Ubuntu fails to load

[joesmoe10]

Hey,
I am trying to install ubuntu alongside windows xp sp2 on a dell laptop by using this guide. I created an extended partition to hold the root, swap and a shared partition using system rescue cd.

The idea was to copy the ubuntu boot info (ubuntu.bin) from the linux partition and then copy that to the shared fat32 partition and modify the windows boot.ini to include ubuntu.bin.

The problem that is when I select ubuntu to boot I get a blank black screen with no way out except to shut down the machine. My only guess that is I somehow screwed up copying ubuntu.bin somehow.
Any ideas?

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

Why do you want to use Windows Boot Loader? Ubuntu's Boot Loader ( GRUB ) handles dual booting pretty well and you dont have to do anything special. Installer takes care everything.

Regarding blank screen problem, it looks like Graphics Card problem. Which Graphics Card do you have? Post your machine's specs here.

[joesmoe10]

I'll use either one, though from what you said it sounds like my best bet is to just to do a clean install and use GRUB. I'll give that a whirl and see what happens

I have a dell M65 laptop with a t2600 dual core processor, 2 gb of ram, a 100gig HD, Nvidia Quadro FX 350M

[devils casper]

You might face Graphics Card problem ( Blank Screen ) but its easy to fix that too. Do let me know how it goes.

[joesmoe10]

Ok, well I installed Kubuntu and got that up and running, so all the hardware works but I installed grub on the MBR. Grub will not load Windows XP SP2 Pro, grub restarts itself whenever I chose XP. I've been looking at some other threads but the simple stuff I've tried hasn't worked. Here's the relevant parts of menu.lst for grub

title           Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root            (hd0,4)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=4f69c77a-8f7f-4d53-8b23-e101e193a509 ro quiet splash
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

title           Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)
root            (hd0,4)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=4f69c77a-8f7f-4d53-8b23-e101e193a509 ro single
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

title           Ubuntu 7.10, memtest86+
root            (hd0,4)
kernel          /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title           Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title           Dell Utility Partition
root            (hd0,0)
savedefault
chainloader     +1


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda2
title           Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root          (hd0,1)
savedefault
chainloader     +1

hd0,0 is a dell recovery tool
hd0,1 is windows boot
hd0,2 is windows data
hd0,3 is the extended partition which holds kubuntu
hd0,4 is kubuntu boot
hd0,5 is linux swap
hd0,6 is a shared fat32

I tried fixmbr from the windows xp disk but grub still has control.
Thanks for all the help

[devils casper]

Code is correct in menu.lst file. Something has been gone wrong with Windows OS. Download SuperGRUB CD and boot up from it. Select Fix Windows Boot Loader option from list. It will remove GRUB.
Check if Windows OS boot up by default on reboot.

[joesmoe10]

Ok, I got back to windows, super grub didn't work but the windows install cd did the trick. I used fixboot and the windows bootloader took over. Of course now I'm back to where I started without linux. I'll give this a try again, here's my plan.

1. Wipe the linux partition and start from scratch
2. Create an extended partition for /, /home, swap, fat32 using gparted on the linux rescue cd.
3. Install ubuntu with grub set on (hd 0,5) which is /home
4. Pay homage to the computer gods.

So my hdd will look like this

hd0,0 is a dell recovery tool
hd0,1 is windows boot
hd0,2 is windows data
hd0,3 is the extended partition
hd0,4 is / with the format option checked during ubuntu install
hd0,5 is /home and where I'll tell the boot loader to install
hd0,6 is swap
hd0,7 is a shared fat32

Is there anything wrong with this?
Also do I even need the fat32 if ubuntu has ntfs support?
With this setup, will grub still automatically do everything?

also, devils_casper, you're an amazing person

[devils casper]

Install ubuntu with grub set on (hd 0,5) which is /home

Dont change anything in Boot Loader section and let installer install GRUB in its default loaction. Installer will setup dual boot itself.
Partition structure is correct and you dont need FAT32 partition. Ubuntu support NTFS read/write access. You will have to install ntfs-3g package only.

[joesmoe10]

I let GRUB install at its default which was (hd0). When I restarted, NTLDR is still the default. I tried booting the root partition with supergrub but I recieved Error 13 "Invalid or unsupported executable format".

[Jonathan183]

I let GRUB install at its default which was (hd0). When I restarted, NTLDR is still the default. I tried booting the root partition with supergrub but I recieved Error 13 "Invalid or unsupported executable format".

So you fixed Windows bootloader & reinstalled Ubuntu using the default bootloader settings ... on reboot you get the Windows bootloader rather than Grub ... is that correct ?
If it is try using SuperGrub to find existing Grub menus on the hard drive ... I think it is GNU/Linux option rather than boot partition. Can you boot Linux ?