32098+ de Dell Utility
/dev/hda2 * 5 9729 78116062+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/hdb: 163.9 GB, 163928604672 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19929 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 * 1 10199 81923436 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdb2 10200 16708 52283542+ f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hdb3 16709 19929 25872682+ 83 Linux
/dev/hdb5 10200 15298 40957686 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdb6 15299 15323 200781 83 Linux
/dev/hdb7 15324 15577 2040223+ 82 Linux swap

You have got XP on a logical partition along with the redhat boot and swap (logical)partitions??and redhat root on a primary partition??I think XP boot must be a primary partition.And I am not the one who can help you cos though I feel that what I have said is correct,I am not very sure about this.If this is what 'fdisk -l' told you,then there are no errors with the grub config file.
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some one please correct me if I am wrong.

I am wrong with the extended partitions.As you can see,there is an XP boot partition in hdb1.while it is hdb5 in the grub settings.so try changing the grub settings from (hd1,4) to (hd1,0).
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ps- wrote post 6 without seeing post 7.

hdb1 is not a boot
thats is just media file ie mp3/mpg ......