xp won't boot?

Hey guys, I just wanted to say, after roaming these forums for quite some time, I've finally decided to take the plunge and installed ubuntu yesterday. So far it's been pretty sweet, and I plan to play around with it for a while.

Ok anyway, I followed these instructions: http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_windows_xp_and_linux_xp_installed_first.htm
and everything was smooth and great. However, when I rebooted it and wanted to load windows xp, it would say “starting up . . .” and not boot. Ubuntu still loads fine (using it right now). Does anyone know what to do? Thanks for helping out a newbie. Much appreciated.

Here's a few pictures. I took it with the palm pre, so it might be a bit blurry.

 

Please take a look at /boot/grub/menu.lst and copy/paste the contents here. (Please use CODE tags.)

Code:

# gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Also, do you remember what partition number your windows installation is? It should be /dev/sdaN where N is a number.

 

Hey, thanks for the reply!

I'm new at this, so I don't know if this is what you're looking for.

Code:

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default		0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout		10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line)  and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
#      password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title		Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root		(hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader	+1
#
# title		Linux
# root		(hd0,1)
# kernel	/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
##      lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
##      lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
##      altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
##      howmany=7
# howmany=all

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically
## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa
## e.g. indomU=detect
##      indomU=true
##      indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-14-generic
uuid		a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-14-generic root=UUID=a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76 ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-14-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-14-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-14-generic root=UUID=a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76 ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-14-generic

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
uuid		a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76 ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76 ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title		Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
uuid		a1271e48-4cda-4d26-a0eb-4bf5a5d41e76
kernel		/boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title		Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title		Windows XP Media Center Edition
rootnoverify	(hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1

Kind of long.

And I don't know what the partition number is. Where can I find it out?
Thanks!

 

The relevent section for your windows installation is this. This code tells grub to look for another OS in (hd0,0), which corresponds to /dev/sda1, or the first partition of your hardrive. You can take a peek at your partition table by running gparted. (You might have to install it through Add/Remove Programs first.) Don't change anything though! Can you read your windows partition from Ubuntu? Is there an icon for it on your desktop?

 

The only thing on my desktop is a USB drive.

I installed gparted. Here's a screenshot.



Thanks a lot man. Really appreciate your help.

 

You know I think i have seen this happen before, you tried botting up windows in safe mode yet? press F8 as soon as you tell it to boot in Windows. A menu should pop out and when it does, click in safe mode. IF it does, run chkdsk /f in the command prompt. See if that helps

 

Well, according to everything you've posted, things are fine on the linux side. This probably means that the problem is a Windows problem, and that's the worst kind. Someone else might have a solution though.

It's always a pleasure to help out a fellow adventurer.

 

I just tried that, but it didn't respond. It only responded for F1 (setup) and Esc (boot menu).

Thanks for trying to help me out, archer. and joeelmex.

This seems to be a remarkably similar problem to mine. https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/6638
even the response was along the same lines.
So it turned out that user couldn't fix it, so that's depressing.. anyone have any more ideas before i find an XP disk somewhere and clean install my computer??

 

I hope you find a clean solution to your problem, but rather than reinstalling windows, try using the repair system of the Windows disk and do a FIXMBR.

 

I'd definitely try archer7's suggestion of running a fixmbr, maybe even fixboot. If something like that gets XP booting again but screws GRUB up, you can always try this.

Cheers...

 

Did you resize the NTFS partition before installing Ubuntu?

 

Hey guys, thanks for the replies. I'm still trying to figure it out.

No, I just did this: http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_windows_xp_and_linux_xp_installed_first.htm?page=3
I gave it 40 GB. I thought that's all you needed to do? Does not resizing the NTFS partition before installing make a difference?

Also, this is a pretty old computer, and my parents are probably going to get a new one once windows 7 comes out. I was thinking that, if I couldn't get this figured out, I would keep this running ubuntu until they get the new computer. Can I run any software, like Microsoft Office 07, via wine? And how do I uninstall either xp or ubuntu completely from this computer?

Thanks!

 

Yes, you should be able to run Windows programs in Wine, or Virtual Box 3, I've also heard. However, you might give OpenOffice a try; it's already installed, and might be able to do everything you'd want to use MS Office for.

Cheers...

 

You did do a resize. It was the first step of the install. As soon as you resize an nTFS partition, windows will throw an error and try to run scan disk on boot. I'm guessing that's where it borked. I usually do the resize, reboot in to windows, check everything, and dthen install Ubuntu.

Boot from a windows install CD, select repair mode, and then try to run chkdsk.