I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided. There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Bob Goodwin
Bob Goodwin wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided. There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Bob Goodwin
Here's something I learned kind of the hard way. If you have a system that comes with a pre-built rescue partition (I know HP is notorious for this, which is where I had my problem), you might wind up having the rescue partition wipe the MBR after you install FC5 if you install grub to the MBR. The rescue partition thought that the MBR changes were virus related so it wiped it clean and kept me from booting FC until I fixed it.
On 8/30/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided. There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Bob,
Do you have spare hard disk space not allocated to Windows XP?
Paul
Paul Smith wrote:
On 8/30/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided. There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Bob,
Do you have spare hard disk space not allocated to Windows XP?
Paul
I assume the present drive is entirely formatted as a Windows partition, it's a factory install?
That's why I elected to use a second drive for Linux. The existing drive is 80G and 10G would be more than enough for XP which gets little use ...
BobG
On 8/30/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided. There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Do you have spare hard disk space not allocated to Windows XP?
I assume the present drive is entirely formatted as a Windows partition, it's a factory install?
That's why I elected to use a second drive for Linux. The existing drive is 80G and 10G would be more than enough for XP which gets little use ...
If you plan to add a second hard disk, then you only need to install FC5 on the second hard disk. In principle, grub will detect your Windows XP and you will be able to boot in both operating systems.
Paul
Paul Smith wrote:
On 8/30/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already
installed and
I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided. There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Do you have spare hard disk space not allocated to Windows XP?
I assume the present drive is entirely formatted as a Windows partition, it's a factory install?
That's why I elected to use a second drive for Linux. The existing drive is 80G and 10G would be more than enough for XP which gets little use ...
If you plan to add a second hard disk, then you only need to install FC5 on the second hard disk. In principle, grub will detect your Windows XP and you will be able to boot in both operating systems.
Paul
Good, that's what I want to hear. I won't have the equipment until tomorrow, then the moment of truth!
Thanks.
BobG
On Wed, Aug 30, 2006 at 03:07:55PM -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Paul Smith wrote:
On 8/30/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer
I assume the present drive is entirely formatted as a Windows partition, it's a factory install?
Probably. But easy enough to check:
fdisk -l /dev/hda
That's why I elected to use a second drive for Linux. The existing drive is 80G and 10G would be more than enough for XP which gets little use ...
Actually, you can get XP and Linux to cohabit on the same drive by shrinking XP's NTFS partition(s). For the gory details of how I did it, see http://www.charlescurley.com/Lenovo.R51.html.
As for grub, I wasn't sure how to have grub boot XP, so I installed it on the Linux boot partition, and have Linux as the default in XP's ntdetect.com.
Charles Curley wrote:
On Wed, Aug 30, 2006 at 03:07:55PM -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Paul Smith wrote:
On 8/30/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer
I assume the present drive is entirely formatted as a Windows partition, it's a factory install?
Probably. But easy enough to check:
fdisk -l /dev/hda
XP does not recognize the command "fdisk."
Now once I get Linux installed it will work.
BobG
PS: Presently heavy rain has cut off my sat. signal. I will send this later.
That's why I elected to use a second drive for Linux. The existing drive is 80G and 10G would be more than enough for XP which gets little use ...
Actually, you can get XP and Linux to cohabit on the same drive by shrinking XP's NTFS partition(s). For the gory details of how I did it, see http://www.charlescurley.com/Lenovo.R51.html.
As for grub, I wasn't sure how to have grub boot XP, so I installed it on the Linux boot partition, and have Linux as the default in XP's ntdetect.com.
Bob:
I just did this to my new Dell 380 box. I got two 80GB drives with it and WinXPPro came installed on the first drive. I just installed FC5 to the second drive and installed grub on the MBR of the first drive (which is the normal place). You will need to make sure that you put an entry into grub.conf for the Windows partition. Unfortunately I have to run Windows for my work or I would have switched long ago.
You know that you can get the reinstall disks when you order a Dell for about $10. Too cheap not to have :-). I've had to reload Windows so many times I can't count them all. It is cheap insurance.
knute...
Charles Curley wrote:
On Wed, Aug 30, 2006 at 03:07:55PM -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Paul Smith wrote:
On 8/30/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer
I assume the present drive is entirely formatted as a Windows partition, it's a factory install?
Probably. But easy enough to check:
fdisk -l /dev/hda
XP does not recognize the command "fdisk."
Now once I get Linux installed it will work.
BobG
PS: Presently heavy rain has cut off my sat. signal. I will send this later.
That's why I elected to use a second drive for Linux. The existing drive is 80G and 10G would be more than enough for XP which gets little use ...
Actually, you can get XP and Linux to cohabit on the same drive by shrinking XP's NTFS partition(s). For the gory details of how I did it, see http://www.charlescurley.com/Lenovo.R51.html.
As for grub, I wasn't sure how to have grub boot XP, so I installed it on the Linux boot partition, and have Linux as the default in XP's ntdetect.com.
-- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
I recently purchased a Dell with preloaded XP. This is roughly what I needed to do:
1 - contact the manufacturer, and *insist* that since I purchased Windows XP, that I am entitled to an installation CD (I am). They eventually gave in.
2 - remove all partitions (including the Dell "restore partition"), install windows from the CD - partition/format a suitible place for XP to live, and leave the rest as free space.
3 - install fedora.
This might seem like a lot of work, but the XP system that Dell pre-loaded was so full of bloatware that it was almost unuseable. Something would pop up every 15 seconds, and heavy-duty apps (blender, games, etc) crawled. The "fresh" XP was (subjectively) twice as fast as the preloaded system.
Just my 2 cents... Chris
Chris Mohler wrote:
I recently purchased a Dell with preloaded XP. This is roughly what I needed to do:
1 - contact the manufacturer, and *insist* that since I purchased Windows XP, that I am entitled to an installation CD (I am). They eventually gave in.
2 - remove all partitions (including the Dell "restore partition"), install windows from the CD - partition/format a suitible place for XP to live, and leave the rest as free space.
3 - install fedora.
