[edited] Grub screen doesn't find winxp

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jayjaciv

[edited] Grub screen doesn't find winxp

Post by jayjaciv »

[completely edited]

I have Helena and WinXP dual installed.
So I was thinking I had a problem with Grub. It wasn't coming up at all. But it turns out the real problem is that Grub doesn't think I have Windows, it only finds Mint (which is why it wasn't showing up; I got it to by hitting shift).
GParted tells me I do have windows installed. The exact breakdown of my partitions is a little different than I thought I set it up though. It goes:
Partition File System Mount Point Label
/dev/sda1 fat16 DellUtility
/dev/sda2 ext3 /media/windows
/dev/sda4 extended
/dev/sda5 linux-swap
/dev/sda3 ext3 /

Apparently sda4 and sda5 are in the same place and take up the same amount of space. sda5 is within sda4. Seems weird to me.
Have I done something dumb? The windows partitions has 34.18 Gigs. Also, on gparted under "Flags" the windows partition says "boot." Does anyone have a clue why Grub can't find windows?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Jay514

Re: [edited] Grub screen doesn't find winxp

Post by Jay514 »

Welcome To Linux Mint
The following steps should fix your Grub


* With ''grub'' installed, the user must still create the ''menu.lst'' and ''stage1/stage2'' files.
*
In the terminal run Code:

sudo update-grub

o Generates ''menu.lst'' Tab to "Yes" when prompted.
*
In the terminal run Code:

sudo grub-install /dev/sdX

o Choose the correct device "x being" (sda, sdb, etc), normally the one on which Linux Mint is installed.
o Creates the ''stage1'' & ''stage2'' files in ''/boot/grub'' and writes to the MBR.

# Reboot


I hope this helps, have a good day. :roll:
breaker

Re: [edited] Grub screen doesn't find winxp

Post by breaker »

@Jay514, remember Helena uses grub2, therefore no menu.lst, however, sudo update-grub by itself might just add windows to /boot/grub/grub.cfg and thus the menu without the need to reinstall grub.

@jay, the reason for /dev/sda4 containing /dev/sda5 is /dev/sda5 is a logical partition that takes up the entire extended partition.

Anyway, if you didn't fix it, download and run (from Mint) the boot info script and post the RESULTS.TXT into the body of a message - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1291280

This will assist and clarify the status of your disks and grub .
jayjaciv

Re: [edited] Grub screen doesn't find winxp

Post by jayjaciv »

Yeah updating grub worked well for me when I had a similar problem with Mint 7. However it is not working now.

It looks to me from the RESULTS.txt file that I just screwed up the partitioning somehow?

This isn't my computer. I inherited it at work, so I'm not really sure what kind of hardware I'm working with here.

Here's the RESULTS.txt

Code: Select all

                      

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

 => Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive in 
    partition #3 for /boot/grub.

sda1: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  Windows 95
    Boot files/dirs:   /IO.SYS /MSDOS.SYS /COMMAND.COM

sda2: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext3
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   

sda3: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext3
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  
    Operating System:  Linux Mint 8 Helena - Main 
                       Edition
    Boot files/dirs:   /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda4: _________________________________________________________________________

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

sda5: _________________________________________________________________________

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

sdc: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  MSWIN4.1: Fat 32
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   
 

Code: Select all

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

Drive: sda ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xfd478bc7

Partition  Boot         Start           End          Size  Id System

/dev/sda1                  63        64,259        64,197  de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2    *         64,260    71,746,289    71,682,030  83 Linux
/dev/sda3          87,955,875   156,296,384    68,340,510  83 Linux
/dev/sda4          71,746,290    87,955,874    16,209,585   5 Extended
/dev/sda5          71,746,353    87,955,874    16,209,522  82 Linux swap / Solaris


blkid -c /dev/null: ____________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL                         

/dev/sda1        07D2-030C                              vfat       DellUtility                   
/dev/sda2        2184af0a-71d2-4f7e-8f3b-077d3ce26bf2   ext3                                     
/dev/sda3        4e63fe6a-533c-4688-9280-bb3c37c85394   ext3                                     
/dev/sda5        5cb94405-e376-4b25-b536-3db058cdfcbd   swap                                     
/dev/sdc         61B7-1EAF                              vfat                                     

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev  output: ===========================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/sda3        /                        ext3       (rw,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/sda2        /media/windows           ext3       (rw)

Code: Select all

=========================== sda3/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

#
# 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 ###
insmod raid
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
  have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
  saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
  save_env saved_entry
  prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4e63fe6a-533c-4688-9280-bb3c37c85394
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
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/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4e63fe6a-533c-4688-9280-bb3c37c85394
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 ###
menuentry "Linux Mint 8 Helena, linux 2.6.31-14-generic (/dev/sda3)" {
        recordfail=1
        if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
	set quiet=1
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,3)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4e63fe6a-533c-4688-9280-bb3c37c85394
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda3 ro   quiet splash
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
menuentry "Linux Mint 8 Helena, linux 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery mode)" {
        recordfail=1
        if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
	insmod ext2
	set root=(hd0,3)
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 4e63fe6a-533c-4688-9280-bb3c37c85394
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda3 ro single 
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
	linux16	/boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
	linux16	/boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
if [ ${timeout} != -1 ]; then
  if keystatus; then
    if keystatus --shift; then
      set timeout=-1
    else
      set timeout=0
    fi
  else
    if sleep --interruptible 3 ; then
      set timeout=0
    fi
  fi
fi
### 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 ###

