Hello all,
I have posted the following in linux.redhat.install but I
realize that I should have started with this list.
I have a laptop with Windows XP and Fedora Core 3. Each time
I boot FC3 (I mean each time, not once after install), the
boot sector is somehow corrupted and I get the message:
Hard disk boot sector invalid
Press 'H' to retry Hard Disk, any other key for floppy
Using a boot CD, I boot WinXP (nothing special done on boot
sector). Then, I can reboot WinXP again and again without
problem. When I decide to boot FC3, it works fine but after
shutting it down, I run again in the problem.
I use Boot Magic 8 for multi-boot.
I saw several dual boot problems but none seems similar.
Any idea?
Now the details...
Hardware:
Acer TM291 LMi laptop with one 40GB HD and no floppy.
1) Primary partition: Windows XP SP2 (NTFS)
2) Extended partition with the following logical partitions:
- FAT32, Boot Magic 8 and Win/Linux data sharing
- Linux swap
- Ext 3, Linux FC3 /, GRUB installed on first sector
3) Primary partition (hidden, FAT): Acer recovery partition.
Originally, the laptop used WinXP only. It was repartioned
using Partition Magic 8 and boot loader was replaced by
Boot Magic 8. Then, I installed FC3 (using single DVD distro).
GRUB was installed on first sector of partition, MBR supposedly
not modified. If you are intersted in deeper details, the
output of Partition Info is added at the end of this message.
Then, the following scenario can be reproducted at will:
1) Boot -> Boot Magic menu (Windows XP / Linux FC3) ->
select WinXP -> OK -> reboot
2) Boot Magic menu -> select FC3 -> OK -> login -> logout
-> reboot
3) Boot failure, message:
Hard disk boot sector invalid
Press 'H' to retry Hard Disk, any other key for floppy
4) Boot on a CD-ROM. This is a very useful toolbox I built based on
"Corporate Modboot" framework (http://www.nu2.nu/corpmodboot)
with Partition Magic, Ghost, etc...
5) On the CD menu, I simply select "Boot from Hard Disk" (no
special tool used, no explicit manipulation of MBR) ->
successful start of Boot Magic menu -> select WinXP ->
OK -> reboot
6) Boot Magic menu (note: no need to use Boot-CD) -> etc...
Everything is now fine ... until you boot/shutdown FC3,
after which I run into the same boot problem again.
Of course, I can live with that. But having to use the
Boot-CD after each FC3 boot cycle is not very satisfactory.
Thanks to all for any idea.
-ThL
============
PowerQuest PartitionInfo 8.0 -- Windows NT/2000 Version
Date Generated: 01/20/05 13:54:01
Copyright (c)1994-2002, PowerQuest Corporation
Permission is granted for this utility to be freely copied so long
as it is not modified in any way. All other rights are reserved.
PowerQuest, makers of PartitionMagic(r), Drive Image(tm), and DriveCopy(tm), can be reached at:
Voice: 801-437-8900
Fax: 801-226-8941
Web site: http://www.powerquest.com/support/
E-mail: magic@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
General System Information:
Total Physical Memory (bytes): 519,553,024
Used Physical Memory: (bytes): 354,488,320
Maximum Page File Size: (bytes): 1,213,501,440
Current Page File Size: (bytes): 237,899,776
===========================================================================================================
Disk Geometry Information for Disk 1: 4864 Cylinders, 255 Heads, 63 Sectors/Track
System PartSect # Boot BCyl Head Sect FS ECyl Head Sect StartSect NumSects
===========================================================================================================
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 1023 254 63 63 51,986,277
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 0 80 0 1 1 07 3235 254 63 63 51986277
0 1 00 1023 0 1 0F 1023 254 63 51,986,340 26,137,755
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 1 00 3236 0 1 0F 4862 254 63 51986340 26137755
ACER_SERVIC 0 2 00 1023 0 1 1E 1023 254 63 78,124,095 16,065
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
0 2 00 4863 0 1 1E 4863 254 63 78124095 16065
51,986,340 0 80 1023 1 1 0B 1023 254 63 51,986,403 4,096,512
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
51986340 0 80 3236 1 1 0B 3490 254 63 51986403 4096512
51,986,340 1 00 1023 254 63 05 1023 254 63 56,082,915 1,638,630
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
51986340 1 00 3491 0 1 05 3592 254 63 56082915 1638630
SWAPSPACE2 56,082,915 0 00 1023 1 1 82 1023 254 63 56,082,978 1,638,567
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
56082915 0 00 3491 1 1 82 3592 254 63 56082978 1638567
56,082,915 1 00 1023 254 63 05 1023 254 63 57,721,545 20,402,550
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
56082915 1 00 3593 0 1 05 4862 254 63 57721545 20402550
57,721,545 0 00 1023 1 1 83 1023 254 63 57,721,608 20,402,487
Info: Begin C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Info: End C,H,S values were large drive placeholders.
