Dual Boot issue with Suse and XP

masterkeedu · 01-24-2009, 02:02 PM

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.

CJS · 01-24-2009, 03:15 PM

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.

masterkeedu · 01-24-2009, 03:36 PM

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.

CJS · 01-24-2009, 03:48 PM

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.

masterkeedu · 01-24-2009, 06:26 PM

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?

CJS · 01-24-2009, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masterkeedu

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.