Another no go - this one hung and had to do a power button reboot.

I'm gonna swap disks, and experiment. Backups are done... Thanks so far!

So I pulled the Raidbus PCI controller card, that has the [3rd] hard disk, and tried a few more grub edits. Nothing. I sat there looking at it thinking of a new one.

I pressed 'b' boot - the entry that's in there. It booted. HUH?

map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

I shutdown, re-inserted the Raidbus PCI card, and no boot. Pulled it, it booted.

This is a BIOS setting? A little more than boot device sequence setting too???

when you changed the hardware settings to slave you need to change your grub in concordance with it the reason for the error is the kernel is not on the drive location written in your menu.1st first.
Fix is to change the hardware settings back or adjust the to grub seting. just like buccaneere said

The problem is narrowed to BIOS; I'm pretty sure.

Apparently I did correctly configure the GRUB. See post 17.

WithOUT the Raidbus controller card, slave/GRUB Ubuntu hd1 boots, and if XP master/hd0 is selected, IT boots.

BUT, re-insert the Raidbus controller card, ... (confirming now)
Kernel panic - not syncing. ??? So I've changed BIOS again since last night (everything else is unchanged since starting here yesterday...).

How do I clear NVRAM?

Sorry, I don't have any good suggestions So here is some rambling:

Some bios let reset all the setting to the default.
Do you remember what you changed?
Did your write down the original settings?
Change settings by try and error until you find one which works.
If all fails, you could remove the battery. That should reset everything to default.

At least we now know that the Raidbus controller card is to be blamed for your troubles. Although, I don't know why adding the card influences the other two drives. But Bios always have been a mystery to me

I am sorry guys I read his out put post and if it is true the my Input for the menu.1st is correct this is not a bios issue it is a fact you want to make this complicated go ahead.
good luck. load pclinux it will remap and change your grub to.

I AM considering installing PCLOS GRUBloader for work-around; but I'd sure like to know why XP isn't loading tho'...

I'm not followin' the part about menu.lst configuration; just to confirm I've changed nothing yet:

(the reason there's a couple of extra SuSE's is because when I loaded it a month ago, it configured its own GRUB as HD0, NOT HD2. That's when I did something that caused the XP boot fault, before realizing this. Then I modified Ubuntu grub correctly, and put ALMOST everything back.)

and the menu:

This might help:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/

Also, someone really good with grub is this guy: http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=530779

buccaneere: What is the current status?

Have you been able to solve the "Kernel panic - not syncing " problem?
That's seems the most urgent problem. When do you get the Kernel panic? Trying to boot ubuntu? or trying to boot one of the OS's on the "Raidbus controller card"

Your original problem, (not being able to boot XP from the Grub menu) can be solved by adding all the OSs to the XP boot menu. Let me know whether you would like me to write up the instruction for that.

Your experiment with removing the Raid Bus Controller card shows that grub is configured correctly and that there is something strange going own. Could it be that Controller Card is plugged in incorrectly?
Anyway, I believe adding all the OS to the XP boot menu is your best option. There just are some rare cases where Grub is not able to chainload XP.


About installing the PCLinux Grub: Different Distro use slightly different versions of Grub, so in a strange case like this, it could be possible that the PCLinux Grub is able to boot XP, but the chances aren't very high. On the other hand, installing the PCLinux Grub and, if necessary, reinstalling the Ubuntu Grub only will take a few minutes, so feel free to try it out.


I'm the author of the bootinfoscipt recommended by Mountain. I doubt that running the script will reveal anything new.

Interesting...

============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

=> Grub0.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive
in partition #2 for /boot/grub/stage2 and /boot/grub/menu.lst.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb
=> Grub0.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc and looks on the same drive
in partition #1 for /boot/grub/stage2 and /boot/grub/menu.lst.

sda1: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda2: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext3
Boot sector type: Grub
Boot sector info: Grub0.97 is installed in the boot sector of sda2 and
looks at sector 19628870 of the same hard drive for
the stage2 file. A stage2 file is at this location on
/dev/sda. Stage2 looks on partition #2 for
/boot/grub/menu.lst.
Operating System: openSuSE11.1???
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/menu.lst /etc/fstab

sda3: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda5: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext3
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Fedora10???
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/menu.lst /etc/fstab

sda4: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext3
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: PCLOS???
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/grub.conf /etc/fstab

sdb1: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows XP
Boot files/dirs: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM

sdc1: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext3
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 8.04.2
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/menu.lst /etc/fstab

sdc2: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdc5: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdc3: _________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext3
Boot sector type: Grub
Boot sector info: Grub is installed in the boot sector of sdc3 and looks
at sector 113153297 of the same hard drive for the
stage2 file, but no stage2 files can be found at this
location.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/menu.lst /etc/fstab

