[SOLVED] Grub Hangs - won't launch Win XP [now broken install]

[Old-Polack]

JohnBoy,

If, without changing any cables or anything, you go into the BIOS and change the boot order of the two drives, does it boot into Windows as it should?

If so, that should eliminate any possibility of cabling problems.

This sounded like something I have seen a few times right up until you said that it is printing out the whole Windows stanza on the screen.

That makes it sound like it does not see the end of the line and therefore thinks that everything in the stanza is the description of the install.

Could it be that grub is interpreting the character set wrong for some reason and does not know that there are multiple lines involved?

Is there any chance that you edited this file at some time with the wrong editor that has inserted non-printing characters that are causing havoc?

I know that this is unlikely, but I started out in the days when every desk had a different operating system on it and you never knew knew what was actually in a line of text until you looked at it with a hex editor.

It tended to be very frustrating at times when folks mixed "text" from different machines.

An interesting idea.

JohnBoy:

If you have kate installed, opening the menu.lst in kate will tell you if all the line endings are indeed proper Unix style, or will make it so upon saving. Also be sure the file ends in a new line before saving. It could well be that grub is looking for, and not finding, a proper EOF.

[Was_Just19]

Thanks for the suggestions ......  yes I will do a check ......  but honestly do not expect it to be that because
1.    the original menu.lst was generated by the installing system and showed the fault
2.     I always use Kwrite for editing and have never had such a problem previously.

nonetheless it is worth checking to be sure.  Thanks.

If, without changing any cables or anything, you go into the BIOS and change the boot order of the two drives, does it boot into Windows as it should?

As I remember the BIOS, there is no way to determine manually, which HDD is the first boot device ........  it is apparently based on SATA port ......  so the drive in the lower numbered SATA port is booted if present.
I will have another look but I am fairly sure I checked, as I wanted to boot the Win drive and the only way I found was to unplug the Linux drive.

regards.

[uncleV]

...
as I wanted to boot the Win drive and the only way I found was to unplug the Linux drive.

So if Win boots properly in this case you haven't hardware issue (like cable, etc.), isn't it?

[Was_Just19]

...
as I wanted to boot the Win drive and the only way I found was to unplug the Linux drive.

So if Win boots properly in this case you haven't hardware issue (like cable, etc.), isn't it?

Correct ........  I posted that info in the first post 

[Was_Just19]

OK, decision made .......  over the next couple of hours I am going to do the following .....

1.    Reinstall on the ext4 partitions, after formatting both

2.    If 1. does not work, reinstall on the same partitions but first changing them to ext3

If that does not work I will be back crying again ........   

[Was_Just19]

Did the reinstalls but no change in booting Win.

***

During the install process I saw a message about resizing or checking the size of the Win install ......  before I got to the selection page where I choose the location of the install.

I thought this odd ......

After failure above I again unplugged the Linux drive and attempted to boot the Win drive ........  and FAILED!!!!

The situation has indeed deteriorated! Now no Win OS even with one drive connected!

I was offered a Recovery ....  eventually chose that option .....  but it wanted to reinstall Win so I did not accept. Cannot without checking with the owner .....

So it seems I am at an impasse ......

There is something wrong with the Win installation now.
What may have caused that is unknown to me. It booted previously.

......  and so the saga continues .....

[uncleV]

Is Win HDD an old one?
May be give it a good check?
Or try it with another cable. Uhmm? Look for burned pins at the both sides (shoes) of the cable.

How about the motherboard?

Sounds to me more like hardware problem.

[Was_Just19]

Is Win HDD an old one?
May be give it a good check?
Or try it with another cable. Uhmm? Look for burned pins at the both sides (shoes) of the cable.

How about the motherboard?

Sounds to me more like hardware problem.

Yes it does sound like a hardware problem .......   and I have been checking cables and connections etc etc

Then Win decides it will boot again!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nothing at all done between it not booting and booting .......  except shutting down and restarting!

This is frustrating in the extreme, so I think I had best take a step back and some time to think about what is happening, before doing anything further.

regards.

[uncleV]

More and more seems to me it's the hardware...

When I said "burned pins at the both sides (shoes) of the cable" I forgot to add "of the HDD power supply cable". The newer (larger and faster) HDD consume more power and if the power supply is old there could be a problem by this too.

I had such a problem, there was even a smell of burned plastics. Shortly before this the OS would sometimes load and sometimes not. I replaced the burned shoes of the cable and MB at a computer center and now I'm writing this on the same machine.

[Was_Just19]

OK, I took a break and went back to it again.

I decided that as I had been installing from a USB flash drive maybe I should try from a CD. Burned one, checked it and installed PCLOS yet again.
Same result.

Got in contact with the owner and he agreed to a non-destructive reinstall using the supplied WIn on the hidden partition.

Big MISTAKE!

I rebooted after this, only to discover that Win would not let me log in ......  needs to be activated .....  I agreed ......  and it bounced me back ......  again and again ....  ARGHHHHHHH

Rebooted to the Linux drive ........  NO OS FILES!!!!!!!!   or so I was told on screen.

The Win recovery on the Win drive had apparently wiped the MBR of the Linux drive .....  how nice of it!

Back to the live CD, boot up and reinstall Grub to the MBR ......  reboot and back into Linux.

Tried the Windows options again from the Linux drive Grub .......  still no go!

So now I am in a worse situation than before.
Windows booted from its own drive is no longer usable!

Seems the next step is a complete destructive reinstall of XP.

I guess this is a reminder why I neither use nor support Win installations any more.

Even if I get XP reinstalled there is no indication that it will be bootable from the PCLOS Grub.

So, before I go any further with this destructive install, is there anyone out there who has an older version of the Grub directory of a PCLOS install that they could get to me?
Anything prior to the present one -- 2009 maybe that has not been updated -- might do.
At least I should be able to determine if it is the present Grub that is at fault.

......  time to break out the alcohol methinks .........

[uncleV]

You're in trouble...
My advice is - don't hurry!

Tomorrow try again and after that think it over all.

And - yes - look for reinstall all the OSes, prior to this copying your data somewhere else (may be take an external HD from your friend).
As far as I remember one could reinstall WinXP from it's own installation.
Otherwise ask your friend for XP installing disk(s) - it's not vulnerable. I've installed Windows'98 and 'XP 3 or 4 times from legal disk of my friend - no problem.

But are you sure it's a software issue?

[Was_Just19]

I am sure of nothing.      
It has been OK for several years.
It was working when I got it.
It was broken after the PCLOS install .....  could not boot Win from the Grub option.
Win still worked .....  but at times it seemed as if attempting to boot it from Grub caused something to go wrong. Repeatedly booting Win from its on drive was always successful.
Attempting to boot it from its own drive after a failed boot by grub caused problems.

I have come full circle in my reasoning, back to suspecting Grub, but unfortunately along the way I have screwed up the Win install also.
The only other option that occurs to me is that the motherboard is failing .... 

There were no discs supplied with this PC .....  just the recovery partition.

Now Win is in a constant loop of demanding to be activated but offering no means to do so.

regards.

[pirate]

did you try the f8 --windows safe mode at boot??

[Was_Just19]

did you try the f8 --windows safe mode at boot??

no f8 option presented that I can see ......  only f10 to run the recovery and reinstall scheme from the hidden partition   

[old_guy]

JohnBoy
When it starts to boot you see (at least on an older system):
The memory test
Find the IDE and/or SATA drives
then it says Verifying DMI Data (on newer it says something about NVRAM)
that is when you should hit the F8 key & get several options.
Earl