Partitioning help needed; Grub error 5; Dual boot linux + windows

[Veniogenesis]

Hi everyone!

I've been having trouble all day with installing Linux (Ubuntu) on a machine that already has Windows XP. I was using Grub as the bootloader and it kept giving me Error 5 after my installation. (I tried repartitioning and reinstalling for 5 times.)

I think it has something to do with the way I'm partitioning my drives.

This is my initial table:

IDE1 Master (hda) - 160.0 GB
#1 primary 160.0 GB (BOOT) (NTFS) - /media/hda1

IDE2 Slave (hdb) - 200.0 GB
#1 primary 40.8 GB (NTFS) - /media/hdb1
#5 logical 139.7 GB (NTFS) - /media/hdb5
pri/log 19.5 GB FREE SPACE

SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 200.0 GB
#1 primary 200.0 GB (NTFS) - /media/sda1

This is what I was trying to use:

IDE1 Master (hda) - 160.0 GB
#1 primary 160.0 GB (BOOT) (NTFS) - /media/hda1

IDE2 Slave (hdb) - 200.0 GB
#1 primary 40.8 GB (NTFS) - /media/hdb1
#5 logical 139.7 GB (NTFS) - /media/hdb5
#6 logical 830.7 MB (SWAP) - swap
#3 logical 18.5 GB (EXT3) - /
#7 logical 0.2 GB (EXT3) - /boot

SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 200.0 GB
#1 primary 200.0 GB (NTFS) - /media/sda1

Since I'm a newbie, I think I'm doing it TOTALLY wrong. I was wondering if anyone could give me advice.


Thanks so much!
Venio

[drakebasher]

I'd suggest you put the /boot partition at the beginning (partition 1) of one drive or the other. Grub has some limitations on how far it can "see" and I think /dev/sdb7 may be out of range.

[fah]

hi
it does not seem likely that it is how far grub can see, actually there is a manual for grub, which says partitions table:
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...#Stage1-errors
it says
5 : Partition table invalid or corrupt
This error is returned if the sanity checks on the integrity of the partition table fail. This is a bad sign
grub will often damage boot sector and drive parameters when u install it to the MBR. that can be avoided by installing it to the boot sector of a linux partition, which is NOT on the MBR. in fact i suspect that has happened.
other than that grub can look quite far, it has been able to look as far as hde6 from hde1 on my 200 GB hdd, where each partition (1 and 2) is 50 GB in size. it has an LBA mode, but u may have to keep the kernel in a directory of the start (=non-linux) partition.it was when i did, that i found grub was using NOT the config file included in that directory, but on hde6, so it can look far. i suggest u use interactive mode of grub on startup and search for the stage1 file in the dir boot , using the find command.
however, if u find u have to keep kernel or boot files in the boot partition, u may need to place it on fat32 at max, ntfs may be unsuitable, and that could be the 2nd likely source of your problems. as far as i am aware, grub or any linux boot loader CANNOT read NTFS

[drakebasher]

grub will often damage boot sector and drive parameters when u install it to the MBR.

This claim is not at all supportable by anything I've heard or read. Clearly, you've had some problems with Grub on your system, but in every case of problems with Grub that I am aware of the root cause is bad hardware or mis-application/operator error. It's good to know that Grub can see so deeply into the filesystem. Still, the value of having a separate /boot partition is pretty much wasted on placing it so far into the drive and on a logical partition.

Cheers~

[fah]

well then read
b4 u judge other su dont even know.
with the right combinations of factors, u can do it too (mess up ur comp that is)
the error described there still can happen, and the fixes mentioned do not always work (use of sfdisk, and setting bios to lba)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla....cgi?id=115980
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedor.../msg02114.html
took me a week to find those threads
parted may have been fixed in the meantime it seems

[drakebasher]

u can do it too (mess up you comp that is)

No doubt. But I try not to.