Dual Boot XP & Linux Mint 13 Mate

[wagb278]

PSEUDO-SOLVED

I installed Linux Mint 13 MATE LTS 32-bit on a machine running Windows XP, but after installing Linux Mint Windows will not boot when selected from the Grub list. Mint boots just fine. What happens when I select Windows XP Pro Media Center (/dev/sda1) in Grub, I get an error message: "A disk read error occured - Press Ctl+Alt+Del to restart".

When I installed Mint I used the first option in Install Type (Alongside Windows XP) and gave both adequate disk space - 149.5 GB to Windows (which uses 34 GB now) and 100.6 GB to Linux Mint. The install completed fine and I booted into Mint. The next day I figured I better verify Windows is Okay so I selected that opion in the Grub list and discovered I had a problem. I am pretty sure Grub was installed to /dev/sda.

I suspect Grub is trying to access the Windows boot loader logic and that is not where it is expected to be or it got corrupted.

I tried the command sudo update-grub, but did not have much hope that would solve anything and it did not.

I ran the Boot-Repair-Disk Live-CD tool but that did not change my symptom.
The summary report for my installation from that tool is at: http://paste2.org/p/2535626 for your inspection. I don't understand what that information is telling me - maybe someone else can make sense out of it an suggest a correction.

I do not have a Windows CD or DVD to boot, but do have a clonezZilla image of sda1 prior to installing Mint, which I hope I don't have to resort to using.

If it helps - GParted reports:
/dev/sda1 ntfs size 139.2 GiB used 33.91 unused 105.28 GiB Flags = Boot
/dev/sda2 extended size 93.69 GiB
/dev/sda5 ext4 size 92.69 GiB used 14.24 unused 78.44
/dev/sda6 linux swap size 1023 MiB

Any suggestions are welcome. I have hopes that Mint will replace Windows on this, but I am not ready to trash Windows just yet - maybe I will have to.

Thanks,
Jim

[mintybits]

Hi again. You have provided thorough info. which is very helpful. Everything looks fine on paper.
The "disk read error" message is generated by the XP boot sector and I'm supposing it means that the boot sector code is getting an erroneous response from the bios when selecting the disk. IOW XP is asking the bios to read data from disk N and the bios is replying "that disk doesn't exist". XP is sensitive to what the boot order is as configured in the bios. For a start, make sure the HD is set as first boot device.

Another thing to try is to edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg (you need to be root and make the file write-enabled) and change the line near the end of the file "drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}" to "drivemap -r". I have not tried this so I am guessing but it is easy to try and may reset the drive numbering the bios uses to that which XP expects. This will not be a permanent fix but will work until the next time you run "update-grub".

A work-around is to restore the standard MBR code and boot linux from XP. It is quite easy to do this by adding a line to boot.ini. But you still need Grub installed somewhere. The best place for Grub is an MBR - like on a second disk or a USB stick. Grub can be installed to a partition, like sda5, but sometimes this can cause it to go wrong after certain updates are made. It is relatively easy to reinstall grub, tho.

Assuming you install grub to sda5, you would need to:
1. Boot Mint and run

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc

and select sda5 for Grub.
2. Make a copy of Grub's boot sector:

Code: Select all

sudo dd if=/dev/sda5 bs=512 count=1 > linuxBootSector.bin

and then copy the file to your XP partition C:\
3. Restore the standard MBR code either by doing a repair / fixmbr using an XP CD or by installing lilo in linux and running

Code: Select all

sudo lilo -M /dev/sda mbr

4. Boot XP and add "linuxBootSector.bin" to boot.ini. Eg: add the line C:\linuxBoot.bin="Mint"

[wagb278]

Mintybits - Thanks for the tips.

I tried changing the boot device order. Was set to optical drive then HDD. That change had no affect
I tried the drivemap -r change to /boot/grub/grub,.cfg and that too had no affect.
My BIOS and grub.cfg have been returned to my original settings now.

I have not yet tried the other suggestion. I am out of time today and I want to read up on those commands including Grub and Lilo before attempting that. I will report back later, maybe tomorrow.

Jim

[xclusive585]

"quickboot" and similar bios settings can cause issues for Grub. I think it's unlikely that is your problem, but it's always something to consider.

