Call for testing with dual-boot scenarios (or more accurately, call for information)

Fri Apr 23 19:35:24 UTC 2004

I have an IBM T30 with Windows XP installed on /dev/hda1 with Partition
Magic 8.01, Fedora Core 1 on /dev/hda2 with a swap partition on /dev/hda3.
Fedora Core 2 Test 2 was installed and yum update'd to Test 3 on /dev/hda4,
again using /dev/hda3 as its swap.

I have the Windows XP boot loader installed in the MBR, FC1 has grub loaded
on /dev/hda2 with LBA enabled, and FC2 has grub loaded on /dev/hda4 with LBA
enabled.

I then ran from Windows XP:
bootpart 2 LBA c:\linux.bin "Fedora Core 1"
bootpart 4 LBA  c:\linuxtest.bin "Fedora Core 2"

which makes it possible for me to chain load grub from the appropriate linux
partition and boot into whichever that version of Fedora Core.  I have not
had any problems, per se but every time I enter Partition Magic I am getting
the error message:
http://www.montleon.com/pm1.png

If I click no it continues, if I click yes I get these:
http://www.montleon.com/pm2.png
http://www.montleon.com/pm3.png

And from then on when I start PM8 I get this messages:
http://www.montleon.com/pm4.png

These occur whether I create and format the partition with PM8 (but only
after installing FC2), or I create it via Disk Druid and FC2 and format it
during install.  I've managed to do some really bad stuff with selinux that
have made it easier to reload about 4 times over now, and each time I delete
and recreate the partition PM8 stops complaining reinstall FC2.
Interestingly enough from its perspective the partition is also full
(http://www.montleon.com/pm5.png) from the time I reboot from installing FC2
on, even though when I reboot and log into FC2 and look it's more like 51%
full., and I cannot access it with the tool that also comes with PM8.

This is what it should and does look like for FC1:
http://www.montleon.com/pm6.png
and for FC2:
http://www.montleon.com/pm7.png

I have no idea how much of this is in any way related to what you are
looking at, or if it is a totally separate issue perhaps to do with PM8
rather than FC2, but it has definately struck me as unusual, but either way
I hope you find this information useful:

'/sbin/parted /dev/hda print' on Fedora Core 1:
[root at jmontleon-note root]# /sbin/parted /dev/hda print
Disk geometry for /dev/hda: 0.000-38154.375 megabytes
Disk label type: msdos
Minor    Start       End     Type      Filesystem  Flags
1          0.031  22266.562  primary   ntfs        boot
2      22266.562  29959.453  primary   ext3
3      29959.453  30461.484  primary   linux-swap
4      30461.484  38154.375  primary   ext3
Information: Don't forget to update /etc/fstab, if necessary.

'grub --no-floppy' on Fedora Core 1:
    GRUB  version 0.93  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
   completions of a device/filename.]

grub> geometry (hd0)

drive 0x80: C/H/S = 5168/240/63, The number of sectors = 78140160, /dev/hda
   Partition num: 0,  Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
   Partition num: 1,  Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
   Partition num: 2,  Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x82
   Partition num: 3,  Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

geometry (hd0) from grub prompt at boot for FC2:

'modprobe edd' on FC1
I was able to do 'modprobe edd' on Fedora Core 1 but there is no /sys
directory so I've no idea where to grab this information from, or if it is
even available as you were asking for it; if it is somewhere and you need it
I will grab it.

'/sbin/parted /dev/hda print' on Fedora Core 2:
[root at fc2 root]# /sbin/parted /dev/hda print
Disk geometry for /dev/hda: 0.000-38154.375 megabytes
Disk label type: msdos
Minor    Start       End     Type      Filesystem  Flags
1          0.031  22266.562  primary   ntfs        boot
2      22266.562  29959.453  primary   ext3
3      29959.453  30461.484  primary   linux-swap
4      30461.484  38154.375  primary   ext3
Information: Don't forget to update /etc/fstab, if necessary.

[root at fc2 root]#

'grub --no-floppy' on Fedora Core 2:
    GNU GRUB  version 0.94  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
completions of a device/filename.]

grub> geometry (hd0)
drive 0x80: C/H/S = 65535/16/63, The number of sectors = 78140160, /dev/hda
   Partition num: 0,  Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
   Partition num: 1,  Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
   Partition num: 2,  Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x82
   Partition num: 3,  Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83

grub>

The above C/H/S values differ...

'geometry (hd0)' from grub prompt at boot for FC2 (albeit chainloaded from
XP bootloader):
Both FC1 and FC2 report 1023/240/63 when I run 'geometry (hd0)' from a grub
prompt before booting; is 1023 due to the BIOS limitation, and FC2 differs
from what FC1.  The only other differentiation is grub for FC1 reports
version 0.93, and 0.94 for FC2.  All other numbers are identical to those
above for FC1 and PM8 and bootpart:

http://www.montleon.com/pm8.png

'modprobe edd'  on FC2:
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# ls
default_cylinders          extensions  interface         legacy_sectors
sectors
default_heads              host_bus    legacy_cylinders  mbr_signature
version
default_sectors_per_track  info_flags  legacy_heads      raw_data
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat default_cylinders
0x3fff
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat default_heads
0x10
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat default_sectors_per_track
0x3f
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat extensions
Fixed disk access
Enhanced Disk Drive support
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat host_bus
PCI     00:1f.7  channel: 0
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat info_flags
DMA boundary error transparent
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat interface
ATA             device: 0
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat legacy_cylinders
0x3fe
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat legacy_heads
0xef
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat legacy_sectors
0x3f
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat mbr_signature
0x26402640
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat raw_data
J???S??@?,PCI ATA     ?[root at fc2 int13_dev80]#
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# sectors
-bash: sectors: command not found
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat sectors
0x4a85300
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]# cat version
0x30
[root at fc2 int13_dev80]#

'df -kh' on FC2 (just as a comparison to the 100% full PM8 says):
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda4             7.3G  3.5G  3.5G  51% /
none                  126M     0  126M   0% /dev/shm
[root at fc2 /]#

Anyway, I hope this all helps, as I see a problem, although I have
absolutely no idea what it means, and it took a long time to write up :o)

Jason