Not able to load windows.

[raghavendran_te]

I had windows XP installed already when I installed ubuntu 9.04. My windows, due to some problem later, had to be reinstalled. Because of that, my grub got deleted. I was able to access only windows then. Later, I followed the instructions to install grub. Now the grub shows both ubuntu and windows option, but when I select from the grub options to load windows, the grub simply restarts itself and presents me with the same options again. I am not able to load windows at all. What should I do?

Please help!!!

[lemming465]

Please post the output from
sudo -i
fdisk -lu
blkid
cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
and we can offer you more specific advice. This is definitely solvable.

[lemming465]

Your symptoms are consistent with overwriting the windows secondary boot loader with the grub secondary boot loader. The boot process, extrememly oversimplified, runs MBR -> secondary boot loader -> boot menu -> OS-specific kernel loader -> live kernel. Grub can load Linux directly; XP needs "ntldr" off your C:\ drive. Assuming you have 5 partitions on 1 disk, say:

1: windows recovery
2: ntfs windows xp C:
3: extended
5: linux ext3
6: linux swap

Then what I'd do is use the windows recovery disk to reinstall the windows loader on the C: partition first. Then use a live Linux CD to put grub on the MBR + the Linux partition. Write back for more directions if that matches your situation.

[presence1960]

Let's get a better look at your setup & boot process. Boot into Ubuntu. Come back here and use the link in my signature to download the Boot Info Script to the desktop. Once on desktop open a terminal and run this command
sudo bash ~/Desktop/boot_info_script*.sh This will create a RESULTS.txt file on the desktop. Paste the entire contents of that file back here. Once pasted highlight all text and click the # sign on the toolbar to place code tags around the text.