Can't boot Win XP from GRUB

[roybot1911]

Problem:

I have 2 physical HDD. Both are Seagate 320 GB SATA II with (1) (50G) and (1) (250G) partition.
On the first drive I have Win XP(50G) and files on a (250G) NTFS part.
On the second drive I have Xubuntu 9.04(50G) and a NTFS part. with files (250G).

GRUB was installed to the second drive thus setting the boot priority in BIOS to the first drive gets me straight into Win, without GRUB.

Setting the boot priority to the second drive gives me GRUB from witch I can boot Xubuntu just fine. But when I try to boot Win XP Sp2 the screens gives me "Starting up..." with a blinking _ .
No hdd activity or anything.

Now I do realise that maybe GRUB should have been on the first drive. But is there a way to make grub understand how to boot win for me?. Its a little irretating having to go into BIOS everytime I wanna change OS.

Thanx

[easybake]

post your /boot/grub/menu.lst file

along with the output of
sudo fdisk -l

[roybot1911]

@easybake



# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=52a9402c-61a8-4e88-8677-418bed09d593 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=52a9402c-61a8-4e88-8677-418bed09d593

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically
## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa
## e.g. indomU=detect
## indomU=true
## indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
uuid 52a9402c-61a8-4e88-8677-418bed09d593
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=52a9402c-61a8-4e88-8677-418bed09d593 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 52a9402c-61a8-4e88-8677-418bed09d593
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=52a9402c-61a8-4e88-8677-418bed09d593 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
uuid 52a9402c-61a8-4e88-8677-418bed09d593
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/sda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
savedefault
chainloader +1





Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xfc17fc17

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 6374 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 6375 38912 261361485 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 6375 38912 261361453+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2068fe94

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 6374 51199123+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdb2 6375 38914 261369864 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb5 1 6108 49062447 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 6109 6374 2136613+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris


:o

[roybot1911]

Bump

[udippel]

'Bump' means what??

Have you got it working?
The problem is/was probably another one. When you get
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
it does actually start the first hard disk
(/dev/sda1 * 1 6374 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS)
And it doesn't matter on which hard disk you install grub. Get the supergrubdisk and burn it, and then try to boot to it, try if you can boot your Windows XP from it:

rootnoverify (hd0,0)
savedefault
chainloader +1

If this works, everything is fine. Install the MBR there as well, google how it is being done. Something like
root (hd1,4)
find /boot/grub/stage ...
setup (hd0)
should do the trick.