XP/Windows CD don't boot after GRUB update

[Timo Nentwig]

Hi!

I had to re-install the boot manager GRUB Now, Windows does not boot no more
and even worse I cannot even boot from CD either (-> recovery console)
"Examining your hardware..." flashes shortly and then the screen turns
black and that's it.

I think a fixmbr may help but since I cannot boot from CD...

So, what to do?

BTW it's a notebook and I have a recovery partition at the beginning of the
hard drive.

 

[Guest]

"How to Boot in Safe Mode"
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/capture/safemode.html

 

[Enkidu]

Why oh why did you put a "-- " line in your sig and then
top-post? This has the effect of removing all the original
posters post and hence removing all context! I've restroed
everything below.

In any case, since Timo has apparently munged the boot
sector which will mean that he wouldn't be able to get into
Safe Mode.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Enkidu]

Hi!

I had to re-install the boot manager GRUB Now, Windows does not boot no more
and even worse I cannot even boot from CD either (-> recovery console)
"Examining your hardware..." flashes shortly and then the screen turns
black and that's it.

I think a fixmbr may help but since I cannot boot from CD...

So, what to do?

BTW it's a notebook and I have a recovery partition at the beginning of the
hard drive.

This sounds a bit serious. Make sure that the CD is clean
and has no scratches, but if it won't boot from that you
have a problem. You could try booting from a Linux "Live" CD
or use Bart's PE to recover your data, and then see if you
can recover from the recovery partition. Some laptops don't
need the CD.

Let us know if you can boot from a Knoppix or other "Live" CD.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Timo Nentwig]

Let us know if you can boot from a Knoppix or other "Live" CD.

Sure, no problem. My linux partition also boots without problems.
--

 

[Enkidu]

Enkidu wrote:




Sure, no problem. My linux partition also boots without problems.

Sigh! What is this thing about destroying all context that
people seem to have?

Sorry Timo, let's address your problem, which was that you
can't boot Windows after you did something with GRUB. You
also can't boot off the Windows CD, right?

That's a little odd, since booting off the CD shouldn't read
the hard disk. Also, you can boot the Linux partition OK,
which says that the disk itself seems OK.

Is the Windows CD that you are booting from a 'recovery' CD
or a proper one? If it is a 'recovery' one, the chances are
that you have overwritten something on the disk that the
recovery disk needs. If it is a full one, it may have gone bad.

Can you read the Windows partition unsing Knoppix or Linux?
That would confirm that the Windows partition is OK.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Timo Nentwig]

That's a little odd, since booting off the CD shouldn't read
the hard disk. Also, you can boot the Linux partition OK,

BTW when the CD freezes after "Examining your hardware" the HD LED is on and
stays on (while on means on, it's not flickering).

Is the Windows CD that you are booting from a 'recovery' CD
or a proper one? If it is a 'recovery' one, the chances are

I tried both.

Can you read the Windows partition unsing Knoppix or Linux?

Hmm, well...no (?). But that doesn't means the data is gone rather I assume
that some partition offsets are wrong or similar.

 

[Enkidu]

Enkidu wrote:



BTW when the CD freezes after "Examining your hardware" the
HD LED is on and stays on (while on means on, it's not flickering).

Ah OK. Doesn't sound nice. I'd expect it to come up with an
error if it is simply a partition table thing.

I tried both.


Hmm, well...no (?). But that doesn't means the data is gone
rather I assume that some partition offsets are wrong or similar.

cfdisk will show what the partition table says. Have you
tried that yet? fdisk itself is able to fiddle with the
partition table in expert mode if you are confident enough
to do that.

Also, I'd search for partition table rescue utilities. I've
never used one, but I think that they exist.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Timo Nentwig]

cfdisk will show what the partition table says. Have you
tried that yet? fdisk itself is able to fiddle with the
partition table in expert mode if you are confident enough
to do that.

Partition Table for /dev/hda

---Starting--- ----Ending---- Start Number of
# Flags Head Sect Cyl ID Head Sect Cyl Sector Sectors
-- ----- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----------- -----------
1 0x00 1 1 0 0x12 11 8 2 63 32768
2 0x80 11 9 2 0x07 254 63 1023 32831 79707278
3 0x00 254 63 1023 0x83 254 63 1023 79740109 70811
4 0x00 254 63 1023 0x05 254 63 1023 79987635 75248460
5 0x00 254 63 1023 0x83 254 63 1023 68 73143877
6 0x00 254 63 1023 0x82 254 63 1023 63 2104452

Partition Table for /dev/hda

First Last
# Type Sector Sector Offset Length Filesystem Type (ID)
Flag
-- ------- ----------- ----------- ------ ----------- --------------------
----
1 Primary 0 32830* 63 32831*Compaq diagnost (12)
None
2 Primary 32831* 79740108* 0 79707278*HPFS/NTFS (07)
Boot
3 Primary 79740109* 79810919 0 70811*Linux (83)
None
Logical 79810920 79987634 0 176715 Free Space None
4 Primary 79987635 155236094 0 75248460 Extended (05)
None
5 Logical 79987635 153131579 68# 73143945 Linux (83)
None
6 Logical 153131580 155236094 63 2104515 Linux swap / So (82)
None



difmetric "${IFACE}" 2

 

[Timo Nentwig]

Can you read the Windows partition unsing Knoppix or Linux?
That would confirm that the Windows partition is OK.

Ah, when trying to mount from my gentoo live CD mount complains about an
invalid primary boot sector. There's an recovery option, I'll try that...

 

[Timo Nentwig]

Ah, when trying to mount from my gentoo live CD mount complains about an
invalid primary boot sector. There's an recovery option, I'll try that...

I can mount the partition: mount -o errors=recover /dev/hda2 /mnt/

Howevery as the NTFS driver is not safe I cannot/want to to write the fix.
Is there anything safe I can use (since I cannot even boot from the Windows
CD...)?

 

[Timo Nentwig]

I can mount the partition: mount -o errors=recover /dev/hda2 /mnt/

Howevery as the NTFS driver is not safe I cannot/want to to write the fix.
Is there anything safe I can use (since I cannot even boot from the
Windows CD...)?

More precisely, it prints to use the backup of the sector. It's really
amazing that there's a backup and I cannot restore it for a matter of the
Windows CD is not booting...

 

[Enkidu]

Timo Nentwig wrote:




More precisely, it prints to use the backup of the sector. It's really
amazing that there's a backup and I cannot restore it for a matter of the
Windows CD is not booting...

The only thing that I can think of, is to somehow get hold
of a Bart's PE CD and see if you can fix it with that.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Enkidu]

Timo Nentwig wrote:




I can mount the partition: mount -o errors=recover /dev/hda2 /mnt/

Howevery as the NTFS driver is not safe I cannot/want to to write the fix.
Is there anything safe I can use (since I cannot even boot from the Windows
CD...)?

The NTFS driver is not safe, true. However you are
recovering the boot sector, which is not part of the file
system. It resides on the first sector on the disk. It
contains the MBR, and the partition table, and maybe other
stuff. You risk not being able to boot your Linux if you
overwrite the boot sector.

I think you are faced with a choice - recover the boot
sector and risk not being able to boot your Linux or fixing
the Windows boot. Either way, I'd see that everything you
value is copied off the disk before you start.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Timo Nentwig]

I was able to fix it: mount -w -o errors=recover /dev/hda2 /mnt/foo