PCLOS and Windows 7 Don't Play Nice When Dual Booting

[djohnston]

Open a terminal. Type:

cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

Copy and paste the results.

Ok DJ, I'm doing something wrong because it returns "No such file or directory"

You may be reading that as menu.1st, as in "first". It is menu.lst as in list.

[r2r]

About Redo MBR.
When you boot PCLOS from the LiveCD (the install disk) there you go PC-->More applications-->Configuration you'll see Redo MBR/Restore MBR. If you run it it should fix the problem.

I'll give it a shot, uncleV, and be back to let you know whether that solved the problem.  Thanks a million!

[uncleV]

I think you forgot about su for reading menu.lst

[djohnston]

I think you forgot about su for reading menu.lst

Thanks, UncleV. Should be:

su -
(supply root password)
cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
(copy text displayed)
exit
exit

[r2r]

Ok, I'm actually in the LiveCD right now.  Here is the list:

timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
gfxmenu (hd0,4)/boot/gfxmenu
default 0

title linux
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=2cc89db5-155f-49ce-8876-57bf397622c3  vmalloc=256M resume=UUID=9fcb5568-8d58-45f1-86fd-5eeb48f0066c splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=2cc89db5-155f-49ce-8876-57bf397622c3  vmalloc=256M resume=UUID=9fcb5568-8d58-45f1-86fd-5eeb48f0066c
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=2cc89db5-155f-49ce-8876-57bf397622c3  failsafe vmalloc=256M
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

[r2r]

I think I'm gonna sit tight until you guys have had a chance to look at the list. Thanks

[djohnston]

There's no entry for your Windows install. Need one more list. In a terminal. type

su -
fdisk -l
exit
exit

Please post results.

[uncleV]

GUI way here (you have to act on two lines):

So did you try MBR thing and what happened?

[r2r]

There's no entry for your Windows install. Need one more list. In a terminal. type

su -
fdisk -l
exit
exit

Please post results.

Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1f3e9ecd

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1           5       40131   de  Dell Utility
/dev/sda2   *           6        1918    15360000    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3            1918       72604   567785472    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4           72605       77825    41937682+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           72605       74171    12586896   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           74172       74587     3341488+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7           74588       77825    26009203+  83  Linux

[r2r]

GUI way here (you have to act on two lines):

So did you try MBR thing and what happened?

No, I thought it best to let you guys take a look at the list before I tried anything. 

[uncleV]

I'm wondering what is "de  Dell Utility" on sda1.

Does it mean you have special BIOS boot options provided by Dell?
djohnston?

[uncleV]

The fdisk output shows you have Windows on sda2 and Linux on sda5. Booting partition is Win's sda2.
(waiting for djohnstons decision)

[djohnston]

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1           5       40131   de  Dell Utility
/dev/sda2   *           6        1918    15360000    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3            1918       72604   567785472    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4           72605       77825    41937682+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5           72605       74171    12586896   83  Linux
/dev/sda6           74172       74587     3341488+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7           74588       77825    26009203+  83  Linux

Having dealt with this before, the first partition is really a FAT type. The MBR originally passed control either to a restore partition, or to the Windows boot partition. First partition probably contains either FreeDOS or Win98. Second partition is usually the restore partition/ Third one is his working Windows install.

[uncleV]

I see now the case is some more complex and think will turn to "watch mode"

[r2r]

I see now the case is some more complex and think will turn to "watch mode"

LOL.  I'm already there, uncleV.