Dual boot 9.04 and Win XP Pro 64 - grub not installed

[svenskmand]

Hey everybody,

I just installed Win Xp pro 64 on my new machine and then wanted to install Ubuntu 9.04 64 bit in dual boot - as I have done so many times before with win xp home 32 and Ubuntu - but this time after the install was complete and grub was about to be installed I got the error that grub could not be installed to hd0.

When I installed Ubuntu I chose manual install - as I use to do - to make a ext3 partition (located first on the free space) mounted at / and a swap partition (located last on the free space).

I have searched these forums and the net and tried various guides e.g. this (http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-24113.html) and this (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224351) but with no luck :(.

Anybody have some ideas? Is because I installed win xp pro 64 instead of the usual win xp home 32, or what? I don not get it :(

[merlinus]

Why not install 9.04 64-bit?

[svenskmand]

Why not install 9.04 64-bit?

I did (my mistake that I did not write it :) ) The above post is now edited :)

[merlinus]

Post results of


sudo fdisk -l
cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

[svenskmand]

As grub is not installed I am not able to boot Ubuntu so I cannot do what you ask. But when booting the live cd I can perform the first command which gives


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1500.3 GB, 1500301910016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 182401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x4c154c15

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 97906 786429913+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 97907 175874 626277960 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 175875 182401 52428127+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 175875 176384 4096543+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 176385 182401 48331521 83 Linux
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$


the second command cannot be run from the live cd.

As you can see my layout is


--------------------------------------
| Windows | Documents | Swap | Linux |
--------------------------------------

[merlinus]

You should be able to mount your ubuntu partition by clicking on it in nautilus.

If so, then you can try to install grub:


sudo grub
root (hd0,5)
setup (hd0)
quit

and restart to see if the menu comes up.

[svenskmand]

Ahh, ok. I can see that the file does not exist :(, that is I mounted /media/disk (my ubuntu partition), and here /media/disk/boot/grub/menu.lst does not exist :(

[svenskmand]

ok, this goes wrong here

sudo grub
root (hd0,5)

I get


ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo grub
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.

[ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For
the first word, TAB lists possible command
completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
completions of a device/filename. ]
grub> root (hd0,5)
root (hd0,5)

Error 18: Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS
grub>

I do not get this last part, I can see the whole disk in my BIOS and in windows, so that error 18 is a little misleading.

[merlinus]

Info on grub error 18 and possible workarounds on this page:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p15.html

Scroll down about 3/4.

[svenskmand]

I have a Asus M4N82 Deluxe motherboard, and it should should support 1.5 TB disks (I can see it correctly in the BIOS and in windows), don't you agree?

As I can see from you link (http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p15.html) I should make a special boot partition with mount-point /boot right? But it appears to me that the error only occurs with legacy hardware, and I have just bought this system :S, or what?

I wil give it a try, using the Super Grub Disk mentioned in you link.

[merlinus]

In theory, it should work fine. But since it is not, it might not hurt to try the separate /boot partition.

You also might try mounting your ubuntu partition again, and trying:


sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/disk Another option is to try supergrub:

http://supergrubdisk.org