Not sure how to proceed from here...

[Amano]

Hi

First off, I have two SATA hard disks, one a 100 GB Maxtor, and the other a 160 GB Seagate. This will be important a little further down...

A few months ago, I installed Suse 10.0 on my system in a dual-boot configuration alongside Windows XP. Afterwards, I had some hardware problems at some point, and was forced to change my motherboard. After the hardware change, I only reinstalled Windows XP, leaving Suse on its partition to be reinstalled later.

When I reinstalled Windows, I did it without removing the previous version, so as to transfer my files to the new installation. The old version was on the Maxtor drive, on partition c:, while the new version was (and still is) on the Seagate on partition h:

Ever since, something strange has been happening, and I think it may have something to do with what the Suse boot loader put in the MBR: whenever I boot my PC, I have to set the Maxtor as the primary boot device in my BIOS, even though the version of Windows that ends up being loaded is actually on the Seagate...If I place the Seagate as the primary device, I get a "ntldr is missing" message and nothing loads. I've tried using the Microsoft Recovery console by first physically disconnecting the Maxtor, setting the Seagate as the primary in the BIOS, and then typing 'fixboot' and 'fixmbr' -- despite this, I still can't set the Seagate as the primary boot device...

My theory at this point is that Suse used a boot loader (Grub or LiLo, I don't know) to write the MBR when the system was dual-bootable. At that time, the choices were to either load Suse, or Windows located on the c: partition of the Maxtor drive...I also remember that a Suse screen would pop up at boot time and give me boot options, implying that Suse provided the boot loader that was being used, and I think that boot loader (or the info it wrote) is still lurking around in my system, forcing me to use this confusing hard drive configuration to be able to boot my system...

If I'm right, does anyone any ideas on how to proceed from here?

[devils casper]

did you unplug Maxtor disk during Windows Installation in Seagate? did you plug-in Seagate disk as Primary during Installation.

the new version was (and still is) on the Seagate on partition h:

what is in Other partitions?

[Amano]

Hi

The Maxtor was connected, but the Seagate was set as the primary during the install. Why do you ask? Since I ran 'fixboot' and 'fixmbr' using the recovery console (with the Maxtor unplugged and the Seagate as primary), I don't think this is an issue...Correct me if I'm wrong...

I have 7 partitions between two disks -- all contain data, except for c: and h:, both of which have Windows versions on them. In case you're wondering, I hesitate to delete the unused Windows version on c: for fear that my system won't boot at all...

[devils casper]

The Maxtor was connected, but the Seagate was set as the primary during the install. Why do you ask? Since I ran 'fixboot' and 'fixmbr' using the recovery console (with the Maxtor unplugged and the Seagate as primary), I don't think this is an issue...Correct me if I'm wrong...

if Maxtor disk was unplugged during installation, GRUB should not appear at all and Windows should boot up after fresh install.
ntldr missing means earlier Windows OS didn't setup dual boot with new install. fixmbr should fix that problem.
if GRUB is booting up new Windows install then something is wrong in boot.ini file.
post the contents of boot.ini file here.

[Amano]

ntldr missing means earlier Windows OS didn't setup dual boot with new install. fixmbr should fix that problem.

Not using dual-boot is my intention right now, as I haven't reinstalled SuSE yet...I tried using 'fixmbr' and 'fixboot' before but it didn't work...I'm pretty sure I'm doing it right: unplug the Maxtor, set the Seagate as primary in the BIOS, run 'fixboot' and 'fixmbr'...Does that seem right to you?

In the meantime, here's what's in boot.ini (of the H:\Windows installation on the Seagate):

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

[devils casper]

edit boot.ini file and set rdisk value to zero.

 [boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOW  S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Micro  soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

[Ahmed Sayeed]

I had similar problem with Suse 10.1. The problem I discovered was that during Suse installation boot loader was not written on Windows MBR (as I think it should), but on a separate partition. You can try this (it worked for me):
Assuming that you have XP sitting on a separate disk (and also you have not modified boot.ini), reinstall Suse. During the installation stage select 'expert' option. There you specify the grub to be written on Windows MBR. It doesnt matter if you are not an expert (I was not) - other than is one selection you can leave other things with default suggestions given by Yast.
I was worried that I may not be able to boot XP if it went wrong, but it worked fine. But I hope you'll do take the standard precautions of backing up important data on your Windows partition.

[Amano]

edit boot.ini file and set rdisk value to zero.

 [boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOW  S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Micro  soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Would you mind explaining your reasoning, and what the change will do exactly before I make it? Thanks

[Amano]

I had similar problem with Suse 10.1. The problem I discovered was that during Suse installation boot loader was not written on Windows MBR (as I think it should), but on a separate partition. You can try this (it worked for me):
Assuming that you have XP sitting on a separate disk (and also you have not modified boot.ini), reinstall Suse. During the installation stage select 'expert' option. There you specify the grub to be written on Windows MBR. It doesnt matter if you are not an expert (I was not) - other than is one selection you can leave other things with default suggestions given by Yast.
I was worried that I may not be able to boot XP if it went wrong, but it worked fine. But I hope you'll do take the standard precautions of backing up important data on your Windows partition.

Hi

If I do that, would the previous copy of Grub (whatever partition it's on right now) be erased or removed? If not, how can I do this manually?

[Ahmed Sayeed]

Hi

If I do that, would the previous copy of Grub (whatever partition it's on right now) be erased or removed? If not, how can I do this manually?

Yes, it will be automatically erased and you dont need to do it manually. It'll be a completely new installation, and I think it is the simplest way to ensure that your bootloader sees both XP and Linux.
But do remember to take backup of your XP partition data just in case something goes wrong.