[solved] GRUB boots MEPIS but not Windoze

Yeah...set your hardware clock. [Oops. Sorry. That's your kernel release date.]

/boot/grub/menu.lst looks good for what you've described you want to do. Did you monkey-around with qtparted or gparted in the interim?

Let's see a copy of that /etc/fstab, just in case;and could you expand upon your description of what's going wrong for me...I guess I'm not following you well enough to be able to visualize what's happening (or not happening) on your end.

If nothing else, serving as a dire warning to others is not a bad thing to be.

Thanks for the reply, Alan,

bios clock matches the task bar clock

Grub boots MEPIS 6.0 final just great.

When I attempt to go into windoze, all grub presents as a choice is garbage like Big 5 characters. And of course goes no where.

Here's /etc/fstab:

# Pluggable devices are handled by uDev, they are not in fstab
/dev/hda3 / ext3 defaults,noatime 1 1
/dev/hda2 swap swap sw,pri=1 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devmode=0666 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts mode=0622 0 0
none /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
# Dynamic entries below, identified by 'users' option
/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 ntfs noauto,users,exec,ro,umask=0222 0 0
/dev/hda5 /mnt/hda5 vfat,ext3,ext2,reiserfs noauto,users,exec 0 0
/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom iso9660,udf noauto,users,exec,ro 0 0

Ken
--
In a world without walls and fences nobody needs Windows and Gates!
User #104362 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org

Here is my /boot/grub/menu.lst and the only thing difference l see is the (hdx,x) after root in my Mepis entry. My GRUB is installed in the MBR on hda1. Just a thought ... l am assuming your GRUB was installed to the MBR too ...

timeout 15
color cyan/blue white/blue
foreground ffffff
background 0639a1

gfxmenu /boot/grub/message

title MEPIS at sda2, 2.6.15-27-desktop-smp
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-desktop-smp root=/dev/sda2 nomce quiet vga=791
boot

title MEPIS at sdb1, kernel 2.6.15-27-686
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-686 root=/dev/sdb1 nomce quiet vga=791

title MEPIS at sdb2, kernel 2.6.15-27-desktop64-smp beta
root (hd1,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-desktop64-smp root=/dev/sdb2 nomce quiet vga=791
boot

title PClinux
kernel (hd0,3)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda4 splash=silent xdrv=1680x1050 vga=788
initrd (hd0,3)/boot/initrd.img

title 261629tex1smp
kernel (hd0,3)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16.29.tex1.smp root=/dev/sda4 nomce quiet vga=791
initrd (hd0,3)/boot/initrd-2.6.16.29.tex1.smp.img

title Windows at sda1
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title MEMTEST
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

The thing that gets me about this is that there appears to be nothing wrong with your /boot/grub/menu.lst as it compares favorably with one on my notebook:

timeout 15
color cyan/blue white/blue
foreground ffffff
background 0639a1


gfxmenu /boot/grub/message

title MEPIS at /dev/hda2, newest kernel

root (hd0,1)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 nomce quiet vga=791 resume=/dev/hda6 

initrd /boot/initrd.img

boot

title VectorLinux at /dev/hda5

root (hd0,4)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda5 nomce quiet ro vga=791 

title MEPIS at /dev/hda2, previous kernel (if any)

root (hd0,1)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz.old root=/dev/hda2 nomce quiet vga=791 resume=/dev/hda6 

initrd /boot/initrd.img.old

boot

title MEPIS at hda2, kernel 2.6.15-27-desktop

root (hd0,1)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-27-desktop root=/dev/hda2 nomce quiet vga=791 resume=/dev/hda6 root (hd0,1)

boot

title Windows at hda1

rootnoverify (hd0,0)

chainloader +1

title MEMTEST

kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

and I don't immediately see anything alarming in your /etc/fstab as compared with what I have over here:

# Pluggable devices are handled by uDev, they are not in fstab

/dev/hda2 / reiserfs defaults,noatime,notail 0 0

/dev/hda6 swap swap sw,pri=1 0 0

none /proc proc defaults 0 0

none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devmode=0666 0 0

none /dev/pts devpts mode=0622 0 0

none /sys sysfs defaults 0 0

# Dynamic entries below, identified by 'users' option

/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 ntfs-3g noauto,users 0 0

/dev/hda5 /mnt/hda5 xfs noauto,users,exec 0 0

/dev/cdrom /media/cdrom iso9660,udf noauto,users,exec,ro 0 0

/dev/cdrom1 /media/cdrom1 iso9660,udf noauto,users,exec,ro 0 0

/dev/fd0 /media/floppy vfat,ext2 noauto,users,exec,rw 0 0

My mental itch says that, if that was my machine, I should be looking at the integrity of the hda1 partition, as well as considering an overwrite of the NTLDR with a known good copy of same.



