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Thread: Dual boot dead

  1. #1
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    Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus

    Dual boot dead

    After a recent upgrade of my 12.04 installation, my windows does not boot up anymore. Part of the message is:

    "Could not read from the selected boot disk.
    Check boot path and disk hardware."

    My hard disks:
    sda - 300 GB: Movies
    sdb - 1 TB: sdb1 - Music, sdb2 - Windows XP, sdb3 - Win Data and sdb4 - Ubuntu 12.04 root

    I have tried running the Boot Repair utility that is available, and that has not solved the issue, actually now it is even worse in that before the boot menu even appears I get the following message:

    Error: no device connected.

    I then press enter and it boots Ubuntu directly, and the boot menu flashes by without stopping

    Desperate for some help, scared to try further with Boot Repair.

    And I have also tried running d:\bootcfg /repair from the console after booting up with the Windows Installation CD.

    HELP!

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Athens, Alabama
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    611
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    Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail

    Re: Dual boot dead

    Quote Originally Posted by lgastmans View Post
    After a recent upgrade of my 12.04 installation, my windows does not boot up anymore. Part of the message is:

    "Could not read from the selected boot disk.
    Check boot path and disk hardware."

    My hard disks:
    sda - 300 GB: Movies
    sdb - 1 TB: sdb1 - Music, sdb2 - Windows XP, sdb3 - Win Data and sdb4 - Ubuntu 12.04 root

    I have tried running the Boot Repair utility that is available, and that has not solved the issue, actually now it is even worse in that before the boot menu even appears I get the following message:

    Error: no device connected.

    I then press enter and it boots Ubuntu directly, and the boot menu flashes by without stopping

    Desperate for some help, scared to try further with Boot Repair.

    And I have also tried running d:\bootcfg /repair from the console after booting up with the Windows Installation CD.

    HELP!
    Personally I would say forget Windows and move solely over to Linux....but I know we cannot always have what we want....One option you can try is as follows:

    1. Start the computer by using your Windows XP CD-ROM. Press any key to boot from the CD.
    2. After the setup files are finished loading press R to repair using Recovery Console.
    3. When you are in the recovery console, select the installation to log on to (usually number 1), and then press ENTER.
    4. Login to the Administrator account by typing the password for this account, and then press ENTER.
    5. At the recovery console command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

      For Uni-Processor systems: expand <cd-drive>:\i386\ntoskrnl.ex_ <hd-drive>:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
      For Multi-Processor systems: expand <cd-drive>:\i386\ntkrnlmp.ex_ <hd-drive>:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
      Note In these two commands, the <cd-drive> placeholder represents the drive letter of your CD drive, and the <hd-drive> placeholder represents the drive letter of the hard disk on which windows is installed.
    6. If you receive a prompt to overwrite the file, press Y.
    7. Type exit, and press ENTER at the command prompt.

    **Have you thought about doing a clean install of both Windows & Ubuntu?

  3. #3
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    Re: Dual boot dead

    Post the link to the BootInfo report so we can see what issues you have.

    Boot Repair -Also handles LVM, GPT, separate /boot and UEFI dual boot.:
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
    You can repair many boot issues with this or 'Create BootInfo' report (Other Options) & post the link it creates, so we can see your exact configuration and diagnose advanced problems.
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus

    Re: Dual boot dead

    Hi All,

    Thank you both for the quick response. I had to struggle a bit with my setup here and therefore took a while to post back.
    To make a long story short, I formatted the Windows partition and re-installed it - in the end the quickest way to set things right given my limited knowledge...
    And, yes, I would love to work in Linux 100% of the time, but I have clients for whom I maintain Visual Foxpro and Delphi apps, believe it or not. So Linux 90% of the time...

    Thanks for the support - much appreciated.

    One more question, though:

    I inserted a third hard disk and installed Windows on to this new hard disk. Since then, however, GParted does not display the partitions of the hard disk that has the Linux operating system on it, and that HAD the previous windows partition on it. I would like to retrieve the Windows partition...

    These "invincible" partitions show up in Nautilus. And when I boot from the GParted CD that I once created, the same problem occurs.

    Any suggestions?
    Last edited by howefield; January 19th, 2016 at 12:34 PM.

  5. #5
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    Re: Dual boot dead

    Is your gparted disk recent?

    Ubuntu liveCD also has recent copies of gparted.

    Does BIOS show all three drives.