Actual values are:
57721545 0 00 3593 1 1 83 4862 254 63 57721608 20402487
===========================================================================================================
Partition Information for Disk 1: 38,154.4 Megabytes
Volume PartType Status Size MB PartSect # StartSect TotalSects
===========================================================================================================
C: NTFS Pri,Boot 25,383.9 0 0 63 51,986,277
ExtendedX Pri 12,762.6 0 1 51,986,340 26,137,755
EPBR Log 2,000.3 None -- 51,986,340 4,096,575
D: FAT32 Log,Boot 2,000.3 51,986,340 0 51,986,403 4,096,512
EPBR Log 800.1 51,986,340 1 56,082,915 1,638,630
*:SWAPSPACE2 Linux Swap Log 800.1 56,082,915 0 56,082,978 1,638,567
EPBR Log 9,962.2 56,082,915 1 57,721,545 20,402,550
Linux Ext3 Log 9,962.2 57,721,545 0 57,721,608 20,402,487
*:ACER_SERVIC Hid.FAT16X Pri 7.8 0 2 78,124,095 16,065
===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive C: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 63, Type: NTFS)
===========================================================================================================
1. Jump: EB 52 90
2. OEM Name: NTFS
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 8
5. Reserved Sectors: 0
6. Number of FATs: 0
7. Root Dir Entries: 0
8. Total Sectors: 0
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 63 (0x3F)
14. Total Sectors (>32MB): 0 (0x0)
15. Unused: 0x80008000
16. Total NTFS Sectors: 51986276
17. MFT Start Cluster: 786432
18. MFT Mirror Start Clust: 1028156
19. Clusters per FRS: 246
20. Clusters per Index Blk: 1
21. Serial Number: 0x7C88DBB488DB6AE2
22. Checksum: 0 (0x0)
23. Boot Signature: 0xAA55
===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive D: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 51,986,403, Type: FAT32)
===========================================================================================================
1. Jump: EB 58 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 2
5. Reserved Sectors: 34
6. Number of FAT's: 2
7. Reserved: 0x0000
8. Reserved: 0x0000
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 0
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 51986403 (0x3193FE3)
14. Big Total Sectors: 4096512 (0x3E8200)
15. Big Sectors per FAT: 15879
16. Extended Flags: 0x0000
17. FS Version: 0
18. First Cluster of Root: 2 (0x2)
19. FS Info Sector: 1
20. Backup Boot Sector: 6
21. Reserved: 000000000000000000000000
22. Drive ID: 0x80
23. Reserved for NT: 0x00
24. Extended Boot Sig: 0x29
25. Serial Number: 0x41EC0713
26. Volume Name:
27. File System Type: FAT32
28. Boot Signature: 0xAA55
===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive *: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 57,721,608, Type: Ext3)
===========================================================================================================
Ext3 file system super block:
1. Inodes count: 1275456
2. Blocks count: 2550310
3. Reserved blocks count: 127515
4. Free blocks count: 1494520
5. First data block: 0
6. Logical block size: 2
7. Logical fragment size: 2
8. Blocks/group: 32768
9. Fragments/group: 32768
10. Inodes/group: 16352
11. Mount time: 0x41EF9F56
12. Last write time: 0x41EF9FE5
13. Mount count: 10
14. Max. mount count: -1
15. Magic number: EF53
16. State: 0x0001
17. Error behavior: 0x0001
18. Minor revision level: 0
19. Last check time: 0x41EE333F
20. Max. time bet. checks: 0
21. Creator oper. system: 0
22. Major revision level: 1
23. Reserved block def. UID:0x0000
24. Reserved block def. GID:0x0000
===========================================================================================================
Boot Record for drive *: (Drive: 1, Starting sector: 78,124,095, Type: FAT)
===========================================================================================================
1. Jump: EB 3C 90
2. OEM Name: MSWIN4.1
3. Bytes per Sector: 512
4. Sectors per Cluster: 2
5. Reserved Sectors: 1
6. Number of FAT's: 2
7. Root Dir Entries: 512
8. Total Sectors: 16065 (0x3EC1)
9. Media Descriptor: 0xF8
10. Sectors per FAT: 32
11. Sectors per Track: 63 (0x3F)
12. Number of Heads: 255 (0xFF)
13. Hidden Sectors: 78124095 (0x4A8143F)
14. Big Total Sectors: 0 (0x0)
15. Drive ID: 0x80
16. Dirty Flag: 0x00
17. Extended boot Sig: 0x29
18. Serial Number: 0x3D4D16F1
19. Volume Name: ACER_SERVIC
20. File System Type: FAT16
21. Boot Signature: 0xAA55
