GRUB didn't install? [solved]

[thejakal]

I installed Kubuntu to dual boot XP on my laptop via the live CD with no problems, so I decided to put it on my XP desktop too.
I made some unpartitioned space in XP, then ran the live CD and installed Kubuntu successfuly. However, when I rebooted after the install, it went right into XP - didn't go into GRUB. I re-ran the live CD and went to install it again, and the partition manager in the installer confirmed the new root and swap partition were still there. I reinstalled anyway, and still the same problem, no GRUB. Right now, my XP setup is untouched and working fine. I certainly didn't run into this problem on my laptop, and I'm using the same live CD, so it has to do with my SATA HD I think. My desktop specs are:

Gigabyte GA-7N400
Athlon XP 3200+
1GB RAM
80GB SATA boot drive (XP installed, and the linux partitions taking up the last 15GB)
400GB RAID

I know that I can manually install GRUB, but I'd rather know why Kubuntu didn't set it up for me before I start messing with my MBR and stuff.

[Volvo_Guy]

Re: GRUB didn't install?

You can read my post from a similar problem here: http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...33207#msg33207

Do you have 2 physical drives? I found that grub was installing on the drive on my Primary Channel which wasn't my SATA drive. Also in my BIOS, there is a setting for Primary Drive I can change if I'm running more than one drive, regardless of primary/slave settings or channel. So I disconnected my other drive, reinstalled Kubuntu and GRUB then installed on my SATA drive, and not the Primary Master, which was an IDE drive. This sounds super confusing I know, but it's the easiest way to explain it.

Will

[thejakal]

Re: GRUB didn't install?

As confusing as your explanation sounded, I think I had the same problem. I fixed it by installing GRUB from the live CD, explained at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224351. The only thing was that set up GRUB to boot all partitions from hd1, where my boot drive is hd0. Editing the menu.lst file fixed all my problems and now I can dual boot fine!