Dual Boot (Hard Disk Error) Grub vs. Windows

[twodeko]

After losing my previous linux setup where this all worked, I have been trying to recreate my grub configurion that allowed me to dual boot linux and windows. Every time I load windows, I get a "GRUB Hard Disk Error" and then thats it... nothing else. Any help would be great.

grub.conf

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# Boot automatically after 30 secs.
timeout 30

# By default, boot the first entry.
default 0

splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.11r10
root (hd1,0)
kernel /kernel-2.6.11r10-gentoo root=/dev/sdb3 vga=0x31B video=vesafb:mtrr,ywra$

title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

/grub/device.map

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(fd0)   /dev/fd0
(hd0)   /dev/sda
(hd1)   /dev/sdb

fdisk -l

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gouda twodeko # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 300.0 GB, 300069052416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1               1       36481   293033601   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sda: 37.0 GB, 37019566080 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4500 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        4499    36138186    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 37.0 GB, 37019566080 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4500 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1           5       40131   83  Linux
/dev/sdb2               6          68      506047+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb3              69        4500    35600040   83  Linux

thanks a ton!

btw, linux boots up great... its just windows. i was in this installation before installing grub over the mbr so i know its not a hosed install :p

[doubleagent]

Instead of (hd0,0) in your grub.conf, shouldn't that be (sd0,0) because its a sata?

[TheRAt]

grub.conf

Code: Select all

# Boot automatically after 30 secs.
timeout 30

# By default, boot the first entry.
default 0

splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.11r10
root (hd1,0)
kernel /kernel-2.6.11r10-gentoo root=/dev/sdb3 vga=0x31B video=vesafb:mtrr,ywra$

title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

I had to change my setup a while ago for XP to the following to get it to boot.. I used to have it identical to yours...

Code: Select all

title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader (hd0,0)+1

Also, have you tried this after removing, or disabling the 300GB drive, in case this is causing problems (though I do not see how this could be... )

[Ezzet]

Moved!!!

[twodeko]

grub.conf

Code: Select all

# Boot automatically after 30 secs.
timeout 30

# By default, boot the first entry.
default 0

splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.11r10
root (hd1,0)
kernel /kernel-2.6.11r10-gentoo root=/dev/sdb3 vga=0x31B video=vesafb:mtrr,ywra$

title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

I had to change my setup a while ago for XP to the following to get it to boot.. I used to have it identical to yours...

Code: Select all

title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader (hd0,0)+1

Also, have you tried this after removing, or disabling the 300GB drive, in case this is causing problems (though I do not see how this could be... )

i tried this and the same error occured, which is making me wonder what it is really booting off of. do you need to run grub install to complete the changes... because it seems to me that the first SATA drive that is marked bootable should have grub installed on it, although since the ATA drive carries hd0 while the two sata drives are hd1 and hd2 in linux... there was some confusion on my part and i may have installed grub somewhere else that it is booting off of. nothing has worked yet, and i get the same hard disk error so logic would say that something isnt right

[TheRAt]

I think grub work as follows (and I'm sure someone will correct me is I am off the track)..

hd0 = first detected hard drive
hd1 = second detected hard drive, and so on...

If the machine is listing the 300GB drive as the first detected drive, then I would guess that is where Grub is installed...

Examining your /grub/device.map file, it appears that grub detects the Windows SATA drive as hd0 and the linux one as hd1.. However, is this still the case with the 300GB drive in place, or without it ? If this changes when that drive is installed, then that could be your problem...

[toralf]

What about using command line "chainload" ? :

Code: Select all

title=Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1
chainload /cmdcons/bootsect.dat

[MickKi]

I think grub work as follows (and I'm sure someone will correct me is I am off the track)..

hd0 = first detected hard drive
hd1 = second detected hard drive, and so on...

Spot on. Grub would receive info regarding which drive to boot in line with what is passed on to it by the BIOS. The device.map file is meant to help when BIOS cannot recognise certain devices.

However, the device.map is not read until Grub comes up. Grub won't come up unless it has been installed in the MBR of the first device that the BIOS finds.

In conclusion, get into your BIOS settings and alter the sequence of boot devices until Grub is picked up. You may still get errors after that, but try Grub's command line and tab completion to find out what Grub can see.

[EDIT]: Some typos.

[MickKi]

What about using command loine "chainload" ? :

Unless Grub boots (which it doesn't yet) there is nothing there to chainload M$Windoze bootloader (NTLDR) . . . only the BIOS which is hitting a blank sector.

[twodeko]

grub is picked up but now im having concerns about which drive it is since they are both serial ata and the same model number... in that sense it will take some toying around and moving cables.

i understand that grub reads from the boot order... which is why i removed the 300gb from detection entirely, although it was there when i installed windows. the 300gb drive has an ext3 partition on it so i doubt windows touched it, although it has that ability to put its boot sector on the nearest IDE drive (first in the boot chain) when its being installed on SATA.

grub is being picked up fine, i can get into linux but windows always reports a Hard Disk Drive error.

