Problem with XP+OpenSuse 10.3 Dual Boot

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

New to Linux, and I am having problem to get the dual boot working. I currently have XP installed on my Dell laptop and OpenSUSE 10.3(Gnome) on a Western Digital 160 HD. I can boot up OpenSUSE and Windows XP separately from my grub menu, but getting an error “A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart” when I try dual boot. Based on what I’ve read, XP and Linux should come up together with dual boot and this is what I am trying to achieve.

Here is some information about my configuration:

linux-crby:/home/sysadm # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xa42d04a3

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 9 72261 de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 * 10 29070 233432482+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 29128 30401 10233405 db CP/M / CTOS / …
/dev/sda4 29071 29127 457852+ f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 29071 29080 80293+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 29081 29127 377496 b W95 FAT32

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x44fdfe06

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 10971 88124526 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdb2 10972 19457 68163795 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sdb5 10972 11233 2104483+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 11234 13844 20972826 83 Linux
/dev/sdb7 13845 19457 45086391 83 Linux

linux-crby:/home/sysadm # df -k
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb6 20641788 13084436 6508712 67% /
udev 1549516 116 1549400 1% /dev
/dev/sdb7 44378916 14216756 27907844 34% /home
/dev/sda2 233432480 127987408 105445072 55% /windows/C
/dev/sdb1 88081488 73060128 15021360 83% /windows/D
/dev/sda5 80292 22404 57888 28% /windows/E
/dev/sda6 376740 17212 359528 5% /windows/F

Here is a my /boot/grub/menu.lst:

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd1,5)
chainloader (hd0,1)+1

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe – openSUSE 10.3
root (hd1,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22.19-0.3-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/usb-WD_1600BEVExternal_575843313037303835313938-0:0-part6 showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.22.19-0.3-default

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: Kernel-2.6.22.19-0.3-default###
title Kernel-2.6.22.19-0.3-default
root (hd1,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22.19-0.3-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/usb-WD_1600BEVExternal_575843313037303835313938-0:0-part6 resume=/dev/sdb5 splash=silent showopts
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.22.19-0.3-default

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows xp - ###
title Windows XP (Dual Boot Mode)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,5)
chainloader (hd0,1)+1

Please help…

#2

Just a couple of thin gs I don’t understand:
You said “I can boot up OpenSUSE and Windows XP separately from my grub menu”. That means to me that you boot the computer and see various entries, one of which is windows xp and it works – and one of which is openSUSE and it works. That’s normally called “dual boot”.

Then you say you get an error when you try dual boot. What am I misunderstanding here?

#3

If what I have is dual boot and this came with the install of OpenSUSE 10.3, I have been wrong about my understanding of dual boot. Thank you!

#4

Could be lots of things going on here – so:

This item: “/dev/sda2 * 10 29070 233432482+ 7 HPFS/NTFS” looks like it has a windows install. It coincides with the first entry you listed for the menu.lst file and it would show as the entry labelled “windows” on the screen boot-up menu. What operating system is that (vista, xp, none at all) and does the boot using that entry work?

This item: “/dev/sda5 29071 29080 80293+ 7 HPFS/NTFS”. Does it have an operating system on it or is it a windows data disk/partition?
and
This item: “/dev/sda6 29081 29127 377496 b W95 FAT32”. Does it have an operating system on it or is it a windows data disk/partition?

and last

This item: “/dev/sdb1 * 1 10971 88124526 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)” looks like a windows xp install. It coincides with the fourth entry you listed for the menu.lst file and it would show as the entry labelled “windows xp Dual boot mode” on the screen boot-up menu. Is it xp and does the boot using that entry work? And it looks like an external usb drive, is that right?

#5

My windows XP is on c:\ of my Dell laptop which is also /dev/sda2, and linux resides on a Western Digital 160 HD. The first part of this hard drive is d:\ (/dev/sda1), and it’s just a data/working partition. /dev/sda2 is where my linux is. /dev/sda2 is subdivided into /dev/sdb5, /dev/sdb6 and /dev/sdb7. /dev/sda5, sda6 are also data/working partitions on my dell hard drive.

I have seen others on Mac OS, they can boot up multiple operating systems at the same time and I was hoping linux dual boot can do the same. I am beginning to think this is just a feature on Mac OS. I found some postings about adding map and chainloader commands for dual boot. It does not make sense to me why adding those commands will do what I am trying to achieve. The 4th entry is what I have configured for dual boot and I get “A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart” when I choose this option. Do you think my drive/partition setup on hd1 may have confused Grub and caused the disk read error? I don’t know why /dev/sdb1 and a boot flag next to it. I may have accidently set it while trying to work on dual boot.

Thanks again for your reply.

#6

This stuff confuses me consistently. Linux sees the WD xdrive as sdb/hd1 and the notebook drive as sda/hd0

So you should try changing this:

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows xp - ###
title Windows XP (Dual Boot Mode)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd1,5)
chainloader (hd0,1)+1

to this:


###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows xp - ###
title Windows XP (Dual Boot Mode)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader (hd0,1)+1

and if that doesn’t work try this:


###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows xp - ###
title Windows XP (Dual Boot Mode)
#map (hd0) (hd1)
#map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader (hd0,1)+1

One of those should work unless Dell got sneaky and put the xp bootloader files on sda1/(hd0,0) and in that case you try this:


###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows xp - ###
title Windows XP (Dual Boot Mode)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader (hd0,0)+1

and if that doesn’t work try this:


###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows xp - ###
title Windows XP (Dual Boot Mode)
#map (hd0) (hd1)
#map (hd1) (hd0)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader (hd0,0)+1

Now you can see why I get consistently confused, or is it confused consistently – don’t know because I’m so conf…

#7

that’s not a dual boot system

it’s called a Virtual machine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

VirtualBox
VMware Workstation - Run Multiple OS Including Linux on Windows on Virtual Machines
VMware Server, Free VMware Download for Virtual Server Consolidation

#8

Hi, I finally got a chance to try all 4 suggestions and here are the results:

Suggestion #1. Error: “A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart”
Suggestions#2: This got me into XP. It works same as my entry #1 of my grub menu.lst.
Suggestion #3: Error: “Disk Error”
Suggestion #4: This got me into Dell Utility.

I will give VM ware a try… Thanks for all your replies.