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unMourned
May 10th, 2008, 12:31 PM
Please, please help.

I installed HH8.04 onto hard drive "B"; Windows XP resides on hard drive "A".

Ubuntu asked me where I wanted to install GRUB, with the default set as (hd0). I selected /dev/sda1 because GRUB found the XP installation there. Completed the installation and...

I now cannot boot into XP. Booting off the Windows XP CD detects no XP installations.

sudo fdisk -l gives me:


pjohnston:/boot/grub$ sudo fdisk -l
omitting empty partition (5)

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2e3d9768

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2 1782 14305851 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 1783 3741 15735667+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda3 3742 4785 8385930 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 4786 9729 39712680 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5 1784 3741 15727603+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 15.3 GB, 15367790592 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1868 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb400c3af

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 1784 14329948+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 1785 1868 674730 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 1785 1868 674698+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris


My menu.lst file ends with:


title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=c184c007-0826-42e8-bd2d-3db28022330b 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 (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=c184c007-0826-42e8-bd2d-3db28022330b ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title Ubuntu 8.04, memtest86+
root (hd1,0)
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 (hd0,1)
savedefault
chainloader +1


I have tried using "root" for the XP HDD as:
(hd0,0)
(hd0,1)
(hd0,2)

hd0,0 bounces back to the main grub menu.
hd0,1 hangs as loading.
hd0,2 provides ntldr missing error.

Again Windows XP is on hdd "A," or /dev/sda1

In Ubuntu, I cannot see extended, logical partitions of /dev/sda1, but not the main physical partition.

I've looked through several forum postings and nothing has enabled me to boot into XP. At this point in time, my wife may kill or maim me when she finds out she cannot check her non-web-based email.

Please help.

Thank you,
Paul

unMourned
May 10th, 2008, 03:24 PM
I am in somewhat of a crisis situation, and need to get into windows as soon as possible.

Any help?

Please?

Thanks,
Paul

Sef
May 10th, 2008, 03:34 PM
Check out TestDisk (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk) and see if you can recover it.

Pumalite
May 10th, 2008, 04:02 PM
See if Super Grub can boot either one or both:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/supergrubdiskpage.html
Burn to disk and boot from it.

unMourned
May 21st, 2008, 01:53 AM
What a strange experience. My wife needed the computer for work later in the day, so I decided to scrap the Ubuntu installation altogether.

However, I couldn't boot from the cd. Her computer would boot right into Ubuntu 8.04. I finally disconnected the Ubuntu hard drive, leaving the windows hard drive as the only hard drive on the system. Nothing. Went into BIOS, and had to re-enter boot sequence as CD-ROM, hdd--after which I was able to boot from WinXP install CD.

I then ran "fixmbr" and then "fixboot" and then ran checkdisk on all volumes on that hdd.

I could then boot her system.

I guess a two-disk dual o/s install is a little more in-depth than I thought.

-p

confused57
May 21st, 2008, 03:48 AM
What a strange experience. My wife needed the computer for work later in the day, so I decided to scrap the Ubuntu installation altogether.

However, I couldn't boot from the cd. Her computer would boot right into Ubuntu 8.04. I finally disconnected the Ubuntu hard drive, leaving the windows hard drive as the only hard drive on the system. Nothing. Went into BIOS, and had to re-enter boot sequence as CD-ROM, hdd--after which I was able to boot from WinXP install CD.

I then ran "fixmbr" and then "fixboot" and then ran checkdisk on all volumes on that hdd.

I could then boot her system.

I guess a two-disk dual o/s install is a little more in-depth than I thought.

-p

It's really not that difficult to set up a dual boot with 2 hard drives. When I first started using Ubuntu, here's how I set up my system:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=179902&highlight=dualboot