openSUSE 10.3 install problem

[Mooseguy]

Hi!

I'm having a bit of trouble installing 10.3 alongside windows. This isn't my first install, so I know what I am doing, but I have hit an error. After partitioning my linux partitions, it attempts to mount my windows vista partition but fails with an error code of -3003. I have looked this up on other forums, and it says that is is caused by not shutting windows down cleanly (which I admit that I didn't do last time). To fix this, I simply have to boot windows and then shut down cleanly. However, it's not that simple. It formatted my old 10.2 partition first, meaning that it has deleted my menu.lst file for GRUB. This means that I cannot boot windows at all, which means I can't install 10.3. Can anyone enlighten me on how to fix this?

Thanks.

[Jonathan183]

I'd try the SuperGrub CD I'm sure there is an option to boot Windows ... that should let you shutdown properly.

[stewjack]

An alternative, but probably poorer solution would be -

(step 1) Insert a WIN XP boot floppy , and enter ( fdisk /MBR ) at the cursor. That should allow you to boot windows, but it will erase grub.

(step 2) Use the Yast repair function on your live-CD, if you have a live-CD, but don't have super grub disk. However I should warn you that the repair function is buggy! It has been reported not to work on the Live-DVD. I have the live-CD but have never tried the repair function.

Most Annoying Bugs 10.3

Boot options "Repair Installed System" (Bug #331532) and "Firmware test" (Bug #331531) don't work, start of "Rescue System" works though.

Jack

[Mooseguy]

Thanks for the prompt reply! I'll try that...

[stewjack]

I didn't notice you were running Vista. The Windows XP boot disk might not work! However, I guess that Vista provides some way to perform a (fdisk /MBR).

Jack

[Mooseguy]

I downloaded the grub disk, and booted windows fine. I ran chkdsk, which was also fine. I then rebooted (cleanly!) into the installer, and when it gets to the point where it trys to mount the vista partition, it does exactly the same thing. Here is the error:


Failure occured during following action:
Mounting /dev/sda1 to /windows/C

System error code was: -3003


mount -t ntfs-3g -ousers.gid=users.fmask=133,dmask=022.locale=en_GB. UTF-8 /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows/C:
ntfs_attr_pread: ntfs_pread failed: input/output error
Failed to read NTFS $Bitmap: input/output error
Unmounting /dev/sda1 (COMPAQ)


Help!

[Jonathan183]

I have a Vista system ... running fdisk -l gives ...
Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x199c199b

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1275 10241406 27 Unknown
/dev/sda2 * 1276 2805 12289725 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 2806 3442 5116702+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 3443 14593 89570407+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 3443 5354 15358108+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 5355 7904 20482843+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 7905 8049 1164681 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda8 8050 10008 15735636 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 10634 11286 5245191 83 Linux

and grub menu.lst looks like this ...
# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Thu Nov 29 22:02:37 GMT 2007
default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd0,7)/boot/message

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###

.... with windows menu entry ...

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 1###
title Windows Vista
rootnoverify (hd0,7)
chainloader (hd0,1)+1

Does your config look similar ?

[Mooseguy]

This error is occuring in the installation. openSUSE isn't actually installed yet, so I can't run fdisk -l. The error happens just after it formats the openSUSE partitions, when it trys to mount the vista partition.

[docarockus]

Did you resize the windows partition using Vista or the 10.3 installation media? If you used the 10.3 media, I would try booting into Vista and resize the windows partition using the Disk Management tool, shutown/startup, repeat chkdsk and then retry your install. A while back, I had trouble setting up a dual boot 10.2 alongside Vista on an Acer laptop (sorry, I can't recall any sepecific error messages) and this was the work around that I used.

-docarockus

[Mooseguy]

I'm not doing anything to the Vista partition - just leaving it as it is and mounting it to /windows/C. I am presuming that the problem is with the new ntfs-3g driver. This being the case, could I just get it not to mount the Vista partition, and mount it later on using the old, read-only driver? It makes no difference to me, as I never use it in linux.