[SOLVED] XP not booting after Grub2 upgrade

[jdjenkins]

Hi - I am dual-booting XP, and all has been fine for a while....until I upgraded Grub yesterday. This was due to the boot menu not updating properly, and I realised the system was still using the old grub. The update instructions I used advised putting grub2 on all partitions if you were not sure which one to go for.....I guess this has "upset" the chainloading process, as when I select XP from the menu, I just get a black screen with flashing white cursor, which doesn't seem to respond to anything except CNTRL+ALT+DELETE!

I can still access all Windows files from Linux, and can see that system files like boot.ini are sill there. Both systems have been backed up, but would prefer not reinstalling right now if possible.

Below I'll paste grub.cfg and fdisk -l; any suggestions gratefully received!

thanks,

Jon.

ps the computer is a Sony Viao laptop: Core Duo 1.6 GHz - 1 GB Ram - 80 GB HDD, running XP Media Centre and Ubuntu 10.04


# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
set saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then
saved_entry=${chosen}
save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-21-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-21-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-21-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.31-15-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic root=UUID=df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-15-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.31-15-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.31-15-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic root=UUID=df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-15-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (on /dev/sda1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 9eccddf0ccddc327
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Windows XP Media Center Edition (on /dev/sda2)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4c54a5a254a58ef0
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xede55a04

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1034 8305573+ 12 Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda2 * 1035 7113 48829567+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 7114 12161 40548060 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 7114 10631 28258303+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 10632 12090 11719386 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 12091 12161 570276 82 Linux swap / Solaris

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

First partition is Compaq diagnostics and Windows NT/2000/XP (on /dev/sda1) title in GRUB Menu is pointing to that partition only.
Does blank screen appear on selecting second option for Windows OS in GRUB Menu? ( Windows XP Media Center Edition (on /dev/sda2) )

Execute sudo update-grub command again and check if it reconfigure grub.cfg file correctly.

In case nothing works, post the output of sudo blkid command here.

sudo blkid

[jdjenkins]

Thanks - blank screen comes up selecting the 2nd Windows. I don't think this Windows installation has changed since I bought the laptop, until the repartioning to load Ubuntu. I did run Wubi for a while, before changing to dual boot. However, the current setup has been stable for months, until the grub update business that is!
Will do the update command again,

thanks again,

Jon.

[jdjenkins]

Still the same result after updating grub. This is the display during the update:

Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-15-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows NT/2000/XP on /dev/sda1
Found Windows NT/2000/XP (loader) on /dev/sda2
done

- so now my menu does not say "Windows XP" any more....

Here is sudo blkid:

/dev/sda7: UUID="9665bb66-cb5c-4483-9c52-e45c4880f87b" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda1: LABEL="Recovery Partition" UUID="9ECCDDF0CCDDC327" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="VAIO" UUID="4C54A5A254A58EF0" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="VAIO" UUID="987476A874768930" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda6: UUID="df3215e4-bcfe-478b-8ba4-8b4a06099407" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="JJ 300GB" UUID="E0341C81341C5D3A" TYPE="ntfs"


cheers,

J.

ps sdb1 is an external USB drive

UPDATE
- I can now get into XP by booting from a CD created using info from:
tinyempire.com/shortnotes/files/ntldr_missing
- but my normal boot menu still has the same problem. Still, it's a bit better anyway!

[Lostfarmer]

The update instructions I used advised putting grub2 on all partitions if you were not sure which one to go for.

If you installed grub2 into the XP partition boot record you no longer have the correct boot code for XP.

run: dd if=/dev/sda2 bs=512 count=1

do you see:
A disk read error occurred
NTLDR is missing

or:
GRUB GeomHard DiskRead Error

If you see GRUB , do you have a XP cd ? from MS XP cd boot into recovery console and run 'fixboot'.

[jdjenkins]

Thanks for that - yes I have the GRUB error, so I'll go and try the fixboot thing now,

cheers,

Jon.

If you installed grub2 into the XP partition boot record you no longer have the correct boot code for XP.

run: dd if=/dev/sda2 bs=512 count=1

do you see:
A disk read error occurred
NTLDR is missing

or:
GRUB GeomHard DiskRead Error

If you see GRUB , do you have a XP cd ? from MS XP cd boot into recovery console and run 'fixboot'.

[jdjenkins]

Fixed!

Thanks very much for that!

cheers,

Jon.