Dual booting with XP: trouble with grub

From: Peter Jay Salzman (p_at_dirac.org)
Date: 05/30/05

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    Date: Mon, 30 May 2005 11:23:27 -0400
    To: Debian user mailing list <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
    
    

    Hi all,

    I'm a recent lilo convert, so I'm rather new to grub.

    Summary
    =======

    I recently had to reinstall MS Windows XP (sigh), and I'm now having trouble
    getting grub to boot it. Debian boots OK. When booting XP, I see:

       Disk error
       Press any key to restart
       Missing operating system

    The System
    ==========

    BIOS is set to boot off the PATA drive. The drives on the system are:

       hda PATA: (all ext3)
          Various backup partitions. Expendable. Contains the system's MBR.

       hde SATA: MS Windows XP (all FAT32)

          hde1 (hd1,0) MS Windows OS (bootable)
          hde2 (hd1,1) D drive
          hde3 (hd1,2) E drive

       hdg SATA: GNU/Linux (all ext3)

          hdg1 (hd2,0) /boot
          hdg2 (hd2,1) /var
          hdg3 (hd2,2) swap
          hdg5 (hd2,4) /home
          hdg6 (hd2,5) /
          hdg7 (hd2,6) /usr/local

    Grub Configuration
    ==================

    Grub was installed on /dev/hda. My grub menu looks like this:

       title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.10
       root (hd2,0)
       kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.10 root=/dev/hdg6 ro
       savedefault
       boot

       title Windows NT/2000/XP
       map (hd0) (hd1)
       map (hd1) (hd0)
       rootnoverify (hd1,0)
       savedefault
       makeactive
       chainloader +1

    What I tried
    ============

    When I installed XP, I removed the PATA drive so XP thought it was
    installing itself onto the "first drive".

    After finding that XP wouldn't boot, I tried:

       1. disconnect the PATA drive
       2. run the Windows XP recovery console
       3. use "fixmbr" and "fixboot".
       4. reconnect the PATA drive

    But it didn't work. I'm a little reluctant to repeat the above procedure
    without taking the PATA drive out because I don't want to lose the ability
    to boot into Debian. I'm also very unknowledgable with Microsoft's
    operating systems.

    I don't understand why this isn't working:

       * BIOS boots of the PATA drive.
       * Grub is installed in the MBR on the PATA drive.
       * Windows first bootloader is on the MBR of (hd1)
       * I'm not sure how Windows boots after that, but I assume this is where
         the problem is. What exactly happens once the MS first bootloader
         is loaded?

    Any ideas? I'm on unfamiliar ground all around. Should I try running
    fixboot with the PATA drive still connected?

    Thanks!
    Pete

    -- 
    Every theory is killed sooner or later, but if the theory has good in it,
    that good is embodied and continued in the next theory. -- Albert Einstein
    GPG Fingerprint: B9F1 6CF3 47C4 7CD8 D33E  70A9 A3B9 1945 67EA 951D
    ----- End forwarded message -----
    -- 
    Every theory is killed sooner or later, but if the theory has good in it,
    that good is embodied and continued in the next theory. -- Albert Einstein
    GPG Fingerprint: B9F1 6CF3 47C4 7CD8 D33E  70A9 A3B9 1945 67EA 951D
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