grub2 not working after upgrade

[Rockling]

Just upgraded my dual boot winXP to Ubuntu 11.10 and now when the grub2 comes up and I can boot into ubuntu but when I select winXP it just falshes a blank screen before going back to the grub screen. So now I cant boot into Windows XP. below is the log from the boot info script. Any help would be great thanks.

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

=> Grub2 (v1.99) 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
for (,msdos4)/boot/grub on this drive.

sda1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /DELLBIO.BIN /DELLRMK.BIN /COMMAND.COM

sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Grub2 (v1.99)
Boot sector info: Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the boot sector of sda2
and looks at sector 260230130 of the same hard drive
for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for on this drive. No errors found in the Boot
Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows XP
Boot files: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM

sda3: __________________________________________________ ________________________

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

sda4: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ext2
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 11.10
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

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

Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19452 cylinders, total 312500000 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 63 80,324 80,262 de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 * 80,325 253,987,649 253,907,325 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3 306,198,900 312,496,379 6,297,480 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 253,987,650 306,198,899 52,211,250 83 Linux


"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/sda1 07D5-0A17 vfat DellUtility
/dev/sda2 902099C32099B0A8 ntfs
/dev/sda3 3ca23b3f-386e-4ddb-993e-84a3a3c86789 swap
/dev/sda4 e6c84b80-bcf2-4577-9a8f-41bb7b1adde0 ext2

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

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sda4 / ext2 (rw,errors=remount-ro)


================================ sda2/boot.ini: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=========================== sda4/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

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

[oldfred]

You installed grub to the Windows NTFS partition. That has to have a NTFS boot signature including which boot file ntldr(XP) or bootmgr(Vista/7/8) to use. It also has partition info like the partition table.

NTFS does keep a backup of the PBR - partition boot sector and testdisk can restore that from the backup if it is ok.


sda2: _______________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Grub2 (v1.99)
Boot sector info: Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the boot sector of sda2
and looks at sector 260230130 of the same hard drive
for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for on this drive. No errors found in the Boot
Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows XP
Boot files: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM


Fix for most, a few have other issues, better than windows fix in many cases as it also fixes other parameters:
If win7 use small 'system reserved' NTFS partition instead of the partition where windows was installed for win7
This has instructions on using testdisk to repair the install of grub to the boot sector for windows from Ubuntu or Linux LiveCD.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:Boot_Sector
You want to get to this screen:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step#NTFS_Boot_sector_recovery

OR:
[HowTo] Repair the bootsector of a Windows partition - YannBuntu
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootSectorFix
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1926510

[Rockling]

Thanks Oldfred,

Using testdisk worked for me.


This has instructions on using testdisk to repair the install of grub to the boot sector for windows from Ubuntu or Linux LiveCD.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawik...ms:Boot_Sector

Thanks