    Are you sure you installed Windows to the new drive? Windows may install to one drive but put boot partitions on whatever drive BIOS says is the boot drive.
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver

    Re: Dual boot dead

    In terminal take a look at what parted says for the disks with:
    sudo parted -l (small L)
    Darko.
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64bit

  7. #7
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    Re: Dual boot dead

    Quote Originally Posted by daslinkard View Post
    Personally I would say forget Windows and move solely over to Linux....but I know we cannot always have what we want....One option you can try is as follows:

    1. Start the computer by using your Windows XP CD-ROM. Press any key to boot from the CD.
    2. After the setup files are finished loading press R to repair using Recovery Console.
    3. When you are in the recovery console, select the installation to log on to (usually number 1), and then press ENTER.
    4. Login to the Administrator account by typing the password for this account, and then press ENTER.
    5. At the recovery console command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

      For Uni-Processor systems: expand <cd-drive>:\i386\ntoskrnl.ex_ <hd-drive>:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
      For Multi-Processor systems: expand <cd-drive>:\i386\ntkrnlmp.ex_ <hd-drive>:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
      Note In these two commands, the <cd-drive> placeholder represents the drive letter of your CD drive, and the <hd-drive> placeholder represents the drive letter of the hard disk on which windows is installed.
    6. If you receive a prompt to overwrite the file, press Y.
    7. Type exit, and press ENTER at the command prompt.

    **Have you thought about doing a clean install of both Windows & Ubuntu?
    I have the same problem after installing Ubuntu 12.04.1 from a CD along side Windows Vista. I can no longer boot up into Windows Vista even when I tell it to. It starts to go to Windows Vista and then it reboots and goes into Ubuntu. Any suggestions?

  8. #8
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    Re: Dual boot dead

    @rc0370
    Welcome to forums. Boot issues are almost always unique. Please start your own thread and post the link to BootInfo report as shown in post #3.
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Re: Dual boot dead

    @rc0370: Try the Boot Repair CD, it has done a lot of good work for me in the past, and in case it does not do the job, then post the URL that it gives at the end to this forum...

    @darkod: This is what "sudo parted -l" gives

    Model: ATA ST3320620AS (scsi)
    Disk /dev/sda: 320GB
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
    Partition Table: msdos

    Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
    1 32.3kB 320GB 320GB primary ntfs boot


    Error: Can't have overlapping partitions.

    Model: ATA ST500DM002-1BD14 (scsi)
    Disk /dev/sdc: 500GB
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
    Partition Table: msdos

    Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
    1 32.3kB 52.4GB 52.4GB primary ntfs
    2 52.4GB 500GB 448GB primary fat32


    I see an error in this listing "overlapping partitions"... Deleting the partition with the Windows install CD did this?

    @oldfred: yes, all three drives show up in BIOS, and as you can see above, the new Windows install is on sdc

    This is what "sudo fdisk -l" gives:
    Code:
    Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
    Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0xb972df94
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda1   *          63   625141759   312570848+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
    omitting empty partition (5)
    
    Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
    Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x0006c1a4
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdb1            2048   716802047   358400000   83  Linux
    /dev/sdb2       819202048   952322047    66560000    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
    /dev/sdb3       952322048  1953523711   500600832    5  Extended
    /dev/sdb4      1941555200  1953523711     5984256   82  Linux swap / Solaris
    /dev/sdb5       952324096  1933211647   490443776   83  Linux
    /dev/sdb6      1933213696  1941551103     4168704   82  Linux swap / Solaris
    
    Disk /dev/sdc: 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 / 4096 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0xc8f1c8f1
    
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sdc1              63   102398309    51199123+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
    Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.
    /dev/sdc2       102400000   976773119   437186560    b  W95 FAT32
    Last edited by howefield; January 19th, 2016 at 12:35 PM.

  10. #10
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    Re: Dual boot dead

    Your sdb4 is inside the extended partition. That cannot be. sdb4 must be a primary not a logical. It probably should just be sdb7. Since it is a swap it might be easier just to delete it, but you may have to update fstab with the correct swap UUID.

    But most partition tools do not work on invalid partition tables.

    Backup partition table to text file & save to external device.
    sudo sfdisk -d /dev/sdb > PTsdb.txt

    Lets try this first:

    You can reorder the partition with fdisk, anything after # is comment, do not type:
    sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
    x # enter expert mode
    f # fix partition table
    r # return
    p # to print
    v # to verify partition
    #if ok
    w # write the changes to disk
    q # quit
    Last edited by oldfred; October 3rd, 2012 at 04:35 AM.
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

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