Confused why my grub is not working properly

[wolfe]

I just did a fresh install of both windows and ubuntu on my new computer. I thought I did the right thing by installing Windows first, and then Ubuntu.

I know there is some mixup over which device is #1, but I have the bios set to boot from my 150gig drive. Thats where grub is located I believe. Ubuntu boots without fail, but I get the dreaded NTLDR missing when I try to load windows. I would really like to learn how to fix this instead of doing a windows repair and blowing away grub.

I am attaching my menu.lst and the output of fdisk -l

I hope someone can make sense of what is wrong here, thanks in advance guys!

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000cd9a6

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 121601 976760001 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 150.0 GB, 150039945216 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 18241 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x99ae05e3

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 6502 52224448+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 6503 18241 94293517+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 6503 6623 971901 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 6624 18241 93321553+ 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 300.0 GB, 300069052416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0002d514

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 12749 102406311 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdc2 12750 36481 190627290 5 Extended
/dev/sdc5 12750 36481 190627258+ 83 Linux

menu.lst

title Ubuntu jaunty (development branch), kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
uuid 12893ea2-e8cb-4d80-83de-8033f74d8c53
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=12893ea2-e8cb-4d80-83de-8033f74d8c53 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu jaunty (development branch), kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 12893ea2-e8cb-4d80-83de-8033f74d8c53
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=12893ea2-e8cb-4d80-83de-8033f74d8c53 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title Ubuntu jaunty (development branch), kernel 2.6.28-9-generic
uuid 12893ea2-e8cb-4d80-83de-8033f74d8c53
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-9-generic root=UUID=12893ea2-e8cb-4d80-83de-8033f74d8c53 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-9-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu jaunty (development branch), kernel 2.6.28-9-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 12893ea2-e8cb-4d80-83de-8033f74d8c53
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-9-generic root=UUID=12893ea2-e8cb-4d80-83de-8033f74d8c53 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-9-generic

title Ubuntu jaunty (development branch), memtest86+
uuid 12893ea2-e8cb-4d80-83de-8033f74d8c53
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/sdb1
title Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
savedefault
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1

[dstew]

At first glance it looks like it is set up properly to boot Windows on /dev/sdb1. However, sometimes the BIOS will re-number the disks when you change the boot order. It is possible that the 150 Gb disk is actually disk 0 in your BIOS when it boots. If that is the case, you might try changing the Windows root entry to
rootnoverify (hd0,0)and getting rid of the map statements. You can try this by editing the menu.lst file, or by entering 'e' when the grub menu comes up. If you use the 'e' method, and it works, you will have to make the change permanent by editing the menu.lst file later, because the changes you make with 'e' are only temporary.

[meierfra.]

Edit: I hadn't seen dstew post, when I posted this. Follow dstew's advice first.



Open menu.lst via


gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Add the following to the end of file

title Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (hd2)
rootnoverify (hd2,0)
map (hd0) (hd2)
map (hd2) (hd0)
chainloader +1


Reboot and try both entries. (The first entry should work if XP is on the 150GB drive you are booting from, otherwise the other one. In any case try both)

If one of them works, you can deleted the other entrees from menu.lst.
If none of them work, report all error messages you got.

[wolfe]

Thanks guys. dstew's advice resolved it for me. yay, now I can get back to overclocking this beast.