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Dual Boot issue with Suse and XP - Vista boot hangs

I installed Vista on top of SUSe install and had to reinstall GRUB using SUSE dvd. Only becuase I need it to run Rosetta Stone among other intensive apps that don't seem to play well with WINE.

I can now boot fine into SUSE.

I added the following code to grub/menu.lst

Code:

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows sda8###

title Vista

    rootnoverify (hd0,7)

    chainloader +1

as my windows partition is the 8th partition, yes here is the output from fdisk -l

Code:

  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

/dev/sda1  *          1          7      56196  de  Dell Utility

/dev/sda2              8      29958  240581407+  f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)

/dev/sda3          29959      30393    3494137+  db  CP/M / CTOS / ...

/dev/sda5              8        269    2104483+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sda6            270        2880    20972826  83  Linux

/dev/sda7            2881      26380  188763718+  83  Linux

/dev/sda8          26381      29958    28740253+  7  HPFS/NTFS

ANyway when I select Vista while booting it just says

Booting 'Vista' but hangs indefinitely.

DO I need to add makeactive? or should I remove noverify? Is it the chainloader offset?

I have read plenty of threads and tried a few combos with little luck.

You wouldn't want to use "makeactive" if Vista is indeed on sda8, because Grub can't make a logical partition active (i.e. set the boot flag). Also, any time you install Windows to a logical partition, it will put its boot files in some primary NTFS/FAT partition; it looks like Vista may have put its boot files in your sda1 Dell partition. I think it would help to get a clearer picture of your setup related to booting, so how about downloading the Boot Info Script to your desktop, and then do the following as root user, but replace <username> with your username:

Code:

bash /home/<username>/Desktop/boot_info_script*.sh

That will create a "RESULTS.txt" file in the same directory from where the script is run, namely your desktop; please copy/paste the contents of that file to your next post. That will help clarify your setup and hopefully what it will take to get Vista booting from your logical partition.

Code:

linux-cv2g:/home/eddie/junk # cat RESULTS.txt

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



 => Grub0.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive

    in partition #6 for /boot/grub/stage2 and /boot/grub/menu.lst.



sda1: _________________________________________________________________________



    File system:      vfat

    Boot sector type:  Fat16

    Boot sector info:      Operating System:

    Boot files/dirs:  /bootmgr /BOOTMGR



sda2: _________________________________________________________________________



    File system:      Extended Partition



sda5: _________________________________________________________________________



    File system:      swap



sda6: _________________________________________________________________________



    File system:      ext3

    Boot sector type:  -

    Boot sector info:      Operating System:  Welcome to openSUSE 11.0 (i586) -

 Kernel ().

    Boot files/dirs:  /boot/grub/menu.lst /etc/fstab



sda7: _________________________________________________________________________



    File system:      ext3

    Boot sector type:  -

    Boot sector info:      Operating System:

    Boot files/dirs:

sda8: _________________________________________________________________________



    File system:      ntfs

    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista

    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sda8 starts

                      at sector 63.

    Mounting failed:

mount: /dev/sda8 already mounted or sda8 busy

mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda8 is mounted on /windows/C



sda3: _________________________________________________________________________



    File system:      vfat

    Boot sector type:  DEll Restore: Fat32

    Boot sector info:      Operating System:

    Boot files/dirs:

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



Drive sda: _____________________________________________________________________



Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250000000000 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30394 cylinders, total 488281250 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0xd0f4738c



Partition  Boot        Start          End        Size  Id System



/dev/sda1    *            63      112,454      112,392  de Dell Utility

/dev/sda2            112,455  481,275,269  481,162,815  f W95 Ext'd (LBA)

/dev/sda5            112,518    4,321,484    4,208,967  82 Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sda6          4,321,548  46,267,199  41,945,652  83 Linux

/dev/sda7        46,267,263  423,794,699  377,527,437  83 Linux

/dev/sda8        423,794,763  481,275,269  57,480,507  7 HPFS/NTFS

/dev/sda3        481,275,270  488,263,544    6,988,275  db CP/M / CTOS / ...





blkid -c /dev/null: ____________________________________________________________



/dev/sda1: SEC_TYPE="msdos" LABEL="DellUtility" UUID="07D5-0A19" TYPE="vfat"

/dev/sda3: LABEL="DellRestore" UUID="0000-0000" TYPE="vfat"

/dev/sda5: TYPE="swap" UUID="d22df501-f58b-4516-ae1b-e1f77d3f4dd3"

/dev/sda6: UUID="5896b3d9-b89a-4f42-8952-9771ba647204" TYPE="ext3"

/dev/sda7: UUID="f9cda470-1dee-4ffb-aa07-0b84824c32b9" TYPE="ext3"

/dev/sda8: UUID="121ED61B1ED5F825" TYPE="ntfs"



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



/dev/sda6 on / type ext3 (rw,acl,user_xattr)

proc on /proc type proc (rw)

sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)

debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)

udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw)

devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,mode=0620,gid=5)

/dev/sda7 on /home type ext3 (rw,acl,user_xattr)

