Help Grub Dualboot Freezes On Xp

Here is my scenario...I have installed winXP then RedHat LINUX 8.0 I have linux installed on one HD XP on the other my computer starts up as normal and LINUX is running fine but when I select XP from the GRUB startup menu the screen goes black with text saying:

rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

and it stays here not doing anything

any help would be highly appreciated James

is this a bad question???

p.s. last line is bad grammer correction:
any help would be highly appreciated,

James

does anybody have any idea at all

:( somebody here must know :(

Did you make a boot disk? Did you make a linux- rescue disk? Before you do anything, you might want to have thene on hand.

Did you install GRUB on the MBR? Have you tried LILO? Sorry, I really cant provide too much help, try posting your *.conf file

Try this:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...der=descending

yes to all but I haven't tried LILO

here is a copy of my grub.conf file as requested

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda2
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-14)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-14 ro root=LABEL=/ hdd=ide-scsi
initrd /initrd-2.4.18-14.img
title Microsoft Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
chainloader +1

rootnoverify (hd1,2)
chainloader +1

this works for me, but may or may not work for you depending on your partition table, and which HD is the master vs. slave. The problem is that no boot information is being found on the partition you point it to. (hd1,2) in my case. After it boots I get crap from windows because NT Loader isn't there, but otherwise it works fine.

if XP is on the first partiton of the first drive, use "rootnoverify (hd0,0)", if it is on the second partition of the primary drive "(hd0,1)", if it is on the first part of the second drive "(hd1,0)" and so on.

If i'm a bit incoherent, it's because i haven't slept in 3 days...

when you said "The problem is that no boot information is being found on the partition you point it to." is there any other option because I know for definate there is

did you defrag the drive before installing Redhat?

I'll try to help as much as I can, but Windows/Linux interoperability is not my forte... How did you do the installation?

Which OS went on first?

When I set up my dual boot I was half drunk. Well, the first thing you must know is that my computer is just a jumble of parts on my desk plugged together, It has no case. I just installed Windows XP on one HD, partitioning it with a FAT32 partition that would later become my Linux SWAP. I then added a new drive, making the XP drive a slave, then I intalled RH9. I used Grub as the BL, and Linux automatically recognized everything.

XP Loads, but complains about how NTLoader isn't there.

It was probably about 2 weeks ago when I last defragged the drives. I can access XP but as XP is on one HD (D: to BIOS) and linux is on another HD (C: to BIOS) I have to change the BIOS boot sequence from C: to D: I would stick to using this method it is only that it is a little awkward and is too complicated for other users to stick to this method.

I first installed XP then RH Linux 8.0.

My hardware is set up as follows on one ribbon cable I have: one 6GB HD set up as master... and on the other cable I have: one 40GB HD set up as master, and my CD-RW drive set up as slave.
I hope there is enough information here.

thanx for all your help

P.S. Please stick with me as I before last xmas iI had never used a computer
James

easy answer: did you try
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-14)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.18-14 ro root=LABEL=/ hdd=ide-scsi
initrd /initrd-2.4.18-14.img

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

Noice the "map" additions to yours.

More involved answer:

You are loading XP as the default through GRUB. XP on the Secondary master, GRUB ( w/Linux) on Primary master. ( default=0 would load Linux by default ).

The most probable reason XP won't load is it needs to believe that it is KING, and the ONLY boot loader. If you installed Linux by making the XP drive ( which was Primary master ) a Secondary master ( thus the second hard drive ) and added the Linux drive as the Primary master Linux should not alter the XP install at all. But after GRUB starts to load the OS from the second hard drive, the windows bootloader will take over and get confused because it is not first.

( Damn, every time I try to explain this I think it comes out worse )

Thus you have to re-mapp the drives so XP thinks it is number 1 ( we all know that it isn't :p )

You apparently loaded Linux on the 6 gig drive. My only suggestion would be though to put the 40 gig drive onto the same cable as the 6 gig, and make it ( the 40 gig ) a Primary Slave. Then make the CD the Secondary master ( this has to do with access times, but we won't get into that )

Don't forget to change the jumpers on the drive and adjust the BIOS settings for them if you do that. But the above GRUB configuration should still work because XP will still be the second hard drive.

Hope this helps.

edit:
from Windows / Linux dual boot with two drives

Quote:

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Ok, you've done what I suggested above, reset the BIOS parameters for the new drive configuration and installed Linux. You've played with it a while but now want to go back using Windows. You reboot the computer, the boot loader comes up, you choose to load Dos ( the boot loader listed Windows as Dos ) but it won't load. ( This has not happened to me with RedHat 9, which has through numerous installs always configured the boot loader properly for both operating systems.)

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Thanks a bunch that should solve my problem