Dual boot of fedora 13 and windows xp on a toshiba satellite

[Doug30]

I am in desperate need of help. I'm new to the linux/fedora world. But I figured I would begin delving more into the open source environment by dual booting fedora and windows xp pro. Windows xp WAS already installed on the laptop, so I went through the steps to get fedora installed. Everything appeared to be working fine. Fedora came up nicely, and then I tried to boot windows (using grub boot loader). The Windows splash screen appeared, making me think things were fine. But suddenly the screen went black, with the computer going through a restart. This happened every time I tried to boot windows. So I began scouring the web to see if someone had a similar problem. I tried numerous things, but none of them worked. Of them, this appears to have gotten me farther than anything:

Going into grub I changed: rootnoverify (hd0,0)
to: rootnoverify (hd0,1)
Everything else remained the same.

When I made this change, the computer went through Ramdisk, and the Toshiba recovery tool.

Then two dialog windows appear in secession.

The first stating:
Windows cannot find c:\bin\errordialog.exe

The second stating:
Windows cannot find c:\bin\bootpriority.exe

I wasn't able to find any helpful information on these files that might help me resolve the problem. But after continuing to search, I stumbled across information about the recovery console tool. Well, since my laptop has an OEM installation, there is no recovery console tool. But eventually, I was able to find one that I could download.

(In case anyone is interested, here is the link for the download:http://www.thecomputerparamedic.com/files/rc.iso)

I burned the image to a cd on another computer, and then attempted to boot to the console from the cd/dvd drive on the laptop. But the system crashed, with the customary blue screen. I was hoping to be able to execute the chdsk command to repair whatever damage there might be, but this problem occurs each time I run the image.

Fortunately I backed stuff up before this. I'm just hoping that I won't have to go through the ugly process of restoring everything because it's a lot to restore.

So, if I can get some help with this, it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Doug (I wished I had never attempted a dual boot)

[nyjetshead]

The change you made to grub for your XP entry is most likely sending grub to boot your recovery partition.

My guess is your XP installation is on /dev/sda1 which is hd(0,0), you need to change this back to the way it was. This assumes you installed fedora on the same drive as xp.

Since you can boot fedora, check your xp partition.
In Gnome from the menu Places>OS
OS is the name of your XP partition, you will be asked to provide your root password to mount the volume.
If it mounts and you can browse the volume, your XP installation is most likely intact and OK.

You can verify your disk layout in fedora logged in as root by using fdisk -l
This lists your partition layout for your drive.

There is a possibility that your MBR got confused during the installation.

You can fix this using the XP tool fixmbr, there is a lot of stuff on this if you google it.

There are also other ways using a tool called super grub which will allow you to boot xp using the super grub cd to verify that the MBR is the issue.

[Doug30]

Sorry I haven't been able to respond sooner. I've been quite busy. The initial boot is from (hd0,0). I just attempted the alternate based on something I read in one of the forums.

I will attempt to try your suggestions, after doing research on how to carry out the steps.

Thanks for your help.

[fervirtual]

Hi Doug30 !

I am in desperate need of help

Please, calm yourself.

I'm new to the linux/fedora world.

Welcome. Some years later i was in the same situation of yours. Today, i don't know nothing more about windows OS. My basic motivation was the price of software.

I figured I would begin delving more into the open source environment by dual booting fedora and windows xp pro.

Yes. But i can see that you are in trouble now. Can you boot fedora and post the result of the following commands ?

# fdisk -l

and

# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf

Fer.

[Doug30]

Thanks your help. I'm truly a newbie in this environment. Well, maybe not a total newbie, but it's been well over a decade since I've done anything with Unix/Linix.

Below is the output from the 2 commands you mentioned. I hope this produces positive resutls

Doug30


[root@localhost DP]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 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: 0xcffb4acc

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 27415 220208096+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 37859 38913 8474287+ 1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda3 27415 27479 512000 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 27479 37858 83374080 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 27479 37858 83373056 8e Linux LVM

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/dm-0: 41.3 GB, 41305505792 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 5021 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: 0x00000000

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

Disk /dev/dm-1: 5167 MB, 5167382528 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 628 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: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/dm-2: 38.9 GB, 38889586688 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4728 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: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/dm-2 doesn't contain a valid partition table

=============================================

[root@localhost DP]# 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 (hd0,2)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/mapper/VolGroup-lv_root
# initrd /initrd-[generic-]version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.33.3-85.fc13.i686)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.33.3-85.fc13.i686 ro root=/dev/mapper/VolGroup-lv_root rd_LVM_LV=VolGroup/lv_root rd_LVM_LV=VolGroup/lv_swap rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rhgb quiet
initrd /initramfs-2.6.33.3-85.fc13.i686.img
title Other
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

