Darko, I did like you told me. Before you look in to the script results, I would like to clarify certain things which may or may not be of help here. I had two HDs already installed -- a 160GB in SATA port 0 (sda) and another 320GB in SATA port 3 (sdb). So I wiped out the 160GB HD and installed all the OS's in the 320GB in the order and manner you said I should do. I thought since the sda HD was nonpartitioned, nothing would be installed there, and since the all the OS's are installed in sdb I expected grub to be installed in the MBR of sdb. Moreover, I had changed the boot device order preference in BIOS so that sdb was before sda, but it now seems like grub got installed in sda whereas all my OS's are in sdb. The "SHAREPART" fat32 partition you see in sda was not there when I installed everything. I just created it so I could easily share the script between XP and linux as I am unable to connect to the net through Ubuntu.
Here come the script result. Thanks for everything Darko.
Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010
============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================
=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 597454829
of the same hard drive for core.img, but core.img can not be found at this
location.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb
sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: Windows XP: Fat32
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:
sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
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: /boot.ini /ntldr /ntdetect.com
sdb2: __________________________________________________ _______________________
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: /boot.ini /ntldr /ntdetect.com
sdb3: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows Vista
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe /grldr
sdb4: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
sdb5: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ext3
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img
sdb6: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ext3
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:
sdb7: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 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 5,381,774 5,381,712 b W95 FAT32
Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sdb: 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/sdb1 * 63 204,796,619 204,796,557 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 204,796,620 358,394,084 153,597,465 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb3 358,394,085 511,991,549 153,597,465 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb4 511,991,611 625,137,344 113,145,734 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 511,991,613 604,654,469 92,662,857 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 604,654,533 616,944,194 12,289,662 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 616,944,258 625,137,344 8,193,087 82 Linux swap / Solaris
blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 203D-E8F4 vfat SHAREPART
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdb1 BA101DA3101D6821 ntfs
/dev/sdb2 720033B9003382E1 ntfs
/dev/sdb3 F6B0B837B0B80063 ntfs Local Drive
/dev/sdb4: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdb5 6ddbcb88-2e37-4533-8184-e64f49806107 ext3
/dev/sdb6 95528d2b-9130-4ffc-bda0-9bd817757fd4 ext3
/dev/sdb7 505eff82-26f7-44c6-9388-c0f55f121f9c swap
/dev/sdb: PTTYPE="dos"
============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
aufs / aufs (rw)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda1 /media/SHAREPART vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=999,gid=999,sh ortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,flush)
================================ sdb1/boot.ini: ================================
[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="MS WinXP Ins 1 GenPurpose" /fastdetect /noexecute=optin
================================ sdb2/boot.ini: ================================
[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="MSWinXPTest" /fastdetect /noexecute=optin
=========================== sdb5/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 ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6ddbcb88-2e37-4533-8184-e64f49806107
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6ddbcb88-2e37-4533-8184-e64f49806107
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=C.UTF-8
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='(hd1,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6ddbcb88-2e37-4533-8184-e64f49806107
