[SOLVED]Help with Dual booting with 2 hard drives

[firesprit]

Hello everyone,
I have a 160 GB hard disk(SATA interface) which has Windows XP installed in it. I also have a 20 GB hard disk (ATA/IDE interface) installed with linux mint 12 main edition(GNOME version) .I want to know is there a way to bring about a menu that provides me the option of choosing which OS to boot.
I tried a few guides available online and could not quite understand them.
Thank you for your help in advance.

[wayne128]

Yes, the default grub2 will work.

Where did you install grub2 when you installed your Mint?
When you boot up computer, what do you see on grub menu?

[firesprit]

Yes, the default grub2 will work.

Where did you install grub2 when you installed your Mint?
When you boot up computer, what do you see on grub menu?

Well the grub menu displays:
1.Linux mint
2.Linux mint (recovery mode)
3.Memory test
4.Memory test--Serial console
Also, I have no real idea of the grub,I just installed Mint from a Live CD.
During the boot up the Grub menu comes with a title : GNU GRUB ver 1.99-12ubuntu5-1linuxmint1 , does this mean I dont have grub2??
Also the grub doesn't appear every time ,sometimes I have press the shift key to bring it up....is there a way to correct that??
Thanks a million for your help

[wayne128]

During the boot up the Grub menu comes with a title : GNU GRUB ver 1.99-12ubuntu5-1linuxmint1 , does this mean I dont have grub2??

That is grub2.. You have it

Also the grub doesn't appear every time ,sometimes I have press the shift key to bring it up....is there a way to correct that??

Well, that is not too normal.
It should appear every time you reboot.


Now, your list does not include winXP, by right grub2 should do that during installation.
here is what you can do to try:
Boot from Live DVD, open a terminal and type sudo os-prober, please post what you see on terminal.

[firesprit]

That is grub2.. You have it

Phew....Thats a relief .


Also ran the command in terminal and result was :
/dev/sda1: Linux Mint 12 Lisa (12):Linux Mint:linux
/dev/sdb1: Microsoft Windows XP professional:Windows:chain

[wayne128]

OK, now boot and run from installed Mint.
open terminal, type these commands and post results
1. sudo update-grub
2. cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg

hopefully winXP get into grub2 'correctly'

3. reboot
if grub2 did it correctly, you should see winXP line in the grub start up menu , select and see if it boots up winXP

[firesprit]

OK, now boot and run from installed Mint.
open terminal, type these commands and post results
1. sudo update-grub
2. cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg

hopefully winXP get into grub2 'correctly'

3. reboot
if grub2 did it correctly, you should see winXP line in the grub start up menu , select and see if it boots up winXP

Works like a charm!!!
though the problem of menu appearing at its own will still exists its fine i guess
Thanks a lot mate!!!
A BIG THANKS wayne128