[wagb278]

I am still researching but have some additional information -

I installed and ran the tool "TestDisk" (cgsecurity.org) only to see what it will tell me (made no changes) and it is reporting a Geometry issue. I haven't done anything else - just passing on this information. I added two screenshots. I need to better understand what this tool is telling me, so I am still reading. Is this geometry issue the root-cause or just an artifact of something else?

The one Hard Drive is a SEAGATE ATA ST250DM000-1BD14; Rev KC45 if that means anything. I have not found what the correct heads/cylinder should be from the manufacturer yet. But I find this un-nerving. It is looking like the partition or formatting tools used when installing Mint might not have maintained proper configuration for Windows; that doesn't sound right - does it.

I now have a Live-CD that has XP Recovery Console, so I have a way to run commands which I previously did not have; such as fixboot and fixmbr.

Side note - I am really surprized that setting up a dual boot is this difficult. If Linux wants to eat into the market share from Windows this should all be automatic. I have been dual booting another machinge between different versions of Ubuntu for about 4 - 5 years and not once had any problem setting those up. I tried Mint because Ubuntu has lost favor with me due to the crappy quality of 12.04 and the Unity desktop environment.

[wagb278]

More information -

I ran the script "Boot Info Script" which produced the report that follows. This tool is now saying something (compressed data) is currupt, at the end of the report; and the first entry doesn't look right to me - shouldn't /boot/grub be not in msdos5 - or is that saying partition 5 (sda5). I haven't figured what this is telling me yet, but thought I would post this information in case someone understands this.

Sorry for the fragmented posts here, I keep getting interrupted to do other things
Jim

Code: Select all

                  Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

 => Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
    the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
    for (,msdos5)/boot/grub on this drive.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows XP: NTFS
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  Windows XP
    Boot files:        /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:
    Operating System:  Linux Mint 13 Maya
    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda6: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sda1    *             63   291,918,824   291,918,762   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2         291,919,870   488,396,799   196,476,930   5 Extended
/dev/sda5         291,919,872   486,299,647   194,379,776  83 Linux
/dev/sda6         486,301,696   488,396,799     2,095,104  82 Linux swap / Solaris


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/sda1        4A841DBA841DA989                       ntfs       
/dev/sda5        e9606e98-7d5a-4db0-a93d-2db1eef406d5   ext4       
/dev/sda6        b3dacdd7-f1c6-4a3a-a68e-596c6d81bafb   swap       

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/sda1        /media/4A841DBA841DA989  fuseblk    (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,default_permissions,blksize=4096)
/dev/sda5        /                        ext4       (rw,errors=remount-ro)


================================ sda1/boot.ini: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=========================== sda5/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# 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='(hd0,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e9606e98-7d5a-4db0-a93d-2db1eef406d5
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=auto
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
  insmod part_msdos
  insmod ext2
  set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e9606e98-7d5a-4db0-a93d-2db1eef406d5
  set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
  set lang=en_US
  insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ "${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/06_mint_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=white/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
   set gfxpayload="$1"
   if [ "$1" = "keep" ]; then
      set vt_handoff=vt.handoff=7
   else
      set vt_handoff=
   fi
}
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 13 MATE 32-bit, 3.2.0-23-generic (/dev/sda5)' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
   recordfail
   gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
   insmod gzio
   insmod part_msdos
   insmod ext2
   set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
   search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e9606e98-7d5a-4db0-a93d-2db1eef406d5
   linux   /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=UUID=e9606e98-7d5a-4db0-a93d-2db1eef406d5 ro   quiet splash $vt_handoff
   initrd   /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic
}
menuentry 'Linux Mint 13 MATE 32-bit, 3.2.0-23-generic (/dev/sda5) -- recovery mode' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
   recordfail
   insmod gzio
   insmod part_msdos
   insmod ext2
   set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
   search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e9606e98-7d5a-4db0-a93d-2db1eef406d5
   echo   'Loading Linux 3.2.0-23-generic ...'
   linux   /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=UUID=e9606e98-7d5a-4db0-a93d-2db1eef406d5 ro recovery nomodeset
   echo   'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
   initrd   /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-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='(hd0,msdos5)'
   search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e9606e98-7d5a-4db0-a93d-2db1eef406d5
   linux16   /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
   insmod part_msdos
   insmod ext2
   set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
   search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e9606e98-7d5a-4db0-a93d-2db1eef406d5
   linux16   /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows XP Media Center Edition (on /dev/sda1)" --class windows --class os {
   insmod part_msdos
   insmod ntfs
   set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
   search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4A841DBA841DA989
   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 ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sda5/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=e9606e98-7d5a-4db0-a93d-2db1eef406d5 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=b3dacdd7-f1c6-4a3a-a68e-596c6d81bafb none            swap    sw              0       0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sda5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

