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Duel boot problem???

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 5:52 pm
by Sam111
Ok I am trying to help this person. Make his computer duel bootable.

He has create parition for the windows vista os , 2 for the ubuntu os (one for swap the other for the os) , and he has the rest as unallocated space that he wants to format as either ntfs or fat32 for his files.

How he said he did it---> is he did a complete reformat of the harddisk then installed vista.
Then installed ubuntu which installed grub. He can boot fine with both. But when he goes to allocate the unallocated space as either ntfs or fat32. It won't boot.
He gets grub stage 1.5 error 17.

I looked up error 17 and it say's something that it cann't mount something...etc etc
When he allocates the unallocated space he chooses to make it a logical partiton.
Also try choosing extended partition.

I just don't know what it could be even if grub cann't mount the allocated space. It shouldn't effect the bootablity of vista or ubuntu. This was just for files ...etc

Here is the fstab and menu.lst files.
Apparently he has sda instead of hda I think this just means it is SATA instead of IDE or something.

sda1 isn't list I am wondering if that is the problem and how to fix this.
I don't want to have he reinstall everything because it seems to just be a problem when you allocate the unallocate part .

Code: Select all

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default		0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout		10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line)  and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
#      password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title		Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root		(hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader	+1
#
# title		Linux
# root		(hd0,1)
# kernel	/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=39e1b1de-c7eb-4500-917d-8889289d3115 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=39e1b1de-c7eb-4500-917d-8889289d3115

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
##      lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
##      lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
##      altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
##      howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
uuid		39e1b1de-c7eb-4500-917d-8889289d3115
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=39e1b1de-c7eb-4500-917d-8889289d3115 ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		39e1b1de-c7eb-4500-917d-8889289d3115
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=39e1b1de-c7eb-4500-917d-8889289d3115 ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
uuid		39e1b1de-c7eb-4500-917d-8889289d3115
kernel		/boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title		Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title		Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)
root		(hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1




fstab

Code: Select all

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# /dev/sda3
UUID=39e1b1de-c7eb-4500-917d-8889289d3115 /               ext3    relatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /dev/sda2
UUID=ad429092-ecea-4868-8ce5-71226f817728 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0



Re: Duel boot problem???

Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:22 pm
by stephenj
If you log in with a live cd, and type "sudo fdisk -l" what is the output?

(This may not be the problem, but it is my first instinct)

Re: Duel boot problem???

Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:24 am
by Sam111
Assuming that fdisk matches fstab file except for the sda1 entry is not in fstab.
Should their be an entry of that in their.

What else could it be.
Should I tell him to use gpart to allocate the partition and then do a grub-install again.

I am telling to use fat32 but ntfs should be supported in ubuntu by now. Either way this isn't really an issue.

Never had any trouble doing it in XP does but Vista dun no.

Re: Duel boot problem???

Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:39 am
by DeletedAccount
Hi,
Long while since i have seen a nix box for a while ,my comments make not make sense , however.....

1) boot using the ubuntu live cd
2) chroot into the linux root partition
3) Install grub from there -- using grubinstall if available
4) you actually make a partiton fat32 by using the mkdosfs command


Regards
Shrek

Re: Duel boot problem???

Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:18 pm
by stephenj
fdisk may tell us something that has been overlooked. Also, if this is a partition problem then getting EXACT info (info not available in fstab) about said partitions is a good thing.