liquifred
November 28th, 2010, 10:59 AM
I have already solved this problem but thought I should share the solution in case it helped others.
I have three hard drives in my PC. A while ago I formatted one of them and put Ubuntu and the Windows 7 Release Candidate on it (it was when that came out). I set up a simple triple boot, leaving XP untouched on a second hard drive. It was long enough ago that the original GRUB was used (I think it was Ubuntu 9.05). It all worked fine. As my wife didnt want to change I reverted back to XP as the main OS but left the others on the other drive to fool around with every now and then.
To cut a long story short I decided to give Ubuntu another go recently, so formatted the second drive again and installed Ubuntu 10.10 fresh. Here I struck a problem: the Grub2 os-prober thought that my XP hard drive was Windows 7. If I chose that option the loader would just go to a blinking cursor. If I used the BIOS to boot directly from the WindowsXP hard drive, it would boot fine.
I tried a lot of different things to fix the situation:
- quite a few custom GRUB entries found on these forums - none worked. In fact I couldnt get them to add any Windows entries to the GRUB menu, it seems that GRUB would always check whether it was actually valid and just ignore them when I did an update-grub. I may have been doing something wrong, although if I added custom Ubuntu menu items they worked fine.
- using EasyBCD on the windows XP installation to check whether that boot sector was ok. It did say that Windows 7 was still there somewhere
- looking in the C:/ drive from XP for C:/boot. It didnt show up in XP.
- using the startup-manager UI version. Any custom menu items I was trying showed up on this but never on the GRUB menu itself.
- the results.txt script from these forums, which didnt seem to show any errors:
Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010
============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================
=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive in
partition #1 for (,msdos1)/boot/grub.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb
=> Grub 0.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc and looks on boot drive #3
in partition #5 for /boot/grub/stage2 and /boot/grub/menu.lst.
sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ext3
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.10
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img
sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sda4: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
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 /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM
sdc1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
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: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 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 29,296,937 29,296,875 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 149,838,316 156,296,384 6,458,069 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 149,838,318 156,296,384 6,458,067 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 29,298,688 149,837,823 120,539,136 83 Linux
Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 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 * 63 156,280,319 156,280,257 7 HPFS/NTFS
Drive: sdc ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition Boot Start End Size Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 63 1,953,520,064 1,953,520,002 6 FAT16
blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/sda1 d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba ext3
/dev/sda2: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda4 92301411-73e5-4256-b48f-845595bb55c4 ext4
/dev/sda5 5981edcd-c83f-4aab-81c6-ccd8304fc03b swap
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdb1 F4D84F61D84F20EA ntfs windowsxp
/dev/sdb: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdc1 48F4503FF4503204 ntfs data
/dev/sdc: PTTYPE="dos"
============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/sda1 / ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)
/dev/sda4 /home ext4 (rw,commit=0)
/dev/sdc1 /media/data fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_ permissions)
=========================== sda1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="4"
if [ "${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 "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
}
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=800x600
load_video
insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=7
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 2.6.35-23-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-23-generic root=UUID=d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba ro vga=788 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-23-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-23-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.35-23-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-23-generic root=UUID=d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba ro single vga=788
