This is some good info! Thanks for the reply. :)
Here's my Results file:
Boot Info Script 0.60 from 17 May 2011
============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
sda1: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sda1 starts
at sector 0. But according to the info from fdisk,
sda1 starts at sector 40.
Operating System:
Boot files:
sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sda2 has
339085311 sectors, but according to the info from
fdisk, it has 332146687 sectors.
Mounting failed: Failed to read last sector (339085311): Invalid argument
HINTS: Either the volume is a RAID/LDM but it wasn't setup yet,
or it was not setup correctly (e.g. by not using mdadm --build ...),
or a wrong device is tried to be mounted,
or the partition table is corrupt (partition is smaller than NTFS),
or the NTFS boot sector is corrupt (NTFS size is not valid).
Failed to mount '/dev/sda2': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda2' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?
Failed to read last sector (339085311): Invalid argument
HINTS: Either the volume is a RAID/LDM but it wasn't setup yet,
or it was not setup correctly (e.g. by not using mdadm --build ...),
or a wrong device is tried to be mounted,
or the partition table is corrupt (partition is smaller than NTFS),
or the NTFS boot sector is corrupt (NTFS size is not valid).
Failed to mount '/dev/sda2': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sda2' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?
sda3: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: hfsplus
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files: /etc/fstab
sdb: __________________________________________________ _________________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: SYSLINUX 4.05 2011-12-09
Boot sector info: Syslinux looks at sector 15420 of /dev/sdb for its
second stage. SYSLINUX is installed in the directory.
No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /syslinux/syslinux.cfg /ldlinux.sys
============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________
Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 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 1 409,639 409,639 ee GPT
/dev/sda2 * 411,648 339,496,959 339,085,312 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3 339,496,960 383,537,151 44,040,192 f W95 Extended (LBA)
Empty Partition.
/dev/sda4 383,537,152 488,394,751 104,857,600 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
GUID Partition Table detected.
Partition Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors System
/dev/sda1 40 409,639 409,600 EFI System partition
/dev/sda2 411,648 332,558,335 332,146,688 Data partition (Windows/Linux)
/dev/sda3 332,558,336 488,134,983 155,576,648 Hierarchical File System Plus (HFS+) partition (Mac OS X)
"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 70D6-1701 vfat EFI
/dev/sda2 F004CB3904CB0218 ntfs Win7
/dev/sda3 7c3a4a01-cec2-3f91-b867-3f0cf1214a3a hfsplus OSX
/dev/sdb 1716-472E vfat PENDRIVE
================================ Mount points: =================================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sdb /cdrom vfat (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437, iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
=============================== sda3/etc/fstab: ================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UUID=858E85DE-CB4E-4F33-9025-980CF2D927CD none ntfs rw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================== sdb/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ============================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
if loadfont /boot/grub/font.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod gfxterm
terminal_output gfxterm
fi
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
menuentry "Try Ubuntu without installing" {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}
menuentry "Install Ubuntu" {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux /casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}
menuentry "Check disc for defects" {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper integrity-check quiet splash --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
========================== sdb/syslinux/syslinux.cfg: ==========================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# D-I config version 2.0
include menu.cfg
default vesamenu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 50
