[ale] error booting XP after dual boot install of Ubuntu 7.10

[Robert Reese]

Hi Daniel, et. al.,


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
On 4/8/2008 at 9:00 PM Daniel Howard wrote:

>Well, I tried to do my first dual boot install tonite on my dad's Win XP 
>machine, and although the GRUB loader works fine and boots into Ubuntu 
>just fine, and sees the Win XP and HP Recovery partitions just fine, 
>when I select Windows XP to boot to, it reports Disk Error, hit 
>CTL-ALT-DEL to reboot.  I can boot into the HP recovery partition, and 
>can run the recovery, but it then wipes out the GRUB loader and still 
>won't boot into windows.  I reinstalled Ubuntu, and I'm back to square 
>one: I can boot Ubuntu and see Windows partitions, but can't boot into XP.
>
>Could my repartitioning of my drive during Ubuntu install have altered 
>the hd(0,0) location specified for Windows XP, and hence the GRUB loader 
>can't find the location of XP?  How can I find where Ubuntu's 
>repartitioner put it and then do I change the boot.ini file in the 
>Windows XP partition (seen just fine by Ubuntu) or the menu.lst file of 
>the GRUB loader?


First, let me answer another question you had.  Yes, I recommend installing Windows FIRST, and THEN Ubuntu.  *HOWEVER*, if you are starting from a clean system, I *highly* recommend VMWare Workstation ($$$) or VirtualBox (FREE).  Both have their pros and cons.

To answer the question above, what it sounds like was you had a bad repartition.  Windows needs a very strong defrag before doing any kind of repartitioning, especially if the disk has _ever_ had files that would have been in the repartitioned space.  And if there were XP system files that got toasted during the partitioning (that is, if they were in the section of the harddrive that was repartitioned) then Windows likely would have attempted to fix the installation, which most likely included 'disk-fixing' and MBR-writing.  Thus, GRUB would have been destroyed.  And trust me, that's *so* easy to do with a Windows machine!

My recommendation also extends to using a second drive, either totally dedicated to Linux or used by Windows *only* for data.  As an example, I have two harddrives in my laptop: the primary is 100% Windows, program files, and so forth.  The second drive is partitioned 50/50, where half contains my Desktop and my My Documents directories.  The other half is Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10 with VMWare Workstation for testing and migration.  My default boot is into Linux.

I just set up my wife's in-law's computer over the weekend.  We configured and bought a Dell Vostro 200 with 2GB RAM and a 160GB HD, and some other bells and whistles  (like a 24" analog/digital flat-panel).  There's a bug in Hardy Heron, so that was a no-go.  They prefer Kubuntu over Ubuntu if given the choice.  Papa hates Linux (because he's stubborn, thinks I'm out to get him, and his pr0n doesn't work right... he can't install the spyware he thinks he needs to see it).  Not to mention that although he's retired he still tries (and even occasionally succeeds) in getting a federal contract, who require Windows and IE for access to their website.  (No joke!!!  The DoD doing the particular website he's using built it using MS WORD!!!!!  Yep!)  Soooo, to make him happy and to keep me sane I gave him a totally unprotected and virgin XP VM using VirtualBox.  He -c-a-n- will completely and utterly destroy the XP VM and I can fix it in 30 minutes instead of three days.  His wife, thankfully, is just as happy as can be with Kubuntu, and especially enjoys Firefox.

BTW, adding the USB devices and also printing support especially was a PITA.  But hey, VirtualBox didn't cost a dime so any frustration was well worth it.  ;c)

Cheers,
Robert~

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