[stoat]

The NTFS partition is at the "front" of the drive (in the first cylinders). And even though it gets enumerated as /dev/sda2 by Fedora, that hidden FAT partition is far away at the very "end" of the drive (in the last cylinders) and is probably the computer's restore partition. The Fedora partitions are in between those two. That makes me think that you shrank the Windows partition to make room for Fedora. Since Windows tries to boot and fails to proceed to the desktop, it's possible that the Windows system has been damaged. Anyway, you would not be the first person to plow Windows under by aggressive partition manipulation. Maybe not. I hope not. And I also have no idea what you can try for it. Sorry.

[JEO]

I recommend that you get yourself a Windows Xp Pro CD (or download and burn one) and then use it to run a chkdsk on your first partition. That may restore it to bootability.

[fervirtual]

Well, Well Doug30 !

I think JEO gives the correct direction.

But we can talk about some others things.

To your commodity, you can comment the line "hiddenmenu" in the /boot/grub/grub.conf, putting a # in fron of it. The line will be :

# hiddenmenu

Thus, grub will pause 5 secs before booting Fedora, giving you a chance to select the Windows boot with more calm now.

The Fedora way to name partitions int the first disk is /dev/sdan, with n starting from 1. The grub way is few different. grub uses a tuple (disk, partition). The first disk is called by grub of hd0. Then grubs enumerates partition starting from 0 (not 1 as Fedora does). I think the mapping between "What_you_know" - "What_Fedora_knows" - "What_grub_knows", may be :

YOU --------------------- FEDORA ----------- GRUB

WindowsXP ---------- /dev/sda1 ----------- (hd0, 0)
Recovery_Partition -- /dev/sda2 ----------- (hd0, 1)
Linux_Boot ---------- /dev/sda3 ------------ (hd0, 2)
Linux_Root ----------- /dev/sda5 ------------ (hd0, 4)


That's explain how you got the Recovery_Partition_boot when you changed the rootnoverify directive to (hd0,1). As you can see, (hd0,1) = Recovery_Partiton.


The boot process consist of 2 stages. The first is related to the MBR of the disk. In your case, all right
with this stage. This stage (stage1) finishes loading the rest of the boot process, from a Boot_sector stored inside a partition. Then stage2 starts an it is SO based. This stage2 is fine with fedora. And your description make me think that the boot_sector of you XP has OK too. However, there is a big chance that your data, programs, etc, was not corrupted. You can check this, inside Fedora itself. Please, see if /dev/sda1 is not mounted yet

# mount

If not, you can mount it using following commands.

# mkdir windowspart
# mount /dev/sda1 windowspart

If Fedora refuses to mount, your NTFS partition is corrupted. Follow JEO post, get a prozac, and chkdsk. Maybe the bugged stuff is not so serious.

Good, very very very good lucky.


Fer.

[nyjetshead]

Have you done this? I see others have suggested the same thing.
I wouldn't do too much until I confirmed this.

Originally Posted by nyjetshead

Since you can boot fedora, check your xp partition.
In Gnome from the menu Places>OS
OS is the name of your XP partition, you will be asked to provide your root password to mount the volume.
If it mounts and you can browse the volume, your XP installation is most likely intact and OK.

Your disk layout just what I expected.

As for Super grub, did you try to boot XP with it?

[fervirtual]

IF you installed gnome, you can check if NTFS mounts as suggested by nyjetshead. In KDE you just dolphin and see the disk in the left-botton panel. Doing it in text mode, don't cares if you are a gnome or a KDE user. The seggested steps are :

(1) Make some useful changes in your /boot/grub/grub.conf
(2) Understand your environment and the way Fedora and grub sees it.
(3) Check if your NTFS mounts ( In text or graphic mode)

IF YES --- Your NTFS is OK. Please report it and we try correct the WindowsXP boot_sector

IF NOT --- chkdsk and a rabbit-foot-amulet.

I hope that all will be recoverable.


Fer.

[Doug30]

I'm sorry it's taken me a while to get back to the forum. Thanks for your suggestions, but in the end, nothing worked. So, I bit the bullet and re-installed the OS (Windows XP), and I am in the process of installing all the software and data. I could never get the NTFS drive to mount. I kept getting an error stating unable to mount the drive.... Also, there may be a bad sector on my hard drive (laptop) because none of the tools worked, i.e., the recovery console, etc. The console kept crashing, and another tool recommended by a friend, functioned abnormally. The bottom line: I gave up.

