Windows Does not Boot

**Slekvic** · 07-03-2011

I beseech you, esteemed fellow denizens of the linux forums, to help me with the following minor tangle.

I enter this from the enchanting Ubuntu 11.04, which I installed some time ago. It loads up happily from the top of my grub 1.99 menu.

The grub menu had the following entries:

Linux ...
Linux-Recovery ...
memtest86 ...
Windows XP ...
Windows XP Recovery ...
Windows XP Recovery ...

All of these menu options loaded their kernels correctly from the grub menu.

Well, all but one. My former operating system, Windows XP, would not load with its familiar majestic turpitude.

No. In fact, when I finally needed XP, I selected its menu option in grub 2, and the menu disappeared.

In its place, a single, blinking caret appeared. Just blinking, and blinking. Taunting me. Threatening me with the prospect that it might take away my pirated starcraft games forever. Windows had run perfectly before.

Can anyone help me to understand and defeat this thorny problem?

Though I feel I should not need to say this, I did not engage recovery of XP from either of the partitions I have available for its restoration to factory defaults. Yes, I have run "update-grub".

Technical Details:
EEEPC 1005HA-EU1X-BK
Linux Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal)
Kernel Linux 2.6.38-8-generic
Processor 0: Intel N270

**Griever_By_Birth** · 07-04-2011

Place your windows XP installation disc into the drive, start the recovery counsel, then type the following: fixmbr then fixboot or bootcfg/rebuild. You should beable to restart your computer and boot to windows succesfully.

I had the same problem with Windows 7 and BlackBuntu by deleting the partition that BBuntu was on while the GRUB was still installed.... Oops...

**yancek** · 07-04-2011

The suggestion by Griever_by_Birth above should restore xp. It will also make your Ubuntu installation unbootable. Are you intending to use both? If so, boot Ubuntu, open a terminal and type the following command: sudo fdisk -l (lower cae letter L in the command) and post this partition information. Also, navigate to the /boot/grub/ directory and post whatever entries in that file you may have for windows.

Have you booted into xp successfully at all since you installed Ubuntu 11.04?

**Slekvic** · 07-04-2011

Griever_By_Birth, I admire the provenance your screen name suggests, and thank you for your advice. I will use it if I cannot find a way to boot to XP while maintaining GRUB.

yancek, you have guessed, correctly, that I intend to use both. I will post the entries you mentioned, shall we say, ah, post-haste. Since installing my glorious ubuntu, I have not booted into XP. My productivity has soared, but without my games I am starting to become quite the dull boy.

**Slekvic** · 07-04-2011

Code:

 ~ $ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for nbas: 

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 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: 0xc0bf6260

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        4301    34545898+   7  HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2            4301       18813   116567041    5  Extended
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3           18814       19451     5124735   1c  Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda4           19452       19457       48195   ef  EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sda5            8829       12777    31707136   83  Linux
/dev/sda6            4301        8829    36369408   17  Hidden HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7           18175       18813     5125120    b  W95 FAT32
/dev/sda8           12777       17948    41541632   83  Linux
/dev/sda9           17949       18175     1820672   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 3965 MB, 3965190144 bytes
49 heads, 48 sectors/track, 3292 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2352 * 512 = 1204224 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               4        3293     3868160    b  W95 FAT32

Disk /dev/dm-0: 1864 MB, 1864368128 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 226 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: 0xee0c94b1

Disk /dev/dm-0 doesn't contain a valid partition table
 ~ $

I will post a lovely image to go with this once I have gparted squanked into place. Thanks again, yancek, griever, for your prompt, altruistic attention to the problem of a complete stranger.

Let me know if you come to any further conclusions about this perturbing prickle of a problem.

Please find a screenshot of a gparted window below. Linuxforums does not like my .png files, and punishes them by compression. Let me know if I should upload another. Attachment 3599

**yancek** · 07-05-2011

From your fdisk output I would expect your windows system files to be on sda1. I forgot to give you the file name in the /boot/grub directory you need to post. We are concerned primarily with any entries for windows in /boot/grub/grub.cfg file. If you could post that it would probably help.

**rokytnji** · 07-05-2011

Originally Posted by yancek

From your fdisk output I would expect your windows system files to be on sda1. I forgot to give you the file name in the /boot/grub directory you need to post. We are concerned primarily with any entries for windows in /boot/grub/grub.cfg file. If you could post that it would probably help.

Easy command way in terminal to get yanecks needed output would be

Code:

$ cat /boot/grub/grub.conf

**Slekvic** · 07-05-2011

Perhaps this will help to elucidate the problem.

Code:

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

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

function load_video {
  insmod vbe
  insmod vga
  insmod video_bochs
  insmod video_cirrus
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root c4c5e8d6-d3a7-4bac-a799-56cf7033f044
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root c4c5e8d6-d3a7-4bac-a799-56cf7033f044
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root c4c5e8d6-d3a7-4bac-a799-56cf7033f044
insmod png
if background_image /boot/grub/linuxmint.png; then
  true
else
  set menu_color_normal=white/black
  set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
  if background_color 44,0,30; then
    clear
  fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root c4c5e8d6-d3a7-4bac-a799-56cf7033f044
insmod png
if background_image /boot/grub/linuxmint.png ; then
  set color_normal=white/black
  set color_highlight=white/light-gray
else
  set menu_color_normal=white/black
  set menu_color_highlight=white/light-gray
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then
  if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
    if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
      if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
        set linux_gfx_mode=keep
      else
        set linux_gfx_mode=text
      fi
    else
      set linux_gfx_mode=text
    fi
  else
    set linux_gfx_mode=keep
  fi
else
  set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi
menuentry 'Linux Mint 11, 2.6.38-8-generic (/dev/sda5)' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	recordfail
	set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root c4c5e8d6-d3a7-4bac-a799-56cf7033f044
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=c4c5e8d6-d3a7-4bac-a799-56cf7033f044 ro   quiet splash vt.handoff=7
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic
}
menuentry 'Linux Mint 11, 2.6.38-8-generic (/dev/sda5) -- recovery mode' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	recordfail
	set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root c4c5e8d6-d3a7-4bac-a799-56cf7033f044
	echo	'Loading Linux 2.6.38-8-generic ...'
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=c4c5e8d6-d3a7-4bac-a799-56cf7033f044 ro single 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###
### END /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root c4c5e8d6-d3a7-4bac-a799-56cf7033f044
	linux16	/boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root c4c5e8d6-d3a7-4bac-a799-56cf7033f044
	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 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" --class windows --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ntfs
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6C648DAC648D7A1A
	drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
	chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (on /dev/sda3)" --class windows --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod fat
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos3)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root cced-990e
	drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
	chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (on /dev/sda7)" --class windows --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod fat
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos7)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root cced-990e
	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 ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

The following part of the above block of code, however, looks particularly likely:

Code:

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows NT/2000/XP (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" --class windows --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ntfs
	set root='(/dev/sda,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6C648DAC648D7A1A
	drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
	chainloader +1
}

Might I need to probe my hard drive with a specific option, or modify the appropriate script in the folder "/etc/grub.d/"?

And to think, I had, at last, become familiar with the previous version of this boot loader.

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