hda and hdb,GRUB to boot windows

zillah · Jan 5, 2006, 10:04 PM

I have got two HDs, Segate and Western Digital, each one 40 GB. Connected to one cable to IDE0 (Segate is master and the Western Digital is slave).

First HD Segate (master or hda) is divided to :

15 GB NTFS for XP, 5 GB FAT32 for Storage, and 20 GB NTFS for win2003,,,,I had already installed both windows (XP and 2003).

Second HD Western Digital (slave or hdb) is divided to :

20 GB Solaris (hdb1,,,to be installed later) , 5 GB NTFS for Storage (hdb2) , 500 MB Linux swap (hdb3), 14.5 GB ext3 Linux (hdb4).,,,I used Knoppix cfdisk to create partitions utility for this HD.

I installed Linux FC4 on hdb4 and chose option for GRUB bootloader to be installed on : " /dev/hda Master Boot Record (MBR) ".

When I finished the installation of Linux, I was greeted by GRUB.

When I tried to boot into Linux no problem, but when I tried to boot into windows, I received this error message :

Booting "Windows"

rootnoverify (hd1,0)

chaninloader+1

Why was the partition for windows numbered with hd1,0,,,,it should be hd0 because both windows were installed on first hard disk (i.e hd0, not hd1) ?

When I modified from hd1 to hd0, I tried to boot windows, I received another error message :

Code:

Booting "Windows"
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
chainloader +1

Eorro 13. Invalid 
or unsupported executable format.
Press any key to continue

Why was the root showing hd(0,3), I had installed Linux on hdb (hd1) not hda (hd0) ?

fdisk -l

Code:

:
Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40016019456 bytes255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
 
Device Boot	 Start		 End	 Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1			 1		1824	14651248+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2			1825		2432	 4883760	c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/hda3 *		2433		4865	19543072+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
 
Disk /dev/hdb: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
 
Device Boot	 Start		 End	 Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1			 1		2432	19535008+ af Unknown
/dev/hdb2 *		2433		3040	 4883760	7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hdb3			3041		3101	 489982+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hdb4			3102		4865	14169330 83 Linux

/boot/grub/menu.lst

Code:

## Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
#		 all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
#		 root (hd0,3)
#		 kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hdb4
#		 initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hdb
default=0
timeout=15
splashimage=(hd0,3)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu
title Fedora Core (2.6.11-1.1369_FC4)
	root (hd0,3)-------I said it should be hd1,3
	kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
	initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.11-1.1369_FC4.img
title Windows
	rootnoverify (hd1 ,0)-----I said it should be hd0,0
	chainloader +1

When I checked the setting for BIOS (F1) I found these only :

IDE Drive 0 40016 MB
IDE Drive 1 40021 MB
IDE Drive 2 CD/DVD-ROM
IDE Drive 3 Not Installed

Form the BIOS information I could not distinguish between master (Segate) and slave (Western Digital),,,I had opened the case and checked that.

zillah · Jan 7, 2006, 09:16 AM

Any idea or thought ?

PangingJr · Jan 9, 2006, 07:39 AM

this could be due to some of the changes that you have made in the Bootloader pages during the FC4 installation,
or it's juat like this when installing Grub program on the MBR of the first BIOS hard drive and its root device that contains the rest of its files is on a different drive.

i'd not worry about the partitions numbering as long as the Grub still boot the Linux, try changing the partitions number of the two Windows in grub.conf, and also add "makeactive" to it.

but if you want to correct the entries of the partitions numbering you could try using the Grub's map command,
at the prompt type and run these two command lines...
grub> map (hd0) (hd1)
grub> map (hd1) (hd0)

but i'm not sure it will help, and it may cause more problem to you.
you may have to re-install the Grub or manually enter boot entry to load the Linux. so if you are not sure don't run the commands.

and, as for the "Any idea or thought ?"...
actually, you could install all the four operating systems on the first hard drive...

Windows XP on first primary partition,
Solaris on the second or third "primary" partition,
the other Windows OS on the third primary partition,
and Linux's root system on a small partition in either the last primary partition (hd0,3),
or (hd0,5) if you install this Linux OS into the first logical drive of the extended partition.

the Linux swap, the rest of Linux's partition (if more than one Linux's partitions) can be on the second hard drive.
the share partitions and backup partition for Windows can also be in this hard drive.

then the grub.conf and/or menu.lst would be something like...

Code:

#
# grub.conf
#
#
#
#
title	Fedora Core i386 (2.6.14-1.1653_FC4smp)
	root (hd0,3)
	kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.14-1.1656_FC4smp ro root=LABEL=/fc4 quiet selinux=0
	initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.14-1.1656_FC4smp.img
#
title	........
	root

title	Windows XP
	unhide (hd0,0)
	hide (hd0,2)
	rootnoverify (hd0,0)
	chainloader +1
	makeactive
	boot
title	Solaris 10 
	rootnoverify (hd0,1)
	chainloader +1
	makeactive
	boot
title	Windows Server 2003
	unhide (hd0,2)
	hide (hd0,0)
	rootnoverify (hd0,2)
	chainloader +1
	makeactive
	boot

zillah · Jan 9, 2006, 08:00 AM

Quote:

but if you want to correct the entries of the partitions numbering you could try using the Grub's map command,
at the prompt type and run these two command lines...
grub> map (hd0) (hd1)
grub> map (hd1) (hd0)

When I did :
#cat /boot/grub/device.map
(fd0) /dev/fd0
(hd1) /dev/hda
(hd0) /dev/hdb

Yes it has been flipped, what should I do to correct this issue ?

zillah · Jan 9, 2006, 08:09 AM

Quote:

grub>

How can I access this prompt ? Do I nee d to boot my box form Knoppix CD,,or I can do it by accessing Linux OS ?

PangingJr · Jan 9, 2006, 01:17 PM

Grub is a very powerful bootloader, it comes with so many options, small and fast. but it can also cause problem to new or novice users.
i never let Linux modify the MBR during the installation and use the Grub to load Linux only.

the Solaris 10 is also use Grub, but it installs Grub in the boot sector of its partition,
since it needs to be on a primary partition and the partition requires to have Boot flag (set active) before the installation,
the Grub will load as soon as the BIOS detacts the boot flag

anyway, you can get the command prompt by starting a Root Shell, then after enter root password type grub.

as for this problem i think you have choosen the Advanced bootloader configuration during installing the FC4 and have configure to change "Drives Order" there.
i personally have never had this problem, sorry i really don't know. the command lines above are for swapping between the two hard drives,
for changing the first BIOS hard drive. like i said the commands may not do you any good and may cause more problem.

PangingJr · Jan 10, 2006, 12:51 PM

adding to my thought about preparing the disk drive space for the Solaris partition...
if the extended partition is to be created next to the Solaris partition i would install the Solaris before creating the extended partition,
then after the Solaris has been installed i'll then install Linux . you have more power in controling the Linux installation than the Solaris, so the installing of Linux can be the last OS you install...

create an unformatted primary partition and leave rest of hard drive space next to it as a free space,
and then use a partitioning software to set this partition as Solaris x86 and also set Boot flag to this partition,
then boot your computer with Solaris DVD or CD1 the setup will detect the partition that you provided...
it will then offer to slice space inside this partition, default would be the root (/), /swap and /home (or /export/home)...