/dev/sda8 on /windows/C type fuseblk (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,default

_permissions,blksize=4096)

fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)

securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)

none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)

proc on /var/lib/ntp/proc type proc (ro)



=========================== sda6/boot/grub/menu.lst: ===========================



# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sat Jan 24 09:31:39 EST 2009

default 0

timeout 8

gfxmenu (hd0,5)/boot/message



###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###

title openSUSE 11.0

    root (hd0,5)

    kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_Maxtor_7L250S0_L5062X5G_

L5062X5G-part6    splash=silent showopts

    initrd /boot/initrd



###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###

title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.0

    root (hd0,5)

    kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_Maxtor_7L250S0_L5062X5G_

L5062X5G-part6 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus

=0 edd=off  x11failsafe

    initrd /boot/initrd



###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows sda8###

title Vista

    rootnoverify (hd0,7)

    chainloader +1



=============================== sda6/etc/fstab: ===============================



/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_Maxtor_7L250S0_L5062X5G_L5062X5G-part5 swap

      swap      defaults              0 0

/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_Maxtor_7L250S0_L5062X5G_L5062X5G-part6 /

      ext3      acl,user_xattr        1 1

/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-SATA_Maxtor_7L250S0_L5062X5G_L5062X5G-part7 /home

      ext3      acl,user_xattr        1 2

proc                /proc                proc      defaults              0 0

sysfs                /sys                sysfs      noauto                0 0

debugfs              /sys/kernel/debug    debugfs    noauto                0 0

usbfs                /proc/bus/usb        usbfs      noauto                0 0

devpts              /dev/pts            devpts    mode=0620,gid=5      0 0

/dev/sda8            /windows/C          ntfs-3g    users,gid=users,fmask=133,d                        mask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0



=================== sda6: Location  of files loaded by Grub: ===================





  23.6GB: boot/grub/menu.lst

  23.6GB: boot/grub/stage2

  23.6GB: boot/initrd

  23.6GB: boot/initrd-2.6.25.20-0.1-default

  23.6GB: boot/initrd-2.6.25.20-0.1-pae

  23.5GB: boot/initrd-2.6.25.20-0.1-xen

  23.5GB: boot/initrd-xen

  23.6GB: boot/vmlinuz

  23.6GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.20-0.1-default

  23.6GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.20-0.1-pae

  23.5GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25.20-0.1-xen

  23.5GB: boot/vmlinuz-xen



=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================



No errors were reported.

Does your sda8 Vista partition have a C:\Boot folder and C:\bootmgr file? I would guess probably not, because your sda1 Dell partition has that directory and file. If sda8 does not have /Boot and /bootmgr, how about doing the following as root:

Code:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

cp -R /mnt/Boot /mnt/bootmgr /Windows/C/

Also, your Vista boot sector needs repairing, because it incorrectly shows that the start of its partition is at sector 63 when really it starts at sector 423,794,763. So how about installing "testdisk", and then run it as root:

Code:

testdisk

After starting testdisk, choose "No log", choose the correct HDD and "Proceed", choose "Intel", choose "Advanced", select the Windows sda8 NTFS partition, choose "Boot", then choose "Rebuild BS"; if testdisk gives you a warning that the "Extrapolated boot sector and current boot sector are different", then choose "Write". Next boot your Windows Vista Install CD, go to the command line, and do:

Code:

diskpart

And at the diskpart prompt do:

Code:

list volume

exit

Find the drive letter for your Vista partition, and then do:

Code:

bcdedit /store C:\boot\bcd /set {default} osdevice boot

bcdedit /store C:\boot\bcd /set {default} device boot

bcdedit /store C:\boot\bcd /set {bootmgr} device boot

bcdedit /store C:\boot\bcd /set {memdiag} device boot

So replace "C" above if the Vista drive letter is different. Next reboot, try Vista from your Grub menu (using the rootnoverify (hd0,7) entry you have been using), and let me know how far you get. We can work from there if necessary.

Thanks for the help.

Before I re-re-installed vista i got a message like 'boot.mgr not present, press ctr_alt-delete to restart"

But afterwards I dont see that message, rather it just flashes a underscore like its trying to boot. Also the Dell partitions have been there through every OS I have had on this machine and never affected booting before, should I still continue.

If so, two questions.

Where do I get testdisk?

Should I back up my Suse install before continuing, or will a re-install of grub fix any issues that might occur?

Quote:

Originally Posted by masterkeedu (Post 3420187)

If so, two questions.

Where do I get testdisk?

Should I back up my Suse install before continuing, or will a re-install of grub fix any issues that might occur?

I don't know how OpenSUSE works about software, but testdisk is available in the software repositories for most distros. If you need to you can download a standalone version of testdisk from here, and if you save it to your desktop you can run it with the following as root user:

Code:

cd /home/<username>/Desktop

tar xvf testdisk-6.10.linux26.tar.bz2

testdisk-6.10/linux/testdisk_static

Although backing up your SUSE install couldn't hurt, I don't think it is necessary. Let me know how it goes or if you run into problems.