Grub won't load my windows partition

[t3ddyg]

I was running windows XP, and decided to give kubuntu a shot after seeing KDE 4.5 on a youtube video. I resized my 160 gb drive using norton partition magic down to 100gb. Then, i installed kubuntu in the free space I created. Kubuntu works great, but whenever I try to launch my windows XP partition from grub, it goes to a black screen - and that is it. Nothing happens at all, just a black screen. Grub correctly identifies it as Windows XP on sda1.
I tried reinstalling grub from the live cd using the instructions in the grub wiki. The same issue persists. Can someone please point me in the right direction? This is irritating, and I have no clue how to fix it.

[mohansathish]

When grub detects your Windows partition, then its not an issue with grub or Kubuntu.

I have a question for you. After partitioning the HDD and before installing Kubuntu, did your machine booted?

If no for the the above question, then its some other problem.

[lechien73]

Many people report similar problems after installation. Please could you download and run the Boot Info Script from here: http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net

When you have generated the results.txt file, please post the contents here. If you're copying and pasting the text in, then please wrap it in [CODE] tags using the # button on the toolbar.

[mohansathish]

I don't know whether the MBR of Win X is being not detected clearly of it is a problem of Windows boot itself

[Mark Phelps]

I don't know whether the MBR of Win X is being not detected clearly of it is a problem of Windows boot itself

The fact that the machine boots to GRUB indicates that GRUB is already installed in the MBR.

To check the Windows boot, the OP would have to reinstall the XP MBR, which could be done using an XP CD, booting to a command line, and running the commands fixboot and fixmbr. But that will remove GRUB from the MBR and create a different problem.

[t3ddyg]

Please could you download and run the Boot Info Script

I've run the boot info script, and here is the output. Thanks for the quick replies guys!


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 211382296
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: 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

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda6: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

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

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 163.9 GB, 163928604672 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19929 cylinders, total 320173056 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 * 19 194,337,471 194,337,453 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 194,338,814 320,172,031 125,833,218 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 194,338,816 314,945,535 120,606,720 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 314,947,584 320,172,031 5,224,448 82 Linux swap / Solaris


Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdb: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders, total 398297088 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 63 398,283,479 398,283,417 7 HPFS/NTFS


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/sda1 A0A8EFABA8EF7E62 ntfs
/dev/sda2: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda5 eb46d6a4-cbde-4a91-a38e-332998a08945 ext4
/dev/sda6 2cd85021-7c2a-4f75-8f9d-bd8705230571 swap
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdb1 D8DC4027DC4001EC ntfs Dante
/dev/sdb: PTTYPE="dos"

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

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sda5 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)


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

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

=========================== sda5/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 ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set eb46d6a4-cbde-4a91-a38e-332998a08945
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set eb46d6a4-cbde-4a91-a38e-332998a08945
set locale_dir=($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 2.6.32-24-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set eb46d6a4-cbde-4a91-a38e-332998a08945
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=eb46d6a4-cbde-4a91-a38e-332998a08945 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-24-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set eb46d6a4-cbde-4a91-a38e-332998a08945
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-24-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=eb46d6a4-cbde-4a91-a38e-332998a08945 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set eb46d6a4-cbde-4a91-a38e-332998a08945
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set eb46d6a4-cbde-4a91-a38e-332998a08945
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Professional (on /dev/sda1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set a0a8efaba8ef7e62
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
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 ###

=============================== sda5/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/sda5 during installation
UUID=eb46d6a4-cbde-4a91-a38e-332998a08945 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=2cd85021-7c2a-4f75-8f9d-bd8705230571 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

=================== sda5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


108.2GB: boot/grub/core.img
155.5GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
108.3GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-generic
108.2GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic
108.3GB: initrd.img
108.2GB: vmlinuz

[Hobgoblin]

I was running windows XP, and decided to give kubuntu a shot after seeing KDE 4.5 on a youtube video. I resized my 160 gb drive using norton partition magic down to 100gb.

Did you boot into XP after resizing the partition? (just to make sure it had worked).

If not then it's most likely that something went wrong there and no amount of meddling with Grub will fix it.

The fact that it does not come up with a message such as missing operating system suggests to me that it is trying to boot from the correct partition but something on there is broken.

Can you mount the Windows partition from Kubuntu? Can you read files from it?

[oldfred]

Windows generally wants to run chkdsk after a resize, Have you run that. If you find any errors you have to rerun until you have no errrors as it does not fix everything on one pass.

XP CHKDSK info:
The chkdsk command checks the specified drive and repairs or recovers the drive if the drive requires it. The command also marks any bad sectors and it recovers readable information.
chkdsk drive: /p /r
You can use the following options:
/p Does an exhaustive check of the drive and corrects any errors.
/r Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information.
Note If you specify the /r option, the /p option is implied. When you specify the chkdsk command without arguments, the command checks the current drive with no options in effect.