Editing Grub boot loader

[willthebold]

So here's the deal: I had 2 harddrives we'll call A and B. I originally had XP on HD A and then installed Ubuntu 8 on HD B. But then HD A crashed and I bought a new one, C. So I installed XP on HD C but can't get the boot loader to go into XP. The only way I can do it right now is to go into the BIOS and change the HD boot order. There is still the option for XP in the boot loader, but when I pick it nothing happens. It just says "Starting Up" and sits there not doing anything. I checked the line in the menu.lst and made sure it was pointing to the right drive and partition, and I think I did it all right but it's not working. I guess this is because this HD and XP install weren't there when I installed Ubuntu originally. How do I fix this? Thanks in advance.

Forgot to add, GRUB is installed on HD B along with Ubuntu.

[iaculallad]

From my experience with window$ xp, you have to install it first (xp) followed by Ubuntu. Ubuntu installation would automatically detect any existing OS and configure it on its GRUB. Seems like window$ OS doesn't like going in second.

[forestpixie]

CAn you open a terminal - paste these commands and post the outouts here please.


sudo fdisk -l
cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

[willthebold]

sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0008f3c5

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 38536 309540388+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 38537 38913 3028252+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 38537 38913 3028221 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0000f7ec

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 38912 312560608+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
feng@feng-desktop:~$ cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=f0e50a54-3170-46ac-8721-eeb72712a06f ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd1,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=f0e50a54-3170-46ac-8721-eeb72712a06f ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=f0e50a54-3170-46ac-8721-eeb72712a06f ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title Ubuntu 8.04, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd1,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

[ssican]

This Tutorial,also, will help: Dualboot Two Hard Drives:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=179902

EDIT:
Another thread about Two Hard drives:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=769916

[forestpixie]

This might help you, it might be necessary to insert the map command in the XP lines.

Open the file from the terminal for editing after backing it up.


sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.2904
sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst

You're file is now open in the terminal for editing, don't change anything you don't want to, to save the file after you've finished Ctrl+O and enter, to close the editor Ctrl +X.

Add the changes in red to the winXP section at the end of the file.


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd1,0)
savedefault
makeactive
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1

[willthebold]

Okay, I made those changes to menu.lst, but now when I try to boot XP, I get a message saying something like "error 23. error while parsing number".

[forestpixie]

I'm not sure then - you could try swapping them so they read

map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)

but I wasn't totally sure to start with. If you change the menu.lst and still have a problem you will need to restore the backup.

The error you are getting is this one - from

http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p15.htm#Common_Booting_Errors_and_Some_Possible




Quoted from the GNU/GRUB manual

23 : Error while parsing number
This error is returned if GRUB was expecting to read a number and encountered bad data.

For example, this error can be reproduced in CLI mode GRUB by typing 'root (hdO)' insetad of 'root (hd0)'.

The '0' in '(hd0)' is a number zero, not a capital letter 'O'. If you type a capital letter 'O' in pace of a number '0' in this context, you will receive this error message.

I try to make sure there is no confusion between the number 0 and letter O in my web pages by using bitstream vera sans mono font wherever I think of it, that way the number 0 has a dot in the middle of it like terminal font.
For example, you can see that 0 is different from O.

[willthebold]

Awesome! I got it working now. When I went back and looked I had accidentally put an o instead of 0 on the first line. I guess that's what I get for trying to type too fast... Thanks again! How do I thank people on here and mark this solved? The "Mark thread as solved" option isn't in the thread tools.

[forestpixie]

See you've worked out the thanks - thank you for that - for the moment the mark thread solved tool is missing - but you can edit the thread title - go to your first thread and edit it.

Glad we got there.