Dual-boot woes

[kathrync]

I am having real trouble getting my dual boot system set-up. I suspect the answer is probably out there somewhere already, but I am new to this and having trouble sorting through all the information.

The story so far is this:

I have a new desktop with Win 7 64 bit installed on an HDD it.

I put in a separate SSD, and installed Ubuntu 12.04 on that.

When I boot, the GRUB menu comes up with the following options:
Ubuntu
Advanced options for Ubuntu
Windows UEFI loader
Windows UEFI memory test
Windows 7 loader (on /dev/sda3)

Ubuntu boots ok

Selecting the Windows UEFI option gives me the error message:
"error: no such device: 9273-9636
error: file '/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi.bkp' not found."

Selecting the Windows 7 loader option gives me:
"error: invalid EFI file path"

Worryingly, I can't boot from my Win 7 recovery or install disc to attempt to fix things from the Windows side. I have tried forcing this from the BIOS (or UEFI or whatever it is now) to no avail...not even setting the CD-ROM drive to the top of the boot list works (and weirdly when I try it that, I find that it has moved itself back down the list when I go back in to try again). I also tried selecting the system recovery option from the UEFI boot menu, but that took me back to the GRUB menu.

I am totally at a loss, and without being able to boot from my Win 7 discs I don't even know where to start fixing it (my first instinct is to attempt start-up repair in Windows but I can't get into it or boot from a CD to do that).

I have tried running boot-repair as well but that doesn't seem to have achieved anything. The URL with the output is here http://paste.ubuntu.com/1287871/ if it is useful to anyone though.

I suspect my problem is either that I have installed GRUB in the Windows MBR, or that there is some UEFI/BIOS incompatibility going on but I don't know how to solve it.

Any help much appreciated...but please, treat me like an imbecile and walk me through every step...don't assume I know anything! The point of installing Ubuntu was to learn about Linux, but I didn't quite expect to end up in the deep end like this!

Cheers

K

[mitsi]

hello , does your keyboard stop working as do the mouse buttons or not because if they stop it might be a graphics card and / or driver problems ,also that is the problem i have not being able to re-install or fix from either ubuntu or win 7 side , most disappointing , my old laptop ( stand-alone on unbuntu ,no windows , is still working like new no problem ) found those answers on f1 online ,now i dont' know what to do next also don't rush into wiping out any thing just yet give it a little time so yeah look at your drivers hope that this helps a little ,knowing what could be causing problem is a start ,all the best , and good luck . mitsi

[AndyOpie150]

Try burning the Boot-Repair .iso to a CD and choose the first option. If that doesn't fix the problem go into the advanced section and choose to install a generic MBR to sda.

Check it out here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...50&postcount=2

[oldfred]

You have Windows in the new UEFI boot mode with the drive partitioned with gpt partitioning.
You have Ubuntu on the SSD booting in the old BIOS mode with the drive partitioned in MBR(msdos) mode.

They do not work well when in different modes. Best to reinstall Ubuntu in UEFI mode using gpt partitioning.

Arch also recommends gpt partitioning on SSDs, but Windows only works with gpt when in UEFI mode. But you already are in UEFI mode so all drives should be gpt.

You have to use the 64bit version and boot the installer USB in UEFI mode or from UEFI choosing efi.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...ware_Interface
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GPT
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Grub2

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFIBooting

[kathrync]

Thanks oldfred, those links look very comprehensive. I am away for the weekend so I won't get a chance to give this a go until Sunday or Monday evening, but I'll get back on here and let you know if I managed to sort it out (or possibly ask more stupid questions if not )

[kathrync]

Ok, so I've had a fiddle over the last couple of days and I think I'm getting there but I still can't make it work properly.

I managed to re-install Ubuntu in UEFI mode by following the very useful links that were posted. See http://paste.ubuntu.com/1301258/ for confirmation of that.

The situation at the moment is:

-If I remove the SSD with Ubuntu on it, Windows boots with no problems.

-If I put the SSD back in and boot with priority going to the HDD with Windows on it, it tries to boot Windows and gets as far as the splash screen which says "Starting Windows" and has the animated Windows logo on it. From there, it goes to the GRUB menu rather than actually going into Windows. The GRUB menu has an option for Windows but it doesn't work (I get the invalid EFI path error iirc). I can boot Ubuntu ok from there though.

-If I put the SSD in and boot with priority going to the SSD, it goes directly to GRUB, but again no access to Windows.

I have tried running startup repair in Windows and boot-repair in Ubuntu but neither have fixed this problem. I considered using a tool like EasyBCD to try and sort it out from within Windows, but as I can't boot Windows with the SSD containing Ubuntu in place this is proving difficult unless there's some trick I don't know.

While it's great to have both systems running again, rummaging around inside my box to remove the SSD every time I want to boot Windows is a little impractical....any tips for getting me the rest of the way there??

Thanks!

[newb85]

Random thought from someone who doesn't really know what's going on:
Could it be that the drives are being identified differently when the SSD is in place, so Windows doesn't boot correctly because something is pointing to the wrong drive?

[kathrync]

Random thought from someone who doesn't really know what's going on:
Could it be that the drives are being identified differently when the SSD is in place, so Windows doesn't boot correctly because something is pointing to the wrong drive?

That's where my line of thought is taking me as well. I suspect that the Windows boot loader must somehow be pointing at GRUB. Unfortunately, I have no idea how I can find out if this is the case, or how to fix it!

In any event, it is late here and I am off to bed, but I'll have a look at this tomorrow and see if there are any suggestions...

[oldfred]

It looks like sdb is still formatted as MBR? Only the listing for sda says gpt. And gpt drives do not have extended partitions.

So when you boot from sdb are your really booting grub in MBR mode, even though you show efi files in sdb1? There was some question if efi worked in MBR and no one knew. Maybe we just found out?

When in efi mode, grub2's os-prober does not create a valid chainload entry to the Windows efi. But Yann has updated Boot-Repair to fix that if grub-efi is installed not grub-pc for BIOS.

[kathrync]

It looks like sdb is still formatted as MBR? Only the listing for sda says gpt. And gpt drives do not have extended partitions.

So when you boot from sdb are your really booting grub in MBR mode, even though you show efi files in sdb1? There was some question if efi worked in MBR and no one knew. Maybe we just found out?

When in efi mode, grub2's os-prober does not create a valid chainload entry to the Windows efi. But Yann has updated Boot-Repair to fix that if grub-efi is installed not grub-pc for BIOS.

Yeah, I was wondering about that after I logged off and went to bed last night. Yesterday I was so pre-occupied with making sure the EFI files were present that I forgot to check how sdb was partitioned.

I re-partitioned sdb when I re-installed Ubuntu using the partitioning tool in the installer which you get to by selecting "do something else". I didn't see any options for gpt partitioning there (at the time, I assumed that if you had booted in EFI mode, it would assume you wanted gpt partitions), so I'm guessing the next thing to try is to reformat sdb and pre-partion it using something like GParted before re-installing Ubuntu?? I just want to make sure that sounds like a sensible plan before I go for it!

I am not familiar with GParted...can I run it via my Live USB version of Ubuntu, or will I have to make a separate Live USB with just GParted on it??

K