If nothing else, serving as a dire warning to others is not a bad thing to be.

How can I defrag / fdsck /mnt/hda1 without being able to get into windoze ? I can diskfree and mount hda1 as well as use superuser file manager to LOOK at it, and I do find a ntldr file which is in /mnt/hda1/WINDOWS/ServicePackFiles/i386 on my hda1:
244.2KB ( 250,032B)
type: unknown
chown: root root
modified: 2004-08-03
accessed: 2005-07-06

Size / location right?

But ...

I can't find a ntldr ON the original (legal) windoze (home) disk, or on SP2 disk from M$

Ken
--
In a world without walls and fences nobody needs Windows and Gates!
User #104362 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org

There is another way to go at it since it appears to be a problem with windoze. You can boot the rig with xp cd and choose recovery by hitting the r key when asked . It will dump you at command line then run fixmbr and then fixboot and hopefully that will fix winders. Then reboot to test it. If that works you can then reboot with Mepis live cd and reinstall grub. Needless to say, but i will anyway backup backup just in case it doesn't work or your drive has a problem. Good luck!

jim

PS; There other commands in doze that might be helpful, you might google them but those two have worked for me in past.

Thanks for the reply, Jim, and what to me looked like a perfect solution. I even tried it twice but ...

(and I hate buts)

it didn't fix the problem.

I still have the same garbled characters when trying to boot into windoze. - And of course nothing works to get me there.

Thank gawd MEPIS works!

Have you or anyone any other ideas, even far fetched ones, that might clear this up?

Ken
--
In a world without walls and fences nobody needs Windows and Gates!
User #104362 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org

posted twice, removed one.

Did you happen to make a xp rescue floppy? Or maybe there is a fix it or restore feature on the xp cd it sounds to me like maybe the disk has a problem. Im out of touch with winders these days & dont know what to suggest at this point to check the install. Maybe google will come up with some rescue methods. Sorry i cant be of more help. Good luck!

jim

ps; Another thought is try to boot xp and hit the reset button maybe that will trigger an auto recovery mode.
Also if memory serves the other recovery command is fixinstall i cant swear to that but it popped into mind. Might be worth a try.

can't make floppies - no floppy drive

I'm also so far out of windoze... I started with Linux in 1997, and haven't looked back, but this is a "traveling" laptop, and the spouse went back to winders a couple years ago .. two essential programs she needs for business have NO equals. So while it isn't an emergency, it is important to get ExPee back to working.

I'll try both of those ideas. THANKS !

Ken
--
In a world without walls and fences nobody needs Windows and Gates!
User #104362 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org

I found this piece (situation a bit different from yours though); give it a try :
http://www.mepislovers.org/forums/showpost.php?p=36284&postcount=37

I used UBCD some time ago to fix an unbootable XP. But I don't remember the details....

regards, Ko

Ko Bros

I bit the bullet and re-installed windoze, from CD, and SP2 cd, and am ok with it, until I can re-build, there, what is needed for a road trip.

I spend all my time in MEPIS anyway.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, but I guess in the end my crotchity old age brought impatience, and a less than perfect solution. - But done.

Ken
--
In a world without walls and fences nobody needs Windows and Gates!
User #104362 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org

This is often considered to be the "inelegant" solution and, from an academic perspective, I'd have to say that I do lean in the direction of that interpretation as well; however, when you factor-in available time, the unwillingness to waste same, and the paucity of what would be lost through reinstalling windoze, it's probably the most efficient solution.

In your situation, I'd wager that windoze left you no choice, and it is a pity that you've been forced into having 'it' on a machine...must be something akin to doing penance for living in Paradise?

I do feel your pain.

If nothing else, serving as a dire warning to others is not a bad thing to be.

Too bad you couldn't save it but some times there is no other way. Seems every time i play with that mess it turns into a marathon with drivers or who knows what. And i have to say it has made the geek in me wonder what went wrong when it wasn't being used (not that there's much geek in me) it just doesn't make too much sense in this case.

jim

Yep, you guessed it... windoze left me with zero help. I tried all the rescue options, more than once. Then even after the install began it gave me further repair options, but quit doing anything worthwhile every time.

After beating myself silly and hating everything M$ I finally bit my tongue, closed my eyes, and let it take two hours to play its own silliness. Yikes... way too time for an OS to install -- I can do MEPIS in 6 or 7 minutes!.

Painful !

And how did you determine that I actually DO live in Paradise, Ca ?

Ken
--
In a world without walls and fences nobody needs Windows and Gates!
User #104362 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org