Problem Dual Booting Vista & Ubuntu 8.10 with 2 Drives

UbuntuNoob said:
Thanks for the quick response, I've tried just about every way possible to configure Easybcd to find my Ubuntu install. I've tried to manually configure NeoGrub, and the automatic procedure, and neither has been successful at getting it to boot. I followed the installation procedures here http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Ubuntu twice, after reading this thread and seeing all the problems andy-min had, I stopped and hoped a resolution could be found here. If not I'm thinking I'm just gonna start from scratch and let Grub install in the MBR. I thought maybe the info from my install would help. btw, I use Alcohol52% in vista and xp to mount ISO's could that be causing a problem? haven't tried turning it off yet. Other than that it's not really worth the hassle you guys are going through I can run Ubunutu in a virtual box if I really want to use it, I was mostly installing it because i had the extra drive and wanted to check hardware compatibility and performance vs vista, and to have a triple boot :smile:

oh and I've tried it with "Grub isn't installed to the bootsector" checked and unchecked with no luck
Click to expand...

Ok...so have you made sure Grub was installed to the partition, and not to the MBR? I know that seems like too simple of a question, and you have probably already done it, but I'm just trying to cover all bases here.

-Coolname007
 
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I have not yet verified that Grub was installed to the correct partition, Not really sure how to exactly but I'm sure i can figure it out. Each time i did the install I made sure to check that under the advanced tab to install Grub to the same drive as Ubuntu. I believe I selected the correct option, It was /dev/sdb which from what I thought represented my second SATA drive. I should mention though, I did use the guided partition because i was using the entire disk and didn't really know how to create a swap partition. I noticed the link Computer Guru posted and I do have an Asus board, could that be the problem? http://tinyurl.com/6fdjrn If Grub got installed to the Windows MBR wouldn't it damage/replace the windows bootmanager? I can boot into vista/xp no prob. Thanks again for the help

Found this http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/Installing-GRUB-natively.html I'm thinking i should try this....
 
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If it were installed to the Windows MBR, yes, you wouldn't be able to boot into Windows anymore.

But since you picked to install it to the bootsector, if it chooses the wrong drive basically GRUB won't install but nothing else will break.
 
Well technically you could still boot Windows cause Ubuntu should pick up on it and add a entry to grub for you, but you would be using grub as the primary bootloader, so yes startup repair would be needed afterwards to use Vista's bootmgr again as before with EasyBCD.
 
kairozamorro said:
Well technically you could still boot Windows cause Ubuntu should pick up on it and add a entry to grub for you, but you would be using grub as the primary bootloader, so yes startup repair would be needed afterwards to use Vista's bootmgr again as before with EasyBCD.
Click to expand...

I think you may be on to something....

I set EasyBCD as in the attached screenshot, it created the NeoGrub automatically
After restart I was able to select Ubuntu and get a command line so i did:
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

grub returned:
(from my notes)

Warning: Unrecognized partition table for drive 80. Please Rebuild
...Fdisk tool....err=22.....c/h/s=16383/60/63....error17 file not found

I assume that means that there was damage to my Windows MBR as it mention my
windows system disk... What now? as said before that i can still boot xp/vista
but i notice my vista is taking a little longer to start....not sure yet though
 

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Ok when you boot the computer what kind of screen do you get? One with "Windows Boot Manager" at the top?
 
Your mbrs working fine than. Its either a bad grub install than or incorrect entries in the menu.lst file.
 
Decided to take a look at what EasyBCD has in it's NeoGrub menu.lst, it has this:

# NeoSmart NeoGrub Bootloader Configuration File
#
# This is the NeoGrub configuration file, and should be located at C:\NST\menu.lst
# Please see the EasyBCD Documentation for information on how to create/modify entries:
# EasyBCD Documentation Home - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

find --set-root --ignore-floppies /boot/grub/menu.lst
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

# All your boot are belong to NeoSmart!
 
Ok, there are no entries in there. Have you installed NeoGrub manually or have you just tried adding a new linux entry with NeoGrub uninstalled? Open EasyBCD -> Add/Remove Entries -> NeoGrub tab. Uninstall NeoGrub. Remove your current linux entry. Delete the .mbr file at \nst. Go back to EasyBCD -> Linux tab. Select the correct disk/partition and than add the entry. Reboot and test.
 
kairozamorro said:
Ok, there are no entries in there. Have you installed NeoGrub manually or have you just tried adding a new linux entry with NeoGrub uninstalled? Open EasyBCD -> Add/Remove Entries -> NeoGrub tab. Uninstall NeoGrub. Remove your current linux entry. Delete the .mbr file at \nst. Go back to EasyBCD -> Linux tab. Select the correct disk/partition and than add the entry. Reboot and test.
Click to expand...