 199.417030334 = 214.122405888  boot/grub/core.img                             1
 145.370460510 = 156.090343424  boot/grub/grub.cfg                             1
 195.550861359 = 209.971138560  boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic               2
 199.452774048 = 214.160785408  boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic                  1
 195.550861359 = 209.971138560  initrd.img                                     2
 195.550861359 = 209.971138560  initrd.img.old                                 2
 199.452774048 = 214.160785408  vmlinuz                                        1

======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown BootLoader on sda2

00000000  35 00 35 00 30 00 2d 00  30 00 30 00 30 00 30 00  |5.5.0.-.0.0.0.0.|
00000010  2d 00 30 00 30 00 30 00  30 00 2d 00 43 00 30 00  |-.0.0.0.0.-.C.0.|
00000020  30 00 30 00 2d 00 30 00  30 00 30 00 30 00 30 00  |0.0.-.0.0.0.0.0.|
00000030  30 00 30 00 30 00 30 00  30 00 34 00 36 00 7d 00  |0.0.0.0.0.4.6.}.|
00000040  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  e0 ff ff ff 76 6b 07 00  |............vk..|
00000050  08 00 00 00 68 9e 5f 01  01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00  |....h._.........|
00000060  56 65 72 73 69 6f 6e 00  f0 ff ff ff 31 00 2e 00  |Version.....1...|
00000070  32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  f0 ff ff ff e8 9c 5f 01  |2............._.|
00000080  48 9e 5f 01 00 00 00 00  88 ff ff ff 6e 6b 20 00  |H._.........nk .|
00000090  bc 7f cb c0 b4 63 cd 01  00 00 00 00 70 2e 33 00  |.....c......p.3.|
000000a0  03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  a0 a1 5f 01 ff ff ff ff  |.........._.....|
000000b0  01 00 00 00 08 9c 5f 01  10 02 00 00 ff ff ff ff  |......_.........|
000000c0  20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 36 00 00 00  | ...........6...|
000000d0  00 00 00 00 26 00 00 00  7b 46 35 42 33 39 41 46  |....&...{F5B39AF|
000000e0  30 2d 31 34 38 30 2d 31  31 44 33 2d 38 35 34 39  |0-1480-11D3-8549|
000000f0  2d 30 30 43 30 34 46 41  43 36 37 44 37 7d 00 00  |-00C04FAC67D7}..|
00000100  e8 ff ff ff 76 6b 00 00  36 00 00 00 18 9f 5f 01  |....vk..6....._.|
00000110  01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  c0 ff ff ff 53 00 75 00  |............S.u.|
00000120  62 00 6c 00 69 00 73 00  74 00 53 00 63 00 68 00  |b.l.i.s.t.S.c.h.|
00000130  65 00 6d 00 61 00 52 00  65 00 6c 00 61 00 74 00  |e.m.a.R.e.l.a.t.|
00000140  69 00 6f 00 6e 00 73 00  68 00 69 00 70 00 73 00  |i.o.n.s.h.i.p.s.|
00000150  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  a0 ff ff ff 6e 6b 20 00  |............nk .|
00000160  bc 7f cb c0 b4 63 cd 01  00 00 00 00 88 9e 5f 01  |.....c........_.|
00000170  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
00000180  01 00 00 00 e0 9f 5f 01  10 02 00 00 ff ff ff ff  |......_.........|
00000190  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 4e 00 00 00  |............N...|
000001a0  00 00 00 00 0e 00 00 00  50 72 6f 78 79 53 74 75  |........ProxyStu|
000001b0  62 43 6c 73 69 64 00 00  f8 ff ff ff d8 a0 00 fe  |bClsid..........|
000001c0  ff ff 83 fe ff ff 02 00  00 00 00 00 96 0b 00 fe  |................|
000001d0  ff ff 05 fe ff ff 02 00  96 0b 00 00 20 00 00 00  |............ ...|
000001e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa  |..............U.|
00000200


=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

xz: (stdin): Compressed data is corrupt


[mintybits]

These warning messags are unsettling... had a drive geometry issue with XP recently that stopped it booting after having used sfdisk to change the partition table. But it's not clear to me whether this is the cause or not. Presumably XP booted fine before you installed Mint. I would use your XP CD and try to repair it and fix the MBR and see what happens. Once you can get XP booting you are ok because you can make XP boot linux.

