Unable to dual boot into Ubuntu

[MaeseFernando]

Hi,

I'm trying to setup a dual boot XP/Ubuntu on my system, without much luck.

I have two HDs, sda and sdb. sda is used only for backups and sdb has windows XP installed on one partition.

I tried to install Ubuntu 8 workstation, and everything went fine (apparently) fine. Ubuntu was installed on sdb6 and a swap partition on sdb7.

When the system rebooted after finishing the installation, it went directly into XP and no grub menu shows up.

After reading a post here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=80508), I tried using bootpart (http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm)to add sdb6 to the Windows boot menu. I followed the same steps on that post but Linux still wont boot: I get a message saying "Cannot load from harddisk."

I though it might be that grub was installed on sda instead of sdb6, so I copied the boot sector of sda with bootpart (http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm)and tried again: it didn't work. When I select Ubuntu in the Windows boot menu, I go back to the Windows boot menu again (in a loop).

Now I'm completely lost. What am I doing wrong? I can't be this difficult to have XP and Linux on the same machine...

[MaeseFernando]

BTW, this is the output of bootpart, if it helps:

[c:\bin\bootpart] bootpart
Boot Partition 2.60 for WinNT/2K/XP (c)1995-2005 G. Vollant (info@winimage.com)
WEB : http://www.winimage.com and http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm
Add partition in the Windows NT/2000/XP Multi-boot loader
Run "bootpart /?" for more information

Physical number of disk 0 : 9254baca
0 : C:* type=7 (HPFS/NTFS), size= 195358401 KB, Lba Pos=63
Physical number of disk 1 : e450e450
1 : D:* type=7 (HPFS/NTFS), size= 113242153 KB, Lba Pos=63
2 : D: type=5 (Extended), size= 82116247 KB, Lba Pos=226484370
3 : D: type=7 (HPFS/NTFS), size= 10241406 KB, Lba Pos=226484433
4 : D: type=5 (Extended), size= 68902785 KB, Lba Pos=246967245
5 : D: type=83 (Linux native), size= 68902753 KB, Lba Pos=246967308
6 : D: type=5 (Extended), size= 2972025 KB, Lba Pos=384772815
7 : D: type=82 (Linux swap), size= 2971993 KB, Lba Pos=384772878
Physical number of disk 2 : 0
8 : E:* type=6 (BIGDOS Fat16), size= 125296 KB, Lba Pos=32

[conphuzed]

try reinstalling grub to the mbr as follows:

sudo grub

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1 - this will provide a read out hd= hard drive, first number = hard drive number (as allocated by grub) second number = the partition on the hard drive

grub> root (hd?,?)

grub> setup (hd?)

grub> quit

NOTE: fill in the ? with the output from find /boot/grub/stage1

[MaeseFernando]

try reinstalling grub to the mbr as follows:


Will I still be able to boot into XP after that?

Can I do this from a live CD? At this moment I can boot into linux.

[zvacet]

At this moment I can boot into linux.

Does it mean that you solved your problem?If not,and you can boot Ubuntu then


sudo fdisk -l

Post output here.

[MaeseFernando]

Does it mean that you solved your problem?

No it was a typo. O:-) I can NOT boot into linux.

[MaeseFernando]

Does it mean that you solved your problem?If not,and you can boot Ubuntu then


sudo fdisk -l

Post output here.

Here is the output:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9254baca

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 24321 195358401 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe450e450

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 14098 113242153+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 14099 24321 82116247+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 14099 15373 10241406 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb6 15374 23951 68902753+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 23952 24321 2971993+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdc: 128 MB, 128450560 bytes
8 heads, 32 sectors/track, 980 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 256 * 512 = 131072 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 979 125296 6 FAT16


PS sdc is a usb drive.

[zvacet]

Reinstall grub. ([URL="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224351&highlight=reinstall+grub"[/URL]) If you have any questions after that post them here.