This might seem like a lot of work, but the XP system that Dell pre-loaded was so full of bloatware that it was almost unuseable. Something would pop up every 15 seconds, and heavy-duty apps (blender, games, etc) crawled. The "fresh" XP was (subjectively) twice as fast as the preloaded system.
Just my 2 cents... Chris
If you want to use Norton ghost, you could make an image of your XP installation. Then you could use the ghost image and adjust the XP partition downward. I did this for a work computer and FC6T2 installed fine on the freed up space. This allowed also for noth having the headache of de-fragmenting, resizing and the like for XP and the auxiliary partition. You also have a reliable backup in case the hard disk crashes. You do not need to reinstall all of the service packs for all the M$ OS and other software again either. This was on a Dell computer.
Since you are planning to use the second drive for Linux and the first drive as XP, it might not be needed.
Jim
Jim Cornette wrote:
Chris Mohler wrote:
I recently purchased a Dell with preloaded XP. This is roughly what I needed to do:
1 - contact the manufacturer, and *insist* that since I purchased Windows XP, that I am entitled to an installation CD (I am). They eventually gave in.
2 - remove all partitions (including the Dell "restore partition"), install windows from the CD - partition/format a suitible place for XP to live, and leave the rest as free space.
3 - install fedora.
This might seem like a lot of work, but the XP system that Dell pre-loaded was so full of bloatware that it was almost unuseable. Something would pop up every 15 seconds, and heavy-duty apps (blender, games, etc) crawled. The "fresh" XP was (subjectively) twice as fast as the preloaded system.
Just my 2 cents... Chris
If you want to use Norton ghost, you could make an image of your XP installation. Then you could use the ghost image and adjust the XP partition downward. I did this for a work computer and FC6T2 installed fine on the freed up space. This allowed also for noth having the headache of de-fragmenting, resizing and the like for XP and the auxiliary partition. You also have a reliable backup in case the hard disk crashes. You do not need to reinstall all of the service packs for all the M$ OS and other software again either. This was on a Dell computer.
Since you are planning to use the second drive for Linux and the first drive as XP, it might not be needed.
It might not be needed but it sounds desirable to me other than that I would probably have to buy a copy of the Norton Ghost application, a Windows program I would have little need for beyond this instance most likely. I will look into that ...
Thanks.
BobG
Jim
On 8/30/06, Charles Curley charlescurley@charlescurley.com wrote:
On Wed, Aug 30, 2006 at 03:07:55PM -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Paul Smith wrote:
On 8/30/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer
I assume the present drive is entirely formatted as a Windows partition, it's a factory install?
Probably. But easy enough to check:
fdisk -l /dev/hda
That's why I elected to use a second drive for Linux. The existing drive is 80G and 10G would be more than enough for XP which gets little use ...
Actually, you can get XP and Linux to cohabit on the same drive by shrinking XP's NTFS partition(s). For the gory details of how I did it, see http://www.charlescurley.com/Lenovo.R51.html.
As for grub, I wasn't sure how to have grub boot XP, so I installed it on the Linux boot partition, and have Linux as the default in XP's ntdetect.com.
There is algo another way, maybe a more difficult one, you can download Ubuntu Live CD www.ubuntu.com install it on you system (Ubuntu itself make room for him in the NTFS partition) after you have it working install FC5 on the Ubuntu partition.
regards,
Guillermo.
On Wed, 2006-08-30 at 15:07 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Paul Smith wrote:
On 8/30/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided. There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Bob,
Do you have spare hard disk space not allocated to Windows XP?
Paul
I assume the present drive is entirely formatted as a Windows partition, it's a factory install?
That's why I elected to use a second drive for Linux. The existing drive is 80G and 10G would be more than enough for XP which gets little use ...
BobG
There should noy be nay prolerm with this as long as WinXP is on the first disk searched. The grub boot should be on the WinXP disk boot sector.
On Wed, 2006-08-30 at 14:33 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided.
is there no i386 tree under c:\windows\ ?
There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Bob Goodwin
Ronald Warsow wrote:
On Wed, 2006-08-30 at 14:33 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided.
is there no i386 tree under c:\windows\ ?
I had to boot the Windows computer to answer you.
Yes I see a c:\i386 directory full of cryptic file names that don't mean much to me?
6709 files taking up 896,693,633 bytes in 11 directories and 66,304,417,792 bytes free
What can I do with that?
BobG
PS: We are having thunderstorms in the area and my satellite signal is cut off by the rain. I'll send this later ...
There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Bob Goodwin
On Wed, 2006-08-30 at 16:24 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Ronald Warsow wrote:
On Wed, 2006-08-30 at 14:33 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided.
is there no i386 tree under c:\windows\ ?
I had to boot the Windows computer to answer you.
Yes I see a c:\i386 directory full of cryptic file names that don't mean much to me?
6709 files taking up 896,693,633 bytes in 11 directories and 66,304,417,792 bytes free
What can I do with that?
this is the i386 tree from a normal xp-installation cd !
there is a tool to generate a complete xp-installation-cd from that tree. sorry, i can provide the link for the *german* version of that tool, only.
http://www.heise.de/ct/ftp/06/03/202/
but i'm sure there is a english version in the internet.
key word: "slip stream"
BobG
PS: We are having thunderstorms in the area and my satellite signal is cut off by the rain. I'll send this later ...
There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Bob Goodwin
On 8/30/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided. There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
Any suggestions, reference material, etc. appreciated.
Bob Goodwin
-- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
Hi Bob Goodwin!
Your basic plan sounds quite good.
Leaving the XP disk alone and using a new FC5 disk sounds very good. Pointing (useing the XP boot loader defaulted to FC5) from XP as others have suggested, why not?
I will be doing a multiboot Ubuntu, FC5, Suse, Knoppix, and probably Solaris in the next month or so. What I would really like to do is to run a Linux (probably Ubuntu right now) and have XP available through a Virtual Machine Window. Oh there is never enough time it seems.
I am also putting together a "Boot Camp" presentation for our local LUGs. Please tell us how it all turned out.
