Cannot Dual-Boot Into Win XP

[akashelkar]

Hi,

I have a Win XP machine, with two HDDs. First HDD is partitioned into 4 drives, C: contains Win XP. Second HDD is partitioned into 3 drives, no OS. All partitions are NTFS.

I installed the Linux Mint 7 Gloria RC1 on the first partition of the second HDD. While doing it, I split the partition into two, the first part containing the root filesystem and the second part being the swap area.

Set up my user account and proceeded with the installation. After the installation completed successfully, removed the CD and pressed Enter. The system restarted and the GRUB 1.5 boot menu appeared. The first four choices refer to Mint 7 Gloria, and the last option, under Other Operating Systems, is Win XP.

My problem is I am unable to change the options. The default option is the Mint 7 Gloria (option 0), and I can't seem to be able to change it in any way. By using cursor keys or mouse, the selection never moves. As a result, after 10 seconds, the PC boots into Mint 7 Gloria.

Now, after spending some time I assigned a password to the root account, logged as root and then edited the menu.lst file (filename may be incorrect here), to change the time interval before booting to 30 seconds. Rebooted and verified the change had the desired effect. Again logged in as root, opened the same file and changed the default value to 4 (which is Win XP). Restarted the machine. This time the GRUB bootloader correctly boots into Win XP.

The problem in all situations remains the same: I am unable to change the default selection in the GRUB bootloader screen.

If it's any help, I am using a wireless keyboard/mouse combo, which connect to the PC through a USB dongle. However, I am able to edit the BIOS settings comfortably using the keyboard, (and also the keyboard/mouse work perfectly once Mint 7 Gloria is booted), so I am thinking it may not be the problem.

Now, can someone help me figure out what is going wrong in the GRUB bootloader screen?

[tpl]

welcome to the forum

> wireless keyboard

at the grub flash screen. no drivers have been loaded:
it sounds as tho the problem is that your keyboard is not recognized
and therefore, the arrow keys haven't their usual function.
Have you another keyboard to try?

[devils casper]

I agree with tpl. There is nothing wrong with GRUB configuration. Try replacing keyword with regular, wired one.

[akashelkar]

welcome to the forum

> wireless keyboard

at the grub flash screen. no drivers have been loaded:
it sounds as tho the problem is that your keyboard is not recognized
and therefore, the arrow keys haven't their usual function.
Have you another keyboard to try?

I am not sure that's the problem, because when I reboot the machine from Win XP, at the POST screen I can use my wireless keyboard to get into BIOS and make changes there. Also I can use F8 to view the startup options and change the startup mode for Windows from Normal to Safe etc. Plus, after getting into Linux, without having installed anything, the keyboard and mouse are working alright. So I am assuming the functionality should work in the GRUB bootloader screen too.

I shall still give it a try with a wired keyboard and post back here the findings.


Thanks for the help !

[akashelkar]

OK, I connected a USB keyboard, restarted the machine and again, I am unable to change any options in the GRUB bootloader screen. After restarting, I went into BIOS to ensure the USB keyboard was working fine at the time. But in the GRUB bootloader, things simply don't work. Does this mean the bootloader screen does not even support USB? Will it work with an old PS/2 keyboard?

Essentially I am unable to boot into Linux now. There's no way I can change the boot loader selection, and since the Linux partitions are not detected by Win XP, I cannot alter the bootloader options manually.

Any more help?


Yeah, and I need something to play AVI files. There are some home videos which I have captured from my handicam and stored on the HDD. When I opened them, they didn't just work. In one of the players (probably MPlayer), I only got the audio. It showed some error about video stream not found. So a good AVI player would also be nice.

[devils casper]

Try to toggle Legacy USB Support in BIOS.

[akashelkar]

That did it! Thanks a lot devils casper.

I also found my HP printer was automatically added to the Printers list. I also printed a test page, so I guess that's one thing sorted out.

Now to my broadband. I have a Sify broadband connection through a USB network card. I want to set it up from the Linux system as well. Where do I specify the IP address/gateway settings?

I have already downloaded a Sify dialer script. But now I need to figure out how to set up the connection. Once that's done, I guess I shall be on my way to using Linux for my daily use.

Thanks again.