Fedora 15 and Windows 7 dual boot issues

Silicel · #1 23rd October 2011, 06:30 PM

So first of Hi! I'm new to the forums and fedora or Linux, Ubuntu or anything that is other then Windows.

Now my problem is that I recently downloaded Fedora 15 and installed it onto my computer which has 3 500Gb hard drives, 1 for data 1 for games 1 one for windows, I shrank my games hard drive and made a 20gb space for fedora and installed it onto that, and then where the problem started is that I cannot boot into windows 7 anymore at first I was getting "read disk error has ocurred" then I reinstalled fedore in hopes that my problem will go away but still the same thing.

Then I tried to run windows 7 repair of the disk which found something with the MBR and apparently fixed it but after restart I still could not get into windows but instead a flashing white line with a black background(empty comandline window?). So that is my problem and I was hopping some one can help me wth this problwm so I dont have to reinstall windows.

Also was reading around I picked up a couple of things so whis might help solve the problem:

[Silicel@Silicel ~]$ su
Password:
[root@Silicel Silicel]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe4b93f09

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 16065 976768064 488376000 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 16128 976768064 488375968+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x41619e51

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 63 976768064 488384001 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x41619e5f

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 63 935808064 467904001 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdc2 * 935809024 936833023 512000 83 Linux
/dev/sdc3 936833024 976773119 19970048 83 Linux
[root@Silicel Silicel]#

Here the second hard drive is the one that has windows 7 on it with a single partition.

[root@Silicel Silicel]# cat /boot/grub/grob.conf
cat: /boot/grub/grob.conf: No such file or directory
[root@Silicel Silicel]# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd2,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sdc3
# initrd /initrd-[generic-]version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=2
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd2,1)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.40.6-0.fc15.i686)
root (hd2,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.40.6-0.fc15.i686 ro root=UUID=8706cc41-65ea-4887-9c9e-877f60b524b5 rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_LVM rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYTABLE=us nomodeset rhgb quiet
initrd /initramfs-2.6.40.6-0.fc15.i686.img
title Fedora (2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.i686)
root (hd2,1)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.i686 ro root=UUID=8706cc41-65ea-4887-9c9e-877f60b524b5 rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_LVM rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYTABLE=us nomodeset rhgb quiet
initrd /initramfs-2.6.38.6-26.rc1.fc15.i686.img
title Other
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
chainloader +1

Here I have two entries for fedora a second one addes after doing a kernel update(I think). Also I am very new to this if possible explain things to the letter on how could I fix this.

RalphCC · #2 24th October 2011, 03:03 PM

I am guessing that windows is now bootable as Other?.
The key is the (hd ) bit on the root... lines in the grub.conf file.
The numbers after hd are the disk and partition number so you can work it out and edit that file.
( Obviously copy it to grub.conf.old before editting ).
Ralph.

Silicel · #3 24th October 2011, 03:20 PM

Thanks for the reply but solved it by just by reinstalling windows, could not figure it out and I needed the computer, also going to try fedora but probably in a VM.

sea · #4 24th October 2011, 03:26 PM

Welcome to the forum

For a better overview over your partitions, type "lsblk" and/or "blkid" in an open terminal and post its result.

Either way, it sounds that your windows installation is still located on the first primary (maybe second primary too) partition/s.
Assuming c:\/boot ini is located in /dev/sda1 the according lines of grub.conf / menu.lst to start windows would be:

Code:

title Windows
    rootnoverify (hd0,0)
    chainloader +1

Just add the above lines either instead (are you sure to have a bootable system on your hd(0,4) which is /dev/sda5, or append them at the end of the file.

Hope this helps.