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000afd18

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 63 4,209,029 4,208,967 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2 * 4,209,030 37,768,814 33,559,785 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 37,768,815 70,798,454 33,029,640 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 37,768,878 70,798,454 33,029,577 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 70,798,455 111,764,204 40,965,750 83 Linux


Drive: sdb ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 30.7 GB, 30735581184 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3736 cylinders, total 60030432 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0006ca0a

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdb1 * 63 60,018,839 60,018,777 7 HPFS/NTFS


Drive: sdc ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sdc: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00022288

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdc1 * 63 117,965,294 117,965,232 83 Linux
/dev/sdc2 151,766,055 156,296,384 4,530,330 5 Extended
/dev/sdc5 151,766,118 156,296,384 4,530,267 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdc3 117,965,295 151,766,054 33,800,760 83 Linux


blkid -c /dev/null: ____________________________________________________________

/dev/sda1: TYPE="swap" LABEL="boot" UUID="8da6516c-7299-4851-b67a-adc1a73eafc4"
/dev/sda2: UUID="f781c2b1-0eab-4af1-a3be-a158ab93a6a8" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda4: LABEL="/1" UUID="cc9cedeb-1f14-4cf7-8b4e-ce05acd8c4e7" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sda5: UUID="c97202c1-5d96-449f-8fd2-1d86341e3e99" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdb1: UUID="2030A6DF30A6BAE4" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sdc1: UUID="c750b94d-415d-4015-8d90-54500d601b5d" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc3: UUID="8fab092a-3955-4479-807e-156ad5855365" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3"
/dev/sdc5: TYPE="swap" UUID="b88d0f6b-7327-48de-9134-c9636a9053c1"

=============================== "mount" output: ===============================

/dev/sdc1 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/sys on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
varrun on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=0755)
varlock on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devshm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
lrm on /lib/modules/2.6.24-23-generic/volatile type tmpfs (rw)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
/dev/sdb1 on /media/disk type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime,allow_other,blksize=4096)


=========================== sda2/boot/grub/menu.lst: ===========================

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Tue Mar 3 06:49:14 EST 2009
default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1
root (hd2,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3802110A_5LR74M8V-part2 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3802110A_5LR74M8V-part1 splash=silent showopts vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1
root (hd2,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3802110A_5LR74M8V-part2 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default

title PCLOS
kernel (hd2,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=/dev/hdh5 acpi=on resume=/dev/hdd5 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title Fedora10
root (hd2,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686 ro root=UUID=cc9cedeb-1f14-4cf7-8b4e-ce05acd8c4e7 rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686.img

title XPPro
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

=============================== sda2/etc/fstab: ===============================

/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3802110A_5LR74M8V-part1 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3802110A_5LR74M8V-part2 / ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 1
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0

=================== sda2: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


10.0GB: boot/grub/menu.lst
10.0GB: boot/grub/stage2
10.0GB: boot/initrd
10.0GB: boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default
10.0GB: boot/vmlinuz
10.0GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default

=========================== sda5/boot/grub/menu.lst: ===========================

timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,4)/usr/share/gfxboot/themes/pclinuxos/boot/message
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=/dev/hdh5 acpi=on resume=/dev/hdd5 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=/dev/hdh5 acpi=on resume=/dev/hdd5
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=/dev/hdh5 failsafe acpi=on resume=/dev/hdd5
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title windows
root (hd1,0)
map (0x81) (0x80)
map (0x80) (0x81)
makeactive
chainloader +1

title 2.6.26.8.tex3
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26.8.tex3 BOOT_IMAGE=2.6.26.8.tex3 root=/dev/hdh5 acpi=on resume=/dev/hdd5 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd-2.6.26.8.tex3.img

