Help! Grub error 17
 

Folks,

I think I've come to the end of my "try-linux-as-win-alternative" line here. After having umpteen problems with a dual-boot WinXP / Ubuntu earlier, problems which may or may not have been Ubuntu-specific, I finally decided to give a last try to having a stable dual-boot system . (Search my earlier threads for the kind of problems I've been having.)

Well, the last problem I had encountered had made my XP unusable so yesterday I went ahead and did a reinstall of XP. Which made me lose the boot loader screen. So I followed one of the thread's advice and reinstalled grub by going through the Ubuntu install CD to reload/resave the partition info so that Grub recreates the boot screen. So far so good. After that, I backed up /boot/grub/menu.lst and modified it to make Win the default. I was able to boot by default into WinXp. So thinking that I've finally achieved my objective, I went about reinstalling XP apps, creating additional drives in the unallocated space in XP (using XP's disk manager) etc. And went to sleep feeling good about *maybe* starting to transition to linux from Win$.

Well, not so fast. Today, the moment I try to boot, I get this stupid error 17. I was able to go into the rescue mode and look at the partitions and the grub menu.lst but they look all ok except that when I do a vi of the menu.lst, the spaces don't show up. But I know the file is fine because on doing a diff with the menu.lst.backup, I'm able to see there are no differences except the default which I set to XP. The files are attached below.

I've tried the following without any success booting:

• using the install CD, and try do a grub-install /dev/hda. "grub-install:command not found"
• fdisk -l "fdisk: command not found"
• restore the backup menu.lst and reboot

About the only suspicious things I can think of is that for one, there was unallocated space on the drive and I created a new primary partition and a logical drive using the WinXp disk mgr in it. And secondly, when I did the reload/resave of partitions using the Install CD method, I might've loaded the /opt into the /tmp and vice versa. But there is no data in the /opt yet.

Any help will be really appreciated. Thanks!


# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda2 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/hda5 /home ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/hda7 /opt ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/hda8 /tmp ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/hda6 /usr ext3 defaults 0 2
/dev/hda9 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdc /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 ro,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0
/dev/sda /media/usb0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0

=================================================================
# 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'.
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 optons 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 specifiv 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=root=/dev/hda2 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,1)

## 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

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

## nonaltoption boot targets option
## This option controls options to pass to only the
## primary kernel menu item.
## You can have ONLY one nonaltoptions line
# nonaltoptions=quiet splash

## 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

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.10-5-386
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-5-386 root=/dev/hda2 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.10-5-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.10-5-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.10-5-386 root=/dev/hda2 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.10-5-386
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel memtest86+
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
savedefault
boot

### 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/hda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

Ok, so I feel a bit relieved in that I can get back to grub menu by repeating what I did yesterday to get back the grub screen after WinXP reinstall (i.e use the install CD to proceed till manual partitioning and then load the partitions again and save grub menu).

But it bothers me that I get hit with Error 17 out of the blue (or maybe because I partitioned the HD in WinXP). Makes me think maybe I should wait some more before starting major use of linux. This belief is reinfored by my past problems with both distros I've tried - Ubuntu and FC. And not all of those problems had to do with the dual-boot (i.e co-existence of Win$ )

Thanks for your feedback!