Hello all,

Well, all was well. Then I reinstalled Grub4Dos trying to shut down Thunderbird completely (T-Bird is already running but not responding. - So far unsuccessful)

Back to jump street -- dammit!

Unable to boot XP. And, of course, I did not save or record the successful contents of my previous menu.lst or recall the steps I used to get XP previously.

PLEASE, PLEASE help me!

The current data I have:

grub> geometry (hd0)
drive 0x80: C/H/S = 4865/255/63, The number of sectors = 78165360, /dev/sda
Partition num: 0, Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
Partition num: 1, Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

Geometry of (HD1)
grub> geometry (hd1)
drive 0x81: C/H/S = 24321/255/63, The number of sectors = 390721968, /dev/sdb
Partition num: 0, Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
Partition num: 1, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7

fdisk-l
Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1663 13350016 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1664 4865 25720065 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 128 1024000 83 Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 128 24321 194333408+ 7 HPFS/NTFS


menu.lst
# menu.lst produced by grub4dosconfig-v1.7.2
color white/blue black/cyan white/black cyan/black
timeout 10
default 0

# Windows
# this entry searches Windows on the HDD and boots it up
title Windows XP\nBoot up Windows if installed
errorcheck off
root noverify (hd1,1)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /bootmgr
chainloader /bootmgr
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /ntldr
chainloader /ntldr
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /io.sys
chainloader /io.sys
errorcheck on

# Frugal installed Puppy

title Lupu 528 (sda1/puppy528)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /puppy528/initrd.gz
kernel /puppy528/vmlinuz psubdir=puppy528 pmedia=atahd pfix=fsck
initrd /puppy528/initrd.gz

title Lupu 528 (sda1/puppy528) RAM mode\nBoot up Puppy without pupsave
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /puppy528/initrd.gz
kernel /puppy528/vmlinuz psubdir=puppy528 pmedia=atahd pfix=ram,fsck
initrd /puppy528/initrd.gz


# Boot from Partition Boot Sector

title Windows XP Pro (had1:PBS) (sda2:PBS)
uuid f5fc15f5-7de1-4832-be5e-f591212f0fbd
chainloader +1

# additionals

title Find Grub2\nBoot up grub2 if installed
find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /boot/grub/core.img
kernel /boot/grub/core.img

title Grub4Dos commandline\n(for experts only)
commandline

title Reboot computer
reboot

title Halt computer
halt


No error messages are displayed at the failed boot, just returns to menu.

Clearly I've made an error perhaps listing which dive/partition from which to boot, but I cannot get to XP.
Please give me one more assist here, and I promise to record all corrected file edits once I get it back (yes, I know, stupid).

Thank you very much!!

The only windows partition you show in fdisk output is on sdb2, the second partition of the second drive. With Grub Legacy, you could map the drives as below. I'm not familiar with Grub4dos so don't know if that would work. Your windows should be on the first drive.

Hi Yancek

Thank you for responding.

Made your suggested changes in menu.lst

Error msg:
(hd1,1)
Will boot NTLDR from drive 0x81, patyiyion 0x1(hidden sectors=0x1f4000
(hd1,1)

Thoughts?

Hello again all,

PLEASE someone with specific expertise w/Grub4Dos as well as fixing the dual boot scenario so I can get back to work.

Again, pleas take a look at my fdisk, geometry, and menu.lst postings above as well as the error message when I tried to implment Yancek's suggestions (which were very kindly offered).

I understand the preference for placing Windoze on the first drive, but the fact is that I got to work fine before, I prefer it on the drive it's on, and I'd just like to get it all back.

Any help here is greatly appreciated. I am looking at the possibility of using UBCD v.5 to possibly help here OR running XP Repair and telling it to fix the XP MBR. If someone can tell me whether either of these is a good option and what to be careful of, I'm listening.

All help invited and deeply appreciated.
Thank you very much!

i am not an expert. ... However try changing you grub4dos xp entry to sdb2 (you have sda2) you have two sata hard drives and xp is on the second drive. The other option is to reinstall grub4dos from puppy linux onto a usb or floppy etc - access it. Hope this helps.

the other thing to consider is, unplugging the first harddrive and windows should boot directly if the mbr is unadulterated by your reinstallation of grub.

Hi Vigi, So far, good call on the better look at sdb1. Added lines to map where Windoze is

map (hd1,1)
map (hd0, 0)

Good news: it went back to recognizing XP to try and start it (although returned to a prior start screen, so I don't know what's going there as it had most recently simply been trying to log me in w/password, not being able to, then allowing boot with simple click on non-custom user window).
However, I get stop codes telling me there's a problem with hard drive or possibly video drivers, locks up and won't start.

Currently trying to run XP Recovery from disk -- I can get to the C: drive but it does nothing on its own from there. Any ideas what I should consider?

Suggestions? What can I change to get back to the way it used to boot into XP without experiencing some random stop error?

I think I'm almost there; just need a hand getting over the bridge.

Thanks all for your help!

my suggestions..backup all data then disconnect sda drive and windows should boot. If not you have probably loaded grub4dos over the mbr on this drive. You have to restore it, then reconnect sda drive and load grub4dos onto the mbr of sda drive. This way windows should always work on its own..the way $MS insists.
The way my system is setup is i have a 50MB partition sda1 with grub only on it as the boot manager, then each system i install has its own bootloader installed to the / partition.....grub2 or lilo for slackware.

my suggestions..backup all data then disconnect sda drive and windows should boot. If not you have probably loaded grub4dos over the mbr on this drive. You have to restore it, then reconnect sda drive and load grub4dos onto the mbr of sda drive. This way windows should always work on its own..the way $MS insists.
The way my system is setup is i have a 50MB partition sda1 with grub only on it as the boot manager, then each system i install has its own bootloader installed to the / partition.....grub2 or lilo for slackware.