opensuse 11.4 boots to Windows 7 only unless installation DVD is inserted

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi all,

I’ve tried searching the forums but did not come close to anything that matches my problem exactly.
I have Windows 7 installed, I then installed opensuse 11.4. Everything went fine with the installation, no issues.
After I removed the DVD and reboot, it does not load GRUB at all and just loads into Windows 7.
However if I put in the installation DVD then select to boot from local disk it loads GRUB.
So now I have to load the DVD if I want to get into suse.

Not sure how to fix this. I see some of you request for such information so here it is:

fdisk -l



Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xeda5eda5

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048   207593977   103795965    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2       207595520   312580095    52492288    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5       207597568   211816447     2109440   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6       211818496   252364799    20273152   83  Linux
/dev/sda7       252366848   312561663    30097408   83  Linux

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sdb'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121126 cylinders, total 1953525168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1  4294967295  2147483647+  ee  GPT
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Disk /dev/sdc: 82.0 GB, 81964302336 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9964 cylinders, total 160086528 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes                                                                                                                                                          
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes                                                                                                                                                              
Disk identifier: 0xd5c1d5c1                                                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                                                                               
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System                                                                                                                                                 
/dev/sdc1              63   160071659    80035798+   7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

cat /etc/fstab

/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600JS-60MHB5_WD-WCANME593084-part5 swap                 swap       defaults              0 0                                                                                        
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600JS-60MHB5_WD-WCANME593084-part6 /                    ext4       acl,user_xattr        1 1                                                                                        
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600JS-60MHB5_WD-WCANME593084-part7 /home                ext4       acl,user_xattr        1 2                                                                                        
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600JS-60MHB5_WD-WCANME593084-part1 /windows/C           ntfs-3g    users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0                                                       
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD10EARX-00N0YB0_WD-WCC0S0095457-part2 /windows/E           ntfs-3g    users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0                                                      
/dev/disk/by-id/ata-Maxtor_6Y080M0_Y3MMYFPE-part1 /windows/F           ntfs-3g    users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0                                                                   
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0 0                                                                                                                                 
sysfs                /sys                 sysfs      noauto                0 0
debugfs              /sys/kernel/debug    debugfs    noauto                0 0
usbfs                /proc/bus/usb        usbfs      noauto                0 0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0 0

cat /boot/grub/menu.lst


# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Sat Aug  6 05:24:19 MYT 2011
# THIS FILE WILL BE PARTIALLY OVERWRITTEN by perl-Bootloader
# Configure custom boot parameters for updated kernels in /etc/sysconfig/bootloader

default 0
timeout 8
gfxmenu (hd1,5)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Desktop -- openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.1-1.2
    root (hd1,5)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.1-1.2-desktop root=/dev/sda6 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD1600JS-60MHB5_WD-WCANME593084-part5 splash=silent quiet  showopts vga=0x31a
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.1-1.2-desktop

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.4 - 2.6.37.1-1.2
    root (hd1,5)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.37.1-1.2-desktop root=/dev/sda6 showopts apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 nomodeset x11failsafe vga=0x31a
    initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.37.1-1.2-desktop

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

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 2###
title windows 2
    map (hd2) (hd0)
    map (hd0) (hd2)
    rootnoverify (hd2,1)
    makeactive
    chainloader +1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows 3###
title windows 3
    rootnoverify (hd0,0)
    chainloader +1

thanks
lokkong

#2

According to that info your install has sda as 2nd hd in boot order
I would try the boot flag on sda2 (Do you understand that?)

#3

Hi caf4926,

Thanks for your reply. No, not really, can you please explain?
Another thing I don’t understand is why is there 3 windows?

Thanks
lokkong

#4

3 windows, because of whatever is on sdb and sdc must make the installer think it’s bootable.

I mean do you see the * on sda1, that’s a boot flag
If you use Parted Magic you can use the partition editor to remove the flag from sda1 and apply it to sda2
This video should help you, ignore the part about Labels
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/bootflag%20-%20labels.mpeg

Here is a link to Parted Magic
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/pmagic-4.5.iso
Burn it to a cd and boot from it
Change the flag. Apply

reboot

If it doesn’t work, don’t panic.

#5

Hi caf4926,

Download the iso and burnt to CD. Booted up with CD but when I load the application it detects the whole 160GB as unallocated on GParted >:(

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

How else can I make sda2 boot instead of sda1?

Thanks
lokkong

#6

That image is worrying as it shows no partitions.

Can you still boot as you were doing using the DVD?

#7

OK I looked at that image again and see you have sda partitions mounted in the mount window.
You shouldn’t mount partitions you want to manage with the Partition Editor, that might be why it’s showing like that, I’m not sure.

Perhaps grab a new edition of Parted Magic from here
downloads – Parted Magic
try that

#8

hi caf4926,

Yes, I can still boot into opensuse if I boot using the DVD then select hdd boot.
If I take out the DVD, goes straight into Win7.

I’ll try the new version as you have suggested and report back.

Thanks
lokkong

#9
  • In Linux, open a root
    terminal.
su -l
  • Look if Grub is installed in sda2:
file -s /dev/sda2
  • If so, activate this partition with:
sfdisk /dev/sda -A2

Post the output of this command:

cat /boot/grub/device.map

It doesn’t look like the drive where you installed Linux is your first boot device. You might have to switch boot order and replace root (hd1,5) with rooth (hd0,5) in /boot/grub/menu.lst … or install Grub in the MBR of your first HD.

  • I don’t know why gparted is not able to read the partition table on sda (although the partitions are obviously mounted).