Strange Grub win7 openSuSE 11.3 problem!

English Install/Boot/Login
1

I recently installed (clean, except for /home part) openSUSE 11.3-64bit. I previously had openSUSE 11.2-32bit installed. After install rebooting was not an issue, right up to the point wherein I booted onto Win7-64bit. After that it would only boot into win7 and then I realized there’s no sys repair on the install disk (like 11.x and earlier - why?, and on SaX2- but that a separate issue). Anyway, I reinstalled (clean, except as before) and now boots into 11.3 ok. But I have a sinking suspicion that I’ll loose GRUB the moment I boot into Win7 as before. I ran the following and it seems strange to me. Here’s the following output.
#! /bin/bash

devs=(fdisk -l | sed -n 's|^Disk \(/dev/[hs]d[a-z]\):.*|\1|p')

[ “$1” ] && devs=(/dev/$1)

for dev in ${devs[li]} ; do
[/li] if [ -b $dev ] ; then
dd if=$dev bs=512 count=1 2> /dev/null | grep -q GRUB && echo “Grub found in MBR on $dev”
for pt in fdisk -l $dev | awk '/^\/dev/ { print $1 }' ; do
dd if=$pt bs=512 count=1 2> /dev/null | grep -q GRUB && echo “Grub found in $pt”
dd if=$pt bs=512 count=1 2> /dev/null | grep -q NTLDR && echo “NT/XP/VISTA Loader found in $pt”
dd if=$dev bs=512 count=1 2> /dev/null | grep -q BOOTMGR && echo “Windows 7 Loader found in $pt”
done
fi
done

Grub found in MBR on /dev/sda
Grub found in /dev/sda2
NT/XP/VISTA Loader found in /dev/sda5
NT/XP/VISTA Loader found in /dev/sda6
NT/XP/VISTA Loader found in /dev/sda7
NT/XP/VISTA Loader found in /dev/sda8

fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 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: 0x49544954

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 6374 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 6375 60800 437176845 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 6375 12748 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 12749 19122 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 19123 25496 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda8 25497 31870 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda9 31871 32132 2104483+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda10 32133 34743 20972826 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 34744 44534 78646176 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 44535 60800 130656613+ 83 Linux

cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Mon Oct 25 23:33:03 PDT 2010

THIS FILE WILL BE PARTIALLY OVERWRITTEN by perl-Bootloader

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

default 2
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,9)/boot/message

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Desktop – openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.4
root (hd0,9)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-0.4-desktop root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0_WD-WCASU7436281-part10 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0_WD-WCASU7436281-part9 splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x31a
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.34.7-0.4-desktop

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe – openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.4 (desktop)
root (hd0,9)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-0.4-desktop root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0_WD-WCASU7436281-part10 showopts apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 nomodeset x11failsafe vga=0x31a
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.34.7-0.4-desktop

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.4
root (hd0,9)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-0.4-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0_WD-WCASU7436281-part10 resume=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0_WD-WCASU7436281-part9 splash=silent quiet showopts vga=0x31a
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.34.7-0.4-default

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe – openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.4 (default)
root (hd0,9)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-0.4-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0_WD-WCASU7436281-part10 showopts apm=off noresume edd=off powersaved=off nohz=off highres=off processor.max_cstate=1 nomodeset x11failsafe vga=0x31a
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.34.7-0.4-default

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

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: hard_disk###
title Hard Disk
rootnoverify (hd0,7436280)
chainloader +1

Now I’m not sure why it put the “Hard Disk” in and that can be edited easily enough. But the grub hunt shows it in both /dev/sda (aka Hard Disk entry) and /dev/sda2? (dev/sda2 6375 60800 437176845 f W95 Ext’d (LBA) )

Uh what?!?!? Why not /dev/sda1 (apparently didn’t want to put it on sda1?). I have read Carlos’ thread about 11.1 and win7 issues, but would like to get advice as to what to do to fix this and normalize my multiboot! Any help is greatly appreciated.

Tia Curtis.:disapointed:

2

Use parted magic to move the boot flag off sda1 to sda2
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/pmagic-4.5.iso

try rebooting, it may work. If not, again with parted magic follow this
Re-Install Grub Quickly with Parted Magic

3

If you don’t care, it’s fine with me, but this output is wrong. I fixed it in the latest findgrub version posted here: Looking for Grub and Windows bootloader in all partitions.

4

There’s nothing wrong with that. It means that you have Grub stage1 in MBR and in the bootsector of sda2. That’s perfectly legal.

Because sda1 is a Windows NTFS partition, more likely your Windows system partition, and we don’t want to install Grub here: It would overwrite Windows bootsector, making Windows definitely unbootable (until you repare it).

5

Thanks for the help. I’ll burn the iso to disk and I’ve sent the post to myself via gmail. We’ll see how it goes and I’ll post the outcome - getting late here on the western side of the pond. Probably hit this tomorrow morning.

Thanks again! Curtis.:wink:

6

OK, it appears to be fixed now. Moved the boot flag from /dev/sda1 (hd0,0) to /dev/sda2 (hd0,1) the extended part (lba) listing. Rebooted into windows and it booted fine, then reboot again and the menu for OS choices came up (unlike previously).

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 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: 0x49544954

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 6374 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 6375 60800 437176845 f W95 Ext’d (LBA)
/dev/sda5 6375 12748 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 12749 19122 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7 19123 25496 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda8 25497 31870 51199123+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda9 31871 32132 2104483+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda10 32133 34743 20972826 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 34744 44534 78646176 83 Linux
/dev/sda12 44535 60800 130656613+ 83 Linux

Don’t know why all the problems setting up grub from the install. And, the fact that there isn’t a fix/repair option is a PITA to say the least. (though there is a repair for sys settings option via floppy >:( ). Seems that they’ve fixed a lot of issues since 11.2 but let other things fall to they wayside - like SaX2 and a System fix/check option from previous versions (used to restore FS or rewrite GRUB, etc). :\

Thanks for all the help. Curtis.