[Dngrsone]

Did you do fixboot and fixmbr?

[wagb278]

I did NOT perform fixboot or fixmbr, yet.

Yes, XP was booting just fine before installing Mint.

I ran fdisk from Mint, just to see what it is reporting - see attached screen shot. The SEAGATE info about my drive said it supports 512 and 4096 byte sectors. Is fdisk telling me I am using 512 byte sectors, but should be using 4096 byte sectors?

I booted GParted just to see what it is telling me. I think partitions are aligned to GiB, not sectors. But the GParted is not complaining about head, sector, counts. It reports:
Path: /dev/sda
Partition Table: msdos
Heads: 255
Sectors/Track: 63
Cylinders: 30401
Sector size: 512

I was considering using Gparted (Live-CD) and tell it to resize (nudge) each partition while telling it to ensure partition boundraries are aligned to sector boundaries. Do you think that might help (not hurt)? If I try that (resize partitions), assuming I can boot into Mint, should I run update grub afterward? I assume grub would need to point at the correct location for its data.

How do I get partition 1 to start on a sector boundary?

I can try the XP Recovery Console CD to run the fixboot, fixmbr one at a time and report back, later. But I am thinking that I should align partitions on sector boundraries first - your thoughts?
Jim

[Dngrsone]

Try bootrec /fixmbr and then bootrec /fixboot.

[mintybits]

I ran fdisk from Mint, just to see what it is reporting - see attached screen shot. The SEAGATE info about my drive said it supports 512 and 4096 byte sectors. Is fdisk telling me I am using 512 byte sectors, but should be using 4096 byte sectors?

All drives either have or pretend to have 512 byte sectors so they will work fine in any partitioning scheme. Newer drives use 4096 byte blocks on the actual platters so ther is some performance advantage if the partition starts on a 512 byte sector that is coincident with a 4096 byte block (8 sectors). Incidentally, SSDs typically use 512kiB physical blocks (1024 sectors). This is a performance optimisation not a functionality issue.

XP is old and will default to starting its partition at sector #63 (the 64th sector on the disk). Newer Windows start at 2048. Gparted aligns to 2048 sectors by default. Disk Utilty still defaults to 63 which is some sort of oversight.

I was considering using Gparted (Live-CD) and tell it to resize (nudge) each partition while telling it to ensure partition boundraries are aligned to sector boundaries. Do you think that might help (not hurt)? If I try that (resize partitions), assuming I can boot into Mint, should I run update grub afterward? I assume grub would need to point at the correct location for its data.

How do I get partition 1 to start on a sector boundary?

The XP partition contains some absolute sector addressing in its code so if you move its start XP wont boot. It may be that the repair tools will fix this...I havent tried it. Linux root partition starts can be moved provided Grub is installed in the MBR and not the partition or else a Grub reinstall is needed. Your linux starts on a 4096 boundary so you are ok.

I can try the XP Recovery Console CD to run the fixboot, fixmbr one at a time and report back, later. But I am thinking that I should align partitions on sector boundraries first - your thoughts?
Jim

i think it is a nice to have rather than important. Back everything up and be prepared to have to reinstall XP. If you do reinstall XP use Gparted to make an ntfs partition for it so that it is aligned optimally.

[wagb278]

@mintybits - thanks for sticking with me on this.

I can't reinstall Windows XP, I don't have any media for that - but I do have a clonezilla disk image, that should include all of /dev/sda (with the MBR - or whatever it is called). This image was created before I installed Mint during which the Mint partition was created.

I will create another image of just /dev/sda1 (Windows XP) - without the MBR, just in case. That way I can recover just the content of the Windows partition. Then if I end up having to recreate partitions I should be able to get Windows XP back.

After I have the other partition image to fall back on, I intend to try the windows fixmbr, then fixboot commands from Recovery Console CD. That might get me a working Windows, but suspect that I will loose the ability to boot into Mint.

You indicated there is a way to boot to Mint once I am running Windows; or maybe a better way to reinstall Mint so a regular dual boot will work.

