Trouble booting Win XP with grub

[Peter Jay Salzman]

Hi all,

I'm a recent lilo convert, so I'm rather new to grub.


Summary
=======

I recently had to reinstall MS Windows XP (sigh), and I'm now having trouble
getting grub to boot it.  GNU/Linux boots fine.  When booting XP, I see:

   Disk error
   Press any key to restart
   Missing operating system



The System
==========

BIOS is set to boot off the PATA drive.  The drives on the system are:

   hda PATA: (all ext3)
      Various backup partitions.  Expendable.  Contains the system's MBR.

   hde SATA: MS Windows XP (all FAT32)

      hde1 (hd1,0) MS Windows OS (bootable)
      hde2 (hd1,1) D drive
      hde3 (hd1,2) E drive

   hdg SATA: GNU/Linux (all ext3)

      hdg1 (hd2,0) /boot
      hdg2 (hd2,1) /var
      hdg3 (hd2,2) swap
      hdg5 (hd2,4) /home
      hdg6 (hd2,5) /
      hdg7 (hd2,6) /usr/local



Grub Configuration
==================

Grub was installed on /dev/hda.  My grub menu looks like this:

   title    Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.10
   root     (hd2,0)
   kernel      /vmlinuz-2.6.10 root=/dev/hdg6 ro
   savedefault
   boot

   title    Windows NT/2000/XP
   map (hd0) (hd1)
   map (hd1) (hd0)
   rootnoverify (hd1,0)
   savedefault
   makeactive
   chainloader +1



What I tried
============

When I installed XP, I removed the PATA drive so XP thought it was
installing itself onto the "first drive".

After finding that XP wouldn't boot, I tried:

   1. disconnect the PATA drive
   2. run the Windows XP recovery console
   3. use "fixmbr" and "fixboot".
   4. reconnect the PATA drive

But it didn't work.  I'm a little reluctant to repeat the above procedure
without taking the PATA drive out because I don't want to lose the ability
to boot into GNU/Linux.  I'm also very unknowledgable with Microsoft's
operating systems.

I don't understand why this isn't working:

   * BIOS boots of the PATA drive.
   * Grub is installed in the MBR on the PATA drive.
   * Windows first bootloader is on the MBR of (hd1)
   * I'm not sure how Windows boots after that, but I assume this is where
     the problem is.  What exactly happens once the MS first bootloader
     is loaded?

Any ideas?  I'm on unfamiliar ground all around.  Should I try running
fixboot with the PATA drive still connected?

Thanks!
Pete

-- 
Every theory is killed sooner or later, but if the theory has good in it,
that good is embodied and continued in the next theory. -- Albert Einstein

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