dual boot problems, plz help

**thesimplecreator** · 08-22-2008

ok, i have a computer with windows xp and a 160gb hd,
and im trying to dual boot with xubuntu
i used the gparted live cd to make an extra partition for xubuntu,
i booted the xubuntu install cd, installed xubuntu on the second partition
and during the installation i installed grub boot loader to the hard drives mbr

then i restarted the computer
i got:
grub error 17
so i put in the super grub disk
i fixed the mbr so it automatically boots into windows,
but i dont know how to set it up so i can choose from either xp or xubuntu at startup,
when i try to boot into xubuntu from the grub disk it says it doesnt detect any linux installations

thx

**Jonathan183** · 08-23-2008

Can you post the output of

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

so we can see the disk partition structure.

Also can you boot Xubuntu using the SuperGrub CD?

**thesimplecreator** · 08-23-2008

i had to use the ubuntu live cd to get this , i cant get to the xubuntu intallation

***jayd512*** · 08-23-2008

Did you mean to give Xubuntu only about 2 gigs of hard drive space? Cuz I'm thinking you would need a little more than that, even for a minimal install.

**thesimplecreator** · 08-24-2008

i didnt think it would need much since all my personal files are on the xp partition as well as my games,
i was just planning on messing and experimenting with the xubuntu partition.
it still has almost 500mb left unused.

***jayd512*** · 08-24-2008

I looked into it a little more, and you're right. 2 gigs should be fine for playing around with it. But I was looking at the GRUB Manual, and it would seem that Error 17 means that the filesystem isn't being recognized, therefore can't be mounted.
Is the Xubuntu CD a Live CD as well, or just an install media? If it's a live CD, can you boot into Xubuntu from there? If not, you may need to reinstall.

**thesimplecreator** · 08-24-2008

its just the install cd,
ill reinstall it and see if it helps

**Jonathan183** · 08-24-2008

You should be able to run

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

from the Ubuntu live cd ... anyway see how the re-install goes.

My thoughts if this does not work is a small boot partition at the beginning of the disk (but I would have expected error 18 for BIOS limit exceeded) ... also could you fire up Xubuntu using SuperGrub ?

When you boot do you get the grub menu ... or does grub just throw error 17? can you try

Code:

find /boot/grub/menu.lst

from the grub prompt and is anything found?

**thesimplecreator** · 08-24-2008

ok, here goes:

i reformatted the second partition and reinstalled xubuntu on it.
it ejected the cd , i took it out, restarted the computer
when it started grub just gives
error 17

so i restarted it with the grub super disk and selected linux, and it gave me
error 15.

the output of sudo fdisk -l was:

Code:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1               1       19189   154135611    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2   *       19190       19433     1959930   83  Linux
/dev/hda3           19434       19457      192780   82  Linux swap / Solaris
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

i even set the linux partitions boot flag to on hoping it would do something.....

**Jonathan183** · 08-25-2008

Try a manual reinstall of grub first of all use ...

Code:

sudo -s
grub
root (hd0,1)
setup (hd0)
quit

Then try a reboot and see if you get any further ... if you get an error when you type root (hd0,1) post the output here.

If you get a grub menu but the Linux option does not work then reboot from the live cd and try ...

Code:

sudo -s
mkdir /manmount
mount /dev/hda2 /manmount
ls /manmount/boot
cat /manmount/boot/grub/menu.lst

and post the output.

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