=============================== sda3/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' 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    defaults        0       0
# / was on /dev/sda3 during installation
UUID=4e63fe6a-533c-4688-9280-bb3c37c85394 /               ext3    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /media/windows was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=2184af0a-71d2-4f7e-8f3b-077d3ce26bf2 /media/windows  ext3    defaults        0       2
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=5cb94405-e376-4b25-b536-3db058cdfcbd none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0

=================== sda3: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


  71.8GB: boot/grub/core.img
  71.7GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
  71.7GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
  71.7GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
  71.7GB: initrd.img
  71.7GB: vmlinuz
=========================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =======================

Unknown BootLoader  on sda1

00000000  eb 44 90 44 65 6c 6c 20  34 2e 31 00 02 04 01 00  |.D.Dell 4.1.....|
00000010  02 00 02 00 00 f8 3f 00  3f 00 ff 00 3f 00 00 00  |......?.?...?...|
00000020  c5 fa 00 00 80 00 29 0c  03 d2 07 44 65 6c 6c 55  |......)....DellU|
00000030  74 69 6c 69 74 79 46 41  54 31 36 20 20 20 00 00  |tilityFAT16   ..|
00000040  00 00 00 00 00 00 fa b8  00 00 8e c0 8e d0 bc fc  |................|
00000050  7b fb 0e 1f fc be ae 7d  e8 cd 00 e8 1d 01 0f 82  |{......}........|
00000060  b9 00 66 0f b7 06 16 7c  66 d1 e0 66 0f b7 1e 0e  |..f....|f..f....|
00000070  7c 66 03 c3 66 03 06 1c  7c 66 a3 3e 7c a1 11 7c  ||f..f...|f.>|..||
00000080  ba 20 00 f7 e2 bb 00 02  f7 f3 8b e8 bb 00 05 e8  |. ..............|
00000090  a5 00 0f 82 85 00 ba 10  00 b9 0b 00 be ef 7d 8b  |..............}.|
000000a0  fb f3 a6 74 13 83 c3 20  4a 75 ee 66 ff 06 3e 7c  |...t... Ju.f..>||
000000b0  4d 75 d9 be e3 7d eb 6b  66 0f b7 06 11 7c 66 ba  |Mu...}.kf....|f.|
000000c0  20 00 00 00 66 f7 e2 66  0f b7 0e 0b 7c 66 03 c1  | ...f..f....|f..|
000000d0  66 48 66 f7 f1 66 01 06  3e 7c 66 a1 3e 7c 66 26  |fHf..f..>|f.>|f&|
000000e0  a3 fc 7b 66 26 0f b7 47  1a 8b f8 2d 02 00 66 0f  |..{f&..G...-..f.|
000000f0  b6 1e 0d 7c 66 f7 e3 66  01 06 3e 7c bb 00 07 bd  |...|f..f..>|....|
00000100  04 00 e8 32 00 72 14 81  c3 00 02 66 ff 06 3e 7c  |...2.r.....f..>||
00000110  4d 75 ef bd 00 7c ea 00  02 70 00 be d6 7d eb 03  |Mu...|...p...}..|
00000120  be e3 7d e8 02 00 eb fe  ac 3c 00 74 09 b4 0e bb  |..}......<.t....|
00000130  07 00 cd 10 eb f2 c3 66  a1 3e 7c 66 33 d2 66 0f  |.......f.>|f3.f.|
00000140  b7 0e 18 7c 66 f7 f1 66  42 88 16 45 7c 66 33 d2  |...|f..fB..E|f3.|
00000150  66 0f b7 0e 1a 7c 66 f7  f1 88 16 44 7c a3 42 7c  |f....|f....D|.B||
00000160  b8 01 02 8b 0e 42 7c c0  e5 06 0a 2e 45 7c 86 e9  |.....B|.....E|..|
00000170  8a 36 44 7c 8a 16 24 7c  cd 13 c3 26 80 3e c2 07  |.6D|..$|...&.>..|
00000180  06 74 2a b8 01 02 bb 00  06 b9 01 00 b6 00 8a 16  |.t*.............|
00000190  24 7c cd 13 72 17 26 c6  06 c2 07 06 b8 01 03 bb  |$|..r.&.........|
000001a0  00 06 b9 01 00 b6 00 8a  16 24 7c cd 13 c3 0d 0a  |.........$|.....|
000001b0  42 6f 6f 74 69 6e 67 20  66 72 6f 6d 20 75 74 69  |Booting from uti|
000001c0  6c 69 74 79 20 70 61 72  74 69 74 69 6f 6e 2e 2e  |lity partition..|
000001d0  2e 0d 0a 0d 0a 00 44 69  73 6b 20 65 72 72 6f 72  |......Disk error|
000001e0  0d 0a 00 4e 6f 20 6c 6f  61 64 65 72 0d 0a 00 49  |...No loader...I|
000001f0  4f 20 20 20 20 20 20 53  59 53 00 00 00 00 55 aa  |O      SYS....U.|
00000200


