Problems with grub/fedora/windowsxp

[William Case]

Hi;

I don't seem to be able to chainload to WindowsXP anymore.

My grub.conf in /boot/grub/ includes:
...
title WindowsXP SP3
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
makeactive

]# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 41.0 GB, 40981069312 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4982 cylinders, total 80041151 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xa6a9a6a9

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63    63649529    31824733+   c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2        63649530    80035829     8193150    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5        63649593    80035829     8193118+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500106780160 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976771055 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00066c56

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            2048     1026047      512000   83  Linux
/dev/sdb2        21506048    25602047     2048000   82  Linux swap /
Solaris
/dev/sdb3         1026048    21506047    10240000   83  Linux
/dev/sdb4        25602048   976769023   475583488    5  Extended
/dev/sdb5        25604096   935809023   455102464   83  Linux
/dev/sdb6       935811072   976769023    20478976    b  W95 FAT32

Partition table entries are not in disk order


First question:  Just to double check. Is the chainloader for WindowsXP
written correctly?  I have been know to repeatedly over look a
stupidity.

Second Question: What does "Partition table entries are not in disk
order" mean?  I googled and got articles on the new 4096 disk sector
format.  Never had a problem with that before.


Second question:
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1 
find /boot/grub/stage1
Error 15: File not found

but,

grub> find /grub/stage1
find /grub/stage1
(hd1,0)
(hd2,0)

Yet, the /boot partition exists, and contains my /grub/grub.conf file.
Any changes I make in this file show up in the grub menu at boot up.
Has grub been changed to ignore the /boot?

Why is find telling me I have two disks with stage1.  I have only one
(hd1,0),  Could it by finding a stage1 file on my (hd0,4) - my linux
backup partition?  How?  It hasn't been added to fstab yet. 

Then,

grub> root (hd1,0)
root (hd1,0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
grub> setup (hd0)
setup (hd0)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... no
Checking if "/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"...  26 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
Running "install /grub/stage1 d (hd0) (hd0)1+26 p
(hd1,0)/grub/stage2 /grub/grub.conf"... succeeded
Done.

However, as a double check I ran grub-install

# grub-install hd1
Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map /boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.

# this device map was generated by anaconda
(hd0)     /dev/sda
(hd1)     /dev/sdb


Now here is where it gets really confusing:

When grub.conf in /boot/grub/ includes:
title Fedora (2.6.35.10-74.fc14.x86_64)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.35.10-74.fc14.x86_64 ro root=UUID=20... etc.

Fedora won't boot.

But when I change it to the following (hd2,0):
title Fedora (2.6.35.10-74.fc14.x86_64)
root (hd2,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.35.10-74.fc14.x86_64 ro root=UUID=20
Fedora boots.

Finally, as a test to see if WindowsXP will boot on its own, without the
use of grub, using my WindowsXP Recovery Console, tried to restore the
MBR.  WindowsXP would no longer boot.

Two outstanding other pieces of information.  I thought sda (hd0) was
failing and removed the cables to save it.  Reattaching the cables
seemed to fix everything.  I can mount sda.  No more spin up problems
are being recorded by 'Smart'.

I re-installed Fedora 14 but his should not have mucked up the windows
(sda) installation order as can some times happen.

That's it.

Any suggestions on what I should try next?

-- 
Regards Bill
Fedora 14, Gnome 2.32
Evo.2.32, Emacs 23.2.1