I would copy your MBR and first 63 sectors (see the MBR Copy Appendix below), of the XP disk and of the new FC5 disk. Keep these on a CD or flash drive or other reliable place (e-mail?). As others have pointed out machine management SW and antivirus SW tend to take any changes to these as hostile and "repair" without asking. Yes you will need to shut off whatever caused this later but restoring the MBR is easier with copy saved outside the system and helpful to restore one if the MBR is damaged (like maybe by a virus).
I think it would be good to have some Live CDs on hand. They are wonderful for working with this kind of thing and tend to save your neck if something goes wrong. I like Puppy Linux because it comes up fast and has usable versions of the basic tools available (although it is often the busybox version which is limited). I like KNOPPIX since it is fairly comprehensive in both tools and very good at finding good hardware configurations.
Following are some reference materials from others I have written:
Basic Thought:
Write down on a sheet of paper exactly what you want to do (large outline) then fill in the outline with specific steps with the exact GUI or command line commands to accomplish that. If there is info on the disk you need, transfer it elsewhere before you start!
Dual Boot How-To(s):
http://www.crhc.uiuc.edu/~mjmille2/howtos/dual-boot-linux-and-windows/
http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p3.htm
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2006/05/08/dual-boot-laptop.html
GRUB:
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/
SEE GRUB APPENDIX BELOW
MBR:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record
http://www.geocities.com/thestarman3/asm/mbr/MBR_in_detail.htm
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-linuxboot/
http://linuxgazette.net/issue63/okopnik.html
SEE MBR COPY APPENDIX BELOW
Partitioning:
(Note: requires "find in document" "partition") http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/pdf/
Re-size NTFS:
1. During the XP install process you can delete all of your partitions (you will need to fix the MBR to do so - see previous post - or do a "XP fix mbr" in Google and realize that if your system is simple (a C: drive only for XP) then just the "fixmbr" command will work).
2. Reduce the size of the XP partition - see below ("find on page" "ntfs"):
http://www.linuxmigration.com/quickref/install/disk.html#ntfs
http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html
GRUB Appendix:
Shows techniques to find out how GRUB "sees" the drives attached (was written to an Ubuntu user doing dual boot with XP);
First I run grub with no flash drive attached (note the comments about "TAB" in the grub splash text):
------------------------
GNU GRUB version 0.97 (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> root (hd0, Possible partitions are: Partition num: 0, Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83 Partition num: 4, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x82
grub> root (hd0,
------------------------
Note that at the first prompt I typed "root (" and THEN hit tab once. The command turned into "grub> root (hd0". I THEN hit the tab key again and it popped up the rest that we see.
I then exited grub with "quit" (yes, you MUST do this to see changes!!!). Plugged in my new 1G drive and entered grub again:
-----------------------
GNU GRUB version 0.97 (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> root (hd Possible disks are: hd0 hd1
grub> root (hd1,0)
-----------------------
Note that this time grub found a second "hd1" and that when I had entered "hd1" the next tab yielded "," and the next tab "0)".
Grub apparently finds bootable devices and simply lables them incrementally. If I want to make grub form a Master Boot Record for my flash drive then as I use it "right now" (with the drive plugged in this session" I will need to address the writing of that MBR to "hd1".
IT WOULD BE USEFUL TO SEE YOUR RESULTS OF DOING THE ABOVE (without the flash drive of course).
Grub also sees the partitions "one less (-1) from everybody else. Check it out!:
---------------------
root@tod-desktop:~# df -a -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/hda1 74G 50G 21G 72% / proc 0 0 0 - /proc /sys 0 0 0 - /sys varrun 221M 80K 221M 1% /var/run varlock 221M 4.0K 221M 1% /var/lock procbususb 0 0 0 - /proc/bus/usb udev 221M 136K 221M 1% /dev devpts 0 0 0 - /dev/pts devshm 221M 0 221M 0% /dev/shm lrm 221M 19M 202M 9% /lib/modules/2.6.15-26-386/volatile /dev/hdc 650M 650M 0 100% /media/cdrom0 /dev/hdd 338M 338M 0 100% /media/cdrecorder /dev/sda1 961M 0 961M 0% /media/usbdisk
root@tod-desktop:~# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hda: 81.9 GB, 81964302336 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9964 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 * 1 9800 78718468+ 83 Linux /dev/hda2 9801 9964 1317330 5 Extended /dev/hda5 9801 9964 1317298+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Disk /dev/sda: 1007 MB, 1007681536 bytes 16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 3844 cylinders Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 3844 984048 e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
root@tod-desktop:~# parted
GNU Parted 1.6.25.1 Copyright (C) 1998 - 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This program is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
Using /dev/hda
(parted) print Disk geometry for /dev/hda: 0kB - 82GB Disk label type: msdos Number Start End Size Type File system Flags 1 32kB 81GB 81GB primary ext3 boot 2 81GB 82GB 1349MB extended 5 81GB 82GB 1349MB logical linux-swap
(parted) select /dev/sda
Using /dev/sda (parted) print Disk geometry for /dev/sda: 0kB - 1008MB Disk label type: msdos Number Start End Size Type File system Flags 1 16kB 1008MB 1008MB primary fat16 boot, lba (parted)
-------------------------
Now I show you the current /boot/grub/menu.lst (note: reduced in the hopes of getting this long e-mail through the "length filter"):
-------------------------
root@tod-desktop:/boot/grub# cat menu.lst # Note: in FC5 this will be grub.conf
# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8) # grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8), # grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub # and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.
## default num # Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and # the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used. # # You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry # is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'. # WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to 'saved' or your # array will desync and will not let you boot your system. default 0
## timeout sec # Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry # (normally the first entry defined). timeout 3
## ## End Default Options ##
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-26-386 root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-26-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-26-386 savedefault boot
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-26-386 (recovery mode) root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-26-386 root=/dev/hda1 ro single initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-26-386 boot
title Ubuntu, memtest86+ root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin boot
### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST root@tod-desktop:/boot/grub#
-------------------------
MBR Copy Appendix:
As promised, an itty bitty how-to on making a copy of your Master Boot Record and the first portion (often containing partition and content info) of the boot disk.
In this case I was fascinated by the "boot" flag set looking at my new flash drive so I wanted to take a look at it's MBR. The command I usually use to do this is:
dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr.bin bs=512 count=1
and the command to take a "snapshot" of the first sectors:
dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr63s.bin bs=512 count=63
To read the flash drive I modify the command to:
root@tod-desktop:/boot/grub# cd /home/tod root@tod-desktop:~# pwd /home/tod root@tod-desktop:~# dd if=/dev/sda1 of=pnymbr.bin bs=512 count=1 1+0 records in 1+0 records out 512 bytes (512 B) copied, 0.000423 seconds, 1.2 MB/s
This yeilds "pnymbr.bin" in my /home/tod directory. This is a copy of my Master Boot Record.
root@tod-desktop:~# dd if=/dev/sda1 of=pny63s.bin bs=512 count=63 63+0 records in 63+0 records out 32256 bytes (32 kB) copied, 0.01087 seconds, 3.0 MB/s root@tod-desktop:~#
Which yields "pny63s.bin which is a copy of the first 63 sectors.
Likely this will loose formatting but here is a hexdump of the PNY flash drive MBR:
root@tod-desktop:~# hexdump -C pnymbr.bin
00000000 eb 3c 90 44 4f 4b 30 31 2e 30 32 00 02 20 01 00 |.<.DOK01.02.. ..| 00000010 02 00 02 00 00 f8 f1 00 20 00 10 00 20 00 00 00 |........ ... ...| 00000020 e0 07 1e 00 80 00 29 c5 4b f6 f0 00 00 00 00 00 |......).K.......| 00000030 00 00 00 00 00 00 46 41 54 31 36 20 20 20 33 c9 |......FAT16 3.| 00000040 8e d1 bc fc 7b 16 07 bd 78 00 c5 76 00 1e 56 16 |....{...x..v..V.| 00000050 55 bf 22 05 89 7e 00 89 4e 02 b1 0b fc f3 a4 06 |U."..~..N.......| 00000060 1f bd 00 7c c6 45 fe 0f 38 4e 24 7d 20 8b c1 99 |...|.E..8N$} ...| 00000070 e8 7e 01 83 eb 3a 66 a1 1c 7c 66 3b 07 8a 57 fc |.~...:f..|f;..W.| 00000080 75 06 80 ca 02 88 56 02 80 c3 10 73 ed 33 c9 fe |u.....V....s.3..| 00000090 06 d8 7d 8a 46 10 98 f7 66 16 03 46 1c 13 56 1e |..}.F...f..F..V.| 000000a0 03 46 0e 13 d1 8b 76 11 60 89 46 fc 89 56 fe b8 |.F....v.`.F..V..| 000000b0 20 00 f7 e6 8b 5e 0b 03 c3 48 f7 f3 01 46 fc 11 | ....^...H...F..| 000000c0 4e fe 61 bf 00 07 e8 28 01 72 3e 38 2d 74 17 60 |N.a....(.r>8-t.`| 000000d0 b1 0b be d8 7d f3 a6 61 74 3d 4e 74 09 83 c7 20 |....}..at=Nt... | 000000e0 3b fb 72 e7 eb dd fe 0e d8 7d 7b a7 be 7f 7d ac |;.r......}{...}.| 000000f0 98 03 f0 ac 98 40 74 0c 48 74 13 b4 0e bb 07 00 |.....@t.Ht......| 00000100 cd 10 eb ef be 82 7d eb e6 be 80 7d eb e1 cd 16 |......}....}....| 00000110 5e 1f 66 8f 04 cd 19 be 81 7d 8b 7d 1a 8d 45 fe |^.f......}.}..E.| 00000120 8a 4e 0d f7 e1 03 46 fc 13 56 fe b1 04 e8 c2 00 |.N....F..V......| 00000130 72 d7 ea 00 02 70 00 52 50 06 53 6a 01 6a 10 91 |r....p.RP.Sj.j..| 00000140 8b 46 18 a2 26 05 96 92 33 d2 f7 f6 91 f7 f6 42 |.F..&...3......B| 00000150 87 ca f7 76 1a 8a f2 8a e8 c0 cc 02 0a cc b8 01 |...v............| 00000160 02 80 7e 02 0e 75 04 b4 42 8b f4 8a 56 24 cd 13 |..~..u..B...V$..| 00000170 61 61 72 0a 40 75 01 42 03 5e 0b 49 75 77 c3 03 |aar.@u.B.^.Iuw..| 00000180 18 01 27 0d 0a 49 6e 76 61 6c 69 64 20 73 79 73 |..'..Invalid sys| 00000190 74 65 6d 20 64 69 73 6b ff 0d 0a 44 69 73 6b 20 |tem disk...Disk | 000001a0 49 2f 4f 20 65 72 72 6f 72 ff 0d 0a 52 65 70 6c |I/O error...Repl| 000001b0 61 63 65 20 74 68 65 20 64 69 73 6b 2c 20 61 6e |ace the disk, an| 000001c0 64 20 74 68 65 6e 20 70 72 65 73 73 20 61 6e 79 |d then press any| 000001d0 20 6b 65 79 0d 0a 00 00 49 4f 20 20 20 20 20 20 | key....IO | 000001e0 53 59 53 4d 53 44 4f 53 20 20 20 53 59 53 7f 01 |SYSMSDOS SYS..| 000001f0 00 41 bb 00 07 60 66 6a 00 e9 3b ff 00 00 55 aa |.A...`fj..;...U.| 00000200
It does have the "AA55" magic number at the end and probably a jump command at the beginning doing a read of the error message seen.
Have fun!
Tod
On Wed, 2006-08-30 at 14:33 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided. There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux completely separate, I'd consider:
1. Installing Linux onto the other drive, and only that other drive. 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot itself, or Linux. 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP drive for that XP bootloader to work with.
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 00:19 +0930, Tim wrote:
On Wed, 2006-08-30 at 14:33 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
I'm about to add an 80G sata second drive to a Dell 2.8G XP computer that I wish to boot to both Linux and Windows XP. I have the FC5 DVD from which I intend to do the install.
What do I need to know before I start? XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided. There will probably be choices for locating boot and grub, what is best to do there?
If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux completely separate, I'd consider:
1. Installing Linux onto the other drive, and only that other drive. 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot itself, or Linux. 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP drive for that XP bootloader to work with.
Thhis used to be the wqay to do it in the RedHat Linux days. But for a long time under Fedora grub does the job without any extra effort.
Just quoting the salient points:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided.
Tim:
If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux completely separate, I'd consider: 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot itself, or Linux. 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP drive for that XP bootloader to work with.
Aaron Konstam:
Thhis used to be the wqay to do it in the RedHat Linux days. But for a long time under Fedora grub does the job without any extra effort.
Ordinarily, I'd use GRUB to handle booting, too. But the original poster mentioned not having any Windows install discs. It seems prudent to avoid altering the Windows installation in that situation. Especially if one isn't familiar with fixing things up, after a problem, the hard way.
Tim wrote:
Just quoting the salient points:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided.
Tim:
If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux completely separate, I'd consider: 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot itself, or Linux. 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP drive for that XP bootloader to work with.
Aaron Konstam:
Thhis used to be the wqay to do it in the RedHat Linux days. But for a long time under Fedora grub does the job without any extra effort.
Ordinarily, I'd use GRUB to handle booting, too. But the original poster mentioned not having any Windows install discs. It seems prudent to avoid altering the Windows installation in that situation. Especially if one isn't familiar with fixing things up, after a problem, the hard way.
Prudent or not, the installation is now running with Grub and boot on the mbr.
If I break something I'll have to fix it somehow?
So far things have gone smoothly, there was physical space for the drive and I was able to set bios to recognize the new second drive. Hopefully the rest will go as uneventfully ...
Bob Goodwin
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Tim wrote:
Just quoting the salient points:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided.
Tim:
If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux completely separate, I'd consider: 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot itself, or Linux. 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP drive for that XP bootloader to work with.
Aaron Konstam:
Thhis used to be the wqay to do it in the RedHat Linux days. But for a long time under Fedora grub does the job without any extra effort.
Ordinarily, I'd use GRUB to handle booting, too. But the original poster mentioned not having any Windows install discs. It seems prudent to avoid altering the Windows installation in that situation. Especially if one isn't familiar with fixing things up, after a problem, the hard way.
Prudent or not, the installation is now running with Grub and boot on the mbr.
If I break something I'll have to fix it somehow?
So far things have gone smoothly, there was physical space for the drive and I was able to set bios to recognize the new second drive. Hopefully the rest will go as uneventfully ...
Bob Goodwin
I have installed fc5 from the dvd twice now to be certain I've done things correctly. I believe I have.
The fc5 install is on the second drive, /dev/sdb. XP is factory [Dell] installed and I have no install disk. XP is of little importance to me but I would like to retain it is possible. Both drives are 80G.
It should boot Linux from the mbr, /dev/sda on which XP resides, grub is installed with FC5 designated as the default, but I never see a grub display at turn on, it simply boots XP right off without offering any alternative.
What am I doing wrong?
BobG
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 17:13 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Tim wrote:
Just quoting the salient points:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no o/s CD's are provided.
Tim:
If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux completely separate, I'd consider: 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot itself, or Linux. 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP drive for that XP bootloader to work with.
Aaron Konstam:
Thhis used to be the wqay to do it in the RedHat Linux days. But for a long time under Fedora grub does the job without any extra effort.
Ordinarily, I'd use GRUB to handle booting, too. But the original poster mentioned not having any Windows install discs. It seems prudent to avoid altering the Windows installation in that situation. Especially if one isn't familiar with fixing things up, after a problem, the hard way.
Prudent or not, the installation is now running with Grub and boot on the mbr.
If I break something I'll have to fix it somehow?
So far things have gone smoothly, there was physical space for the drive and I was able to set bios to recognize the new second drive. Hopefully the rest will go as uneventfully ...
Bob Goodwin
I have installed fc5 from the dvd twice now to be certain I've done things correctly. I believe I have.
The fc5 install is on the second drive, /dev/sdb. XP is factory [Dell] installed and I have no install disk. XP is of little importance to me but I would like to retain it is possible. Both drives are 80G.
It should boot Linux from the mbr, /dev/sda on which XP resides, grub is installed with FC5 designated as the default, but I never see a grub display at turn on, it simply boots XP right off without offering any alternative.
What am I doing wrong?
grub should be installed in the MBR of the first SCSI disk (aka /dev/sda). That can be done by getting in to Linux and doing "grub-install /dev/sda" as the root user.
We need to know how you laid out the Linux stuff. Is it all in one partition or did you divvy it up? Assuming you put it in separate partitions, with /boot as partition 0 and / as partition 1, this /boot/grub/grub.conf should work:
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.17-1.2174_FC5) root (hd1,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet max_luns=256 initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5.img title Windows XP root (hd0,0) makeactive chainloader +1
If Linux is all on a single partition, change the references above that say "(hd1,1)" to "(hd1,0)"
---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens@vitalstream.com - - VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com - - - - Life: That which happens while you search for the remote control. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Stevens wrote:
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 17:13 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Tim wrote:
Just quoting the salient points:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
> XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no > o/s > CD's are provided. > >
Tim:
If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux completely separate, I'd consider: 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot itself, or Linux. 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP drive for that XP bootloader to work with.
Aaron Konstam:
Thhis used to be the wqay to do it in the RedHat Linux days. But for a long time under Fedora grub does the job without any extra effort.
Ordinarily, I'd use GRUB to handle booting, too. But the original poster mentioned not having any Windows install discs. It seems prudent to avoid altering the Windows installation in that situation. Especially if one isn't familiar with fixing things up, after a problem, the hard way.
Prudent or not, the installation is now running with Grub and boot on the mbr.
If I break something I'll have to fix it somehow?
So far things have gone smoothly, there was physical space for the drive and I was able to set bios to recognize the new second drive. Hopefully the rest will go as uneventfully ...
Bob Goodwin
I have installed fc5 from the dvd twice now to be certain I've done things correctly. I believe I have.