So as I mentioned, I re-installed the OS and proceeded with another approach that I highly recommend. I successfully installed Fedora on both my desktop and laptop in a virtual machine. I will provide some of the details here because they may be helpful to someone else. If you would like something more complete, let me know, and I will see what I can do.

1) Download an iso image of Fedora at fedoraproject.org
2) If you don't already have it, find online software that will allow you to burn the iso image to a cd/dvd. The one I used is ISORecorderV2RC1. I found a free download, but I don't remember the link. But I'm sure you will be able to find it.
3) Once you've downloaded the image, as mentioned writeup, change the file extension to .iso because the burner may not recognize any other extension.
4) Burn the image to a cd/dvd.

Now that you have cd/dvd ready, you can proceed to the next step of getting a virtual machine. Since I already had VPC installed on my desktop, I tried that, but it didn't work for me. It crashed on every attempt. A friend of mine heard some good things about Virtual Box, so I tired that. It worked like a charm. On my desktop, I created a 50 GB vhd with Fedora installed, and on my laptop I created a 30 GB virtual hard drive with Fedora installed. No particular reason for the numbers, I just chose them at random. Both the desktop and the laptop are running Winodws XP Pro SP3. The desktop is a DELL, and the laptop is a Toshiba Satellite.

To continue with the process:

5) Go to http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
6) You will have to register, but that's simple. Oh, as a side matter, virtual box is produced by Sun, which is now Oracle.
7) Dowload Virtual Box. It should be in your download folder.
8) Install Virtual Box. I believe it was at this point that I got a number of boogie man messages from Microsoft about your PC possibly blowing up if you install this software. I ignored them, and the installation went find.
9) Once installed, an icon for the virtual machine should appear on the desktop. If it's not there it should be under Programs, and you can drag it to the desktop. Double click the icon on the desktop which will place you in the virtual machine. Don't foget to place the cd/dvd in your drive if you haven't already done so.
10) Once in the VM, click on the Machine drop down and select new. You will be in the VM wizard.
11) At the Welcome screen, click the next button.
12) On this screen, in the name field, type fedora and click the next button (the rest will be filled in for you).
13) On the Memory screen, set the memory to whatever is acceptable for you computer. I have 4 GB of memory so I chose 1 GB.
14) The next screen is the virtual hard disk screen. Unless you have a vhd already, just accept the defaults.
15) Next is another Welcome screen for creating your virtual hard disk, so just click next.
16) The next screen is the hard disk storage type. Here again, just accept the default. Otherwise a lot of time will be spent creating a fixed size drive. This is your choice though.
17) The next screen is for location and size. I changed the location on desktop and kept the default on my laptop. As I mentioned earlier, I changed the size on both computers.
18) The final screen is the summary screen. Please make certain that the size of the vhd is correct. If it is not go back and correct it now. Otherwise you may have to delete the vhd and start all over again. If everything looks good, click finish and wait for software to complete its execution.
19) You will have to boot Fedora from the cd/dvd, using using the option from one of the drop downs (I believe it's Devices) in Virtual Box for iso image from cd.
20) When Fedora loads there will be an icon on the desktop for you to install Fedora to your hard drive. Double click on it and follow the instructions.
21) Most of this is pretty straight forward. Setting up the partitions may be a little tricky, but it's not that difficult either. You may want to download and look at the installation guide for suggestions. Information on setting up the partitions is on pages 80 and 81.

Once you've set up your partitions that's all you have to do, other than click through a couple of other dialogs. It may take a few minutes for things to complete, but just be patient. it will happen.

That's it. You're finished.

The beauty of this is you've got your sand box to play in OR you can make it a fully functioning box within you box. It's your choice.

I hope this helps someone to not go through the hassle of the dual boot, and the possible problems that may result. Also, if you find anything confusing, let me know, and I will try to help.

Take care,

Doug30

[fervirtual]

Yeah, yeah, Doug :
Using VirtualBox as a "test environment" is always a good choice.

But did you realize that Fedora installer did nothing to bogus your Win ?
All the damage was caused by you, when you tried repartition your disk.

In the next time, when you decide repart your WinXP, do it BEFORE :

. Go to disk defrag, and defrag.
. Look the screen and see if there is enough free space at the END of the volume.
. If yes, you can shrink it.
. If not, give up.

Good ( Future ) repart.

[Doug30]

At this point I'm not sure what caused the problem. I know it wasn't because I didn't defrag the drive before hand. Because I attempted that, and I got the response: there is no need to defrag the drive since there was around 230 GB of free space. However, things are working quite well with the virtual machine which has created no headaches for me. If others prefer the dual boot, and they can get to work, great. I just thought I would mention another option.

Take care, and thanks for you help and insights.

Doug30