centos-windows7 dual boot - unable to recover grub - repeated attempts

[ben4asterisk]

Hi All,

I have searched and searched. Though this kind of problem seems quite popular, I am unable to resolve this irritating problem with my setup.

Flashback:
Things working on my dual boot machine when Windows XP crashed. So a local PC repair guys reinstalled with Windows 7 and ofcourse all Linux had to disappear.

I knew about recovery of grub and all that, but somehow when I try to look for the correct device, etc.

With all the experiments I happened to overwrite MBR (using testdisk, etc.) and I lost Windows 7. Multiple attempts with testdisk ensured that I couldn't recover the original MBR content. SO had to reinstall Windows7.

Now to the present:
Am using systemrescue disk to be writing this content right now.

When I run grub and try to look for hd*, I get the following error:
=================
grub> root (hd0,
Possible partitions are:
Partition num: 0, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
Partition num: 1, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
Partition num: 4, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
Partition num: 5, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x7
Partition num: 6, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x8e
===============

My fdisk output:
================
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 13 2563 20483072 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 2564 19457 135701055 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 2564 10849 66557263+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 10850 15418 36700461 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 15419 19457 32443236 8e Linux LVM
===============

Entry point at testdisk:
=================
Select a media (use Arrow keys, then press Enter):
Disk /dev/sda - 160 GB / 149 GiB - ATA ST3160215AS
Disk /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00 - 31 GB / 29 GiB - ST3160215AS
Disk /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol01 - 2080 MB / 1984 MiB - ST3160215AS
Disk /dev/sr0 - 261 MB / 249 MiB (RO) - HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H55N
======================

Why are my earlier linux partitions including swap showing up as above??

Analyse output for LogVol00 and LogVol01:
==========
Disk /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00 - 31 GB / 29 GiB - CHS 60817408 1 1
Partition Start End Size in sectors
P ext3 0 60817407 60817408
++++++++
Disk /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol01 - 2080 MB / 1984 MiB - CHS 4063232 1 1
Current partition structure:
Partition Start End Size in sectors

P Linux SWAP 2 0 4063231 4063232
==========


Analyse on Disk /dev/sda - 160 GB / 149 GiB - ATA ST3160215AS gives me:
===========
Disk /dev/sda - 160 GB / 149 GiB - CHS 19457 255 63
Current partition structure:
Partition Start End Size in sectors

1 * HPFS - NTFS 0 32 33 12 223 19 204800 [System Reserved]
Warning: Incorrect number of heads/cylinder 240 (NTFS) != 255 (HD)
2 P HPFS - NTFS 12 223 20 2562 229 35 40966144
3 E extended LBA 2563 0 1 19456 254 63 271402110
5 L HPFS - NTFS 2563 1 1 10848 254 63 133114527
X extended 10849 0 1 15417 254 63 73400985
6 L HPFS - NTFS 10849 1 1 15417 254 63 73400922 [VolumeE]
X extended 15418 0 1 19456 254 63 64886535
7 L Linux LVM 15418 1 1 19456 254 63 64886472
====================

A quick search further gives me:
==============
Disk /dev/sda - 160 GB / 149 GiB - CHS 19458 255 63
Partition Start End Size in sectors
* Linux 0 1 1 12 254 63 208782 [/boot]
L HPFS - NTFS 2563 1 1 10848 254 63 133114527
L HPFS - NTFS 10849 1 1 15417 254 63 73400922 [VolumeE]
L Linux LVM 15418 1 1 19456 254 63 64886472
===============

Disk /dev/sda - 160 GB / 149 GiB - CHS 19458 255 63

Partition Start End Size in sectors

1 * Linux 0 1 1 12 254 63 208782 [/boot]
2 E extended LBA 2563 0 1 19456 254 63 271402110
5 L HPFS - NTFS 2563 1 1 10848 254 63 133114527
6 L HPFS - NTFS 10849 1 1 15417 254 63 73400922 [VolumeE]
7 L Linux LVM 15418 1 1 19456 254 63 64886472

=============


And a deeper search gives me:
==========
Disk /dev/sda - 160 GB / 149 GiB - CHS 19458 255 63
Partition Start End Size in sectors
D Linux 0 1 1 12 254 57 208776 [/boot]
D HPFS - NTFS 0 32 33 12 223 19 204800 [System Reserved]
D HPFS - NTFS 12 223 20 2562 229 35 40966144
D HPFS - NTFS 13 1 1 2562 254 63 40965687
D HPFS - NTFS 2563 1 1 10848 254 63 133114527
D HPFS - NTFS 10836 1 1 15404 254 63 73400922
D HPFS - NTFS 10836 1 1 19456 254 63 138496302
D HPFS - NTFS 10849 1 1 15417 254 63 73400922 [VolumeE]
D Linux 15405 1 1 15417 254 57 208776 [/boot]
D Linux LVM 15418 1 1 19456 254 63 64886472
==================

Now.. thats some info.

Can anyone help me? What am I missing here?
Really need to get back to linux.

Thanks in advance
- Ben

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

/boot partition is missing in first output of fdisk command.
What is current partition status of your Hard disk?
Post the output of fdisk -l command again.

[ben4asterisk]

fidsk -l says:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 13 2563 20483072 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 2564 15418 103257787+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 2564 10849 66557263+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 10850 15418 36700461 7 HPFS/NTFS
=============

The first analyse on testdisk always gives me:
Disk /dev/sda - 160 GB / 149 GiB - CHS 19458 255 63
Partition Start End Size in sectors
* Linux 0 1 1 12 254 63 208782 [/boot]
L HPFS - NTFS 2563 1 1 10848 254 63 133114527
L HPFS - NTFS 10849 1 1 15417 254 63 73400922 [VolumeE]
L Linux LVM 15418 1 1 19456 254 63 64886472
===============
A 'P' on each shows that I have the linux boot partition contents alright. The next two are my Windows D and E drives with the contents correct too.
It never shows my my Windows C drive (even though I have done a few attempts of marking the drive, through deeper search, etc. as Primary, Logical, etc.).

Any idea, when I do a deeper search:

====
D Linux 0 1 1 12 254 57 208776 [/boot]
D HPFS - NTFS 0 32 33 12 223 19 204800 [System Reserved]
D HPFS - NTFS 12 223 20 2562 229 35 40966144
D HPFS - NTFS 13 1 1 2562 254 63 40965687
D HPFS - NTFS 2563 1 1 10848 254 63 133114527
D HPFS - NTFS 10836 1 1 15404 254 63 73400922
D HPFS - NTFS 10836 1 1 19456 254 63 138496302
D HPFS - NTFS 10849 1 1 15417 254 63 73400922 [VolumeE]
D Linux 15405 1 1 15417 254 57 208776 [/boot]
D Linux LVM 15418 1 1 19456 254 63 64886472
==========

Which should I mark as bootable/ Primary/ Logical?

- Ben

[ben4asterisk]

Btw. thanks for the welcome.
You sure seem to have been around!

[devils casper]

If you recover /boot partition, Windows 7 might not boot up. Are you ready for that?

Is there any reason for using LVM instead of standard ext3/ext4 partitions?