Vista, XP and Suse

I'll try; however, I must display my lack of knowledge first.

Do want me to boot into Mepis with a live DVD? If so, do I do the dd command just as you typed it (changing to the correct drive, of course) or should I replace the ~ with something else? If I do it wrong, it will not benefit any of us.

Next question. I have been running EasyBCD from the XP disk since it is the boot disk. Is this correct?

Thanks,
Jerry in Anchorage
 
Yeah,
Boot into Mepis with a Live CD/DVD.
Copy that command as-is (~ in linux is kinda like %user% in Windows, a global variable that points to your user folder).

You can use /dev/hda1 or /dev/sda1 or whatever depending on your configuration
you can even use /dev/disk/by-id/something if you'd rather do that - everything is possible :smile:

Remember to email yourself the file, because you can't access Linux partitions from Windows.
 
Well, I did as instructed. NADA, NO GO, WON'T WORK!!
I was sucessful in copying the 512 byte file. Surprise!
I uninstalled EasyBCD.
I rebooted.
I ran a registry cleaner.
I rebooted.
I ran regedit & cleaned out everything I could find called "Neosmart", "EasyBCD", & "NST".
I rebooted.
I erased my copy of EasyBCD.
I rebooted.
I downloaded a fresh copy of EasyBCD from Neosmart.
I installed EasyBCD.
I rebooted.
I looked at the file in EasyBCD, & both XP & Vista were there.
I looked for the \NST directory.
It wasn't there, anywhere.
I rebooted.
Still no \NST directory.
I ran EasyBCD.
I "added" a linux entry using hd0,1.
I rebooted.
\NST appeared.
I erased the nst_grub.mbr file and copied the one from Mepis into the \NST directory.
I rebooted.
I selected XP - OK good boot into XP.
I rebooted.
I selected Vista - OK good boot into Vista.
I rebooted.
I selected Mepis - Guess What??? GRUB_ on a black screen is all.
I rebooted.
I selected Mepis GRUB_ on a black screen is all.
Several unpure thoughts followed.
I selected Mepis - Guess What??? GRUB_ on a black screen is all.
I rebooted.
I selected Mepis - Guess What??? GRUB_ on a black screen is all.
Major numbers of unpure thoughts, now. Lineage of Neosmart company is becoming questionable. <G>

What next???????

Jerry in Anchorage
 
I attempted to send a screenshot of my disk setup; however, I cannot locate a "add attachment" button.

Jerry in Anchorage
 
I've attached a file - can you try this instead?

If you want to attach a file, you have to press "add reply" instead of quick reply.
 

Attachments

  • nst_grub.mbr.zip
    164 bytes · Views: 23
I downloaded the file and am about to try it.
I have been using "add reply". I see no "add attachment" or anything remotely similar anywhere on the screen.
Jerry in Anchorage
 
Unzipped your file (it was not 512 bytes long) and copied it into \NST. Rebooted and no GRUB now - just reboots.
XP boots OK did not try Vista.

Jerry in Anchorage
 
Just tried something interesting. Used the utilities included in Tweak VI and viewed the system info section. (I still cannot locate the "add attachment" thingie.) Anyway, here is a cut &amp; paste of the drive info from the Linux disk.

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model Maxtor 6Y060L0
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed&amp;#x0009;hard disk media
Partitions 4
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 0
SCSI Target ID 2
Sectors/Track 63
Size 57.27 GB (61,492,193,280 bytes)
Total Cylinders 7,476
Total Sectors 120,101,940
Total Tracks 1,906,380
Tracks/Cylinder 255
Partition Disk #0, Partition #0
Partition Size 11.72 GB (12,584,646,144 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 32,256 bytes
Partition Disk #0, Partition #1
Partition Size 1.17 GB (1,258,467,840 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 12,584,678,400 bytes
Partition Disk #0, Partition #2
Partition Size 14.65 GB (15,726,735,360 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 13,843,146,240 bytes
Partition Disk #0, Partition #3
Partition Size 29.73 GB (31,922,311,680 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 29,569,881,600 bytes


If you look town to the first partition info, you will see it listed as disk 0 partition 0. Your program will not allow me to set partition 0 as the boot sector on the drive. Is that part of the problem? If partitions are numbered from 1 &amp; not from zero, someone is wrong, me thinks.

Where do we go from here?

Jerry in Anchorage
 
OK, the 11.72 GB partition - is it a Windows partition?
So if you typed mbr.exe --list, would it show?
 
EasyBCD uses the same numbers as MBR.exe
I suspect TweakVI is shifting the drive/partition numbers. MBR.exe should display the correct (from 1) partition numbering for your windows partitions.
 
That's not possible.
It's made for XP and works on Vista.

Run -> CMD.exe ->
Code: 
cd C:\program files\neosmart technologies\easybcd\
mbr.exe --list
 
OK, you are correct; however, I didn't realize that mbr.exe was one of your files. I thought it was a Windows app.
I got the info, but cannot send it to you since I can't locate an "add attachment" button.

There are 5 partitions showing on the first disk (the Mepis disk). I only have 4 that I am aware of.
There are 3 partitions showing on the second disk (Vista). I have only 2.
There are 2 partitions showing on the third disk (XP). I have only 1.

I am guessing that the extra partition has something to do with the MBR (?).

All 5 partitions of the Mepis disk have a 512 byte thingie showing.
Partitions 0 &amp; 2 on the Vista disk have the 512 byte thingie showing.
Partition 0 on the XP disk has the 512 byte thingie (Don't you like technical jargon?)

Partition magic shows every partition of every drive as being primary - I haven't a clue what that means or why it is that way.
Partition magic shows both the XP &amp; Vista partitions as "Active".

It's 1130 PM here, &amp; time for this old chubby bald headed guy to make pillow tracks.

Thanks, &amp; G'nite
Jerry in Anchorage
 
OK, figured it out <hopefully>

This is caused by a non-standard bootsector &amp; MBR combo. There is no way to reset that without totally scrubbing the drive, wiping the MBR, and deleting all partitions; at least that's what the uber-experts I've spoken to have said.

No worries -> I've (hopefully) made EasyBCD work around that.
Please PM me your email address. I will send you a copy of EasyBCD 1.6 ALPHA to try out and see if it fixes it.
 
I received the file and printed the instructions.
Sorry, it didn't work.
I didn't get the GRUB on black this time. It very quickly flashed about 4 short lines of text and then reverted immediately to the loader screen again. XP &amp; Vista both booted OK.
I really like the new disk selection section, makes it much easier to figure which partition to select.
I have no problem with reinstalling Mepis again, if you think that may help. I would really object to reinstalling XP, though. Lots of apps to reinstall. PITB, you know. I will even reinstall Vista, also. I haven't installed many apps there yet.

Thanks for all your efforts. I realize that you folks have expended a lot of time, resources, &amp; energy for a FREE program. I do appreciate the efforts.

Jerry in Anchorage

PS - Where is the "add attachment" button supposed to be on the message window? Is it one of those cutsey MAC inspired smilies?
 
Probably don't need to reinstall Vista, definitely don't need to install XP.

Can you try reinstalling GRUB from a fresh download from the GRUB website instead of using the version that comes with Mepis?

I just refreshed the permissions map, the "add attachment" line should definitely be on the "add reply" screen under the post box.

To reinstall GRUB from source:
Boot to Mepis the way you used to

Code: 
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.savannah.gnu.org:/sources/grub co grub
cd grub
./configure
make
cd grub
./grub

then follow the easybcd linux docs to reinstall GRUB to the bootsector once more.r
 
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