=============================== sda5/etc/fstab: ===============================

## fstab created by Livecd-install

none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs defaults 0 0

# cdrom: CR-4804TE
# /dev/hda /mnt/cdrom auto user,exec,ro,noauto 0 0

# cdrom: ATAPI DVD D DH16D2P
# /dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom2 auto user,exec,ro,noauto 0 0

# /dev/hdc1, size=60018777, type=7: NTFS (primary)
/dev/hdc1 /mnt/win_c ntfs user,exec,ro,noauto,nls=utf8,umask=0 0 0

# /dev/hdd1, size=117965232, type=131: Journalised FS: ext3 (primary)
/dev/hdd1 /mnt/hdd1 ext3 user,exec,rw,noauto 0 0

# /dev/hdd3, size=33800760, type=131: Journalised FS: ext3 (primary)
/dev/hdd3 /mnt/hdd3 ext3 user,exec,rw,noauto 0 0

# /dev/hdd5, size=4530267, type=130: Linux swap (extended)
/dev/hdd5 swap swap defaults 0 0

# /dev/hdh1, size=4208967, type=130: Linux swap (primary)
/dev/hdh1 swap swap defaults 0 0

# /dev/hdh2, size=33559785, type=131: Journalised FS: ext3 (primary)
/dev/hdh2 /mnt/hdh2 ext3 user,exec,rw,noauto 0 0

# /dev/hdh5, size=33029577, type=131: Journalised FS: ext3 (extended)
/dev/hdh5 / ext3 defaults 1 1

=================== sda5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


29.8GB: boot/grub/menu.lst
29.8GB: boot/grub/stage2
29.9GB: boot/initrd-2.6.18.8.tex5.img
29.9GB: boot/initrd-2.6.26.8.tex3.img
29.9GB: boot/initrd.img
29.9GB: boot/vmlinuz
29.9GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18.8.tex5
29.9GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26.8.tex3

========================== sda4/boot/grub/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 (hd0,3)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sda4
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,3)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686 ro root=UUID=cc9cedeb-1f14-4cf7-8b4e-ce05acd8c4e7 rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686.img
title Upgrade to Fedora 10 (Cambridge)
kernel /boot/upgrade/vmlinuz preupgrade repo=hd::/var/cache/yum/preupgrade stage2=hd:UUID=cc9cedeb-1f14-4cf7-8b4e-ce05acd8c4e7:/boot/upgrade/install.img ks=hd:UUID=cc9cedeb-1f14-4cf7-8b4e-ce05acd8c4e7:/boot/upgrade/ks.cfg
initrd /boot/upgrade/initrd.img

=============================== sda4/etc/fstab: ===============================


#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Thu Mar 5 23:14:44 2009
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or vol_id(8) for more info
#
UUID=cc9cedeb-1f14-4cf7-8b4e-ce05acd8c4e7 / ext3 defaults 1 1
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
UUID=8da6516c-7299-4851-b67a-adc1a73eafc4 swap swap defaults 0 0

=================== sda4: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


37.9GB: boot/grub/grub.conf
37.9GB: boot/grub/menu.lst
38.0GB: boot/grub/stage2
37.6GB: boot/initrd-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686.img
37.5GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686

================================ sdb1/boot.ini: ================================

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


=========================== sdc1/boot/grub/menu.lst: ===========================

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=c750b94d-415d-4015-8d90-54500d601b5d ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd1,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 8.04.2, kernel 2.6.24-23-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-23-generic root=UUID=c750b94d-415d-4015-8d90-54500d601b5d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-23-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.04.2, kernel 2.6.24-23-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-23-generic root=UUID=c750b94d-415d-4015-8d90-54500d601b5d ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-23-generic

title Ubuntu 8.04.2, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=c750b94d-415d-4015-8d90-54500d601b5d ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.04.2, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=c750b94d-415d-4015-8d90-54500d601b5d ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

title Ubuntu 8.04.2, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/hdb1
title XPPro
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda1.


title openSuSE chainloader
root (hd2,1)
chainloader +1


title openSUSE in (hd2,1)
root (hd2,1)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst


title openSUSE 11.1
root (hd2,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3802110A_5LR74M8V-part2 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3802110A_5LR74M8V-part1 splash=silent showopts vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default


title openSUSE 11.1
root (hd2,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default root=UUID=8fab092a-3955-4479-807e-156ad5855365 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default

title PCLOS
kernel (hd2,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=/dev/hdh5 acpi=on resume=/dev/hdd5 splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd2,4)/boot/initrd.img

title Fedora10
root (hd2,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686 ro root=UUID=cc9cedeb-1f14-4cf7-8b4e-ce05acd8c4e7 rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.5-117.fc10.i686.img




=============================== sdc1/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# -- This file has been automaticly generated by ntfs-config --
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sdc1 :
UUID=c750b94d-415d-4015-8d90-54500d601b5d / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# Entry for /dev/ !! UNKNOW DEVICE !! :
UUID=56315388-1998-4980-877d-a56bfaf0acfd none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdb /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 0
/dev/hda /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/disk ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sda5 /media/disk-1 ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0
/dev/sda4 /media/_1 ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0
/dev/sda2 /media/disk-2 ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0
/dev/sdc3 /media/disk-3 ext3 rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal 0 0

