Triple boot fedora 11, xp, vista

[Wrobat]

I have xp and vista installed on one hd and fedora 11 on another. Grub was able to identify the MBR of the windows hd. so when I start up I have a choice of fedora and vista. when i select vista I have a choice of vista or older which points to xp. when i select older, which should bring me to another boot screen with two xp's (one is a relic), it just reboots my computer without showing it. When I go into bios and change the primary hd to the windows hd, the sequence from vista to xp works fine. So what I am trying to do is add a record to grub.conf to point right to the xp boot.
Here is my grub.conf:

# 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/mapper/vg_cortesef-lv_root
# initrd /initrd-version.img
;boot=/dev/sdb
default=0
timeout=40
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
;hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.29.6-217.2.8.fc11.i686.PAE)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.29.6-217.2.8.fc11.i686.PAE ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_cortesef-lv_root rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.29.6-217.2.8.fc11.i686.PAE.img
title Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

[devils casper]

Post the output of fdisk -l command here.

su -
fdisk -l

[Wrobat]

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 8455 MB, 8455200768 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1027 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf52049af                    

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1         255     2048000   83  Linux 
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.                
/dev/sda2             255         383     1024000   83  Linux 
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.                
/dev/sda3             383        1027     5177346   83  Linux 

Disk /dev/sdb: 10.2 GB, 10262568960 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1247 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x155e18c6                     

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1          26      204800   83  Linux 
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.                
/dev/sdb2              26        1247     9811696   8e  Linux LVM

Disk /dev/dm-0: 7931 MB, 7931428864 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 964 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000                     

Disk /dev/dm-0 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-1: 2113 MB, 2113929216 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 257 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sdc: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xac18ac18

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *           1        3497    28089621    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdc2            3498       30515   217022085    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sdc5            3498        5462    15783828+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdc6            5463       11962    52211218+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sdc7           11963       19956    64211773+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sdc8           19957       30515    84815136    b  W95 FAT32

[yancek]

I'm assuming you can boot Fedora and vista from Grub with Fedora drive set first in boot priority? You have both windows on the third disk so try mapping:

title Windows vista
rootnoverify (hd2,0)
map (hd0) (hd2)
map (hd2) (hd0)
chainloader +1

You could try the above entry for xp changing the rootnoverify line to (hd2,4). I don't think that will work because it's a logical partition and you probably need to boot xp from vista bootloader.

[Wrobat]

I'm assuming you can boot Fedora and vista from Grub with Fedora drive set first in boot priority?

yes, fedora is able to boot vista, but the issue is having that bootloader trigger the xp boot.

title Windows vista
rootnoverify (hd2,0)
map (hd0) (hd2)
map (hd2) (hd0)
chainloader +1

You could try the above entry for xp changing the rootnoverify line to (hd2,4). I don't think that will work because it's a logical partition and you probably need to boot xp from vista bootloader.

I tried that and got an unrecognised device string error or something like that. xp is the first partion on sdc and vista is on the second.

[Lostfarmer]

You will not be able to boot directly into XP, Vista has overwritten the XP Volume Record Boot code (hd1,0) with it own. Grub sees the XP/Vista hdd as (hd1) due to fact your grub.conf has it that why and Vista boots. I would try:

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

XP and Vista does boot differently, it is posible XP needs the map but Vista does not.

[Wrobat]

I would try:

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

I tried that and got the same error message. Maybe I could try replacing that bootloader with a third party. Do you know of any that would work for windows?
Or, is there another way to boot xp?
Do you know of any other options besides change my hd boot order in the bios?
I was hoping this would be easier but I guess not. thanks for the help.

[yancek]

In your original post, you refer to having windows and Linux on separate drives. Your fdisk output shows three drives (2 USB?). I'll assume these were not all connected while you were doing the setup. Grub will not always see drives the same as you get with fdisk commands and you could use the geometry commands to get more accurate information.

However, your problem is still as LostFarmer said, booting xp from vista as Grub just points to your IPL and doesn't actually boot either. You might try downloading EasyBCD from neosmart technologies to modify your vista bootloader to boot xp.

[Lostfarmer]

I have never tried what I am going to post but think it is correct. Instead of tring to boot directly to the Vista boot loader on (hd1,0) try booting to the MBR (hd1).

itle Windows vista
rootnoverify (hd1)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1

Or as posted by yancek use EasyBCD to boot into all OS's and have the MS hdd as the boot device.

How-To Linux - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki
EasyBCD Documentation Home - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki