Ubuntu
grub package

Win 2000 damages GRUB

Asked by Bill Raper

I had an AMD 2400, 512 MB Ram, 120 Gig hard disk running Windows 2000 very reliably.

I installed a second 20 gig hard disk and setup Ubuntu without problems - Ubuntu ran fine, recognized Network card and Cat 5 network, sound card, video card etc - GREAT. I Downloaded updates - fine - all seemed too good to be true! No trouble with Firefox, email, Open Office - ran well.

Quit Ubuntu, Restarted, chose Win 2000 from GRUB menu, got message that Win 2000 unable to check 2nd hard disk, then Win 2000 loaded and worked as always - fine.

Quit Win 2000 and then the trouble started!!!! On rebooting, PC went into a loop after Loading GRUB appeared - no list of Operating Systems appeared as happened initially. Thus PC now unusable.

I setup Ubuntu again from the CD - same thing happened again. New Ubuntu installation worked fine as before, Win 2000 started with same message and then ran fine BUT on quitting and restarting GRUB was again lost and PC useless again.

I tried reinstalling Ubuntu (fine again) quitting and loading Win 2000 - fine again. I then hypothesized that my Virus Checker (AVG Free) was deleting GRUB, so removed the Virus checker and went thru the same procedure again - with the same result.

Please advise, as I really like UBUNTU and would like to use it with the eventual aim of changing permanently. However, I cannot do without Windows in the interim.

Many thanks in anticipation, Bill Raper

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Revision history for this message
Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey) said : 		#1

The following page is good for diagnosing problems with GRUB. Might be worth a look:-

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows

Revision history for this message
rdubrawski (rich-dubrawski) said : 		#2

Grub is most likely using the second disk for its configuration file (/boot/grub/menu.lst) and image files. If windows mucks with the disk it would break grub.

Boot into windows and go to the administrator tools. In the Computer Management windos, check to see what windows thinks the second disk is. I seem to recall some issues where if windows used to believe that the disk had a valid windows partition on it, it would try to "fix" it when it detected that it had become corrupted.

If you are willing to re-install again (and it is likely that you don't really have much choice), then delete any partitions on that drive using the windows computer management tool.

Hopefully when you then install Ubuntu to it, it will not try to "fix" the drive.

Revision history for this message
Bill Raper (wildern) said : 		#3

Dear rdubrawski,

Thank you very much for your prompt reply. Your suggestion seemed very promising, but the trouble persists unfortunately.

I deleted partitions from the second hard disk as you suggested and reinstalled UBUNTU. I chose 2048 for the first Linux Swap partition and used all remaining space (17gig) for the Ext3 partition as I did in all previous setups. Once again, Grub functioned initially. However loading Win 2000 from Grub worked fine for the first time as before, without any message about Disk F: (the second hard disk- DVD reader and DVD Burner are D & E).

By now I was very optimistic, but on quitting Win 2000 and rebooting, the old problem appeared once more. I think your idea about Win 2000 mucking with the second hard disk is right, because I do see a very quick message

"Grub loading stage 1.5" (Hard to be sure of wording - it's so fast).

The PC then reboots going thru normal startup until the message reappears and rebooting occurs again.

Would it be possible to instal Grub on C: (the first hard disk)?

Revision history for this message
Nicholas Omann (alphacluster) said : 		#4

Installing grub on /dev/hda (that should be your main hard drive) is default. Do you know for sure the jumpers are right on the 2nd drive and that it is not its self mounting as /dev/hda since that would explain the reason grub is booting from another disk.

Revision history for this message
Bill Raper (wildern) said : 		#5

Thank you for your thought. Primary hard disk (120 gig) clearly shows as HD0
during UBUNTU setup. Second hard disk shows as HD4 (presumably CD Reader and
Writer are HD2 & HD3 respectively). I am definitely a Newbie to UBUNTU or
other forms of Linux!

When Windows 2000 is working (FIRST TIME selection after reinstalling
UBUNTU!) Windows Explorer shows C: 120 gig, D: DVD reader, E: DVD Writer F:
20 gig. I am pretty sure I set the 20 gig disk up as slave on IDE 1. IDE
setup was IDE 0 Master C: (120 gig), IDE 0 Slave DVD Reader, IDE 1 Master
DVD Writer, IDE 1 Slave F: (20 gig), which seems consistent with Windows
Explorer result.

If I am to use UBUNTU, I definitely must use it as dual boot with Win 2000
or XP. I am writing this from another PC than the UBUNTU one, but it too
must use Wiindows.

Thanks again for your help

Bill Raper

-----Original Message-----
From: <email address hidden> [mailto:<email address hidden>] On Behalf Of
Alpha_Cluster
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 4:53 AM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Support #4194]: Win 2000 damages GRUB

Your support request #4194 on Ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/4194

    Status: Open => Answered

Alpha_Cluster proposed the following answer:
Installing grub on /dev/hda (that should be your main hard drive) is
default. Do you know for sure the jumpers are right on the 2nd drive and
that it is not its self mounting as /dev/hda since that would explain the
reason grub is booting from another disk.

_______________________________________________________________________
If this answers your request, please go to the following page to let us know
that it is solved:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/4194/+confirm?answer_id=3

If you still need support, you can reply to this email or go to the
following page to enter your feedback:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/4194

--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.11/723 - Release Date: 3/15/2007
11:27 AM

--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.11/723 - Release Date: 3/15/2007
11:27 AM

Revision history for this message
Bill Raper (wildern) said : 		#6

Still no luck.

Jumpers are right, but Grub APPEARS to be present after installation on HD4 in Boot folder and missing after Windows 2000 has started and then quit.

I tried setting both drive parameters to LBA in setup (they were initially set to Auto) and then reinstalling UBUNTU. This time I used the automatic setup which placed the UBUNTU main partition as #1 on the second hard disk and the swap file as #5! However, UBUNTU ran fine with several reboots UNTIL I booted Win 2000, which ran fine until I rebooted and the old problems reappeared. I can't put up with reinstalling UBUNTU every time I wish to use Win 2000!!

Maybe I should give up and use Win2000 recovery to repair, or maybe I should try upgrading to Win XP, then installing UBUNTU

Any alternate ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for all help to now.

Bill Raper

Revision history for this message
Dax Solomon Umaming (knightlust) said : 		#7

Is there anyway you can skip Win2000's disk check? And if I'm not mistaken, the prompt to fix a partition on Win2000 & XP happens only if the said OS detects a FAT partition. Also please verify that Grub is installed on MBR or hda1. If Win2000 does partition checks and deletes Grub, then Grub is installed on your Ubuntu partition, not MBR. Will try to do this on my end maybe I can recreate this problem.

Revision history for this message
Bill Raper (wildern) said : 		#8

I deleted partitions from the second hard disk as was suggested earlier and reinstalled UBUNTU. I chose 2048 for the first Linux Swap partition and used all remaining space (17gig) for the Ext3 partition as I did in all previous setups. Once again, Grub functioned initially. However loading Win 2000 from Grub worked fine for the first time as before, without any message about Disk F: (the second hard disk- DVD reader and DVD Burner are D & E). There has been no Win 2000 message re checking disk F: since.

I can't be sure that Grub was deleted from second HD, as I had to use the copy of Ubuntu on CD to look for it on second hard disk (reinstalling Ubuntu always puts it on second hard disk). I'm so new to Linux that I may have simply been reading the CD!

However, I have given up until I install Win XP on another PC and try again. I booted from Win 2000, loaded the recovery console and gave the order fixmbr. Message came up warning that a non windows MBR was installed, but I went ahead and reinstalled Win 2000 MBR and then for good measure gave the order fixboot (no warning this time). All is well now.

It's still a mystery, maybe a bug. I will let you know if trouble occurs with Win XP, installing and using the same second hard disk to install UBUNTU.

Many thanks for all the help I received to date.

Sincerely, Bill Raper

Revision history for this message
Best Bill Raper (wildern) said : 		#9

Further to the above, I have just set up another PC with WinXP on a new hard disk and then setup Ubuntu on the same second hard disk which gave so much trouble with Win 2000 on a different PC.

First of all I installed XP on the new disk and after that connected the second. Using the UBUNTU disk I deleted all partitions on the second hard disk, and then used the automatic setup facility. All has gone brilliantly, so I suspect that I may have blundered when setting up partitions on it previously. I had been following the instructions given in a magazine article on instaling Ubuntu!

One day, I will try again with Win 2000!

Thanks so much to all of you for your help.

Bill Raper