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-23-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba ro vga=788 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.35-22-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba ro single vga=788
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sdb1)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set f4d84f61d84f20ea
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 ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
=============================== sda1/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/sda1 during installation
UUID=d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba / ext3 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /home was on /dev/sda4 during installation
UUID=92301411-73e5-4256-b48f-845595bb55c4 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=5981edcd-c83f-4aab-81c6-ccd8304fc03b none swap sw 0 0
=================== sda1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================
8.6GB: boot/grub/core.img
8.6GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
8.6GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
8.6GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-23-generic
8.6GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic
8.6GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-23-generic
8.6GB: initrd.img
8.6GB: initrd.img.old
8.6GB: vmlinuz
8.6GB: vmlinuz.old
================================ sdb1/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(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /FASTDETECT /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN
=========================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =======================
Unknown BootLoader on sda2
00000000 26 5a 59 32 f6 4b d8 52 5d 9c b0 89 58 9d 38 6d |&ZY2.K.R]...X.8m|
00000010 e9 59 2c 46 bd a1 82 26 81 fc 3e bd d7 c1 47 d5 |.Y,F...&..>...G.|
00000020 8d 96 98 ad e7 e8 7b fc 56 dd bb 72 b3 c5 2d 75 |......{.V..r..-u|
00000030 57 77 09 69 cb ee c6 f7 6d 0f c1 96 9d db 75 6b |Ww.i....m.....uk|
00000040 1c 91 3e 6a ce 2c fc cf d1 c3 13 f6 9b b5 c6 cb |..>j.,..........|
00000050 02 81 60 32 58 93 96 0d 1d 38 ff 1e 05 d4 56 10 |..`2X....8....V.|
00000060 c2 a9 b2 8d 2d 39 5f 0c d1 5c fc 2d 74 36 32 d2 |....-9_..\.-t62.|
00000070 fd b5 f6 e9 ad ea 0a 39 14 47 44 e4 0d 33 5c 50 |.......9.GD..3\P|
00000080 f0 f8 2c ae 64 04 e5 3e 43 ba 70 6d 33 43 8b 59 |..,.d..>C.pm3C.Y|
00000090 50 52 2a 5c 5c 6d f5 00 f0 76 f5 6c 72 85 b8 5b |PR*\\m...v.lr..[|
000000a0 2e ef e8 45 99 7f 77 f0 c5 61 8d fe 5e f8 88 17 |...E..w..a..^...|
000000b0 f2 41 37 78 93 8a df f1 fe 96 fc d0 4f 77 ef 7f |.A7x........Ow..|
000000c0 ec 14 99 2e c7 08 a6 eb bb bd 8a 89 61 4e ee 2b |............aN.+|
000000d0 3d e2 07 bd 9b 75 26 1a 3d 81 ff 0f 81 ab f2 14 |=....u&.=.......|
000000e0 6c 79 c1 1b 43 5e 49 f6 9f c4 ba 1d 83 f5 fc c2 |ly..C^I.........|
000000f0 0d 78 56 fb fd 31 8f 8a 97 af 8e 7a d7 b5 95 35 |.xV..1.....z...5|
00000100 55 ed 78 72 66 43 8b 09 75 86 25 26 3e 38 7a 5c |U.xrfC..u.%&>8z\|
00000110 6f 8a 9f 85 33 18 98 45 a4 67 4b 35 0f 2e 7e 95 |o...3..E.gK5..~.|
00000120 5e 99 72 ab ea ec 13 dd fb 4b 6d d6 6d 34 c7 fd |^.r......Km.m4..|
00000130 e3 f4 8b 13 3b 9a d3 49 b6 bf 22 59 26 30 d5 ba |....;..I.."Y&0..|
00000140 4b 1b 49 06 cb 5d b3 cb a0 7e fc 5c a8 9f 0f f0 |K.I..]...~.\....|
00000150 48 fd 3f fa ff d5 dd f4 48 86 1b ee eb f8 b4 94 |H.?.....H.......|
00000160 bf 79 b9 ae fd 74 08 e9 bb bb 52 97 09 65 fb b6 |.y...t....R..e..|
00000170 2b d7 8e bd ed d0 9c 6c 44 9f 3c bf ef 85 21 66 |+......lD.<...!f|
00000180 c1 ee 37 2c 77 c7 12 ee d2 19 69 53 f8 92 87 82 |..7,w.....iS....|
00000190 a8 6b 75 52 32 a9 d2 93 7b d3 39 f4 15 67 96 e3 |.kuR2...{.9..g..|
000001a0 c2 73 67 49 3b db 88 0d b6 db 2d ea 13 92 3a 0d |.sgI;.....-...:.|
000001b0 4c 62 d3 33 5f 89 8f 65 b1 84 e2 b9 84 52 00 fe |Lb.3_..e.....R..|
000001c0 ff ff 82 fe ff ff 02 00 00 00 d3 8a 62 00 00 00 |............b...|
000001d0 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
The fix finally came when I mounted the XP drive in Ubuntu, copying across information from My Documents preparing to format that drive and start again. I noticed that from Ubuntu there was actually a C:/boot folder, and a bootmgr file. I deleted both of them (saving them to another disk just in case) and ran update-grub again. Now the Windows hard drive showed up as Windows XP, and on a reboot it worked a treat!
So to cut a long story short - if you ever install Windows Vista or Windows 7 on the same computer as an existing XP installation, and get rid of that "upgrade", you'll need to remove the BCD it installs on your old XP or grub will never realise that it is actually XP. I should note that I'm no expert so if this advice is likely to stuff someone's XP installation up please speak up!
Hope this helps someone avoid the frustrating day I had trying all sorts of other solutions.
