Grub2 will not boot other OS on a 2nd sata drive?

[xoros]

My bios seems to support only booting a drive in position sata-0

Ubuntu 10.04 install is on the drive in sata-0
Vista install is a second drive in sata-1

*Ubuntu loads fine but when trying to load Vista from grub2 menu I get:

error: hd1,1 cannot get C/H/S values.

*Vista will boot fine if I swap the physical sata cables and place the vista drive in sata-0.
(But then I have no way to boot Ubuntu - get similar error when I've tried Easybcd to boot Ubuntu (then on sata-1) - so I reverted back to Vista's bootloader with bootrec.exe FixBoot / FixMbr )
Everything comes up fine when I run update-grub.

Is there any way to get grub to boot the Vista drive?
Or is this a lost cause due to my bios?
If anyone can help, it would be appreciated.


I ran bootinfo script:

Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010

============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive in
partition #1 for /grub.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext2
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs: /grub/grub.cfg /grub/core.img

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: xfs
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Boot files/dirs: /etc/fstab

sda3: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda4: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: xfs
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sda6: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: xfs
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sda7: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: xfs
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows Vista
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 514,079 514,017 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 514,080 105,370,334 104,856,255 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 105,370,335 106,414,559 1,044,225 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 106,414,621 976,768,064 870,353,444 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 106,414,623 959,787,359 853,372,737 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 976,559,283 976,768,064 208,782 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 959,787,423 976,559,219 16,771,797 83 Linux


Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19452 cylinders, total 312500000 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdb1 * 2,048 312,496,127 312,494,080 7 HPFS/NTFS


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/sda1 0e5a8bc3-1c6a-4ed3-a724-bda4c26ab334 ext2 boot
/dev/sda2 3adc06f8-dbad-4143-b533-b0f4b8446273 xfs root
/dev/sda3 7ef54bd1-3613-42cf-9292-717b82ee2847 swap
/dev/sda4: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda5 aa711fe6-6e16-4a26-b528-26a8bf41daa2 xfs home
/dev/sda6 1ab6aeaf-9708-4910-a7b5-a30d08d2f6c4 xfs tmp
/dev/sda7 a24188bf-0cf5-4586-bed6-d624a860b396 xfs var
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdb1 521E29011E28DFA9 ntfs
/dev/sdb: PTTYPE="dos"

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sda2 / xfs (rw)
/dev/sda1 /boot ext2 (rw)
/dev/sda5 /home xfs (rw)
/dev/sda6 /tmp xfs (rw)
/dev/sda7 /var xfs (rw)
/dev/sdb1 /media/521E29011E28DFA9 fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_ permissions)


============================= sda1/grub/grub.cfg: =============================

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
set saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then
saved_entry=${chosen}
save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
insmod xfs
set root='(hd0,2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 3adc06f8-dbad-4143-b533-b0f4b8446273
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0e5a8bc3-1c6a-4ed3-a724-bda4c26ab334
set locale_dir=($root)/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-22-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0e5a8bc3-1c6a-4ed3-a724-bda4c26ab334
linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=3adc06f8-dbad-4143-b533-b0f4b8446273 ro quiet splash
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.32-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-22-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0e5a8bc3-1c6a-4ed3-a724-bda4c26ab334
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-22-generic ...'
linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=3adc06f8-dbad-4143-b533-b0f4b8446273 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.32-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-21-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0e5a8bc3-1c6a-4ed3-a724-bda4c26ab334
linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=3adc06f8-dbad-4143-b533-b0f4b8446273 ro quiet splash
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-21-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0e5a8bc3-1c6a-4ed3-a724-bda4c26ab334
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-21-generic ...'
linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=3adc06f8-dbad-4143-b533-b0f4b8446273 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0e5a8bc3-1c6a-4ed3-a724-bda4c26ab334
linux16 /memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0e5a8bc3-1c6a-4ed3-a724-bda4c26ab334
linux16 /memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows Vista (loader) (on /dev/sdb1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 521e29011e28dfa9
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

=================== sda1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


.0GB: grub/core.img
.0GB: grub/grub.cfg
.0GB: initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
.0GB: initrd.img-2.6.32-22-generic
.0GB: vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic
.0GB: vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic

=============================== sda2/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=3adc06f8-dbad-4143-b533-b0f4b8446273 / xfs defaults 0 1
# /boot was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=0e5a8bc3-1c6a-4ed3-a724-bda4c26ab334 /boot ext2 defaults 0 2
# /home was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=aa711fe6-6e16-4a26-b528-26a8bf41daa2 /home xfs defaults 0 2
# /tmp was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=1ab6aeaf-9708-4910-a7b5-a30d08d2f6c4 /tmp xfs defaults 0 2
# /var was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=a24188bf-0cf5-4586-bed6-d624a860b396 /var xfs defaults 0 2
# swap was on /dev/sda3 during installation
UUID=7ef54bd1-3613-42cf-9292-717b82ee2847 none swap sw 0 0

=================== sda2: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


.3GB: initrd.img
.3GB: initrd.img.old
.2GB: vmlinuz
.2GB: vmlinuz.old

[frantid]

Your second drive doesn't start on sector 63, the usual ntfs start sector. Bios might be okay loading it, but seems like grub is having a problem loading it.

could you run:


sudo parted /dev/sdb unit s print

How was this drive used in the past? Did you format especially in this manner, was it part of a raid? I would run some drive check tests on it. Like from within gparted or with fsck and with testdisk.