The fc5 install is on the second drive, /dev/sdb. XP is factory [Dell] installed and I have no install disk. XP is of little importance to me but I would like to retain it is possible. Both drives are 80G.
It should boot Linux from the mbr, /dev/sda on which XP resides, grub is installed with FC5 designated as the default, but I never see a grub display at turn on, it simply boots XP right off without offering any alternative.
What am I doing wrong?
grub should be installed in the MBR of the first SCSI disk (aka /dev/sda). That can be done by getting in to Linux and doing "grub-install /dev/sda" as the root user.
We need to know how you laid out the Linux stuff. Is it all in one partition or did you divvy it up? Assuming you put it in separate partitions, with /boot as partition 0 and / as partition 1, this /boot/grub/grub.conf should work:
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.17-1.2174_FC5) root (hd1,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet max_luns=256 initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5.img title Windows XP root (hd0,0) makeactive chainloader +1
If Linux is all on a single partition, change the references above that say "(hd1,1)" to "(hd1,0)"
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens@vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
-- Life: That which happens while you search for the remote control. -
XP is installed on the original 80G h.d., untouched, still as Dell set it up.
I installed a second 80G SATA drive and installed FC5 to that with the DVD, all pretty much as Fedora intended except where I told it to use the mbr and default to FC5 Linux.
Grub looks pretty much as you specify.:
sh-3.1# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp) root (hd1,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp.img title Windows XP rootnoverify (hd0,1) chainloader +1
[I typed this manually but it looks identical to the display on the Dell display.]
It looks to me like Dell has somehow set aside about 3 gigs of the 80 apparently to provide a means of reinstalling Windows? I don't know it that has any effect on this problem?
Thanks.
Bob Goodwin
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 19:29 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Rick Stevens wrote:
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 17:13 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Tim wrote:
Just quoting the salient points:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
>> XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no >> o/s >> CD's are provided. >> >>
Tim:
> If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux > completely > separate, I'd consider: > 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot > itself, or Linux. > 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP > drive for > that XP bootloader to work with. > >
Aaron Konstam:
Thhis used to be the wqay to do it in the RedHat Linux days. But for a long time under Fedora grub does the job without any extra effort.
Ordinarily, I'd use GRUB to handle booting, too. But the original poster mentioned not having any Windows install discs. It seems prudent to avoid altering the Windows installation in that situation. Especially if one isn't familiar with fixing things up, after a problem, the hard way.
Prudent or not, the installation is now running with Grub and boot on the mbr.
If I break something I'll have to fix it somehow?
So far things have gone smoothly, there was physical space for the drive and I was able to set bios to recognize the new second drive. Hopefully the rest will go as uneventfully ...
Bob Goodwin
I have installed fc5 from the dvd twice now to be certain I've done things correctly. I believe I have.
The fc5 install is on the second drive, /dev/sdb. XP is factory [Dell] installed and I have no install disk. XP is of little importance to me but I would like to retain it is possible. Both drives are 80G.
It should boot Linux from the mbr, /dev/sda on which XP resides, grub is installed with FC5 designated as the default, but I never see a grub display at turn on, it simply boots XP right off without offering any alternative.
What am I doing wrong?
grub should be installed in the MBR of the first SCSI disk (aka /dev/sda). That can be done by getting in to Linux and doing "grub-install /dev/sda" as the root user.
We need to know how you laid out the Linux stuff. Is it all in one partition or did you divvy it up? Assuming you put it in separate partitions, with /boot as partition 0 and / as partition 1, this /boot/grub/grub.conf should work:
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.17-1.2174_FC5) root (hd1,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet max_luns=256 initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5.img title Windows XP root (hd0,0) makeactive chainloader +1
If Linux is all on a single partition, change the references above that say "(hd1,1)" to "(hd1,0)"
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens@vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
-- Life: That which happens while you search for the remote control. -
XP is installed on the original 80G h.d., untouched, still as Dell set it up.
I installed a second 80G SATA drive and installed FC5 to that with the DVD, all pretty much as Fedora intended except where I told it to use the mbr and default to FC5 Linux.
Grub looks pretty much as you specify.:
sh-3.1# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp) root (hd1,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp.img title Windows XP rootnoverify (hd0,1) chainloader +1
[I typed this manually but it looks identical to the display on the Dell display.]
It looks to me like Dell has somehow set aside about 3 gigs of the 80 apparently to provide a means of reinstalling Windows? I don't know it that has any effect on this problem?
If you are CERTAIN you did a "grub-install /dev/sda", then it may be that the BIOS virus checker keeps overwriting grub with the Winblows boot loader (it considers grub to be a virus). You'll need to disable that in the BIOS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens@vitalstream.com - - VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com - - - - "The bogosity meter just pegged." - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Stevens wrote:
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 19:29 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Rick Stevens wrote:
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 17:13 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Tim wrote:
Just quoting the salient points:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
>>> XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no >>> o/s >>> CD's are provided. >>> >>> >>> Tim:
>> If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux >> completely >> separate, I'd consider: >> 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot >> itself, or Linux. >> 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP >> drive for >> that XP bootloader to work with. >> >> >> Aaron Konstam:
> Thhis used to be the wqay to do it in the RedHat Linux days. But for a > long time under Fedora grub does the job without any extra effort. > > > Ordinarily, I'd use GRUB to handle booting, too. But the original poster mentioned not having any Windows install discs. It seems prudent to avoid altering the Windows installation in that situation. Especially if one isn't familiar with fixing things up, after a problem, the hard way.
Prudent or not, the installation is now running with Grub and boot on the mbr.
If I break something I'll have to fix it somehow?
So far things have gone smoothly, there was physical space for the drive and I was able to set bios to recognize the new second drive. Hopefully the rest will go as uneventfully ...
Bob Goodwin
I have installed fc5 from the dvd twice now to be certain I've done things correctly. I believe I have.
The fc5 install is on the second drive, /dev/sdb. XP is factory [Dell] installed and I have no install disk. XP is of little importance to me but I would like to retain it is possible. Both drives are 80G.
