Re: Dual Boot, Grub, FC3-WinXpSP2, 2 drives. No go.

[Nat Gross <natgross.rentalsystems@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Craig White wrote:

> On Tue, 2005-03-01 at 01:00 -0500, Robert Locke wrote:
>  
>
> > On Mon, 2005-02-28 at 17:55 -0500, Nat Gross wrote:
> > <snip>
> >    
> >
> > > I thought so, too. But I just mounted both (vfat and ntfs) partitions 
> > > under FC3, and there is no boot.ini file. At this point I am certain 
> > > that for some reason (maybe due to an earlier install of Windows) 
> > > Windows kept the boot.ini on C, hda, and used that to boot from E.
> > >
> > >      
> > This is beginning to sound problematic and more of a Windows thing....
> >
> > I am guessing that perhaps we would need to "repair" the Windows
> > installation.  Offhand, I am not sure how to do this and I think that it
> > will most likely attempt to overwrite the MBR part of the first disk.
> > This is not necessarily a huge problem in that a quick linux rescue
> > followed by a grub re-installation of the first stage bootloader can
> > correct the damage potentially done by the Windows repair....
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> >    
> >
> > > One key question is, does grub require that I make hdb5 bootable?
> > >
> > >      
> > So to speak.  GRUB is passing control to the NTLDR and BOOT.INI files.
> > Remember that they are hidden/system files usually, so depending on how
> > you tried to locate them might be why you did not see them (probably a
> > pipe dream)???
> >
> > I think at this stage you may be looking to get some advice on how to
> > repair the Windows partition unless someone else wants to jump in with
> > advice on that side....
> >    
> ----
> I'm coming in late in the game - NTLDR and BOOT.INI would normally be
> found in c:\ and they are invisible files - you wouldn't normally see
> them in Windows unless you set all files visible including system files.
>
> If the 'C' drive was removed, then these files no longer exist.
>
> You can boot Windows Install CD - go to recover console, and type
> "FIXBOOT"
>
> should fix that problem
>
>  
The problem is that Windows has been updated to sp2, rendering the 
original Win cd useless.
-nat

> another option is FIXMBR but that might be a mistake if you want grub to
> chain the bootloader - remember though that grub should be chaining to
> the proper drive hd(?,0) and the ? is likely to be a number like 1 or 2
> or 3 depending on how many hard drives are installed
>
> Craig
>
>