# If you would like to use the new menu and be presented with the option to install or run from USB at startup, remove # from the following line. This line was commented out (by request of many) to allow the old menu to be presented and to enable booting straight into the Live Environment!
# ui gfxboot bootlogo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
==================== sdb: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
?? = ?? boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
================== sdb: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
?? = ?? ldlinux.sys 1
?? = ?? syslinux/chain.c32 1
?? = ?? syslinux/gfxboot.c32 1
?? = ?? syslinux/syslinux.cfg 1
?? = ?? syslinux/vesamenu.c32 1
=============== sdb: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============
syslinux/chain.c32 : COM32R module (v4.xx)
syslinux/gfxboot.c32 : COM32R module (v4.xx)
syslinux/vesamenu.c32 : COM32R module (v4.xx)
======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================
Unknown BootLoader on sda1
00000000 eb 58 90 42 53 44 20 20 34 2e 34 00 02 01 20 00 |.X.BSD 4.4... .|
00000010 02 00 00 00 00 f0 00 00 20 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 |........ .......|
00000020 00 40 06 00 4f 0c 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 |.@..O...........|
00000030 01 00 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000040 00 00 29 01 17 d6 70 45 46 49 20 20 20 20 20 20 |..)...pEFI |
00000050 20 20 46 41 54 33 32 20 20 20 fa 31 c0 8e d0 bc | FAT32 .1....|
00000060 00 7c fb 8e d8 e8 00 00 5e 83 c6 19 bb 07 00 fc |.|......^.......|
00000070 ac 84 c0 74 06 b4 0e cd 10 eb f5 30 e4 cd 16 cd |...t.......0....|
00000080 19 0d 0a 4e 6f 6e 2d 73 79 73 74 65 6d 20 64 69 |...Non-system di|
00000090 73 6b 0d 0a 50 72 65 73 73 20 61 6e 79 20 6b 65 |sk..Press any ke|
000000a0 79 20 74 6f 20 72 65 62 6f 6f 74 0d 0a 00 00 00 |y to reboot.....|
000000b0 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
Unknown BootLoader on sda3
00000000 fa 31 c0 8e d0 bc f0 ff fb 8e d8 8e c0 56 be 00 |.1...........V..|
00000010 7c bf 00 e0 fc b9 00 02 f3 a4 5e 68 1f e0 c3 66 ||.........^h...f|
00000020 8b 44 08 66 a3 00 e6 88 16 04 e6 c7 06 0a e6 00 |.D.f............|
00000030 10 66 31 c9 66 41 b0 02 66 ba 00 e2 00 00 e8 a3 |.f1.fA..f.......|
00000040 00 66 a1 28 e4 66 0f c8 66 c1 e8 09 66 a3 06 e6 |.f.(.f..f...f...|
00000050 a1 00 e4 3d 48 58 74 05 3d 48 2b 75 58 b0 04 8d |...=HXt.=H+uX...|
00000060 36 ed e3 8d 3e 20 e5 e8 96 01 75 49 8d b6 1d 01 |6...> ....uI....|
00000070 8b 34 81 3c 00 02 75 3d 66 8b 5c 5c 66 0f cb 66 |.4.<..u=f.\\f..f|
00000080 81 c3 ff 01 00 00 66 c1 eb 09 81 fb ff 02 77 25 |......f.......w%|
00000090 66 8b 44 08 66 0f c8 66 31 c9 66 ba 00 02 02 00 |f.D.f..f1.f.....|
000000a0 8d 7c 68 e8 4e 02 bf ed e1 e8 6a 00 8a 16 04 e6 |.|h.N.....j.....|
000000b0 ea 00 02 00 20 bf e7 e3 e8 5b 00 f4 eb fd 66 60 |.... ....[....f`|
000000c0 89 c3 66 31 c0 88 d8 81 fb 40 00 72 02 b0 40 e8 |..f1.....@.r..@.|
000000d0 12 00 29 c3 74 0b 66 01 c1 c1 e0 09 66 01 c2 eb |..).t.f.....f...|
000000e0 e1 66 61 c3 66 60 06 89 e5 52 31 d2 66 c1 ea 04 |.fa.f`...R1.f...|
000000f0 8e c2 5b 1e 1e 66 03 0e 00 e6 66 51 06 53 30 e4 |..[..f....fQ.S0.|
00000100 50 68 10 00 8a 16 04 e6 89 e6 b4 42 cd 13 72 a5 |Ph.........B..r.|
00000110 89 ec 07 66 61 c3 66 60 57 be dd e3 e8 07 00 5e |...fa.f`W......^|
00000120 e8 03 00 66 61 c3 bb 01 00 ac 3c 00 74 06 b4 0e |...fa.....<.t...|
00000130 cd 10 eb f5 c3 66 60 ad 86 e0 ab 3c 00 74 23 89 |.....f`....<.t#.|
00000140 c1 ad 86 e0 80 3e 01 e4 58 74 14 09 c0 75 01 48 |.....>..Xt...u.H|
00000150 80 fc 00 77 0a 3c 41 72 06 3c 5a 77 02 04 20 ab |...w.<Ar.<Zw.. .|
00000160 e2 df 66 61 c3 66 60 b2 00 66 8b 44 02 66 3b 45 |..fa.f`..f.D.f;E|
00000170 02 75 0f 80 3c 00 75 0a 66 8b 44 06 66 3b 45 06 |.u..<.u.f.D.f;E.|
00000180 74 48 77 44 72 3d 66 60 31 d2 87 f7 66 ad 66 89 |tHwDr=f`1...f.f.|
00000190 c1 87 f7 66 ad 66 39 c8 77 2e 72 27 87 f7 ad 89 |...f.f9.w.r'....|
000001a0 c1 87 f7 ad 80 f9 00 74 1f 39 c8 74 0b 77 07 fe |.......t.9.t.w..|
000001b0 ce 89 c1 e9 02 00 fe c6 f3 a7 77 0c 72 05 88 f2 |..........w.r...|
000001c0 e9 07 00 fe ca e9 02 00 fe c2 88 96 14 00 80 fa |................|
000001d0 00 66 61 c3 50 57 8b 3e 0a e6 57 47 47 49 49 b0 |.fa.PW.>..WGGII.|
000001e0 00 f3 aa 89 3e 0a e6 5d 89 2d 5f 58 c3 2f 62 6f |....>..].-_X./bo|
000001f0 6f 74 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |ot............U.|
00000200
to my surprise, dmesg | grep EFI returned:
[ 9.717166] EFI Variables Facility v0.08 2004-May-17
but then find /boot/efi -name "*efi" returned:
find: '/boot/efi': No such file or directory
So...it's installed, but it's not installed. Terrific.