It should boot Linux from the mbr, /dev/sda on which XP resides, grub is installed with FC5 designated as the default, but I never see a grub display at turn on, it simply boots XP right off without offering any alternative.
What am I doing wrong?
grub should be installed in the MBR of the first SCSI disk (aka /dev/sda). That can be done by getting in to Linux and doing "grub-install /dev/sda" as the root user.
We need to know how you laid out the Linux stuff. Is it all in one partition or did you divvy it up? Assuming you put it in separate partitions, with /boot as partition 0 and / as partition 1, this /boot/grub/grub.conf should work:
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.17-1.2174_FC5) root (hd1,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet max_luns=256 initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5.img title Windows XP root (hd0,0) makeactive chainloader +1
If Linux is all on a single partition, change the references above that say "(hd1,1)" to "(hd1,0)"
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens@vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
-- Life: That which happens while you search for the remote control. -
XP is installed on the original 80G h.d., untouched, still as Dell set it up.
I installed a second 80G SATA drive and installed FC5 to that with the DVD, all pretty much as Fedora intended except where I told it to use the mbr and default to FC5 Linux.
Grub looks pretty much as you specify.:
sh-3.1# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp) root (hd1,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp.img title Windows XP rootnoverify (hd0,1) chainloader +1
[I typed this manually but it looks identical to the display on the Dell display.]
It looks to me like Dell has somehow set aside about 3 gigs of the 80 apparently to provide a means of reinstalling Windows? I don't know it that has any effect on this problem?
If you are CERTAIN you did a "grub-install /dev/sda", then it may be that the BIOS virus checker keeps overwriting grub with the Winblows boot loader (it considers grub to be a virus). You'll need to disable that in the BIOS.
I can't find anything that resembles a "BIOS virus checker" in the system setup screens.
I'm beginning to think I'll pull the plug on the Windows drive and just put it back when I want to boot Windows! Whatever, I've spent too much time with this today. Tomorrow ...
Thanks for your help.
Bob Goodwin
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens@vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
-"The bogosity meter just pegged." -
On 9/1/06, Bob Goodwin bobgoodwin@wildblue.net wrote:
Rick Stevens wrote:
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 19:29 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Rick Stevens wrote:
On Fri, 2006-09-01 at 17:13 -0400, Bob Goodwin wrote:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Tim wrote:
> Just quoting the salient points: > > Bob Goodwin wrote: > > > >>>> XP Home is already installed and I have no way to reinstall it, no >>>> o/s >>>> CD's are provided. >>>> >>>> >>>> > Tim: > > > >>> If you want to keep the XP installation as-is, and the Linux >>> completely >>> separate, I'd consider: >>> 2. Modifying the XP bootloader menu so that *it* is used to boot >>> itself, or Linux. >>> 3. Copying a file copy of the Linux bootblock onto the XP >>> drive for >>> that XP bootloader to work with. >>> >>> >>> > Aaron Konstam: > > > >> Thhis used to be the wqay to do it in the RedHat Linux days. But for a >> long time under Fedora grub does the job without any extra effort. >> >> >> > Ordinarily, I'd use GRUB to handle booting, too. But the original > poster mentioned not having any Windows install discs. It seems prudent > to avoid altering the Windows installation in that situation. > Especially if one isn't familiar with fixing things up, after a problem, > the hard way. > > > Prudent or not, the installation is now running with Grub and boot on the mbr.
If I break something I'll have to fix it somehow?
So far things have gone smoothly, there was physical space for the drive and I was able to set bios to recognize the new second drive. Hopefully the rest will go as uneventfully ...
Bob Goodwin
I have installed fc5 from the dvd twice now to be certain I've done things correctly. I believe I have.
The fc5 install is on the second drive, /dev/sdb. XP is factory [Dell] installed and I have no install disk. XP is of little importance to me but I would like to retain it is possible. Both drives are 80G.
It should boot Linux from the mbr, /dev/sda on which XP resides, grub is installed with FC5 designated as the default, but I never see a grub display at turn on, it simply boots XP right off without offering any alternative.
What am I doing wrong?
grub should be installed in the MBR of the first SCSI disk (aka /dev/sda). That can be done by getting in to Linux and doing "grub-install /dev/sda" as the root user.
We need to know how you laid out the Linux stuff. Is it all in one partition or did you divvy it up? Assuming you put it in separate partitions, with /boot as partition 0 and / as partition 1, this /boot/grub/grub.conf should work:
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.17-1.2174_FC5) root (hd1,1) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5 ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet max_luns=256 initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.17-1.2174_FC5.img title Windows XP root (hd0,0) makeactive chainloader +1
If Linux is all on a single partition, change the references above that say "(hd1,1)" to "(hd1,0)"
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens@vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc. http://www.vitalstream.com -
-- Life: That which happens while you search for the remote control. -
XP is installed on the original 80G h.d., untouched, still as Dell set it up.
I installed a second 80G SATA drive and installed FC5 to that with the DVD, all pretty much as Fedora intended except where I told it to use the mbr and default to FC5 Linux.
Grub looks pretty much as you specify.:
sh-3.1# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp) root (hd1,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp.img title Windows XP rootnoverify (hd0,1) chainloader +1
[I typed this manually but it looks identical to the display on the Dell display.]
It looks to me like Dell has somehow set aside about 3 gigs of the 80 apparently to provide a means of reinstalling Windows? I don't know it that has any effect on this problem?
If you are CERTAIN you did a "grub-install /dev/sda", then it may be that the BIOS virus checker keeps overwriting grub with the Winblows boot loader (it considers grub to be a virus). You'll need to disable that in the BIOS.
I can't find anything that resembles a "BIOS virus checker" in the system setup screens.
I'm beginning to think I'll pull the plug on the Windows drive and just put it back when I want to boot Windows! Whatever, I've spent too much time with this today. Tomorrow ...
Thanks for your help.
Bob Goodwin
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer rstevens@vitalstream.com -
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Hi Bob!
SCSI Drives now XP=sda FC5=sdb -- rearrange the SCSI addresses (should be configurable on the drives - probably jumpers or through a utility) and see if you can get FC5=sda XP=sdb. Then install-grub sda and you should have a working system.
