GRUB help needed--dual boot configuration

[lwpack]

Hello. I'm attempting to dual boot Vista and Intrepid. Vista is already installed. When I install Intrepid everything appears to go smoothly, but once I restart it automatically boots into Windows. I tried reinstalling GRUB to MBR with the Super GRUB disk but that didn't work. The Ubuntu partition is there; I can access it from the Ubuntu live CD. I just can't boot into it. I'm assuming it's some simple GRUB configuration error, but I don't know what. I'm fairly new to linux. Here is some potentially useful info:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000554fa

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 121601 976760001 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x454ca824

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 6797 54595878+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 6798 121601 922163130 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 6798 120466 913046211 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 120467 121601 9116856 82 Linux swap / Solaris


Relevant Contents of /boot/grub/menu.lst

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
uuid feb09923-9abe-4d5d-85d1-082f8eb97179
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=feb09923-9abe-4d5d-85d1-082f8eb97179 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
uuid feb09923-9abe-4d5d-85d1-082f8eb97179
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=feb09923-9abe-4d5d-85d1-082f8eb97179 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
uuid feb09923-9abe-4d5d-85d1-082f8eb97179
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

Thank you for your help.

[Jonathan183]

Can you change the boot order in BIOS to boot from the hard drive on which you installed Linux?

If you just want to install grub to the MBR of the first hard drive (only do this if both drives are internal drives) then try booting from the live CD, open a terminal and use

sudo grub
root (hd1,4)
setup (hd0,0)
quit

Then restart the system.

[lwpack]

Can you change the boot order in BIOS to boot from the hard drive on which you installed Linux?

If you just want to install grub to the MBR of the first hard drive (only do this if both drives are internal drives) then try booting from the live CD, open a terminal and use

sudo grub
root (hd1,4)
setup (hd0,0)
quit

Then restart the system.

Hi.
The BIOS is already set to boot first from the hard drive linux is installed to. That it automatically boots into Vista is verification of this (the Vista boot partition and Linux partition are on the same hard drive).

The sda drive contains just data.
The sdb drive contains the Vista and Linux installs. The BIOS is set to boot from sdb first.

Or so I believe this is the situation, perhaps I'm wrong and that is the problem.

[Jonathan183]

In which case I suggest you mount the partitions and check ...

sudo mkdir /media/sda1 /media/sdb1
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/sda1
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1
ls /media/sda1
ls /media/sdb1

and check which has OS and which has data ...

[lwpack]

In which case I suggest you mount the partitions and check ...

sudo mkdir /media/sda1 /media/sdb1
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/sda1
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1
ls /media/sda1
ls /media/sdb1

and check which has OS and which has data ...

Ok, I did as you suggested.

sda1 does indeed contain the data.

For some reason it was unable to mount sdb1. It said:
"can't find /dev/sdb1 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab"
I don't know what that's about, but by process of elimination, it must be the Vista partition.

Also, I have mounted /sdb5 and it is indeed the Intrepid installation.

[Jonathan183]

You system looks to recognise data drive as sda and Windows/Linux drive as sdb ... try the commands I posted to install grub to the MBR of the first drive.

[lwpack]

Thank you. I actually ended up wiping everything and starting over. It's working now with the exception of one small thing that I am about to start a new thread about.