He already said (at least) twice, Justin, that he tried NeoGrub the automatic way, as well as the manual way, but got no better results. :wink: And his screenshot of EasyBCD's "Drive" menu also shows clearly the box titled "Grub isn't installed to the bootsector" checked. Its clear his problem is most likely Grub not being installed properly to the partition's bootsector...unless of course he's having the exact same problem andy-min is having, where Grub is installed to the partition, and the entry created in EasyBCD is pointed at the correct location, in which case his problem may be even deeper than that.

-Coolname007
 
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Ok than. Re-install NeoGrub manually from the linux tab. Copy the entries from your Ubuntu's menu.lst file on the linux partition to the menu.lst file at \NST. Does that work?
 
UbuntuNoob said:
I have not yet verified that Grub was installed to the correct partition, Not really sure how to exactly but I'm sure i can figure it out. Each time i did the install I made sure to check that under the advanced tab to install Grub to the same drive as Ubuntu. I believe I selected the correct option, It was /dev/sdb which from what I thought represented my second SATA drive. I should mention though, I did use the guided partition because i was using the entire disk and didn't really know how to create a swap partition. I noticed the link Computer Guru posted and I do have an Asus board, could that be the problem? http://tinyurl.com/6fdjrn If Grub got installed to the Windows MBR wouldn't it damage/replace the windows bootmanager? I can boot into vista/xp no prob. Thanks again for the help

Found this http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/Installing-GRUB-natively.html I'm thinking i should try this....
Click to expand...

The thing is, if you installed to /dev/sdb, that's to the MBR of the second disk, and not to the partition's bootsector...:wink: To install to the partition, it would have been /dev/sdb1 or whatever partition number was the Ubuntu partition.

I think it would pay off to install Grub again, this time manually, using the following commands in a Terminal:

Code: 
sudo grub
find /boot/grub/stage1
root (hdx,y)
setup (hdx,y)
quit
exit
where the x and the y in the "root" and "setup" commands are replaced with the appropriate disk and partition numbers, respectively, found by the "find" command.

-Coolname007
 
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Okay, so I booted from the Ubuntu CD, opened a terminal and I typed:

sudo grub
find /boot/grub/stage 1

grub returned:
(hd1,0)

so I typed:
root (hd1,0)
setup (hd1,0)

grub returned:

checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd1,0)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd1,0)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd1,0) /boot/grub/stage2 p /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded

so i typed :
quit
exit

then i rebooted into vista started EasyBCD configured it as the earlier screenshot, peaked at the neogrub config file and it looked like this:

# NeoSmart NeoGrub Bootloader Configuration File
#
# This is the NeoGrub configuration file, and should be located at C:\NST\menu.lst
# Please see the EasyBCD Documentation for information on how to create/modify entries:
# EasyBCD Documentation Home - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

find --set-root --ignore-floppies /boot/grub/menu.lst
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

# All your boot are belong to NeoSmart!

So I was not very hopeful, I restarted anyway , picked Ubuntu and of course got :

Warning: Unrecognized partition table for drive 80. Please rebuild it using a Microsoft-compatible FDISK tool(err=22). Error 17 file not found

Also should note while I was setting up EasyBCD that after clicking Add enty I noticed the Message in the lower left hand corner of the window that Ubunut was created successfully, but the entry did not appear in the list above, so i closed EasyBCD and reopened it and Ubuntu was in the list..Don't know if that's related or just a bug.

I'm stuck...
 
Are you using ext3 on your linux partition? Try re-formatting in ext2...

(And yes, I know some users here have gotten it working with ext3...)
 
UbuntuNoob said:
Okay, so I booted from the Ubuntu CD, opened a terminal and I typed:

sudo grub
find /boot/grub/stage 1

grub returned:
(hd1,0)

so I typed:
root (hd1,0)
setup (hd1,0)

grub returned:

checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd1,0)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd1,0)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd1,0) /boot/grub/stage2 p /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded

so i typed :
quit
exit
Click to expand...

Ok...so now try creating a new entry in EasyBCD for Ubuntu under the Linux tab, leaving that box unchecked and see what happens. Now that we know for sure Grub is installed to the partition, we can move forward trying to locate the source of the problem. :wink:

-Coolname007

Addendum:

kairozamorro said:
Are you using ext3 on your linux partition? Try re-formatting in ext2...

(And yes, I know some users here have gotten it working with ext3...)
Click to expand...

I have personally gotten it to work with ext3, Justin, and NeoGrub (according to CG) has full support for ext3, so that's not the problem...:wink:

-Coolname007
 
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ext2 and ext3 are the same filesystem. EXT3 just has support for journaling.

ext3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As I explain in the other thread though, the configfile command will not work with the newer Ubuntu versions since their menu.lst file has the "uuid" command which NeoGrub (in EasyBCD 1.7.x) does not support, though EasyBCD 2.0 does.
 
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