Cannot get Ubuntu to boot after install

[chris26jp]

Hello all.

I have been pulling teeth out of my computer trying to get Ubuntu to install and I have hit a road block with my limited tech know-how. I would love some advice.

So here is what I have going on:
I have a P5Q-pro motherboard with a quad core intel and a working SATA HD with Vista Ultimate on it. Vista was installed in SATA Enhanced mode.

I bought another SATA HD and plugged it in. The Bios saw it but was calling it "hard drive" instead of its maker-label as it did with the first Vista HD. I tried installing Ubuntu on it from the CD but it couldnt find either drive. I booted up windows and formatted the second disk with it. Windows found the Disk to be without flaw. The bios then detected the drive in full detail. (weird?)

I changed the boot sequence so the second drive would boot first, I also changed the SATA config to COMPATABLE ->AHCI. Ubuntu now saw both drives and I told it to install on sdb and load the boot loader on /dev/sdb as well.

Install completed without errors but when I tried to boot up I received "error 17, cannot mount selected partition." I booted up with a slackware CD and loaded the sata.i kernel, was unable to mount /dev/sdb, "device not found."

I have a feeling this has something to do with the BIOS but I cannot figure out what to do from here. The HD is good, the computer is fairly new and the Ubuntu CD is good. Can anyone help me out here?

Thank you much.

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

Its a GRUB/BIOS compatibility problem. Unplug Hard disk having Windows OS. Plug-in other disk, set it as Primary Disk in BIOS and re-install Ubuntu.
If Ubuntu works fine, we will post necessary code for dual boot setup.

[chris26jp]

It worked!

Can you post that dual boot code up and if you have time, can you give me somewhat of an explanation as to why your way worked? I would like to know so I can help out someone else if I run into it.

THanks again!

[devils casper]

Can you post that dual boot code up

Boot up Ubuntu, press Alt+F2 and type this

gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

It will open menu.lst file in Gedit with root privileges.

Add this code at the end of file :

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

Save file and reboot machine. Select Vista Ultimate title in GRUB Menu at startup.

In case it doesn't work, execute this in Terminal :

sudo fdisk -l

Post output here

can you give me somewhat of an explanation as to why your way worked? I would like to know so I can help out someone else if I run into it.

I will be glad to explain everything. Lets first setup dual boot correctly.