I have three hard drives in my PC. A while ago I formatted one of them and put Ubuntu and the Windows 7 Release Candidate on it (it was when that came out). I set up a simple triple boot, leaving XP untouched on a second hard drive. It was long enough ago that the original GRUB was used (I think it was Ubuntu 9.05). It all worked fine. As my wife didnt want to change I reverted back to XP as the main OS but left the others on the other drive to fool around with every now and then.
To cut a long story short I decided to give Ubuntu another go recently, so formatted the second drive again and installed Ubuntu 10.10 fresh. Here I struck a problem: the Grub2 os-prober thought that my XP hard drive was Windows 7. If I chose that option the loader would just go to a blinking cursor. If I used the BIOS to boot directly from the WindowsXP hard drive, it would boot fine.
I tried a lot of different things to fix the situation:
- quite a few custom GRUB entries found on these forums - none worked. In fact I couldnt get them to add any Windows entries to the GRUB menu, it seems that GRUB would always check whether it was actually valid and just ignore them when I did an update-grub. I may have been doing something wrong, although if I added custom Ubuntu menu items they worked fine.
- using EasyBCD on the windows XP installation to check whether that boot sector was ok. It did say that Windows 7 was still there somewhere
- looking in the C:/ drive from XP for C:/boot. It didnt show up in XP.
- using the startup-manager UI version. Any custom menu items I was trying showed up on this but never on the GRUB menu itself.
- the results.txt script from these forums, which didnt seem to show any errors:
Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010
============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================
=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive in
partition #1 for (,msdos1)/boot/grub.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb
=> Grub 0.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc and looks on boot drive #3
in partition #5 for /boot/grub/stage2 and /boot/grub/menu.lst.
sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ext3
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.10
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img
sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sda4: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
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 /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM
sdc1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
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: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 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 29,296,937 29,296,875 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 149,838,316 156,296,384 6,458,069 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 149,838,318 156,296,384 6,458,067 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 29,298,688 149,837,823 120,539,136 83 Linux
Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 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 * 63 156,280,319 156,280,257 7 HPFS/NTFS
Drive: sdc ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition Boot Start End Size Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 63 1,953,520,064 1,953,520,002 6 FAT16
blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/sda1 d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba ext3
/dev/sda2: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda4 92301411-73e5-4256-b48f-845595bb55c4 ext4
/dev/sda5 5981edcd-c83f-4aab-81c6-ccd8304fc03b swap
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdb1 F4D84F61D84F20EA ntfs windowsxp
/dev/sdb: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdc1 48F4503FF4503204 ntfs data
/dev/sdc: PTTYPE="dos"
============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/sda1 / ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)
/dev/sda4 /home ext4 (rw,commit=0)
/dev/sdc1 /media/data fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_ permissions)
=========================== sda1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="4"
if [ "${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 "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
}
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=800x600
load_video
insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=7
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 2.6.35-23-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-23-generic root=UUID=d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba ro vga=788 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-23-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-23-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.35-23-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-23-generic root=UUID=d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba ro single vga=788
