Triple boot - Ubuntu won't start

[viklahan]

Hey Everyone! Getting to the point...

I am not able to boot up in Ubuntu as I am getting the following error:

rootnoverify (hd0,4)
chainloader +1
Error 13: Invalid or unsupported executable format.

I have a triple boot system with XP and Ubuntu on a single hard drive whereas Red Hat on a different one. Following is my fdisk -l output:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19452 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 5100 40965718+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 5101 19452 115282440 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 5101 19075 112254156 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 19076 19452 3028221 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 29759 239039136 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 29760 30515 6072570 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 29760 30515 6072538+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdc: 400.0 GB, 400088457216 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 48641 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 48641 390708801 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdd: 400.0 GB, 400088457216 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 48641 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk /dev/sdd doesn't contain a valid partition table

Following is my /boot/grub/menu.lst conf:

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd2,0)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sdb1
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=1
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd2,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-92.el5)
root (hd2,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.el5 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-92.el5.img
title Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
chainloader +1
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
Any help is appreciated. Thanks a lot.
Vik

[caljohnsmith]

So what led up to or happened before the Grub error? Was Ubuntu working fine before or is it a new install?

You could start by doing a file system check on the Ubuntu partition from your Live CD (make sure the partition is not mounted):

sudo fsck -y /dev/sda5
Also, do you have Grub installed to the boot sector of the sda5 Ubuntu partition? Because that's about the only way you can "chain load" it with Grub, which is what your menu.lst entry for Ubuntu does.

[viklahan]

Initially it was just Windows Xp and Ubuntu on the same hard drive then I got a new hard rive and got Red Hat on it.
This problem occurred when I installed Red Hat on a new Hard drive. I still kept the boot loader on sda i.e. the one which has Windows XP and Ubuntu.

Red Hat and Windows Xp work fine but I am not able to boot up in Ubuntu.
I shall use the command and then keep u posted.
Thanks
Vik

[bulldog]

sudo fdisk -l will give you information how your hdd's are partitioned.
With this information you can see if there's a linux partition on your sda5.

[caljohnsmith]

So is that menu.lst you gave the one from Ubuntu in sda5? What boot loader is installed to the boot sector of sda5 that allowed you to previously chain load it? I ask because if you installed Grub to the boot sector of sda5, and if the Grub menu you see on start up comes from sda5, you would merely reload the Grub menu again if you chain load sda5. Unless you are using some boot loader other than Grub in your sda5 boot sector, somewhere there should be a menu.lst that has the standard "kernel" and "initrd" syntax to boot Ubuntu, similar to:

title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=77677cb5-6e56-4936-a37sd33222 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic
quiet
So bottom line, can you provide more information?

[maybeway36]

Try replacing this in your menu.lst:

title Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
chainloader +1
with this:

title Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst
This should load just the menu.lst file from Ubuntu instead of a new copy of GRUB.
You can also configure GRUB to load the kernel directly, but that requires a bit of copy-and-paste from one menu.lst to the other.

[viklahan]

The menu.lst was from Red Hat. There is no boot loader installed on sda5 there is just one boot loader installed on sda. I am using the default boot loader that is Grub.
Yes there must be somewhere the list that has the standard kernel and initrd syntax but then how do I get it. Ubuntu wudnt boot, I have Red Hat which gave the above menu.lst. And the one left is XP which is no good.

Thanks
Vik

[caljohnsmith]

OK, that clears things up a bit, I didn't realize that was the menu.lst from Red Hat. If you have Grub properly installed within Ubuntu, you should be able to boot Ubuntu from your Red Hat menu.lst with the entry that maybeway36 gave. Give that a shot and let us know if it works.

[viklahan]

Hey Guyz!
I followed the instructions which maybeway36 gave and the good news is Ubuntu boots up successfully. And the bad news is that its changed my user name somehow and it took me quite a while to figure out which one to use. Finally I tried using the username which I use on the network whereas the password remains the same which was before for the main login.
I was able to get in but its a whole new installation.As its a new install I think I might have lost all my data and work which was on the previous install. Hope nothing critical is lost related to work.
Thank you caljohn and maybeway36, I appreciate it.

[caljohnsmith]

If you booted into a different Ubuntu, it might be that you have your Linux partitions mixed up; you have linux partitions on sda5, sdb1, and sdc1. It could be that the Ubuntu install you are looking for is on sdc1 for example. You could mount the partitions and check.

Anyway, glad you can at least boot into one of your Ubuntu installs. :)

[viklahan]

Yes, I am glad too that its working. Thanks for your help. I knw the one I am looking for is the one on sda5, sdb1 would be Red Hat. Dunno whts sdc1?

Cheers!
Vik