Grub suddenly won't boot Windows, Starting up...

[aaron11193]

Hey all I just wrote a really long post and when I pressed submit my school's ****** ****ing internet ****ed up and destroyed it all.

So I'll make this shorter.

My laptop decided that it wouldn't boot Windows today, it was running it perfectly just less than an hour earlier. GRUB gives me "Starting Up..." when I try to boot Windows.

When I type chainloader (hd0,0)/ into a GRUB prompt in a terminal it gives me "Error 17: Cannot mount selected partition".

I can access the disk fine while I'm in Xubuntu, move files etc. but GRUB can't access it.

I have tried heaps of **** but it's still not working; CHKDSK, testdisk, rootnoverify, ntfsresize, etc..

Any help is greatly appreciated as this is giving me the shits.

Toshiba Portege M200, 1.7Ghz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, no optical.

Thanks, Aaron.

[Kieren]

I know these things can be frustrating but do try to keep your posts clean as it makes the forums a more pleasant place

Anyway you can try to repair your grub loader by following these instructions. As you can get into your Xubuntu installation don’t worry about using a live CD.

It’s also a good idea to make a backup of your current grub settings before you start with the command:

sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.backup

[aaron11193]

Hey sorry about the swearing in my first post, I was very frustrated at my school's pathetic internet, constantly dropping connections etc..

I tried what you said and it still won't boot, I don't think its a problem with GRUB..

[Kieren]

Hmm, well that certainly worked for me in the past when I had that problem

A workaround that may work for you is inserting your Windows XP disk. Don't press any key when it asks "Press any key to boot from disk", but let it time out. Then when grub loads try selecting Windows. Again this may not work for you but it at least let me get into my Windows installation

It’s not an ideal solution but if it works it’s something while you wait for suggestions from someone who is a more of an expert in this area than myself

[Lostfarmer]

When I type chainloader (hd0,0)/ into a GRUB prompt

it would be chainloader (hd0,0) with out the (/).

GRUB gives me "Starting Up..."

I do not think that is a grub display but a MS Windows, what version of MS are you useing ?

post output of linux's fdisk -l (-l is a small L)

Edit: the above "chainloader (hd0,0) is wrong , should be
chainloader +1 or
rootnoverify (hd0,0)

[aaron11193]

it would be chainloader (hd0,0) with out the (/).

I do not think that is a grub display but a MS Windows, what version of MS are you useing ?

post output of linux's fdisk -l (-l is a small L)

Oh that's what chainloader wants.. it had a +1 instead of a pointer originally.

The Starting Up... shows for a moment when i choose linux too so I'm pretty sure it's GRUB..

I'm using Windows XP Tablet Edition anyway..

fdisk -l gives me

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0006dbbb

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        4440       29096   198057321    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2               1        4439    35656236    5  Extended
/dev/sda3           29097       30401    10482412+   b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda5               1        3917    31463239+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6            3918        4439     4192933+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

EDIT: Come to think of it I usually get the NTLDR menu when I choose Windows in GRUB, I can't even get that right now.

[yancek]

Your fdisk output shows xp on the first partition so your Grub entry for xp in menu.lst file should be:

title windows xp
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

[aaron11193]

Your fdisk output shows xp on the first partition so your Grub entry for xp in menu.lst file should be:

title windows xp
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

That's pretty much it.

title		Windows 7 & XP
rootnoverify		(hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1

I know savedefault isn't needed, I just don't see a point omitting it.

It says Windows 7 & Xp because I periodically install Windows 7 onto the 10GB partition..

[Jonathan183]

Suggest you try to fix the issue with Windows and re-install grub to the MBR after that. Supergrub will make the re-install of grub a bit easier ... and can be used to put Windows bootloader code in the MBR.

[Lostfarmer]

1) Last time MS Windows worked, did you add or remove any software/hardware ? or did a MS update ?

2) You state you ran "CHKDSK" ,do not want to assume, that is XP's chkdsk via the recovery console ?

3) When you ran 'testdisk' , did you select from its option to run 'advanced' and test XP's boot record ?

4) Have you verified XP's boot.ini file ?

5) As soon as you select XP from grub menu- start tapping F8 key, try 'SafeMode' if it boots that far.

6) When you turned of XP 'last time it worked' did it shutdown correct or had to hold power button ?

7){GRUB gives me "Starting Up..."}, does it hang at that point, reboots, return to grub menu, or ?

from a grub prompt type in rootnoverify (hd0, and press tab , is partition 0 listed as type 07 ntfs ?

as you can tell I'm grabbing at straws.