Installed Oracle linux 5 lost windows vista

davholla · 03-13-2011, 03:51 PM

I have installed Oracle Enterprise linux and lost Windows Vista.
It is I think still there - I can see it if I use a live Debian CD.
However when I turn on my PC I can not see a grub menu - even though I have created one :-

Code:

     all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,4)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Enterprise Linux (2.6.18-194.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-194.el5PAE.img
title Other
        rootnoverify (hd0,0)
        chainloader +1

title windows2 in sda3 or (hd0,2)
root (hd0,2)
makeactive
     all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,4)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Enterprise Linux (2.6.18-194.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-194.el5PAE.img
title Other
        rootnoverify (hd0,0)
        chainloader +1

title windows2 in sda3 or (hd0,2)
root (hd0,2)
makeactive
chainloader+1

corp769 · 03-13-2011, 03:58 PM

Is that your actual grub.conf file? It looks like two configs got merged into one. You need to remove your grub.conf file and run grub-install.

davholla · 03-13-2011, 04:10 PM

Actually that is one I created here is the original :-

Code:

grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,4)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Enterprise Linux (2.6.18-194.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-194.el5PAE.img
title Other
        rootnoverify (hd0,0)
        chainloader +1

When I run grub install I get

Code:

 grub-install
bash: grub-install: command not found

I can not find it

Code:

     find / -name grub -print
/usr/share/grub
/sbin/grub
/boot/grub
/etc/sysconfig/grub

corp769 · 03-13-2011, 04:23 PM

After researching about oracle, I think your best bet is to use the following to restore grub:
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

You could also do it through rescue mode from your install disc.

davholla · 03-21-2011, 03:55 PM

Thanks for that.

The problem was that grub was silent so I changed that and now I can boot into Vista.
However it just says Windows didn't start properly, and says do you want to fix it or start into Windows. The first time, I tried to fix it but next time it couldn't start windows. Any ideas?

Here is grub

Code:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,4)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=15
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu
title Oracle Linux Server (2.6.18-238.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-238.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-238.el5PAE.img
title Enterprise Linux (2.6.18-194.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-194.el5PAE.img
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,4)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=15
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu
title Oracle Linux Server (2.6.18-238.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-238.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-238.el5PAE.img
title Enterprise Linux (2.6.18-194.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-194.el5PAE.img
title Other
        rootnoverify (hd0,0)
        chainloader +1
title windows2 in sda3 or (hd0,2)
root (hd0,2)
makeactive
chainloader +1

corp769 · 03-22-2011, 11:49 AM

What do you mean it couldn't start windows? And after you fixed it, did you still have grub as your boot loader?

syg00 · 03-22-2011, 12:03 PM

Comment out the "hiddenmenu" so you get to see the menu.
Show us the output from "fdisk -l" (as root probably).

davholla · 03-22-2011, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corp769

What do you mean it couldn't start windows? And after you fixed it, did you still have grub as your boot loader?

What I meant was that it just went into a loop asking to run diagnostics.

I changed grub to

Code:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,4)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=15
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu
title Oracle Linux Server (2.6.18-238.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-238.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-238.el5PAE.img
title Enterprise Linux (2.6.18-194.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-194.el5PAE.img

title Other
        rootnoverify (hd0,0)
        chainloader +1
title windows2 in sda3 or (hd0,2)
root (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

And I got could not find BOOTMGR!.

Here is fdisk as root

Code:

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1           8       64228+   6  FAT16
/dev/sda2   *           9        1314    10485760    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3            1314       30965   238176090+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4           30966       60801   239657670    5  Extended
/dev/sda5           30966       30978      104391   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           30979       60801   239553216   8e  Linux LVM

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1           8       64228+   6  FAT16
/dev/sdb2               9        1314    10490445    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb3   *        1315       30966   238179690    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb4           30967      121601   728025637+   5  Extended
/dev/sdb5           30967      121601   728025606   8e  Linux LVM

Disk /dev/dm-0: 985.2 GB, 985225232384 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 119780 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk /dev/dm-0 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-1: 5536 MB, 5536481280 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 673 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk /dev/dm-1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

syg00 · 03-22-2011, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davholla

The problem was that grub was silent so I changed that and now I can boot into Vista.
However it just says Windows didn't start properly, and says do you want to fix it or start into Windows. The first time, I tried to fix it but next time it couldn't start windows. Any ideas?

I'd be guessing this means you chose the (hd0,0) option. Probably a vendor recovery partition.
Who knows what that did.

Best you can probably do now is to look at the NTFS partitions on /dev/sda and see where the boot files are. Then try and boot that from grub.

davholla · 03-22-2011, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

I'd be guessing this means you chose the (hd0,0) option. Probably a vendor recovery partition.
Who knows what that did.

Best you can probably do now is to look at the NTFS partitions on /dev/sda and see where the boot files are. Then try and boot that from grub.

Thanks I will try that.
Do the boot files just say boot?

syg00 · 03-22-2011, 02:18 PM

For XP, just look for boot.ini and ntldr - they'll hopefully be in the same partition.

davholla · 03-23-2011, 08:06 AM

I changed grub

Code:

#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,4)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=15
splashimage=(hd0,4)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu
title Oracle Linux Server (2.6.18-238.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-238.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-238.el5PAE.img
title Enterprise Linux (2.6.18-194.el5PAE)
        root (hd0,4)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.el5PAE ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet crashkernel=128M@16M
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-194.el5PAE.img
title Other
        rootnoverify (hd0,0)
        chainloader +1
title windows2 in sda3 or (hd0,2)
root (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

And now I get

Code:

Filesystem type unknown partition type0*7

makeactive

chainloader +1

 

BOOTMGR is mssing
 Press Ctrl+Alt+ Del to restart

Any ideas anyone?

syg00 · 03-23-2011, 09:10 AM

Change "root" to "rootnoverify" to get rid of the unknown partition message.
As for the bootmgr message - google it; a gazillion people have seen that. Most have never heard of Linux. Best bet is to try "fixboot" and "fixmbr" from recovery console. Boot the XP CD and hit "r" when it tells you to.

Edit:
You said Vista, not XP - my bad. The Vista disk has an option at boot to install or recover. Pick the obvious one. Can't remember if it will trash grub (in the MBR). Easy enough to fix if it does.