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