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

[Nat Gross]

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
>
>  
>