Dell 1545 with Ubuntu 10.04 - problems on installing Windows XP

[laurentiu_dascalu]

Hello,

I have to install a Windows XP on my laptop. I started to install Windows, but after the first step (before booting Windows from hard disk) I received Disk Error at booting time. I reinstalled grub and everything is fine with Ubuntu, but I can't boot the Windows partition to finish installing this OS.

More information about my partitions:
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 5 40131 de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 6 658 5242880 b W95 FAT32
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 * 659 32588 256477725 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 32589 38913 50805562+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 32589 38666 48819200 7 HPFS/NTFS

I tried to add a new record in grub (/boot/grub/menu.lst):
title Windows XP
root (hd0,4) # sda5
makeactive
chainloader +1

but it fails to boot this Windows. Do you have any ideas about how I can finish installing Windows?

Thanks!

[Segfault]

AFAIK Windows will not boot from an extended partition. It can be installed there, but it's boot file(s) have to be on a primary. Don't ask, an MS thing.
You could use that FAT partition for Windows install.

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

In most of machines, Windows OS doesn't boot up if you install it in Logical partition. It must be installed in first Primary Partition. In case it's not installed in First Primary partition, you have to partition.

Either install Windows OS in /dev/sda2 Or backup data and delete all partition except /dev/sda1. /dev/sda1 is Dell Utility partition and hidden already. Create /dev/sda2 as Primary and install Windows OS in it. You can create Extended partition later on for Linux installation.

[laurentiu_dascalu]

The problem is that I work only with Linux and reinstalling all the technologies stack would take about 3 days (download + configure). I need that damn OS because I can't communicate with a remote team using a software in a Windows virtual machine.

Casper, you suggest to install Windows on sda2? Then I'll have 2 partitions for Windows: sda2 and sda5.

Thanks,

[devils casper]

You can use sda5 partition for data sharing between Linux and Windows OS or delete it and merge into Linux.

Windows OS installation in /dev/sda2 should work fine because as I mentioned earlier, /dev/sda1 is hidden and Windows Installer detect /dev/sda2 as First Primary Partition.

[laurentiu_dascalu]

Hello,

Unfortunately, this didn't work; when I try to boot the Windows from sda2 I receive an error like "Invalid key/signature" (don't remember exactly. But, I run into a bigger problem now: my Linux boots very slow because the HDD f***ed up. I installed an Ubuntu on the 50G partition to continue the work (great it's weekend!). It says something like DMA error and READ error from dev /sda3 sector XYZ.

It's not related to the topic of the post, but do you have any idea of how can I figure out the file(s) that cannot be read from the disk? I had a very similar problem (I received this error) when I used to install a package via apt-get install. I solved this by moving and replacing some archive files.

Thanks!

[devils casper]

It says something like DMA error and READ error from dev /sda3 sector XYZ.

Before doing anything else, I would suggest you to backup data and check your Hard disk using tools provided by Manufacturer of your Hard disk.