Of course since Mac OSX won't boot off of a BIOS, I had to format my disk and set it up as GPT with EFI (though I don't believe this was a 'true' EFI...more like an EFI that sat on top of the BIOS, but I could be way off on that), but when I was done with OSX I formatted all that and I'm inclined to believe Windows is really booting off of the BIOS, because it no longer displays the "booting off GPT" message it did while running from the EFI/GPT setup, not to mention that just now I also had to set up an extended partition to make room for Ubuntu, which would only be necessary with an MBR/BIOS setup.
Or Windows saw BIOS & ignored the gpt and installed to MBR partitions and created a hybrid.
You know what...I think that may be exactly what happened :shock:
Macs do install a hybrid MBR/gpt system that then can cause major issues if they get out of sync. Windows is in the MBR part, the Mac is in the gpt part and only the first three gpt partitions are also MBR, if that even makes sense.
Yes, it makes sense, but none of my partitions are in sync between MBR/GPT. The table looks just like it did six months ago or so from Ubuntu's perspective.
http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/GPT_FAQ.mspx
Thank you for those links; very helpful for understanding what's going on.
Before erasing anything also post these which is a bit more info that boot script will not show.
sudo parted /dev/sda unit s print
Model: ATA WDC WD2500BEVT-8 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 488397168s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 40s 409639s 409600s fat32 EFI System Partition boot
2 411648s 332558335s 332146688s ntfs SEVEN
3 332558336s 488134983s 155576648s hfs+ OSX
sudo sfdisk -l -uS
WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util sfdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.
Disk /dev/sda: 30401 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
Warning: extended partition does not start at a cylinder boundary.
DOS and Linux will interpret the contents differently.
Units = sectors of 512 bytes, counting from 0
Device Boot Start End #sectors Id System
/dev/sda1 1 409639 409639 ee GPT
start: (c,h,s) expected (0,0,2) found (1023,254,63)
end: (c,h,s) expected (25,127,14) found (1023,254,63)
/dev/sda2 * 411648 339496959 339085312 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 339496960 383537151 44040192 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4 383537152 488394751 104857600 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Disk /dev/sdb: 1012 cylinders, 63 heads, 62 sectors/track
Units = sectors of 512 bytes, counting from 0
Device Boot Start End #sectors Id System
/dev/sdb1 ? 3224498923 3657370039 432871117 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
start: (c,h,s) expected (1023,62,62) found (187,180,14)
end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,62,62) found (784,0,13)
/dev/sdb2 ? 3272020941 5225480974 1953460034 16 Hidden FAT16
start: (c,h,s) expected (1023,62,62) found (906,235,61)
end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,62,62) found (262,116,59)
/dev/sdb3 ? 0 - 0 6f Unknown
/dev/sdb4 50200576 974536369 924335794 0 Empty
start: (c,h,s) expected (1023,62,62) found (0,0,0)
end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,62,62) found (0,0,0)
Disk /dev/sdc: 1021 cylinders, 8 heads, 62 sectors/track
Units = sectors of 512 bytes, counting from 0
Device Boot Start End #sectors Id System
/dev/sdc1 ? 778135908 1919645538 1141509631 72 Unknown
start: (c,h,s) expected (1023,7,62) found (357,116,40)
end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,7,62) found (357,32,45)
/dev/sdc2 ? 168689522 2104717761 1936028240 65 Novell Netware 386
start: (c,h,s) expected (1023,7,62) found (288,115,43)
end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,7,62) found (367,114,50)
/dev/sdc3 ? 1869881465 3805909656 1936028192 79 Unknown
start: (c,h,s) expected (1023,7,62) found (366,32,33)
end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,7,62) found (357,32,43)
/dev/sdc4 ? 2885681152 2885736650 55499 d Unknown
start: (c,h,s) expected (1023,7,62) found (372,97,50)
end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,7,62) found (0,10,0)
sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.1
Warning! MBR Logical partitions found on a hybrid MBR disk! This is an
EXTREMELY dangerous configuration!
Warning! MBR Logical partitions found on a hybrid MBR disk! This is an
EXTREMELY dangerous configuration!
Warning! MBR Logical partitions found on a hybrid MBR disk! This is an
EXTREMELY dangerous configuration!
Warning! MBR Logical partitions found on a hybrid MBR disk! This is an
EXTREMELY dangerous configuration!
Partition table scan:
MBR: hybrid
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: present
Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.
Disk /dev/sda: 488397168 sectors, 232.9 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): BF3F6E10-8046-4774-89E6-AAE2E7B4BE1E
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 488397134
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 264165 sectors (129.0 MiB)
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 40 409639 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition
2 411648 332558335 158.4 GiB 0700 SEVEN
3 332558336 488134983 74.2 GiB AF00 OSX
Darn, it is a hybrid! Shall I move forward with FixParts, or no? I'd really like to go back to just a normal MBR/BIOS since that's my netbook's stock configuration, but I'd also like to avoid completely formatting again, if I can.
Thanks again for all your help!