Weird Multi-Boot problem with GRUB2

[UbuFlavio]

First of all, hello everyone :)

I am new to Ubuntu and Linux generally speaking, so please excuse me if I'm posting this in the wrong section. I hope it's fine here, but if it's not feel free to move it.

Anyway, here is my problem. I have set up a triple-boot system with XP, W7 and now Ubuntu. The multi-boot works fine (after many headaches :P). W7's boot manager is in charge and gives me three choices when I turn on the computer: XP, 7 and Ubuntu. All these choices work and boot their respective OS, but before I go on, I need to explain how my hard drive is partitioned:

1 - Boot partition (Primary/Active) ------------> only 100 MB, I decided to use this for boot files *only*
2 - XP partition (Primary) ------------> contains XP installation (40 GB)
3 - W7 partition (Primary) ------------> contains W7 installation (40 GB)
4 - EXTENDED
5 - empty partition (Logical) ------------> not formatted yet, I plan to use this later (24 GB)
6 - Ubuntu partition (Logical) ------------> Ubuntu 10.04 is installed here (23 GB, Ext4)
7 - Ubuntu Swap partition (Logical) ------------> swap partition for Ubuntu (about 1 GB)
8 - data partition (Logical) ------------> this is just for data (about 160 GB, NTFS)
9 - data partition (Logical) -----------> another data partition (about 2 GB, NTFS)

I installed XP first. Then, I installed W7. When I did this, W7's boot manager took over and at every start-up gave me the choice between loading XP or W7 (all primary partitions use NTFS file system also). Then I installed Ubuntu, and chose to have GRUB2 installed *not* in the MBR, but in Ubuntu's same partition. This way, it did not overwrite W7's boot manager. Then, using EasyBCD, I created an entry for Ubuntu in W7's boot manager. This worked perfectly and now when I select Ubuntu during start-up W7's boot manager hands over control to GRUB2 in Ubuntu's partition and I get the following 5 more choices:

- linux kernel
- linux kernel recovery mode
- memtest86
- memtest86 (with some other options)
- Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sda1

Notice the last option ? Now, the problem is the following: if I select the last choice (Windows 7 loader on /dev/sda1), I would expect GRUB2 to hand control back to W7's boot manager and ask me to choose again between XP, W7 or Ubuntu. Instead, I get the "NTLDR is missing" error message. Obviously, NTLDR *is* present in my first primary partition, and in fact it regularly works and loads XP if I choose it directly when W7's boot manager loads the first time. But if I choose to go back to W7's boot manager from GRUB2, I get the error instead. If I manually copy NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI to my second primary partition (the one where XP is installed) then I do not get the error anymore and XP loads immediately when I select the last option from GRUB2.

Any idea why the computer is looking at the second primary partition instead of going back to the first one ? I tried to rebuild Grub.cfg using the command "sudo update-grub" that I found here on the forums, but nothing changed. I don't understand what I am doing wrong :confused:

Just in case it's needed, here is the output of the command "sudo fdisk -l":

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x120c120b

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 12 96358+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 13 5233 41937682+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 5234 10454 41937682+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 10455 38913 228596887 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 10455 13587 25165791 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 13588 16612 24298281 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 16613 16709 779121 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8 16710 38587 175735003+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda9 38588 38913 2618563+ 7 HPFS/NTFS


Thanks everyone.

[darkod]

Are you asking this because you want to know, or is this a problem for you? Once you selected ubuntu in EasyBCD, why would you want to go back to windows (any version)?

In fact, in your situation I would disable the os-prober file in ubuntu so it doesn't detect any other OS and in that case you will not see the grub2 menu at all, it will start booting ubuntu right away.

Once you have chosen your OS in EasyBCD, why the grub2 menu? It just delays things.

If you want to do this, I can give you the commands to run.

Otherwise, one explanation could be if win7 loader is on /dev/sda1 as reported, but ntldr and XP boot files are probably on /dev/sda2. So the message would be correct, no ntldr on /dev/sda1. Why would it be looking for it, I have no clue.

[arrange]

Could you post the output of boot_info_script, as explained here?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8844901&postcount=4

[UbuFlavio]

Hi guys, thanks for the replies :)
Here is the output:



Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010

============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs: /boot.ini /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows XP
Boot files/dirs:

sda3: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files/dirs: /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda4: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed:
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sda6: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: Grub 2
Boot sector info: Grub 2 is installed in the boot sector of sda6 and
looks at sector 252107674 of the same hard drive for
core.img, but core.img can not be found at this
location.
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda7: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda8: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sda8 starts
at sector 63.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sda9: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sda9 starts
at sector 63.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 192,779 192,717 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 192,780 84,068,144 83,875,365 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 84,068,145 167,943,509 83,875,365 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 167,943,571 625,137,344 457,193,774 f W95 Ext d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 167,943,573 218,275,154 50,331,582 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 218,275,218 266,871,779 48,596,562 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 266,871,843 268,430,084 1,558,242 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8 268,430,148 619,900,154 351,470,007 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda9 619,900,218 625,137,344 5,237,127 7 HPFS/NTFS


