Can run from Live DVD; install; Grub Error 15 on attempt to boot

[Objekt]

Re: Can run from Live DVD; install; Grub Error 15 on attempt to boot

Not sure what happened last time. I am now able to see my NTFS-formatted volumes, though I do have to enter my password once initially to access them. Is there any way to automate that? Clearly, the NFTS-3G utility is here somewhere, or I wouldn't be able to read the NTFS volumes at all, right?

So far, I can't get Windows XP to boot through GRUB. GRUB says "Starting up" then appears to give up, and I'm back at the initial menu with a choice of which OS to boot.

What's weird is that Windows IS on the "first" hard disk, as far as GRUB is concerned. I know XP doesn't "like" to boot off anything but the first HDD, but the SATA drive on which my Win XP boot volume resides is seen as hd0, partition 0, by GRUb already. So I shouldn't need to do the drive-remapping trick in my menu.lst file, right? Yet XP won't boot this way.

In my BIOS I have the IDE drive (confusingly called "HDD 0" by the BIOS!) set for first boot, such that GRUB will come up and I will get a choice of OS's. This IDE drive is the one on which my Kubuntu install resides. So GRUB will just boot Kubuntu, if I don't do anything. The SATA drive with my Win XP boot volume is the first SATA drive, numbered 0 by the BIOS. Don't know if any of that matters.

I guess I could put GRUB on my SATA disk with Windows, but I'm very, very reluctant to mess with the MBR of my Windows XP volume. It's easy to break a Windows install, and much more painful to fix it than Kubuntu.

[Qqmike]

Re: Can run from Live DVD; install; Grub Error 15 on attempt to boot

The internal hard drive (or flash drive or external drive--ANY drive) that is set up in BIOS to be the first-in-order boot drive is always seen by BIOS and by GRUB as hd0 >> when you actually boot the PC << (for that PC session).

So, you have GRUB on hd0.
But Windows is on either hd1 or hd2 (at boot time and as seen by GRUB).
If you boot into Kubuntu and run
sudo grub
grub> geometry (hd<Press the TAB key now>
then investigate each drive detected
grub> geometry (hd0)
grub> geometry (hd1)
etc
you'll see which drive Windows is on.
Or, you could simply make a guess, then try it, then adjust your guess until you get it.
Take the drive Windows is on, and use the map commands (in menu.lst) to boot Windows.

See Reply #12 (for an example of the map commands):
How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0
Install Windows XP *after* Kubuntu, and install XP to a non-first hard drive: map command Reply #12

That should do it.

[Qqmike]

Re: Can run from Live DVD; install; Grub Error 15 on attempt to boot

The map commands apply anytime XP is on a non-first hard drive, hdx, x > 1.

[Objekt]

Re: Can run from Live DVD; install; Grub Error 15 on attempt to boot

It was just a question of which HDD is considered "0" and which "1" at boot time. Turns out it was like this:

IDE drive with Kubuntu on it = hd0
SATA drive with Windows XP boot volume on it = hd1

This is not how GRUB saw it *after* startup, but the old "map (hd0) (hd1)" switcheroo worked perfectly.

So now I have a system which I can easily boot into either Windows XP or Kubuntu 8.04.1, with the press of a couple of keys at startup. Thanks for all your help!

[Qqmike]

Re: Can run from Live DVD; install; Grub Error 15 on attempt to boot

"It was just a question of which HDD is considered "0" and which "1" at boot time."

Exactly right. There's nothing magic about the device numbering, it may even seem arbitrary (except for the first-boot drive which is hd0), but you need to get it right even by guessing.

Keep in mind, also, that your situation is a bit more trying because you have a mixture of IDE and SATA drives, a situation that always causes some confusion among the device numbers. But as you found out, it's doable. The geometry command can be very useful.

Good work on your end, Objekt, and glad you are back on the road. As I'm sure you've thought about it, just be "prepared" for such adjustments if/when you do any fresh installs of Kubuntu or other distros.

Happy days are here again ...