=======Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive==============

sdb
Last edited by jayjaciv on Wed Mar 31, 2010 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jay514

Re: [edited] Grub screen doesn't find winxp

Post by Jay514 »

breaker wrote:@Jay514, remember Helena uses grub2, therefore no menu.lst, however, sudo update-grub by itself might just add windows to /boot/grub/grub.cfg and thus the menu without the need to reinstall grub.

@jay, the reason for /dev/sda4 containing /dev/sda5 is /dev/sda5 is a logical partition that takes up the entire extended partition.

Anyway, if you didn't fix it, download and run (from Mint) the boot info script and post the RESULTS.TXT into the body of a message - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1291280

This will assist and clarify the status of your disks and grub .
Thanks breaker , I stand corrected, confusing :? this new grub 2 with the old one :oops:
breaker

Re: [edited] Grub screen doesn't find winxp

Post by breaker »

jayjaciv wrote:[completely edited]

GParted tells me I do have windows installed. Also, on gparted under "Flags" the windows partition says "boot." Does anyone have a clue why Grub can't find windows?
Gparted doesn't tell you what OS is installed, only what partition type and flags you have. Please provide a screen shot of Gparted showing me the windows partition says "boot."

I looked over your RESULTS.TXT, and you don't appear to have Windows installed. Maybe you overwrote it somehow while installing Mint.

First, all partitions in Linux show up as /dev/sdXN, such as your /dev/sda1 which is the first partition of your first (BIOS order) hard drive. This is a Dell, and certain Dells use a hidden first partition formatted FAT32 with some diagnostics that can be executed when you start your computer. It has dos, that's why it says the OS is Windows 95.

/dev/sda2 is your second partition, first hard drive, and it appears to be formatted in ext3 which Linux uses, but Windows does not. Windows uses NTFS, FAT32, and FAT16 for hard drives. Yes, /dev/sda2 is marked as bootable

This shows what partition types you have on your first disk (namely Dell Utility, Linux, Extended, and Linux Swap):

Code: Select all

    Drive: sda ___________________ _____________________________________________________

    Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
    Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0xfd478bc7

    Partition  Boot         Start           End          Size  Id System

    /dev/sda1                  63        64,259        64,197  de Dell Utility
    /dev/sda2    *         64,260    71,746,289    71,682,030  83 Linux
    /dev/sda3          87,955,875   156,296,384    68,340,510  83 Linux
    /dev/sda4          71,746,290    87,955,874    16,209,585   5 Extended
    /dev/sda5          71,746,353    87,955,874    16,209,522  82 Linux swap / Solaris
This shows what boot loader and/or OS exist on /dev/sda2 (none):

Code: Select all

sda2: _________________________________________________________________________

        File system:       ext3
        Boot sector type:  -
        Boot sector info: 
        Operating System: 
        Boot files/dirs:   
This shows how /dev/sda2 looks when mounted in Linux (an ext3 partition mounted in the directory /media/windows):

Code: Select all

    Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

    /dev/sda3        /                        ext3       (rw,errors=remount-ro)
    /dev/sda2        /media/windows           ext3       (rw)
Now the fact Mint mounts this /dev/sda2 in a directory called /media/windows yet is a Linux partition leads me to believe you did something thinking you were dual-booting, or you somehow changed the partition type and formatted it to ext3. Also, this other drive seems to be unpartitioned: /dev/sdc

Open a terminal and do this, post the results;

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l

Code: Select all

ls /media/windows
Mint is great, you don't really need windows do you? I run my XP in Sun Virtual Box inside of Linux Mint, it's pretty slick.

take care,

breaker
jayjaciv

Re: [edited] Grub screen doesn't find winxp

Post by jayjaciv »

breaker you've been a big help! I really appreciate it. I see what I did wrong.

When I was setting up the partitions initially I must have formatted sda2 (which is where I thought I put Windows) as ext3 instead of NTFS. I imagine that partition is totally erased now because of that? Is there any way to reformat that as NFTS?

I love Mint and hate Windows, but unfortunately I have some bioinformatics programs I have to use that only run on Windows, and don't do very well in Wine at all. That's why I'm hoping I didn't totally erase Windows. Looks like I did though. Thanks for all the help anyway.
breaker

Re: [edited] Grub screen doesn't find winxp

Post by breaker »

You can try changing the file system type back to NTFS in Gparted or something like cfdisk and see if you get anything to show up, but I don't think you will. You can just reinstall windows into the partition. You can also just install Sun VirtualBox in Linux and easily run 98/XP/Vista/etc from a virtual machine which does more than WINE, and can handle almost any task except hardcore 3D.
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