Dual boot/separate drives

[Stan57]

I have finally been able to install ubuntu to a separate drive. I have Vista 64 bit premium installed on one drive C-drive and this thing installed on its own drive D-Drive. Now it wont boot to ubuntu what soever. it goes to a grub prompt and is waiting instruction,like i know what to do??
What can i do to fix this pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee

[merlinus]

Did you do a wubi install, in other words, inside of windows, or install ubuntu separately?

[Stan57]

Did you do a wubi install, in other words, inside of windows, or install ubuntu separately?

Installed separate not a windows install

[merlinus]

Can you boot from the live cd? If so, open a terminal and post results of


sudo fdisk -l

Also, what is the hdd boot order in bios?

And fwiw, linux, unlike windows, does not use drive letters. It uses partitions, e.g. sda1, which would translate to first hdd, first partition.

[Stan57]

Can you boot from the live cd? If so, open a terminal and post results of


sudo fdisk -l

Also, what is the hdd boot order in bios?

And fwiw, linux, unlike windows, does not use drive letters. It uses partitions, e.g. sda1, which would translate to first hdd, first partition.

To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1d9d86a3

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 59349 476720811 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 59350 60801 11663190 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 59350 60801 11663158+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9bea9bea

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 60800 488375968+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x09cee67e

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 60801 488384001 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdd: 2063 MB, 2063597568 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 7872 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 * 1 7872 2015216 e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$


didnt check the boot order though

[merlinus]

ubuntu is on sda1 (first hdd, first partition), and vista on sdb1 (second hdd, first partition), but the booting order of your hdds is vital. Check and post back.

[Stan57]

ubuntu is on sda1 (first hdd, first partition), and vista on sdb1 (second hdd, first partition), but the booting order of your hdds is vital. Check and post back.

The drive that has ubuntu on it boots second or third if want to be techinal
1. Ch6 M St3500 Vista drive
2.USb
3.CH1 M Ubuntu HDD

[merlinus]

Try changing the order so the linux hdd is first, and see what happens.

[Stan57]

Try changing the order so the linux hdd is first, and see what happens.

It said no operating system

trying to boot to linux gets me

Grub> _

[merlinus]

If it said no operating system, then how did you get to the grub prompt?

Another thing to try is booting from the live cd and mounting your linux hdd via nautilus. Then navigate to /boot/grub/menu.lst, and post its contents.

[Stan57]

If it said no operating system, then how did you get to the grub prompt?

I switched it back off course,i get to the screen where i have a choose of Windows or linux to boot from. if i choose linux it goes as far as that grub prompt. i have windows on one drive and Ubuntu on the other drive

[merlinus]

Yes, I understand that each os is on a separate hdd. Try running from the live cd, mount your linux drive, and post contents of /boot/grub/menu.lst. That is where grub keeps its booting info.

Also, will grub boot vista?

[Stan57]

Yes, I understand that each os is on a separate hdd. Try running from the live cd, mount your linux drive, and post contents of /boot/grub/menu.lst. That is where grub keeps its booting info.

Also, will grub boot vista?

I have no problem booting to Windows,and how do i mount my linux drive? i have no clue how to do that,booing from the cd is no problem

[merlinus]

So grub will boot to windows, but not ubuntu? Just checking....

You can run nautilus from Places whilst using the live cd, and see if your ubuntu partition is listed. If not, we can manually mount it via terminal commands, and be able to look at menu.lst.

My best guess at this point is that grub was not installed correctly.

[Stan57]

So grub will boot to windows, but not ubuntu? Just checking....

You can run nautilus from Places whilst using the live cd, and see if your ubuntu partition is listed. If not, we can manually mount it via terminal commands, and be able to look at menu.lst.

My best guess at this point is that grub was not installed correctly.

I have no clue how to do that,i need step by step directions please.

[pd71sat]

I have no problem booting to Windows,and how do i mount my linux drive? i have no clue how to do that,booing from the cd is no problem

Try the following to mount your Linux hard drive after you boot
up from the live cd:
First ensure that you are in your native directory (does not
have to be, just a known point that you should have access to);

cd ~/
mkdir boot_disk
sudo mount /dev/sda1 ~/boot_disk

That last command should now let you view the contents of the
"boot_disk" folder as the starting root tree of the "/dev/sda1"
that the "sudo fdisk -l" command showed as belonging to Linux.

There should be a file "~/boot_disk/boot/grub/menu.lst" that you
you can get the contents and post for merlinus to see.

good luck.

[konnorrigby]

i suggest re-installing ubuntu and and making sure it's on the right hdd. and making sure grub is also on that one through advanced at the end of the installation.

[Stan57]

i suggest re-installing ubuntu and and making sure it's on the right hdd. and making sure grub is also on that one through advanced at the end of the installation.

Ive gave up,i installed opensuse11 and it boots just fine but the graphics is only allowing 800X600 on a 1400x900 desktop. going to wipe that also,just too many problems. Thanks for all your help though

Stan