[MickKi]

Okey, dokey. You have three choices:

1. rootnoverify (hd0,0)

2. rootnoverify (hd1,0)

3. rootnoverify (hd2,0)

One of them will boot Windoze. Check it out using 'e' to edit the Grub boot menu and when you find what works put it in your grub.conf!

[TheRAt]

Are you able to disable all drives except the WindowsXP SATA drive, and confirm that it boots ??

[twodeko]

Okey, dokey. You have three choices:

1. rootnoverify (hd0,0)

2. rootnoverify (hd1,0)

3. rootnoverify (hd2,0)

One of them will boot Windoze. Check it out using 'e' to edit the Grub boot menu and when you find what works put it in your grub.conf!

heh, thank you for the help MickKi... right now im at work and will try that when i get home but i believe i have cycled through the rootnoverifys and either get a Hard Disk Error or a no file in partition. will try and let you know.

Are you able to disable all drives except the WindowsXP SATA drive, and confirm that it boots ??

The boot sector is on the WINXP Sata drive so i don't think thats possible... i was just wondering if it might have been on multiple drives, but i will try this too.

If the boot.ini and such files were written to another drive, would rootnoverify be able to load windows or do i need to consolidate all the files on that drive. I know for a fact i needed to unplug my 200GB drive since it would mess with that drive (is ntfs) but thats out of the case now... and i thought it wouldnt touch my ext3 300gb drive. reinstalling windows wouldnt be *bad* but not ideal

[MickKi]

If the boot.ini and such files were written to another drive, would rootnoverify be able to load windows or do i need to consolidate all the files on that drive.

Let's hope that some good planning and testing will avoid any need for a reinstall. I am still trying to guess how the boot.ini and other boot loading system files of WinXP ended up anywhere else other than the partition that WinXP was installed in?

Or are you saying that "the boot.ini and such files were written to another drive" as in other than the drive in which the Grub MBR is located?

If the former, I can't think how Windoze is ever going to boot without some considerable jiggery-pokery. If the latter, then it doesn't matter. Just point Grub via the rootnoverify (hdX,Y) to the drive/partition where the WinXP OS and boot files reside.

[twodeko]

the first scenario is the case, and one of the reasons i dont care for windows too much. when i had my 200gb drive attached to the computer, my old bios would default to booting from the IDE before SATA and there was no way to override that. i became curious because that drive began to interfere with other windows installations (they needed to drive in there or it would error out) and i found that boot.ini and the other system root files were on the booting drive instead of the SATA drive i installed windows on. im beginning to wonder if installing windows wrote some files into the MBR of the 300gb disk so since i dont load it at boot... grub doesnt see it and cant load windows.

thats what i am speculating, although i am not too sure. id like to tinker with it more... out of work here in a couple hours.

next question, can windows write files to a ext3 disk during setup to skew booting? i didnt think so... but there are a lot of things i dont know

[MickKi]

the first scenario is the case, and one of the reasons i dont care for windows too much. when i had my 200gb drive attached to the computer, my old bios would default to booting from the IDE before SATA and there was no way to override that. i became curious because that drive began to interfere with other windows installations (they needed to drive in there or it would error out) and i found that boot.ini and the other system root files were on the booting drive instead of the SATA drive i installed windows on. im beginning to wonder if installing windows wrote some files into the MBR of the 300gb disk so since i dont load it at boot... grub doesnt see it and cant load windows.

OK I understand better now. What happens with multi-boot multi-windoze installations is that unlike third party bootloaders which do not meddle in any OS' files and OS specific boot loaders, M$Windoze does!

The M$Windoze multi-boot approach mixes up the boot files of the different M$Windoze systems and unless M$ tools or M$ compatible tools (like Partition Magic) are used, you could quickly end up with an unbootable OS. This is the reason why M$ recommends that multi-installations of M$ OS' be executed in a particular order. You can of course do them in any order you want as long as you use the hide command of non-M$ boot loaders (like Grub).

Following the M$ way of multi-booting: the most recent M$ OS will write some of its boot files in the older M$ OS' partition, after it removes the older system's boot files. These older OS' boot files are saved in the same partition under a different file name and read by the newer OS ntldr when the older OS system is selected to boot. A bl**dy mess! If you just remove the older M$ OS' partition, you also remove the later systems boot files. Of course, should you have another machine with say WinXP, you could copy its boot files over to your WinXP partition and theoretically you should be good to go.

next question, can windows write files to a ext3 disk during setup to skew booting? i didnt think so... but there are a lot of things i dont know

I don't know if there's some wizzy program out there which allows you to do that. Off hand I'd say no, WinXP cannot write on ext3. What do you mean skew booting?

[TheRAt]

You might like to take a look at these tool that may allow Windows to write to ext2/3 partitions.. Never used them myself.. As far as I understand, Windows does not natively support the ext2/3 file systems...

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