Boot problem W2k/FC4 -

[Michael Wiktowy]

On 2/27/06, Mauriat Miranda <mirandam at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 2/27/06, akonstam at trinity.edu <akonstam at trinity.edu> wrote:
> > Using the Windows boot loader is the old way from Lilo days. There is
> > not problem double booting FC4 with Windows (XP or 2000) using grub. I
> > have done this on three of my machines. But the grub must be applied
> > after the Windows is installed.
>
> Not sure what the subjective phrase "the old way" means, but this is
> merely chainloading, which is still commonly used. If grub has never
> failed for you, then good for you. However it has for me and for
> others (multiple FC installs, multiple dual-boot machines). Using
> NTLDR is a very safe alternative to being potentially locked out of
> *both* windows *and* linux. (Been doing this since I had NT4)
>
> The MBR doesn't need to be constantly overwritten, this is a common
> source of problems (for me at least). If you have multiple Windows or
> Linux distributions installed, you can have 1 corresponding entry in
> the boot.ini for each bootable partition. This needs to be setup only
> once, and never really needs to be touched. You can preserve and test
> multiple grub or lilo installs from multiple distributions by
> installing a bootloader to the first sector of the bootable partition,
> as I do. (all Fedora installers have provided this option)
>
> Entirely optional, but highly recommended for anyone with reservations
> about possibly interfering with their windows xp or 2000 boot.


I would have to agree ... using NTLDR is not the "old" way, it is the only
way on some troublesome systems. Most of the time GRUB will boot Linux and
Windows just fine but there does seem to be the odd nasty
BIOS+mobo+drive+partition combo that seems to trip Windows into a
NTLDR-or-death mode.

I have had particular trouble with systems that have both SATA and IDE drive
interfaces. There doesn't seem to be any standard way for Windows to know
which one it should treat as "C:" or GRUB to know which is hd0. With enough
messing around I can usually find a magic combination of bootloader chaining
but it usually all goes to hell when you pull a drive out.

Maybe this is the scenario that the OP finds themselves in.

/Mike
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