=================== sdc1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


31.4GB: boot/grub/menu.lst
31.4GB: boot/grub/stage2
31.5GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
31.5GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic.bak
31.4GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-23-generic
31.4GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-23-generic.bak
31.5GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic
31.5GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-23-generic
31.4GB: initrd.img
31.5GB: vmlinuz

=========================== sdc3/boot/grub/menu.lst:
WESTERN DIGITAL REFERENCES ARE A MYSTERY!!!
===========================

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sun Mar 1 02:54:22 EST 2009
default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD800BB-75JHC0_WD-WMAM9N652463-part2 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD800BB-75JHC0_WD-WMAM9N652463-part1 splash=silent showopts vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD800BB-75JHC0_WD-WMAM9N652463-part2 showopts ide=nodma apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x317
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default

=============================== sdc3/etc/fstab: ===============================

/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD800BB-75JHC0_WD-WMAM9N652463-part1 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD800BB-75JHC0_WD-WMAM9N652463-part2 / ext3 acl,user_xattr 1 1
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0

=================== sdc3: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


62.4GB: boot/grub/menu.lst
62.4GB: boot/grub/stage2
62.4GB: boot/initrd
62.4GB: boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default
62.4GB: boot/vmlinuz
62.4GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default

Did you see my previous post? (We posted roughly at the same time, so you might have missed it)

As expected the boot_info_script did not reveal anything new with respect to your booting problem. But it made be realize that I introduced a bug with the new release I had uploaded a couple of days ago. Some OSs are not displayed. I just fixed the bug. So if you want, you can download and run the script again. It should now identify all your OSs.


Suse uses descriptive labels for the hard drive sinstead of UUIDs.
What's the mystery? Is /dev/sdc not an WD drive?

Why did your mark lots of the "0" in (hd0,1) red?

Look, Bub; you've hit a wrong config.

Learn it or re-install.

Maybe HD fail, check erroneous data flow. Possible.

If learning, the program has man pages. And, you could perhaps try running somebody's elses ver.2...

Yes. Jumper connector was loose on HD on PCI RAIDbus card.

Thanks. I got a Windows hackbook Preston Gralla! I really prefer to find out why XP boots under condition 1, but not under condition 2.

Without the card, XP boots. WITH the card, no XP. (but the card HD boots all 3 OS's on it just fine).



I saw your name on it. Good job. True, but this might NOT be your bad script; some distros when loading their own GRUBloader find other distros, but do NOT identify them. They make a menu entry for 'Linux'; nothing more.

Status now?
GRUB loads Ubuntu on it's own disk.
Does NOT load XP on another disk.
DOES load SuSE, F10, and PCLOS on their own disk (RAIDbus card disk).
Pull the card, XP boots.

One clue - I think... When XP fails to load, it does not 'hang'. I can press CTL + ALT + DEL, and it reboots. This leads me to believe it is waiting for another command string, to load XP (I added 'boot' string, but no-go).
Yes; it is NOT on a WD.
Because when those 3 distros were installed, the made their own GRUB entries for themselves on HD. But that is NOT HD0; it is HD2. This disk enumeration discrepancy between BIOS and GRUBs is the answer to the problem.



LEARN it? This is a completely re-producible error. If YOU have learned it, then YOU should know the answer. Re-installing is a work-around, and NOTHING is learned. That's the Microsoft way too.

It is my bad script. After I saw your RESULTS.txt, I tested the script and it definitely was malfunctioning. It's fixed now.

I seriously doubt that reinstalling will make a difference.


It seems like a bug in Grub which is only triggered in very rare situations.

Things to try (nothing really new here, mostly I just want to summarize things):

1) Play with all the setting in your bios and the "PCI RAIDbus card"

2) Use Google to see whether anybody else had a similar problem.

3) Try different versions of Grub.

4) Boot from PCI card. You should get the Suse Grub Menu. Press "c". Use "geometry (hd?)" to figure out the XP drive and try to boot XP from the commandline. If XP is on (hdX), the corrected commands of course should be

rootnoverify (hdX,0)
map (hd0) (hdX)
map (hdX) (hd0)
chainloader +1

But is some strange situations, it only works without the "map" commands. You might also try using just one of the map lines.

Good luck figuring out what is causing the problem. If you find out, let me know.

So I changed boot device order to
CD-Rom - first
HD0 - second
HD0 - third

I booted, and got XP.

???


EDIT:
So what we got is:

BIOS will boot XP.
GRUB will NOT boot XP if selected.
GRUB WILL boot XP if the RAIDbus card is pulled.