Grub can't see Vista

[Slovak]

I upgraded a while back from 10.04 to 11.04, but have since gone back to 10.04 for various reasons. Anyway, since going back Ubuntu fails to see my Vista install on a separate drive, and it did way back in the day when I first installed 10.04 to begin with, then upgraded to 10.10, then to 11.04. Only since going back in Ubuntu is my Vista not seen on installing Ubuntu, and I have installed many times over too..
When using the alternate install disk, it sees my other drive, but fails to install grub anywhere but in Ubuntu, so I can't boot my Vista since it is not listed in Grub2.
Any ideas?

[jerrrys]

in terminal try

sudo update grub

[Slovak]

I have done that already, no luck.

[Quackers]

Please go to the site below and download the boot script. This will give you a zip file which should be extracted in the same directory as it was downloaded. This produces a folder which contains the script and a changelog file.
You then need to cd to that directory in the terminal (for example
cd Downloads/boot_info_script060 if you downloaded it to your Downloads folder). You don't need to do that if you downloaded it to your home folder.
Then enter

sudo bash boot_info_script.sh

This will produce a results.txt file in the same directory as the downloaded boot script. Please copy the contents of that file and paste them in your next post between CODE tags. For CODE tags click on New Reply (not quick reply)and then click on the # symbol in the toolbar.
This will give a full overview of your current system.
Thanks.

http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/

[Slovak]

Boot Info Script 0.60 from 17 May 2011


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

=> Grub2 (v1.97-1.98) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector
1 of the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and
looks in partition 1 for /boot/grub.
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

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: /boot.ini /bootmgr /Boot/BCD
/Windows/System32/winload.exe

sdb1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sdb2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

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

sdb5: __________________________________________________ ________________________

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

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

Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sda: 164.7 GB, 164696555520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 20023 cylinders, total 321672960 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 321,667,071 321,665,024 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS


Drive: sdb __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sdb: 164.7 GB, 164696555520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 20023 cylinders, total 321672960 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdb1 2,048 308,533,247 308,531,200 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 308,535,294 321,671,167 13,135,874 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 308,535,296 321,671,167 13,135,872 82 Linux swap / Solaris


"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/mapper/cryptswap1 4d60d199-3974-4655-8678-2364f0d3a359 swap
/dev/sda1 8640391940391203 ntfs
/dev/sdb1 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7 ext4

========================= "ls -R /dev/mapper/" output: =========================

/dev/mapper:
control
cryptswap1

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sdb1 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)


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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[operating systems]

[boot loader]

timeout=15

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=========================== sdb1/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 ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7
set locale_dir=($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 2.6.32-32-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-32-generic root=UUID=7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-32-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-32-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-32-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-32-generic root=UUID=7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-32-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-31-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-31-generic root=UUID=7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-31-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-31-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-31-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-31-generic root=UUID=7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-31-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-28-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-28-generic root=UUID=7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-28-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-28-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-28-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-28-generic root=UUID=7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-28-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
if [ ${timeout} != -1 ]; then
if keystatus; then
if keystatus --shift; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=0
fi
else
if sleep --interruptible 3 ; then
set timeout=0
fi
fi
fi
### 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 ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sdb1/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/sdb1 during installation
UUID=7e3f2b41-4eeb-4c1d-9d61-c7d3b656e3c7 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sdb5 during installation
#UUID=338f95a8-ce81-4acd-89d0-b6a5b1da9ceb none swap sw 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/mapper/cryptswap1 none swap sw 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

GiB - GB File Fragment(s)

124.133598328 = 133.287436288 boot/grub/core.img 1
124.196491241 = 133.354967040 boot/grub/grub.cfg 2
0.450984955 = 0.484241408 boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-28-generic 1
0.766227722 = 0.822730752 boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-31-generic 2
124.515522003 = 133.697523712 boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-32-generic 2
124.129741669 = 133.283295232 boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-28-generic 1
124.139511108 = 133.293785088 boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-31-generic 1
124.510826111 = 133.692481536 boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-32-generic 1
124.515522003 = 133.697523712 initrd.img 2
0.766227722 = 0.822730752 initrd.img.old 2
124.510826111 = 133.692481536 vmlinuz 1
124.139511108 = 133.293785088 vmlinuz.old 1

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

ERROR: isw: wrong number of devices in RAID set "isw_dgfiffibad_Volume0" [1/2] on /dev/sda
ERROR: isw: wrong number of devices in RAID set "isw_dgfiffibad_Volume0" [1/2] on /dev/sda
ERROR: isw: wrong number of devices in RAID set "isw_dgfiffibad_Volume0" [1/2] on /dev/sda
ERROR: isw: wrong number of devices in RAID set "isw_dgfiffibad_Volume0" [1/2] on /dev/sda
ERROR: isw: wrong number of devices in RAID set "isw_dgfiffibad_Volume0" [1/2] on /dev/sda


I have no idea what the raid errors are, as I do not have, nor have I ever had raid set up on this computer, or what dev/sdb5 is with the unknown file system is, how do I not only get Vista back, but fix the rest of this mess

[Quackers]

Which hard drive is set to boot first in your bios?
In your bios settings is there anything referring to a raid array or members disks?
The boot script is picking up Intel software raid data on /dev/sda only, it seems.
Has that hard drive been used in another system which used raid?

Your sdb5 partition is your swap partition, but it is not mounting.

Grub is installed to the mbr of /dev/sda but Ubuntu is installed in /dev/sdb.
Is Ubuntu booting normally?

[Slovak]

Yes, it used to be in a raid system, but has since been low level formatted and made like new. Rebooting now to check bios.
Yes Ubuntu boots fine.

Rebooted, bios is correct, the windows drive is first to boot.

[Quackers]

ok, that answers that then :-)
In Ubuntu please open a terminal and run the following, one line at a time, pressing enter after each line. (It shouldn't be necessary for sdb, but it won't do any harm.

sudo dmraid -rE /dev/sda
sudo dmraid -rE /dev/sdb then please report any output.

[Slovak]

john@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmraid -rE /dev/sda
[sudo] password for john:
Do you really want to erase "isw" ondisk metadata on /dev/sda ? [y/n] :y
john@ubuntu:~$ sudo dmraid -rE /dev/sdb
no raid disks and with names: "/dev/sdb"
john@ubuntu:~$

Done, now what?

[Quackers]

Please reboot and then in Ubuntu open a terminal and run
sudo update-grub and see if Windows is now recognised. It may not be, but if that's the case we can re-install grub which may cure that.

One other point is that there is a /boot.ini file in with your Vista boot files. This is a Windows XP boot file and unless you have XP installed shouldn't really be there. I'm wondering if that's causing a problem, though it shouldn't.

[Slovak]

Ok, then reboot again and see if I can't boot Vista?

[Quackers]

Only if the Vista Loader is picked up as grub.cfg is run in the terminal.

[Slovak]

Thanks! It works again!

[Quackers]

Aha! :-) Very good, glad you're up and running again!

Please mark the thread as solved using Thread Tools near the top of the page. Thanks.