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/sda1 01CAD5A8B1F00680 ntfs Boot
/dev/sda2 01CAD5A8B1F00680 ntfs Windows XP
/dev/sda3 741CAD881CAD45C8 ntfs Windows 7
/dev/sda4: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda6 ff081586-3139-480e-86e1-75d45e2695a7 ext4 Ubuntu
/dev/sda7 3f66502b-61f6-42e6-b809-b81f70b814db swap
/dev/sda8 6894E30094E2D01C ntfs
/dev/sda9 80B0B818B0B8171E ntfs
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sda6 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)


================================ sda1/boot.ini: ================================

;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT

=========================== sda6/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
set saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then
saved_entry=${chosen}
save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ff081586-3139-480e-86e1-75d45e2695a7
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ff081586-3139-480e-86e1-75d45e2695a7
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-21-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ff081586-3139-480e-86e1-75d45e2695a7
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=ff081586-3139-480e-86e1-75d45e2695a7 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-21-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ff081586-3139-480e-86e1-75d45e2695a7
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-21-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=ff081586-3139-480e-86e1-75d45e2695a7 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ff081586-3139-480e-86e1-75d45e2695a7
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ff081586-3139-480e-86e1-75d45e2695a7
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 01cad5a8b1f00680
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

=============================== sda6/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=ff081586-3139-480e-86e1-75d45e2695a7 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=3f66502b-61f6-42e6-b809-b81f70b814db none swap sw 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

=================== sda6: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


129.0GB: boot/grub/core.img
129.0GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
129.0GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
129.0GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic
129.0GB: initrd.img
129.0GB: vmlinuz
=========================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =======================

Unknown BootLoader on sda4

00000000 59 f2 f5 d5 f6 7d bf 8e 99 7a 73 dd e4 df 3f fc |Y....}...zs...?.|
00000010 f9 db e3 92 57 eb da 52 1e d9 57 fb 2f 16 be f0 |....W..R..W./...|
00000020 12 64 b7 a3 86 2c 79 3b aa df fb 22 f0 3a d9 c5 |.d...,y;...".:..|
00000030 26 e5 fe bb d4 23 d2 7e 0d e4 52 c5 1f d9 86 eb |&....#.~..R.....|
00000040 3d 9a 89 56 b6 13 eb 82 6f a6 c5 40 db 58 ca b6 |=..V....o..@.X..|
00000050 df a7 fc a2 4f df 9d fb b4 e4 9c 70 41 1b a9 ca |....O......pA...|
00000060 fb 71 76 bb 39 d7 bd 78 8b a2 6e bb 28 4a 46 dd |.qv.9..x..n.(JF.|
00000070 e7 6f de 4f 9c d0 3f 1b a5 10 74 2c 22 92 1e f0 |.o.O..?...t,"...|
00000080 47 1f e4 35 55 f0 1a 0e 83 b9 d5 5e 7c f8 93 3a |G..5U......^|..:|
00000090 31 fc 9e 07 fd 65 64 7b b8 b3 2f 71 24 46 7a 77 |1....ed{../q$Fzw|
000000a0 d3 d3 dd 67 9f b9 0f ff 34 aa df ef 71 de c4 ab |...g....4...q...|
000000b0 06 cf 0b 86 ff 39 05 f0 12 01 55 3d 9f d9 de 3e |.....9....U=...>|
000000c0 76 dc f8 f1 3d 46 36 9f 50 34 2a 6f 2a b7 60 9b |v...=F6.P4*o*.`.|
000000d0 2f 98 b3 70 fe 92 a5 e3 dd 12 47 d4 1e 51 63 be |/..p......G..Qc.|
000000e0 83 62 d4 ba 91 eb c7 d5 70 18 e5 38 63 48 be cb |.b......p..8cH..|
000000f0 b8 cd 23 be 1f 57 77 e4 b6 3d a3 0f 28 f6 8d 5c |..#..Ww..=..(..\|
00000100 75 b0 68 cd 18 db f1 5f 0f 15 9f bf 30 5b 3a 63 |u.h...._....0[:c|
00000110 f1 0c de a8 ab 17 6f dd be 33 7a e1 cd a2 fb 77 |......o..3z....w|
00000120 7f 1a 7b 7d c4 8e fc e3 53 65 23 c5 ab f3 cf 94 |..{}....Se#.....|
00000130 e4 d7 78 33 fe d4 8c 03 f9 ad 03 7e 5b ed b0 a6 |..x3.......~[...|
00000140 24 7c 9a 5b 51 8f 86 43 66 76 dd b1 6e bb 3c ae |$|.[Q..Cfv..n.<.|
00000150 cd e0 7c 10 31 f1 ed c6 05 e1 ba 07 5e fd 6f 1f |..|.1.......^.o.|
00000160 df b2 ac 83 ee 55 63 87 fe 73 34 4b 05 23 c7 86 |.....Uc..s4K.#..|
00000170 4d 4e 58 be b5 77 38 5f 12 d9 b3 6b 8b 8e 4f 7e |MNX..w8_...k..O~|
00000180 1c d4 74 d0 ed 19 b9 3a e6 49 a8 e3 8b fb c5 af |..t....:.I......|
00000190 76 12 f9 4f 6a bc c1 7f 64 b5 f1 2b 62 97 e9 32 |v..Oj...d..+b..2|
000001a0 9d 13 3d 12 43 ec 1b be 7b e9 3a 3a e6 5a d3 94 |..=.C...{.::.Z..|
000001b0 83 7d 02 9c 93 e2 ae 6f 1c b5 67 11 ff c5 00 01 |.}.....o..g.....|
000001c0 c1 fe 07 57 c6 fe 02 00 00 00 be ff ff 02 00 fe |...W............|
000001d0 ff ff 05 fe ff ff c0 ff ff 02 91 86 e5 02 00 00 |................|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200