[wagb278]

I thought I posted again but that post does not appear here - hear is the current state of things.

I tried to create an image of sda1 (just the Windows partition) but clonezilla reported it could not due to something wrong with the data on that partition. I tried to check that partition using chkdsk from the XP Recovery Console Live-CD but that command (chkdsk C:) returned "The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems".

So I resorted to restoring the disk image of a few weeks ago - this is all of sda before attempt to install Mint. That succeeded and I now have my Windows XP back. I presume that my Linux Mint partition is still valid - I just cannot get to it.

To confound things I had Monitor problems - I thought my 24" Monitor died, but moving the monitor to another (Ubuntu machine) it is working. The computer with the Windows / Linux Mint issue is now running using an old CRT via VGA using the original 128 MB AGP graphics card. Trying to drive the 24" Monitor using this graphics card causes the 24" monitor to report Frequency Out Of Range. But that is a different problem.

So, now I have Windows XP back working and I need recommendations on how to proceed.

@Mintybits - you indicated there is a way to have Windows boot into Linux Mint. I am open to suggestions. I have to assume that Grub2 (from the Mint install) and Windows XP are not compatible or something special needs to be configured to make it work to dual boot properly.

EDIT - I just checked in WIndows Disk Management tool and the Linux Mint partition is gone so the restore of the Disk image whipped the Mint installation, so I am back to square one as far as Mint is concerned.

Jim

[xclusive585]

Square one is better than nowhere sometimes.

Of course who knows what went wrong the first time and if it will happen again, but if you risk it, maybe it will work right this time...

Your Mint is gone because the restore you did would not account for new partitions, instead it's just rewriting the whole drive as it was.
Grub should have no issue booting XP, none at all. When you do your install of mint, it should automatically install Grub and update it, so you would have a 10 second boot screen in which to choose from a list, Mint should be first on that list and XP most likely 3rd. Just keep your fingers crossed that maybe? it will boot WinXp properly this time? (out of curiosity I'm wondering if XP media center has something different about the way it boots vs. XP, it really shouldn't AFAIK Media center was just plain old XP with some addons...)

You can set Grub to default to the Win XP on it's boot list if you want also.

This is the easiest way to do a dual-boot. Instlling Windows after any Linux distro usually does not go well unless you have specifically planned for that.

(For me a simple way to install windows after linux on a machine, I used to use 2 HDDs. With an exisiting Linux install on one HDD, I'd unplug the Linux HDD from the system, and install windows normally. Then I'd reinstall the Linux HDD and make sure my Bios would boot that one. Then once in Linux I'd update-grub (I also go the extra mile and check my /etc/default/grub after the update))

[mintybits]

@Mintybits - you indicated there is a way to have Windows boot into Linux Mint. I am open to suggestions. I have to assume that Grub2 (from the Mint install) and Windows XP are not compatible or something special needs to be configured to make it work to dual boot properly.

This is what Josh did in the previous thread: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=118207&p=653658#p653658

When you install Mint or Ubuntu on the same disk as Windows it is not unheard of for things to go badly wrong although most of the time it works fine. The Ubiquity installer is not exactly easy to use and isn't very careful on your behalf. So for beginners I sometimes recommend they use a separate disk for Mint and physically disconnect their Windows disk while they install Mint. This is the only guaranteed method to avoid corruption of Windows.

If you want to make XP boot Mint you need to make sure the Ubiquity installer puts Grub on the Mint root partition and not on the disk's MBR. I think this forces you to use the "Something Else" option (irritatingly) and you have to manually set up the Mint partitions: root and swap.

[wagb278]

@Mintybits - Thanks for all your help.

I have decided to put Mint on hold for a little while, but I will get back to it in the not to distant future.

The playing around I did with Mint impressed me and I do intent to switch to it.

Unrelated - I plan to replace Ubuntu 12.04.1 with Mint 13 on another machine that I dual boot with Ubuntu 10.04. I have been an avid user and promoter of Ubuntu to friends for years; but I dislike Ubuntu 12.04 and the Unity and even their revert to Gnome. That other machine has two disk drives and I have been dual booting that for a while now. That machine I update each time a new LTS comes out overwriting the oldest LTS version with the new one, but keeping the most recent two LTS versions. Installing Mint 13 on top of Ubuntu should go smooth - there is no Windows on that machine, and there has never been.

Again thanks for all your help in getting me through this.

Jim