"Error booting operating system" Repairing GRUB. SUSE 10.2 and XP dual boot

Arma12 · 01-25-2007, 02:02 PM

Hey

I have installed SUSE 10.2 on a partition and I was getting the error "Error booting operating system" if trying to boot from hardisk but if the SUSE dvd was in I could boot SUSE and XP. So I Google'd the problem and went into the repair section of the SUSE installation and tried to repair GRUB but got error 21

Code:

Error 21:Selected disk drives does not exist
grub ->setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 (hd0) (hd 1,0)

Error 21:Selected disk drives does not exist
grub >quit

After various trys at repairing GRUB I managed to get the SUSE boot loader showing once selecting boot from SUSE dvd but Windows XP does not show in that boot selector anymore.

I need to be able to boot GRUB (or any boot loader) off hardisk and select whether to boot XP or SUSE with needing to load the SUSE DVD first.

Many thanks

Arma12

Larry Webb · 01-25-2007, 02:29 PM

I'm not sure but it sounds like you have problems with your XP MBR (Master Boot Record). Did you install your Suse after XP. You may need more help than I can give but if you have a way of repairing your MBR in XP try that and if XP will boot on restart there are a lot of articles in Suse forums on grub configure. Use the search at the top of this page.

Arma12 · 01-25-2007, 02:33 PM

Ok thanks Larry Webb. I will load up XP install CD and try and repair MBR from repair console. Once XP is booting how will I get SUSE working again?

Arma12 · 01-25-2007, 04:09 PM

Ok I tried fixing MBR and it did not work. So I now have my hardrive frshly formatted with SUSE 10.2 only and still get "Error loading operating system" when booting without DVD. This is a 64bit installation.

I have bought a new 320gb hard drive to put XP/Vista on and will dual boot that way so for now I wanna fix this damn error.

Larry Webb · 01-25-2007, 06:28 PM

You're going to need more help than I can give, I don't understand why you can't get your XP to work, or if XP isn't on the hd why Suse doesn't work. If you downloaded the Suse and burned the disk yourself did you check the disk(s) for errors?

Arma12 · 01-26-2007, 02:44 AM

I still get the same error when trying to install GRUB to the master boot record.

Code:

Error 21:Selected disk drives does not exist
grub ->setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 (hd0) (hd 1,0)

Error 21:Selected disk drives does not exist
grub >quit

Can anyone guide me on how-to download the latest (2. something?) and install.

jasondodd · 01-26-2007, 06:52 AM

Sounds like your partition structure is messed up to me. I had similar problems.

Best thing you can do is do a clean install of windows, then come back with suse.

I got the exact same error you did time after time when trying to install dual boot suse until I realized I was checking the wrong box on the boot loader configuration page during the install process. Make sure you check the radio button for the top selection (dev/HDA MBR) and not the radio button for the bottom most selection on the grub installtion page where you manually enter a partition name.

Good luck

Greenfuse · 01-27-2007, 09:46 PM

use a live cd (system rescue cd is a good one) and use fdisk check your partitions (careful not to commit unnecessary changes)

Larry Webb · 01-27-2007, 10:34 PM

There are quite a few articles on downloading Suse 10.2 in Suse forums, just use the search engine at the top of the page. If you don't have a broadband connection like I did you may want to do as I did and buy a dvd from one of the internet stores which you can find by using google and enter the words Suse 10.1 or go to one of the on line auction sites.

Arma12 · 01-28-2007, 10:00 AM

I already have a downloaded DVD (64bit) of SUSE 10.2

I am not trying to dual-boot now, just keep my installation of SUSE and get it booting without DVD.

jasondodd · 01-28-2007, 01:04 PM

I still see something that does not look right in your grub config...I dont think you should have any references to hd(1,0), that would imply the first partition on a second physical hard drive. If partitioning a single hard drive, MBR should be in hd(0,0) with the boot sector of your linux install in hd(0,1 or 2 or something)

You other experts tell if I'm seeing this right. I'm pretty sure that somehow, your not getting grub installed to the hda MBR.

I just looked at mine, it's a laptop where the hard drive is actually recognized as sda, sda1, etc.

I had to select the bottom selection on this machine "Custom Boot Partition" and select /dev/sda in the dropdown box for mine to work. If I selected "boot from master boot record", I got the same error you did and usually corrupted the partition tables. Sorry for the confusion, I was mixing it up with my desktop machine and the settings I used for it. I bet if you try that it will work.

good luck

sadiqdm · 01-28-2007, 04:26 PM

XP needs to boot from the first hard disk, but can you fool it in GRUB. It doesn't matter what Linux you use.

For a normal dual boot with windows on the first physicall drive you would see some like this in GRUB:

Code:

title Windows XP Home
      rootnoverify (hd0,0) ,
      makeactive 
      chainloader +1

The (hd0,0) indicates the first partition on the first physical drive. If you have a recovery partition, like my Acer laptop, then the XP partition might be the second in which case use (hd0,1). Linux would label the first partition hda1

If XP is on first partition of the second physical drive the the GRUB entry would look like this:

Code:

title Windows XP Home
      rootnoverify (hd0,0) , 
      map (hd0) (hd1)
      map (hd1) (hd0)
      makeactive 
      chainloader +1

The two map lines fool the XP bootloader into thinking it is on the first drive.

There is a comprehensive Wiki on Grub for Suse here. From my experience it is always best to put the Grub boot loader on the first partition of the first hard drive, and edit it by hand when you add 2nd or 2rd bootable OS's.