Do copy the MBR and MBR plus 62 sectors and hold off disk. When you boot XP it may well (perhaps through the Dell machine management software) replace the MBR. You can tell if it did by checking what is in the MBR with your copy through hexdump.
Good Hunting!
Tod
Tod Merley wrote:
Hi Bob!
SCSI Drives now XP=sda FC5=sdb -- rearrange the SCSI addresses (should be configurable on the drives - probably jumpers or through a utility) and see if you can get FC5=sda XP=sdb. Then install-grub sda and you should have a working system.
I suspect this is determined by where the drive data cable is plugged in on the m.b. I'll try swapping them, once I am fully awake!
Someone else sent me a procedure for using the Windows bootloader which looks like another approach that I might be able to get working but I will hold that as a last resort. I prefer to do the job from FC5 if I can.
Do copy the MBR and MBR plus 62 sectors and hold off disk. When you boot XP it may well (perhaps through the Dell machine management software) replace the MBR. You can tell if it did by checking what is in the MBR with your copy through hexdump.
I'm not sure how to copy the mbr, how to locate it, how it is named? I guess I will somehow ...
BobG
Good Hunting!
Tod
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Grub looks pretty much as you specify.:
sh-3.1# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp) root (hd1,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp.img title Windows XP rootnoverify (hd0,1) chainloader +1
I would try saying "grub-install --recheck /dev/sda".
Timothy Murphy wrote:
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Grub looks pretty much as you specify.:
sh-3.1# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp) root (hd1,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp.img title Windows XP rootnoverify (hd0,1) chainloader +1
I would try saying "grub-install --recheck /dev/sda".
sh-3.1# grub-install --recheck /dev/sda
(fd0) /dev/fd0 (hd0) /dev/sda (hd1) /dev/sdb
Actually there's no floppy drive installed in the Dell.
It also tells me if any of the above is incorrect, fix it, and re-run grub-install. Looks ok to me? I suppose I might try swapping sda and sdb as was also suggested, if that works it would be easier than opening the box and swapping cables, etc.
BobG
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Grub looks pretty much as you specify.:
sh-3.1# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
#boot=/dev/sda default=0 timeout=5 splashimage=(hd1,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu title Fedora Core (2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp) root (hd1,0) kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5smp.img title Windows XP rootnoverify (hd0,1) chainloader +1
I would try saying "grub-install --recheck /dev/sda".
sh-3.1# grub-install --recheck /dev/sda
(fd0) /dev/fd0 (hd0) /dev/sda (hd1) /dev/sdb
Actually there's no floppy drive installed in the Dell.
It also tells me if any of the above is incorrect, fix it, and re-run grub-install. Looks ok to me? I suppose I might try swapping sda and sdb as was also suggested, if that works it would be easier than opening the box and swapping cables, etc.
So it seems that the grub loader has been installed on the MBR of /dev/sda . Is this actually what you think of as sda? (fdisk -l /dev/sda should tell you.) Do you get a grub prompt when you re-boot? Is the boot order in the BIOS what you would expect, or want?
You could try using fdisk to change the active partition, though I can't see why that should have any effect.
[I don't claim to be a grub expert; and also I have not read all the thread, so I may be off-beam.]
Bob Goodwin wrote a lot in HTML only. So I hope I'm quoting him more or less correctly:
You solved my problem, or at least pointed me to the solution.
Fdisk showed both drives designated as boot, I toggled boot to off for /dev/sda and now grub comes up and offers selection of either operating system. I haven't tried selecting Windows XP yet but will report if a problem remains.
I can't explain why both were set to boot but that's the way the installer left them?
OK, if that happens, the chances are that grub was installed on /dev/sdb and not on /dev/sda. The BIOS will work out that there's no bootable partition on the WinXP disk, and "fail over" to /dev/sdb.
If it works, you might even want to keep it that way. Be aware that at any time, XP updates might re-enable sda.
Incidentally, "bootable" means "this partition is bootable". The BIOS will normally choose which disk to try first, and will boot the first bootable partition it finds.
Hope this helps,
James.
James Wilkinson wrote:
Bob Goodwin wrote a lot in HTML only. So I hope I'm quoting him more or less correctly:
You solved my problem, or at least pointed me to the solution.
Fdisk showed both drives designated as boot, I toggled boot to off for /dev/sda and now grub comes up and offers selection of either operating system. I haven't tried selecting Windows XP yet but will report if a problem remains.
I can't explain why both were set to boot but that's the way the installer left them?
OK, if that happens, the chances are that grub was installed on /dev/sdb and not on /dev/sda. The BIOS will work out that there's no bootable partition on the WinXP disk, and "fail over" to /dev/sdb.
If it works, you might even want to keep it that way. Be aware that at any time, XP updates might re-enable sda.
Incidentally, "bootable" means "this partition is bootable". The BIOS will normally choose which disk to try first, and will boot the first bootable partition it finds.
Hope this helps,
James.
Yes, that helps somewhat, explains why toggling boot off on /dev/sda allowed it to move on to the next one where it found grub.
Physically swapping the two data connectors might have made it work it seems since that would have made the "grub drive" /dev/sda?
BobG
Bob Goodwin wrote:
Physically swapping the two data connectors might have made it work it seems since that would have made the "grub drive" /dev/sda?
Probably not. Grub would have started looking on what it thought was the "second" disk (by that point the WinXP disk) for a kernel and initrd, if not for the second stage of Grub itself.
If you could have got Grub to load and to boot Fedora, then Fedora would have quite happily worked out where its partitions were.
I'm pretty sure that Windows XP would have been unhappy, too. NT-based OSes (like XP) have a number of ways of referring to their disks, and don't like it if any of them change. The usual symptom is an unbootable system.
If you want a belts-and-braces setup, you might want to look at getting the NT boot loader to boot Fedora. http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_setup_boot_loaders#Copying_the_boot_sec... is a fairly clear set of instructions. (Please be careful with the dd command!) That way, you should be able to get into Fedora whichever boot loader starts.
Hope this helps,
James.
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