missing bootmgr after a SuSE 11.2 / Vista dualboot

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Laptop: Acer Aspire 7530G with GeForce 9600M 4 Gigs of RAM

500 Gig HD partitioned by Windows into C (123G), D (232G) and E (111G). D and E were empty. Managed to get SuSe to install into E. In Nautilus under File System both C and D show up in the Windows folder.

Now to the real problem: Grub shows boot options as Suse, Windows 1, Windows 2, and Suse Failsafe. Suse boots okay (splash page signature problem, but not serious), but Vista will not boot. Windows 1 responds with “missing bootmgr” and Windows 2 similarly (not sure why Windows 2 even shows up). Below is some further technical info. I sure hope someone can help me.

Thanks.

linux-ndax:/home/jule # su -
linux-ndax:~ # fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2c74badc

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2048 20973567 10485760 27 Unknown
/dev/sda2 * 20980890 254678444 116848777+ f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda3 254683136 488394751 116855808 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5 20980953 25189919 2104483+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 25189983 67135634 20972826 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 67135698 254678444 93771373+ 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb649504f

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 63 488392064 244196001 7 HPFS/NTFS
linux-ndax:~ # cat /boot/grub/device.map
(hd1) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0_WD-WXH808968070
(hd0) /dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0_WD-WXE808FN6899
linux-ndax:~ # cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Thu Nov 19 11:19:17 CST 2009

THIS FILE WILL BE PARTIALLY OVERWRITTEN by perl-Bootloader

Configure custom boot parameters for updated kernels in /etc/sysconfig/bootloader

default 0
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,5)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.2
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31.5-0.1-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0_WD-WXE808FN6899-part6 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0_WD-WXE808FN6899-part5 splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x365
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.31.5-0.1-default

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 1###
title windows 1
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
chainloader +1

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 2###
title windows 2
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe – openSUSE 11.2
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31.5-0.1-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0_WD-WXE808FN6899-part6 showopts apm=off noresume nosmp maxcpus=0 edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 x11failsafe vga=0x314
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.31.5-0.1-default
linux-ndax:~ # cat /etc/grub.conf
setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 --force-lba (hd0,1) (hd0,5)
quit
linux-ndax:~ # cat /etc/fstab
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0_WD-WXE808FN6899-part5 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0_WD-WXE808FN6899-part6 / ext4 acl,user_xattr 1 1
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0_WD-WXE808FN6899-part7 /home ext4 acl,user_xattr 1 2
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0_WD-WXE808FN6899-part3 /windows/C ntfs-3g users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_GB.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD2500BEVT-22ZCT0_WD-WXH808968070-part1 /windows/D ntfs-3g users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_GB.UTF-8 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0
linux-ndax:~ #
linux-ndax:~ #

2

you could try restoring the windows bootmgr from the vista DVD, then restore grub as is described here HowTo Boot into openSUSE when it won’t Boot from the Grub Code on the Hard Drive

It is normal to have 2 partitions for Vista, I’m not sure what the extra partition is for, but I do know it is there in all of the computers with Vista I have seen. This is why there are 2 windows entries in grub.

3

Thanks for the reply and suggestion. I will likely restore Vista with the DVD (which my daughter says she made - she had to buy this computer while in a foreign country and did the setup herself).

Just to clarify something that I failed to mention the first time … there were actually four partitions on it when I got it into my hands … an Acer partition of about 10 gigs (probably the Vista cab files) and then the other three which Vista showed as C, D and E (D and E being empty). I loaded Suse into what Vista called ‘E’. Suse wanted to squeeze Vista and then also load itself into C, but I thought that was not a good idea, so I asked to edit the suggested partition preparation for installation and then it offered me the E partition. Since it was empty, I decided to go for it. All that to say that technically, even though Suse formated the former E partition into several ext4 etc. partitions, there are still three Windows partitions on the harddrive.

I just looked into the BIOS once more and noticed that there seem to be two IDE’s in there IDE0 and IDE1 with identical model names/numbers but different serial numbers. Can it be that SuSe is on the IDE1 and Vista on IDE0 and that this has created problems during the installation (I have not had a laptop with two HHD’s before)?

4

Some links that may help:
All About Grub - openSUSE

Winhoes no longer likes to boot after fresh install - Page 4 - openSUSE Forums

5

Okay, there is some stuff to chew on. I’ll have to leave it until tonight and try to work at it. Thanks for now.