No Grub menu dual boot with XP

Asked by chperry

Brand new Dell T3400. Came preloaded with XP Pro SP2. One SATA 250GB hard drive. Installed Gutsy from the live CD and let it partition the drive. Every thing seemed fine until I tried to boot. After the Dell splash screen I get a blank screen with a flashing curser. I can hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and force a reboot, then hit f12 for the boot menu, select the SATA drive and then get the grub boot menu.

Here is my menu.lst file:
# 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=c6127cfc-c0de-4d80-9b98-acc8ffd33cf6 ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,2)

## 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

## 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 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=c6127cfc-c0de-4d80-9b98-acc8ffd33cf6 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=c6127cfc-c0de-4d80-9b98-acc8ffd33cf6 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

title Ubuntu 7.10, memtest86+
root (hd0,2)
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/sda2
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1
--------------------------
And here is my sudo fdisk -l output:

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30394 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x41ab2316

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 7 56196 de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 * 8 15659 125724690 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 15660 29790 113507257+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 29791 30394 4851630 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 29791 30394 4851598+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
-----------------------------
Any ideas?

I just did this last week with my older Dell with absolutely no problems. This is odd.

Charles

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Answered
For:
Ubuntu grub Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Bhavani Shankar (bhavi) said :
#1

Hello

Yes seems a bit odd.. Reinstall grub

Please refer:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1308395&postcount=1

and run sudo update-grub command in a terminal and try

Regards

Bhavani Shankar.

Revision history for this message
chperry (chperry) said :
#2

I tried the following:

sudo grub
find /boot/grub/stage1

it returned (hd0,2)

root (hd0,2)
setup (hd0)

all seemed to work fine with no errors but the problem persists. The only way I see the grub boot menu is if I hit F12 at bootup to select the boot menu and then select option 2 on my machine (the SATA drive). Then I see the grub boot menu.

Any other ideas.

Revision history for this message
Bhavani Shankar (bhavi) said :
#3

Did you try

sudo update-grub

Revision history for this message
chperry (chperry) said :
#4

Yes. No luck.

I have found a work around. If I edit the boot sequence in my BIOS so that the hard drive is first, then grub loads. If the CD is first, with the hard drive second, I get the black screen.

Revision history for this message
zzzxxx (michalski-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) said :
#5

stupid question, but, is there a cd in the cd drive while booting?

YES: remove the cd during boot

NO: there is a bug in your bios.

Revision history for this message
chperry (chperry) said :
#6

No CD in the drive. The pc booted fine until installing grub. Anyone else out there with a Dell T3400?

Revision history for this message
John B. (jbuncher) said :
#7

Poke around in your bios a bit, and make sure it's trying to boot off of that drive.

Revision history for this message
davisar (davisar) said :
#8

today is friday 07 nov 2008. I have this problem: my system boots into ubuntu without hesitating
in the menu. As a result I can only get to the zero-th entry in /boot/grub/menu.lst. I had already
edited menu.lst to hesitate 30 secs; I did the three step reinstall of grub essentially this output:
checking if "boot/grub/stage1" exist ...yes
checking if "boot/grub/stage2" exist.....yes
checking if "boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exist....yes
running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)" 16 sectors are embeded succeeded
running "install boot/grub/stage1 hd0 (hd0)1+16p
(hd0,4) /boot/grub/stage2
/boot/grub/menu.lst.....succeeded. done

As with my problem persist. I have a single harddrive with dev/sda1 (Window XP-SP3)
dev/sda2 Extended dev/sda5 LinuxEXT3 dev/sda6 SWAP. I note once grub hesitated and I was
able to get into XP. But no more. Might (hd0,1) be the answer altho grub returns (hd0,4) as it should? And note this: On my computers [wherein dev/sda1 within blocks 1-10 is a Dell Utility and dev/sda2 blocks 11-1316 is Recovery and dev/sda3 is Vista] when I choose windows
it shows a Vista entry and a Ubuntu entry(that goes nowhere) but GRUB stops and works fine.
This computer is MSI u100 that I reinstalled XP on without any utility or recovery: dev/sda1 NFTS
 dev/sda2 Extended /dev/sda5 Linux dev/sda6 Swap. Any Ideas.

Revision history for this message
marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said :
#9

@devisar

Please don't append a new question on a already answered or marked as solved question.
Please make new question from here: https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion
you will get better chance to get right answer on a fresh tagged "open" question.
Solved or answered questions are usually not read from answering people.

Thank you

Can you help with this problem?

Provide an answer of your own, or ask chperry for more information if necessary.

To post a message you must log in.