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=6ddbcb88-2e37-4533-8184-e64f49806107 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='(hd1,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6ddbcb88-2e37-4533-8184-e64f49806107
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-21-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=6ddbcb88-2e37-4533-8184-e64f49806107 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='(hd1,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6ddbcb88-2e37-4533-8184-e64f49806107
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6ddbcb88-2e37-4533-8184-e64f49806107
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "MS WinXP Ins 1 GenPurpose (on /dev/sdb1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ba101da3101d6821
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
menuentry "MSWinXPTest (on /dev/sdb2)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd1,2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 720033b9003382e1
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Windows Vista (loader) (on /dev/sdb3)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd1,3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set f6b0b837b0b80063
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 ###
=============================== sdb5/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/sdb5 during installation
UUID=6ddbcb88-2e37-4533-8184-e64f49806107 / ext3 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /home was on /dev/sdb6 during installation
UUID=95528d2b-9130-4ffc-bda0-9bd817757fd4 /home ext3 defaults 0 2
# swap was on /dev/sdb7 during installation
UUID=505eff82-26f7-44c6-9388-c0f55f121f9c none swap sw 0 0
=================== sdb5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================
305.9GB: boot/grub/core.img
305.9GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
305.9GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
305.9GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic
305.9GB: initrd.img
305.9GB: vmlinuz
=========================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =======================
Unknown BootLoader on sdb4
00000000 5b 2e 1a 4f ad 72 33 38 eb 5a 9c c4 6e ff 72 a5 |[..O.r38.Z..n.r.|
00000010 e5 3f f4 38 c9 21 1f 6f 5f e5 42 c1 ea e5 68 50 |.?.8.!.o_.B...hP|
00000020 20 c7 d2 95 de 9f b1 3e f6 07 c7 55 ee 64 e5 89 | ......>...U.d..|
00000030 a3 ec 62 b4 85 d7 ac ec 32 9f 48 c9 de 70 8b fb |..b.....2.H..p..|
00000040 be 92 16 68 b9 3c 9a cc 7a 36 c9 e9 02 2d f4 30 |...h.<..z6...-.0|
00000050 e0 c5 3c 5c 11 02 30 b2 a2 21 23 d7 e9 c7 86 2f |..<\..0..!#..../|
00000060 44 f5 71 31 8a e4 9d a6 1f 71 e8 5d 3a 20 10 a2 |D.q1.....q.]: ..|
00000070 c0 7d 27 7a 1e 09 8f 4f a4 62 66 df 71 e4 47 35 |.}'z...O.bf.q.G5|
00000080 e9 07 22 ef f3 2c f7 32 cb 23 14 9d 4d e6 a4 4c |.."..,.2.#..M..L|
00000090 65 38 47 ff cb 63 78 fa 49 6e cb dc 1d 83 1a 29 |e8G..cx.In.....)|
000000a0 32 9c d5 e1 aa 7a ca 4a a2 d4 bd 09 53 46 5f b6 |2....z.J....SF_.|
000000b0 4b 64 b2 b0 99 7a 42 63 92 f6 ea 3d 7d c8 b4 a4 |Kd...zBc...=}...|
000000c0 09 df f2 93 5b ac ce 11 55 18 7f f6 bc 8d bd 2d |....[...U......-|
000000d0 5f b8 38 27 57 fb b9 f5 a4 8f b6 c5 8f e7 35 8b |_.8'W.........5.|
000000e0 f9 22 6e 53 eb 76 e1 97 69 ed 64 a9 85 ad 37 42 |."nS.v..i.d...7B|
000000f0 75 b7 a1 a6 fe cd cd 3a 85 75 b4 02 87 a4 9b e9 |u......:.u......|
00000100 fa 79 85 af 23 ef 62 7b c5 9c 93 85 ac 4d 6a 57 |.y..#.b{.....MjW|
00000110 91 aa bd 06 1f a2 9b 61 5f 2c ad ea cb 92 ed ba |.......a_,......|
00000120 dd 4e 68 8f f5 b7 58 ef 17 35 72 ad 26 8c 15 bf |.Nh...X..5r.&...|
00000130 e1 22 7f d3 a6 eb b8 17 d1 82 bb 4c a7 fd a6 8e |.".........L....|
00000140 54 b1 76 db 24 08 be 9b fb 21 2a 7d 23 b2 a9 6a |T.v.$....!*}#..j|
00000150 db dc ca ea be cb 32 b3 23 a9 6c 5f 28 46 9a fc |......2.#.l_(F..|
00000160 ca ee 41 c0 a7 32 9b 4f b3 b3 8e a5 30 81 5d cd |..A..2.O....0.].|
00000170 2a b0 f7 e5 8d 7d 6c cd cb 1e 9f 76 db 10 61 3b |*....}l....v..a;|
00000180 eb 36 4d c0 e0 cd cd 66 70 db 00 00 01 b6 97 bf |.6M....fp.......|
00000190 2c 1c 9c 50 7b e9 75 72 a5 e9 f4 e9 fa 7d 3f d3 |,..P{.ur.....}?.|
000001a0 d5 37 ff e9 7e 9d 2a 97 54 d5 3a 57 49 d3 ff f4 |.7..~.*.T.:WI...|
000001b0 ad 3f d3 f4 af 4e b8 e9 55 4d 4c 19 e4 f9 00 fe |.?...N..UML.....|
000001c0 ff ff 83 fe ff ff 02 00 00 00 49 ec 85 05 00 fe |..........I.....|
000001d0 ff ff 05 fe ff ff 4b ec 85 05 bd 86 bb 00 00 00 |......K.........|
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