Re: Weird partition arrangements and broken GRUB

Hi KC,

Thanks for your suggestions. I have removed the boot flag from sda1
(while keeping it on sda5) and changed the Windows 'root' to (hd0,4),
but unfortunately I still get the dreaded 'Filesystem type unknown,
partition type 0x7' message.

I have read somewhere else that Windows could only boot from a primary
partition, I don't know if that is the issue here but do you think it
might be related?

Someone, through another channel, suggested me to use /dev/sda1's
bootloader to boot into Windows XP, but seeing that /dev/sda1 contains
a crippled WinPE recovery application, I don't think it will really
work.


Suggestions would be much appreciated,

Thanks.

On 7/27/07, Nguyen, Cuong K. <cuongkieunguyen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:



On 7/26/07, Hamza Saglam <hamzasaglam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi,

After reading dozens of GRUB tutorials for a good few hours and not
getting anywhere, I've decided to post on this mailing list regarding
my problem. If it has been covered before please pardon me, I really
can't see it :(

Now before I start, I'd like to point out that we are both debian
users both due to the nature of our work, we have to have a windows
installation on our machines. Sad but true :(

A friend of mine brought in his laptop after he said he couldn't get
'windows booting', and when I had a look at the partition table using
gparted, I was presented with the following monstrosity:

screenshot:
http://***image.***bayimg.***com/oaeikaabk.jpg
(please get rid of the 9 stars, the mailing list wouldn't accept my
message without these)


(for the text based readers), it looks a bit like:
/dev/sda1 fat32 (boot)
/dev/sda2 extended (lba)
/dev/sda5 ntfs (boot)
/dev/sda6 linux-swap
/dev/sda3 ext3

The first fat32 partition is the recovery files that came with the
laptop, the rest is a bit of mess really :)

Relevant bits from /boot/grub/menu.lst:

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-4-686
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-4-686
root=/dev/sda3 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img- 2.6.18-4-686
savedefault

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-4-686 (single-user mode)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz- 2.6.18-4-686
root=/dev/sda3 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img- 2.6.18-4-686
savedefault

title Microsoft Windows XP
root (hd0,3)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

title Acer eRecovery Management
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1


I've tried all the possible combinations for the root directive of the
Windows section, but it doesn't want to load windows.

Is there any way I can address the ntfs partition within that extended
partition, or do I need to modify the structure. (I'd very much prefer
not changing the structure, even though it is quite messy)


I am stuck so any help would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.
Hamza


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If you look at my partition table, you may call it "messier" or "weirder":

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 784 6297448+ 12 Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda2 * 785 3356 20659590 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 4507 12161 61488787+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4 3357 4506 9237375 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5 4507 7064 20547103+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 7065 7203 1116486 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 11974 12161 1510078+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8 7204 9635 19535008+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 9636 11973 18779953+ 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

And here is the menu.lst

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-16-generic
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic root=/dev/sda8 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-16-generic
quiet
savedefault

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-16-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-16-generic root=/dev/sda8 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img- 2.6.20-16-generic

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic
root=UUID=3ce886e2-7b3d-4803-ba0e-19a605fb1153 ro quiet
splash break=top
initrd /boot/initrd.img- 2.6.20-15-generic
quiet
savedefault

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic
root=UUID=3ce886e2-7b3d-4803-ba0e-19a605fb1153 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### 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 Windows NT/2000/XP Recovery
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/hda2
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/hda5.
title Mandriva 2007 (on /dev/hda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 resume=/dev/hda6 splash=silent
initrd /boot/initrd.img
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/hda5.
title Mandriva 2007 (recovery mode) (on /dev/hda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 resume=/dev/hda6
initrd /boot/initrd.img
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/hda5.
title failsafe (on /dev/hda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 failsafe resume=/dev/hda6
initrd /boot/initrd.img
savedefault
boot

Very similar to your case: I have one Recovery partition (sda1), one Windows
XP Pro, one Ubuntu box, and one Mandriva box. Everything works just fine: by
selecting on the boot menu, I can boot into any OS I want.

As about your case, here is my suggestion for menu.lst (not sure it will
work, but worth giving a try)

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-4-686
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz- 2.6.18-4-686 root=/dev/sda3 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img- 2.6.18-4-686
savedefault

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.18-4-686 (single-user mode)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz- 2.6.18-4-686 root=/dev/sda3 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img- 2.6.18-4-686
savedefault

title Microsoft Windows XP
root (hd0,4)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

title Acer eRecovery Management
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

The only change here is for XP partition: root (hd0,4) not (hd0,3) because
your ntfs partition is sda5. Also, you may need just one partition to be
bootable like me (you have two bootable).

Hope that this can help,

KC.



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