[SATLUG] Problems dualbooting XP and SUSE

[John Ziriax]

On Tue, 07 Sep 2004 16:55:43 -0700, Albert Lochli <biigal at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> In an install that I did we exited with this problem:
>    You could boot into Linux
>    You could NOT boot into windows (it was ME not XP although I had seen
> similar in XP)
> 
> 1. Open Linux as root.
> 2. Hopefully in command line -- else use XTerminal.
> 3. Run fdisk /dev/hda
>    when it comes up check and note which partition hda1, hda2, hda3 is
> what.
>    make NO alterations -- this is a LOOK-SEE only.
> 3. cat /etc/lilo.conf
>     look and see where it is trying to reach DOS or windows at
>     -- we had windows in hda1 and lilo had it in hda5
> 4. If necessary edit the lilo.conf file -- command line vi
> /etc/lilo.conf
>     save and exit vi { wq }
> 5  from the command line call /sbin/lilo
>    this will rewrite the lilo in the mbr et al
>    if an error remains it will tell you so  (an * or an absence of one I
> forget which but it is unmistakable)
> 6. then exit linux and retry linux and windows for access et al.
> 
> 7.  We did have one that I worked on where this did not work
> -- it had been originally grub and the boot header on the XP this time
> was corrupted.
> 
> BiigAl


We were checking for that problem too. I believe it fixed at least one
of the no boot problems. But if I recall, with grub, it was more a
problem with a manufacturer partition which was visible, but not MS or
Linux, was not counted by Grub, so the partition number was off (e.g.,
hd(0,0) should have been hd(0,1).  Sadly, this didn't help the Sony of
which I wrote earlier.

I would be usefull if the students got pointed to this list as we
could do a better job of figuring out some of this stuff.

So, should we be nervous about the current versions of Grub and Lilo,
or is it that these new computers have more "secret" partitions, or is
it RH and FC, or something else?

John