[arrange]

The problem is that the first 2 partitions have identical UUIDs.

/dev/sda1 01CAD5A8B1F00680 ntfs Boot
/dev/sda2 01CAD5A8B1F00680 ntfs Windows XP

[UbuFlavio]

The problem is that the first 2 partitions have identical UUIDs.

/dev/sda1 01CAD5A8B1F00680 ntfs Boot
/dev/sda2 01CAD5A8B1F00680 ntfs Windows XP

Thanks :P But... how do I fix it ? I must confess that until now I had no idea what an UUID was... :oops:

[arrange]

I'd rather use something like
menuentry "Microsoft Windows (on /dev/sda1)" {
set root=(hd0,1)
chainloader +1
}
in /etc/grub.d/40_custom. For detail see
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2

Changing UUID is a risky business I guess but if you insist:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1240146
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897436.aspx

[UbuFlavio]

I'd rather use something like
menuentry "Microsoft Windows (on /dev/sda1)" {
set root=(hd0,1)
chainloader +1
}
in /etc/grub.d/40_custom. For detail see
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2

Changing UUID is a risky business I guess but if you insist:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1240146
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897436.aspx

Cool! Thank you so much. I'll definitely check those links out. I don't know how I ended up with two identical UUIDs in the first place though :confused:

Anyway, as a side note... I'm definitely not an expert about that Boot Info Script, but there are another couple of things that make me suspicious. For example this one from sda6:



Boot sector info: Grub 2 is installed in the boot sector of sda6 and looks at sector 252107674 of the same hard drive for core.img, but core.img can not be found at this location.or this one from both sda8 and sda9:



Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sda8 starts at sector 63.What do they mean exactly ? Are they normal or am I supposed to fix these as well ? If so, is there a way to do that without deleting the whole partition and re-creating it ?

Thanks again and sorry for the trouble.

[darkod]

The message about sector 63 is normal. I think it has something to do that it leaves one cylinder on each partition as boot sector for that partition. That is how you could install grub2 onto a partition. One cylinder has 63 sectors.

The message about grub2 being on sda6 is also good because that is your ubuntu root partition. And you said it yourself, without grub2 on it, EasyBCD can't connect to it. Remove grub2 and you can't boot ubuntu.

Otherwise, when grub2 gets onto some partition by error, you can use this procedure/fix on the corresponding partition to remove it:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:Boot_Sector

[UbuFlavio]

The message about sector 63 is normal. I think it has something to do that it leaves one cylinder on each partition as boot sector for that partition. That is how you could install grub2 onto a partition. One cylinder has 63 sectors.

Hi Darkod, thanks for the explanation :) But if it's normal, then why do sda1, sda2 and sda3 say "No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block" ? (I apologize in advance for my questions... I understand they must seem very dumb to you :P)



The message about grub2 being on sda6 is also good because that is your ubuntu root partition. And you said it yourself, without grub2 on it, EasyBCD can't connect to it. Remove grub2 and you can't boot ubuntu.

Yes, but actually what worries me about that one is the part that says that "Grub 2 [...] looks at sector 252107674 of the same hard drive for core.img, but core.img can not be found at this location." I did check if that file (core.img) exists and it is in the Grub folder. In fact, Grub 2 does work. Maybe that file is not in sector 252107674, but in such case, why is Grub 2 looking for it in that particular sector ?

Thank you again :)

[darkod]

Hi Darkod, thanks for the explanation :) But if it's normal, then why do sda1, sda2 and sda3 say "No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block" ? (I apologize in advance for my questions... I understand they must seem very dumb to you :P)

Not dumb at all, but I can't explain it. Maybe it makes a difference that on those partitions you have OS, or at least OS boot files, and the other partitions are just data partitions.




Yes, but actually what worries me about that one is the part that says that "Grub 2 [...] looks at sector 252107674 of the same hard drive for core.img, but core.img can not be found at this location." I did check if that file (core.img) exists and it is in the Grub folder. In fact, Grub 2 does work. Maybe that file is not in sector 252107674, but in such case, why is Grub 2 looking for it in that particular sector ?

Thank you again :)I didn't notice that. Again, can't explain it. But as long as it works, don't worry about it.

Actually, I never use grub installed onto a partition, so I'm not too familiar with these situations and why the script results are such.