Dual-Boot on Dell Dimension 3000

[ltcmdrdata]

I just installed Ubuntu on my Dell Desktop. Originally my computer had 3 primary partitions (/dev/hd1a ~ 47MB), (/dev/hd2a ~ 145GB), (/dev/hd2a ~ 3GB). I read somewhere that the third partition was only used for system restore, so I used that for the swap and split the 145GB into two (115GB and 30GB). So now I had 4 partitions, the first two (47MB,115GB) for WindowsXP and then the last two (30GB,3GB) for Linux. The installer asked me where to install GRUB and I installed it to /dev/hd2a (which is the 115GB partition that contains WindowsXP). I finished the installation, and when I boot up my computer, GRUB asks me which OS I want to run. When I select the Windows XP option, a screen flashes really fast saying
“Starting up…
GRUB Loading stage2...”
then it cycles back to the GRUB screen that asks me which OS I want to run. But, if I select Ubuntu everything works fine.
Anyone know how to fix this?

[devils casper]

Hi ltcmdrdata,

Welcome to the LinuxForums.

boot up Ubuntu, open Terminal and execute this

sudo fdisk -l
sudo less /boot/grub/menu.lst

post the output of both commands here.

[ltcmdrdata]

sudo fdisk -l gives the following output:
(note: I use dashes '-' to separate columns)

Disk /dev/hda: 160.0GB, 160000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/tracks, 19452 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device ----- Boot -- Start -- End ----- Blocks ----- Id --- System
/dev/hda1 ---- ------- 1 ---- 5 ------ 40131 ------ de -- Dell Utility
/dev/hda2 --- * ------ 6 -- 15185 --- 121933350 -- 7 --- HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda3 ---- ---- 19010 - 19452 ---3558397+ --- 82 -- Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda4 ---- ---- 15186 - 19009 -- 30716280 --- 83 -- Linux

[ltcmdrdata]

output from sudoless /boot/grub/menu.lst:
(note: I ommitted the help/examples)

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-11-generic
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-11-generic root=/dev/hda4 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-11-generic
quiet
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-11-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-11-generic root=/dev/hda4 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-11-generic
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/hda4 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
quiet
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/hda4 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
boot

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd0,3)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet
boot

### 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/hda2
title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
chainloader +1

[devils casper]

edit menu.lst file and add 'makeactive' line.

title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

[ltcmdrdata]

How do I edit the menu.lst file.

When I open it in gedit, it won't let me save any changes. It says "the file menu.lst is read only".

Thanks

[devils casper]

you must have 'root' privileges to edit menu.lst file.
execute this

gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

[ltcmdrdata]

Ok,
I edited the menu.lst file and added the "makeactive" line to the WindowsXP entry. But, it still does the same thing (ie. I still can't boot into windows).

[devils casper]

makeactive should work. something wrong with grub configuration.
try this

title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root (hd0,1)
map (hd0,0) (hd0,1)
map (hd0,1) (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

[ltcmdrdata]

Ok, I did that.

Now when I restart my computer it says
"Loading PBR for descriptor 3...done.
Bad PBR"

And it just sits there.

So, now I can't get into windows or linux.

By the way, I really appreciate your help.
Thanks