[xoros]

Thank you for the reply Frantid.

The drive had always just been the single drive in the system, I had formatted it with Vista's install disk when I had loaded Vista.

Here is the output you requested:

Model: ATA WDC WD1600ADFS-7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 312500000s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 2048s 312496127s 312494080s primary ntfs boot


Is there a way to correct this?

[frantid]

I want to double check somethings. That was just my first instinct after looking at it.

if you have gparted, can you select that drive and run a check on it? can't do fsck because it's ntfs

edit -- I mean partition.

[xoros]

gparted showed it completed, I'm assuming no errors were found.

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1713/gpartedfscheck.png

[frantid]

don't resize it, give me a second here.

[frantid]

boot into grub, highlight the vista menu entry press e

Make it look like this


insmod ntfs
set root='(hd1)'
chainloader +1You can just use the arrow keys to move around after you pressed "e", just backspace over what you don't want.

if that one doesn't work try this one


insmod ntfs
set root='(hd1,1)'
chainloader +1


edit: I forgot to say after you edit the entry press Ctrl-x to boot.

[xoros]

Ok, I took out this line that was there

search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 521e29..(etc)

Made it look like your code,
hit ctrl x and it just kept showing the same edit screen. :confused:
It did that with both codes.

So, then hit esc and went back to main menu, but just showed error again upon selecting vista.

Should I get rid of that unallocated space somehow that shows in gparted?

[frantid]

No, vista get's sticky about it. If you resize vista, it won't boot from there anymore.

When you're editing, Ctrl-x should work. you have to hit them at the same time.

You can also, push c from the main menu and type it in. You can use "tab" key to complete the word you're typing to make it easier, then type boot

[xoros]

Ctrl-x just kept re-displaying the edit section, like it just looped the edit screen.
I'll try c - command line.

[darkod]

Your second drive doesn't start on sector 63, the usual ntfs start sector. Bios might be okay loading it, but seems like grub is having a problem loading it.

could you run:


sudo parted /dev/sdb unit s printHow was this drive used in the past? Did you format especially in this manner, was it part of a raid? I would run some drive check tests on it. Like from within gparted or with fsck and with testdisk.

Sorry for jumping in, but I don't think it's the drive not starting at sector 63, it's the actual partition #1. It doesn't really matter, you can for example leave unallocated space in front and create partition at the back of the disk. It shouldn't care.

It seems to be more related with BIOS/mobo.

Do you have only two SATA ports? Since you never mentioned trying the disk in a third port, I guess yes.
Check in BIOS for any strange settings to SATA interface, like RAID, AHCI, Native IDE. Using native IDE is fine but it should also work fine as AHCI. You don't want RAID of course.

See if there is maybe some setting telling SATA1 to be something else.

You said even EasyBCD produces error trying to boot ubuntu when the ubuntu disk is on SATA1 so it doesn't sound OS related.

[frantid]

No worries, I can always learn more.

[xoros]

First here is what output from using 'c' in grub:


grub> insmod ntfs
grub> set root='(hd1)'
grub> chainloader +1
error: hd1 cannot get C/H/S values.
grub> insmod ntfs
grub> set root='(hd1,1)'
grub> chainloader +1
error: hd1,1 cannot get C/H/S values.
grub> boot
error: no loaded kernel.
grub>

In response to darko; There is only an option to turn Raid "On" or "Off" per sata hdd, and to disable/enable the drive.

It shows only on SATA-0: "this device is controlled by bios"

And the boot order just shows hdd in the list - no sub-specific options for that.

In other words, grub will NOT be able to boot anything other than SATA-0 (which is the only drive supported in bios) ??

[frantid]

if you're in the grub command line and you do

ls (hd1,1)/

does it show anything?

[xoros]

@frantid
The ls command returns the same error:

error: hd1,1 cannot get C/H/S values.

[frantid]

have you ever run testdisk against this drive? When it asks if the partition was created by vista, hit yes.

[xoros]

An additional note though;
I am able to mount and see all my Vista files in Ubuntu.

If nothing else does someone know a wiring diagram so I can put in a switch to switch the sata positions??

Most sata switches i've found online only control the power to the drives.. in my case in need to control the sata positions.

[xoros]

@frantid
I will try testdisk and report back, have not tried that yet.
thanks

[darkod]

All this is extremely weird. :)

The setting saying this device is controlled by BIOS, does it say the same for SATA1 or it doesn't have that option?

If you go in Basic or Advanced BIOS settings menu I guess it lists both drives right?

Very strange.

[frantid]

If you want to read about the ugliness of the vista created partition:

http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/VistaMBR.htm

Notice they dropped the practice for win7. Look at the fdisk for that drive, I've never seen a drive with straight even 000's on capacity.

You maybe able to resize it inside vista with disk management.

got to go for a sec.

