no boot XP after FC4

[J. Refugio Rodriguez]

--- Grant Allan <grant at forum8.co.nz> wrote:

> > On Thu, October 20, 2005 12:53 pm, Grant Allan
> said:
> >> hi,
> >>
> >> just installed FC4 into empty partition on same
> drive as WindowsXP
> >> (disk1).  i'm aiming for dual-boot using NTLDR
> menu.
> >>
> >> i think i messed something up, cos now during
> reboot i get told that
> >> NTLDR
> >> can't be found.  strange thing is, when i boot
> from SystemRecoveryCD,
> >> and
> >> then choose the option to boot from "disk1",
> WindowsXP boots fine (and
> >> so
> >> obviously NTLDR is there after all).
> >
> > No, the bootstrap isn't there but the partition is
> still active. It may
> > have been overwritten or corrupted by the FC4
> install. I think the command
> > may still be fdisk /mbr which will re-write the
> NTLDR bootstrap.
> >
> >>
> >> i'm confused - does this mean that my BIOS is not
> looking at my disk1
> >> during the boot sequence any more?  (hope not,
> cos my BIOS menu is in
> >> japanese, and i can't read it.)  or maybe my MBR
> has gotten minced?
> >
> > BIOS has to see the drive else booting wouldn't
> work at all regardless of
> > how you tried. The OS depends on the BIOS to tell
> it where to find the
> > hardware, but doesn't control what's on the
> hardware.
> 
> new info, same but different: i have re-installed
> linux.  this time during
> the installation, i asked it to use GRUB, and put it
> at the front of
> /dev/hda1.  
now i have the following behaviour:
>   reboot (CD & floppy drive empty) - message that
> NTLDR is missing
>   reboot with SystemRescueCD, then typing "disk1" to
> boot from the active
> partition of my first hard drive - GRUB starts OK
>   reboot with WinXP-generated boot floppy -
> windowsXP starts OK
> 

Your initial aim was to install Fedora under WinXX's
boot manager; at this point you appear to have
overwritten your original MBR and thus you can not
boot into WinXX.

Boot with your original WinXX media and select R to
repair you WinXX installation.  After you type your
Admin password, etc.,etc., and you are at the command
prompt, type:

HELP

you will be shown a range of commands.  Of those
commands select FIXMBR to return your MBR to boot
WinXX, as follows:

FIXMBR 1

since you only have one hard disk.  That should bring
you back to the original state before the Fedora
installation.  Now type:

BOOTCFG /SCAN

and you will get a result of your WinXX installations
(for informational purposses you may want to write
down the info).  Proceed by typing:

FIXBOOT C:

since c: is your WinXX drive.

That should fix your MBR and  WinXX boot manager to
initial specs.

I hope that you noted that if you need help with any
of  the commands, you can just enter the name of the
command followed by the switch /?



To (re)install Grub on the Fedora partition, boot with
your Linux rescue media; if you do not have that, boot
with your first Linux installation CD media.  At the
command prompt type:

Linux rescue

press enter.  Make your selections when the program
requests you to do so, i.e., language, keyboard, etc.

You will see a dialog that begins with: The rescue
environment will now attempt to find your Linux
installation and mount it under /mnt/sysimage. [...]

Press the "continue" button.

The program will find your Linux installation and will
let you know so (if everything goes well).

At the command prompt in the shell type:

chroot /mnt/sysimage

you need to do that before you can use the Grub. Type:

fdisk /dev/hda

at the prompt type:

p

to print the partition table as seen by Linux; write
down in what partition your Linux resides (most likely
it will be /dev/hda2).  Now, --very important! Type:

q

to exit from fdisk partitioning utility.

Having noted the partition number of your Linux, type:

grub-install /dev/hdaX

where X represents (replace it by your actual
partition number) the partition number of your Linux.

The grub boot manager should be installed where your
Linux partition resides SINCE you want to boot from
the WinXX boot manager.

Again, do as above and we will add the Linux partition
to WinXX boot manager when you are ready.

Regards.

Jose Refugio Rodriguez
http://www.metztli-it.com

P.S. Your BIOS is NOT damaged; the Penguin is nice ;)

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