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-23-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba ro vga=788 quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.35-22-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba ro single vga=788
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sdb1)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd1,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set f4d84f61d84f20ea
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 ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
=============================== sda1/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/sda1 during installation
UUID=d22e8f2e-18a1-43c4-bfe5-16ff046374ba / ext3 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /home was on /dev/sda4 during installation
UUID=92301411-73e5-4256-b48f-845595bb55c4 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=5981edcd-c83f-4aab-81c6-ccd8304fc03b none swap sw 0 0
=================== sda1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================
8.6GB: boot/grub/core.img
8.6GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
8.6GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
8.6GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-23-generic
8.6GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic
8.6GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-23-generic
8.6GB: initrd.img
8.6GB: initrd.img.old
8.6GB: vmlinuz
8.6GB: vmlinuz.old
================================ sdb1/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(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /FASTDETECT /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN
=========================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =======================
Unknown BootLoader on sda2
00000000 26 5a 59 32 f6 4b d8 52 5d 9c b0 89 58 9d 38 6d |&ZY2.K.R]...X.8m|
00000010 e9 59 2c 46 bd a1 82 26 81 fc 3e bd d7 c1 47 d5 |.Y,F...&..>...G.|
00000020 8d 96 98 ad e7 e8 7b fc 56 dd bb 72 b3 c5 2d 75 |......{.V..r..-u|
00000030 57 77 09 69 cb ee c6 f7 6d 0f c1 96 9d db 75 6b |Ww.i....m.....uk|
00000040 1c 91 3e 6a ce 2c fc cf d1 c3 13 f6 9b b5 c6 cb |..>j.,..........|
00000050 02 81 60 32 58 93 96 0d 1d 38 ff 1e 05 d4 56 10 |..`2X....8....V.|
00000060 c2 a9 b2 8d 2d 39 5f 0c d1 5c fc 2d 74 36 32 d2 |....-9_..\.-t62.|
00000070 fd b5 f6 e9 ad ea 0a 39 14 47 44 e4 0d 33 5c 50 |.......9.GD..3\P|
00000080 f0 f8 2c ae 64 04 e5 3e 43 ba 70 6d 33 43 8b 59 |..,.d..>C.pm3C.Y|
00000090 50 52 2a 5c 5c 6d f5 00 f0 76 f5 6c 72 85 b8 5b |PR*\\m...v.lr..[|
000000a0 2e ef e8 45 99 7f 77 f0 c5 61 8d fe 5e f8 88 17 |...E..w..a..^...|
000000b0 f2 41 37 78 93 8a df f1 fe 96 fc d0 4f 77 ef 7f |.A7x........Ow..|
000000c0 ec 14 99 2e c7 08 a6 eb bb bd 8a 89 61 4e ee 2b |............aN.+|
000000d0 3d e2 07 bd 9b 75 26 1a 3d 81 ff 0f 81 ab f2 14 |=....u&.=.......|
000000e0 6c 79 c1 1b 43 5e 49 f6 9f c4 ba 1d 83 f5 fc c2 |ly..C^I.........|
000000f0 0d 78 56 fb fd 31 8f 8a 97 af 8e 7a d7 b5 95 35 |.xV..1.....z...5|
00000100 55 ed 78 72 66 43 8b 09 75 86 25 26 3e 38 7a 5c |U.xrfC..u.%&>8z\|
00000110 6f 8a 9f 85 33 18 98 45 a4 67 4b 35 0f 2e 7e 95 |o...3..E.gK5..~.|
00000120 5e 99 72 ab ea ec 13 dd fb 4b 6d d6 6d 34 c7 fd |^.r......Km.m4..|
00000130 e3 f4 8b 13 3b 9a d3 49 b6 bf 22 59 26 30 d5 ba |....;..I.."Y&0..|
00000140 4b 1b 49 06 cb 5d b3 cb a0 7e fc 5c a8 9f 0f f0 |K.I..]...~.\....|
00000150 48 fd 3f fa ff d5 dd f4 48 86 1b ee eb f8 b4 94 |H.?.....H.......|
00000160 bf 79 b9 ae fd 74 08 e9 bb bb 52 97 09 65 fb b6 |.y...t....R..e..|
00000170 2b d7 8e bd ed d0 9c 6c 44 9f 3c bf ef 85 21 66 |+......lD.<...!f|
00000180 c1 ee 37 2c 77 c7 12 ee d2 19 69 53 f8 92 87 82 |..7,w.....iS....|
00000190 a8 6b 75 52 32 a9 d2 93 7b d3 39 f4 15 67 96 e3 |.kuR2...{.9..g..|
000001a0 c2 73 67 49 3b db 88 0d b6 db 2d ea 13 92 3a 0d |.sgI;.....-...:.|
000001b0 4c 62 d3 33 5f 89 8f 65 b1 84 e2 b9 84 52 00 fe |Lb.3_..e.....R..|
000001c0 ff ff 82 fe ff ff 02 00 00 00 d3 8a 62 00 00 00 |............b...|
000001d0 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
The fix finally came when I mounted the XP drive in Ubuntu, copying across information from My Documents preparing to format that drive and start again. I noticed that from Ubuntu there was actually a C:/boot folder, and a bootmgr file. I deleted both of them (saving them to another disk just in case) and ran update-grub again. Now the Windows hard drive showed up as Windows XP, and on a reboot it worked a treat!
So to cut a long story short - if you ever install Windows Vista or Windows 7 on the same computer as an existing XP installation, and get rid of that "upgrade", you'll need to remove the BCD it installs on your old XP or grub will never realise that it is actually XP. I should note that I'm no expert so if this advice is likely to stuff someone's XP installation up please speak up!
Hope this helps someone avoid the frustrating day I had trying all sorts of other solutions.