Installed On external Hard drive, Unable to start windows without external hard drive plugged in.

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I installed 11.3 on my external usb hard drive and now without it plugged in I can’t boot windows 7.
If i go into boot options and select boot off hard disk I get initializing GRUB 1.5… Failed Error 21.
How do I fix this? I know I’m a total nub but I need to fix this so i can take my laptop to class.

(side question, it’s a sata drive, so i was thinking about buying an old esata enclosure and switching from USB to Esata, will that mess up anything?)

#2

That’s because you installed grub to the MBR of the Internal HD but the rest of the Grub stages are on the External
When you boot the code written to the MBR is looking for info on the External.

Are we to assume you don’t have room on the internal to create a /boot partition
If you boot openSUSE and give us this info:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h191KrDK-I0)

#3

It’s as caf4926 said. FYI: with linux, there are many possible ways to install multiple OS’s. Here’s a few pointers since it appears you are coming from a windows environment.

  1. Boot sector is first sector of each harddisk but there can only be one harddisk active as a boot device. With windows the MBR contains a small program that simply calls ntloader on the first drive (c:) which then loads and runs windows. Windows multiboot is acheived by a boot.ini file that describes one which drives and partitions other windows OS’s reside. When you install GRUB for linux, it first copies the windows boot code from the MBR to the boot folder which can be anywhere in the linux system tree. That is to say, it can be as a folder under the root of the linux system or placed on it’s own drive or partition of a drive. It then places grub into the MBR where the windows boot code used to be. When planning your system you need to consider how you want the system to operate. I would suggest you read up on the many helpful threads here about how to manage different methods of booting and ways to handle your filesystem structure.
#4

linux-1y4y:~ # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x90000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 12 96358+ de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 * 13 1137 9029632 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 1137 30402 235070464 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd20c89c4

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 262 2103296 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 262 2873 20972544 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 2873 30516 222040064 83 Linux

so how can i Fix this?

#5

If it were me
Personally, I’d make a backup image of sda1 and then format sda1 to ext3 and use it as a boot partition
Then I’d re-install openSUSE and point it to sda1 for grub, but…it’s not as simple as it sounds
And you might be worried about your Dell stuff, but you see I couldn’t give a hoot. Actually, when it comes down to it of course, if I’m being totally up front, I’d be happy to remove windows too, but that’s another subject.
So back to point, the italics is my suggestion.

I’m just about to logout of here to install the latest Milestone, so maybe someone else will take up the step by step for you

#6

Ok thanks for your help. I understand your views on windows, but as a college student there’s some programs i need windows for, so loosing windows would cause me some headaches.

#7

Basically, when you get to near the end of install setup here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/11.3%20Install/14.jpg

Click the section ‘Booting’
And set to boot from Boot partition

Then when you get back to the summary, make sure that is set and that the location is sda1

#8

You show two drives sda and sdb in your summary of fdisk -l. From the earlier post I am going out on a limb to assume sdb is an external. Is this correct?

Well no matter for now lets pull apart your system with some strategies to consider.

 
Device   Boot      Start         End           Blocks       Id  System
/dev/sda1                      1                12            96358+  de  Dell Utility
/dev/sda2   *             13          1137        9029632       7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3               1137       30402   235070464       7  HPFS/NTFS
...
Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1                    1            262         2103296   82  Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2               262         2873      20972544   83  Linux
/dev/sdb3            2873       30516   222040064   83  Linux

One of the biggest problem spots with windows is it’s proneness to errors that effect it’s operation. Thusly, it is not uncommon to separate the windows system from it’s data using repartitioning. In your sda this has been already done to some extent. Your dell has defined 3 of the possible 4 primary partitions (sda1 sda2 sda3). The easiest fix would be to defragment the 230GB sda3 partition and use windows to shrink it by at least 100Mb. Then attach the external sdb drive and re-install Linux but this time, choose sda4 (the empty space you made by shrinking sda3) as /boot. By doing this, you can now remove the external and run windows by just choosing windows from GRUB. Connect the external and presto Linux and windows are available using GRUB.

This is just a quick and dirty way to solve your problem. Hope it helps you.