How to Fix Windows/Linux 2 drive boot?

[LouArnold]

I have a system with the primary drive as XP. The 2nd drive (with Fedora) has died and been removed. GRUB still appears but only as the single line "GRUB Read Error". The computer stops at that point.

I have another blank drive that I can add to the system. I want to install CentOS on it, but I want to preserve the Windows drive.

The final goal would be able to boot Windows by default and CentOS by selection.

How do I do that?

[devils casper]

The final goal would be able to boot Windows by default and CentOS by selection.

That can be achieved easily. Install CentOS in Second drive. Its GRUB will take charge and you will have option to boot either OS at startup, same as Fedora's GRUB.
You have to edit /boot/grub/grub.conf file of CentOS to set Windows OS as default OS.
After CentOS installation, post the contents of its /boot/grub/grub.conf file here.

[LouArnold]

OK, that was a great answer.
I'm going to try to restore the image of a CentOS drive from another computer. That was a 30 GB drive and the target will be a 40 GB drive.

If that fails I will install CentOS from scratch. I'll get back to you with the grub configuration file because my previous attempts to change the default boot OS was not successful.

[LouArnold]

That worked! I wrote the CentOS image from a drive on another computer to this 2nd hard drive. Needed to fiddle with the fstab file (its on the web), and reconfigure the X-server (Linux helped). But its up and running. Now for the grub.conf file:
---

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,0)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title CentOS (2.6.18-164.6.1.el5)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.6.1.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.18-164.6.1.el5.img
title CentOS (2.6.18-164.el5)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.18-164.el5.img
title CentOS (2.6.18-128.el5)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-128.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.18-128.el5.img

-------
Notes:
1) I had to set the BIOS to boot from IDE-1 to get the system to boot at all.
2) The 2nd drive is hdd. The Windows drive is hda.
3) Recall I want Grub to boot Windows by default.

[LouArnold]

I managed to make it work with the grub.conf changes:
Add the following before the 1st "title" directive
---
title Windows XP
#Don't know what the map cpmmand does.
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
#not sure why the next is (hd1,0)?
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1
-----
But again, the BIOS is set to boot the 2nd disk first, and yet before, it booted the first drive. How do you fix this?

[LouArnold]

Nope... Originally, the boot sequence in the BIOS was set to look at the diskette first, CDROM 2nd, and IDE-0 (Windows) third. If, in the BIOS, I set that boot sequence again, it says:
Searching for Boot Record from IDE-0..OK
GRUB
and then stops.
----
The BIOS startup output is:
Primary Master: Windows drive (hda)
Primary Slave: Not Installed.
Secondary slave: Linux drive (hdd??)
Secondary Master: DVD-ROM

I would like to get back to the original boot sequence?

[devils casper]

Windows OS doesn't boot up if you set its Harddisk as Secondary. map code is like a cheat code to tell Windows OS that its Harddisk is Primary.
default value set the default OS in GRUB menu.
Your grub.conf file should be like this

default=3
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
#hiddenmenu
title CentOS (2.6.18-164.6.1.el5)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.6.1.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.18-164.6.1.el5.img
title CentOS (2.6.18-164.el5)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-164.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.18-164.el5.img
title CentOS (2.6.18-128.el5)
	root (hd0,0)
	kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-128.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
	initrd /initrd-2.6.18-128.el5.img

title Windows XP
          rootnoverify (hd1,0) 
          map (hd0) (hd1)
          map (hd1) (hd0)
          chainloader +1

There are three title lines in grub.conf file and Windows OS title is 4th. default count starts from zero, so the value should be 3 to set Windows OS as default OS.

[devils casper]

In case it doesn't work, post the output of fdisk -l command here.

su -
fdisk -l

[LouArnold]

title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1
I know the above works. (see my posts 5 and 6). I got there myself. But it only works because I set the BIOS boot sequence to IDE-1 (the Linux drive) as the first hard drive to boot from. If I set it to IDE-0 (the Windows drive), it doesn't work. It was orginally set to IDE-0, and I would like it back that way.

Here is the fdisk -l
Disk /dev/hda: 30.7 GB, 30750031872 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 59582 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 59559 30017421 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/hdd: 40.8 GB, 40822161408 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 79098 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdd1 * 1 208 104391 83 Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/hdd2 208 77536 38973690 8e Linux LVM
[root@roli ~]#

[devils casper]

GRUB is configured to boot up from Linux Harddisk only and that is a best setup imho.

If you want to set Windows Harddisk as First Boot Device and use GRUB for dual booting, you have to install GRUB in MBR of Windows Harddisk. Its not a good idea. In this case, both Harddisk/OSes will depend on each other. If anything goes wrong with any Harddisk, none of OS will boot up. I would suggest you not to change current setup.

Is there any reason for setting Windows Harddisk as IDE-0?