[xoros]

Edit: see post below for other testdisk results.. I guess there is 1 error.
Seeing how testdisk shows chs values is there any way to manually use those values in grub (per the grub chs error asking for the values)?

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/908/testdisk1.png

[xoros]

@darko
In the bios it only lists the 4 hdd sata's:
sata-0
sata-1
sata-2
sata-3

And 2 other sata entries for optical drives:
sata-4
sata-5

When I choose sata-0, yes it only states near the bottom of the screen that; that one is controlled by bios.
There is no other option for "being controlled by bios" on sata-0 or any of the other sata-(x) entries.

It's just like a sentence at the bottom of sata-0's screen.

[xoros]

What is odd during the testdisk analyze, I saw no entry for vista so I picked Intel/pc format in the options... during the analyze it came up with linux entries (possible from a previous Ubuntu install I had on that hard drive)?? and 1 error message.

From the log file:

Warning: can't get size for Disk /dev/mapper/control - 0 B - CHS 1 1 1, sector size=512
Hard disk list
Disk /dev/sda - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 60801 255 63, sector size=512 - ATA WDC WD5000AAKS-0
Disk /dev/sdb - 160 GB / 149 GiB - CHS 19452 255 63, sector size=512 - ATA WDC WD1600ADFS-7

Partition table type (auto): Intel
/dev/sdb: Device Configuration Overlay (DCO) present.
Disk /dev/sdb - 160 GB / 149 GiB - ATA WDC WD1600ADFS-7
Partition table type: Intel

Analyse Disk /dev/sdb - 160 GB / 149 GiB - CHS 19452 255 63
Geometry from i386 MBR: head=255 sector=63
Current partition structure:
1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 32 33 19451 250 63 312494080
Computes LBA from CHS for Disk /dev/sdb - 160 GB / 149 GiB - CHS 19453 255 63
Allow partial last cylinder : Yes
search_vista_part: 1

search_part()
Disk /dev/sdb - 160 GB / 149 GiB - CHS 19453 255 63
Linux 0 1 1 2431 254 62 39070016
EXT3 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 20 GB / 18 GiB
Linux 16871 27 53 17864 26 50 15952480
EXT3 Large file Sparse superblock Recover, 8167 MB / 7789 MiB
Linux 18379 1 1 19439 254 57 17044896
EXT3 Large file Sparse superblock, 8726 MB / 8322 MiB
Linux 19440 1 1 19451 254 58 192712
EXT3 Sparse superblock, 98 MB / 94 MiB
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=6
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=8 nbr=3
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=16 nbr=3
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=32 nbr=2
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=64 nbr=2
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=128 nbr=2
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=240 nbr=3
get_geometry_from_list_part_aux head=255 nbr=6

[darkod]

@darko
In the bios it only lists the 4 hdd sata's:
sata-0
sata-1
sata-2
sata-3

And 2 other sata entries for optical drives:
sata-4
sata-5

When I choose sata-0, yes it only states near the bottom of the screen that; that one is controlled by bios.
There is no other option for "being controlled by bios" on sata-0 or any of the other sata-(x) entries.

It's just like a sentence at the bottom of sata-0's screen.

Have you tried putting the vista disk on sata2 or sata3? Even sata4 and sata5 should work, they are not specified to be used only for optical drives, it depends what device you plug in.

[xoros]

Even sata4 and sata5 should work, they are not specified to be used only for optical drives, it depends what device you plug in.

Well on my motherboard the slots (cable sockets) for 4 and 5 are specifically labeled "ODD" and the others are labeled "HDD". Not sure if that made a difference.

Will try what you suggest and tell results, thanks.

[xoros]

Just messing around in bios, I turned on all the sata entries and it ended up bios assigning sata-3 to the vista drive!

So now in bios it shows in the sata-3 entry: "controlled by bios" -- along with sata-0's entry showing the same sentence.

Grub now boots into vista perfectly ... wow.

Thank you both for your help in this matter, I guess it ended up being either:

a. I should have from the start plugged it into the sata-3 slot??
or
b. I had to let bios assign it by turning all sata ports on

Either way, i'm glad its working, thank you both again!

[darkod]

If you didn't move the cable it would mean it was in sata3 all the time, not in sata1. But the port was not enabled in BIOS.

Anyway, good to hear it's working fine now. Enjoy it. :)

[frantid]

Great job!

I almost never suspect hardware, ... almost unless some new parts have been . Thanks darkod for jumping in.

[xoros]

If you didn't move the cable it would mean it was in sata3 all the time, not in sata1. But the port was not enabled in BIOS.


But here is the thing, I used the sata-1 slot w/ sata-1 cable. So I figured I only needed to enable sata-1 selection in bios.

Bios showed that drive (the drive info was listed on sata-1's screen) was in sata-1, but it didn't have that "this drive is controlled by bios" message.

So how did bios control it from sata-3 in the first place when it isn't (and still is not) plugged into the sata-3 spot??

:confused: I don't know I guess my bios is just really weird?

This brings up the question should I move the cable physically to the sata-3 socket on motherboard?

[darkod]

Leave everything as it is, and enjoy it. :)