Cannot boot into Windows from Linux

[ms_meme]

Remember a   cold boot   means booting after power has been withdrawn from the PC completely ......  unplug the power cord and wait about 30 secs .....  even press the On/Off switch while power is withdrawn to ensure all power is dissipated.

So.....while I am waiting.

I turned off computer.  Waited a half hour.  Returned, turned on and chose Windows without going to Linux.
And it came right up.

Perhaps this is what happened this morning:
After trying to boot to Windows from another Linux partition.....and finding it did not work.....I turned off computer BUT I did not wait long enough to ensure all power was dissipated.  I may have thought I waited long enough OR I may not even thought at all.  

So it seems I can boot right to Windows from ...cold boot.
That just leaves the other problem of not being able to boot to Windows from Linux.

[AS]

summary, thinking loudly:

cold boot work without problem (i.e. you can boot windows)
warm reboot doesn't start windows
warm reboot allow to start windows in safe mode (i.e. without use third party drivers)
=
the problem is that "a (windows OS) third party driver, i.e non M$ driver" fail to initialize some device upon reboot, succeed upon cold reboot.

I'm thinking to upgrade kernel ...  to solve this problem at Linux side is like to win at Lottery, and I'm not the right one about lottery 

AS

[ms_meme]

summary, thinking loudly:

cold boot work without problem (i.e. you can boot windows)
warm reboot doesn't start windows
warm reboot allow to start windows in safe mode (i.e. without use third party drivers)
=
the problem is that "a (windows OS) third party driver, i.e non M$ driver" fail to initialize some device upon reboot, succeed upon cold reboot.

I'm thinking to upgrade kernel ...  to solve this problem at Linux side is like to win at Lottery, and I'm not the right one about lottery 

AS

I understand the highlighted part.  That is what is happening.

[ms_meme]

Thinking out loud=no thinking at all   

When I booted into the Windows Safemode  I just Entered the first choice and it went through some pages and finally got to the Safemode Screen. Then I just exited and rebooted to Linux.

IF  I can't boot directly to Windows....why can't I boot to Safemode and from there change to Regular Windows?  I don't know how to do that..

I only want to be able to go to Windows without having to shut off machine and wait for a bit. I only go to Windows ..... to update and to use one little program.  I usually go about once or twice a week.
If it was just to update, I could just go directly in the mornings.  But usually what I want to do is motivated by something I do in Linux and I want to go there right away.

Of course going to Windows from Linux is best and it has worked for over 2 years.

Just thinking.....

[AS]

Thinking out loud=no thinking at all   

When I booted into the Windows Safemode  I just Entered the first choice and it went through some pages and finally got to the Safemode Screen. Then I just exited and rebooted to Linux.

IF  I can't boot directly to Windows....why can't I boot to Safemode and from there change to Regular Windows?  I don't know how to do that..

I only want to be able to go to Windows without having to shut off machine and wait for a bit. I only go to Windows ..... to update and to use one little program.  I usually go about once or twice a week.
If it was just to update, I could just go directly in the mornings.  But usually what I want to do is motivated by something I do in Linux and I want to go there right away.

Of course going to Windows from Linux is best and it has worked for over 2 years.

Just thinking.....

good thinking,

there can be 2 solution:
1) to use an equivalent Linux version of the program you actually use in windows. What's the program(s) ?
2) to run Windows in VirtualBox, and therefore simultaneously to Linux. (this solution may require a not very old PC).

Switching from Windows safe mode to normal windows require a reboot. No way around.

[AS]

ms_meme,

what is the CPU of your system ? Intel ? Amd ?
PClinuxOS Control Center -> Hardware -> Browse and configure hardware should tell you exactly what is your CPU.

the following part of the message is directed to the friends on this forum:

_steve has post a suggestion here, related to cleanup memory at shutdown:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,89362.msg748534.html#msg748534

The idea is correct, but the application I think can be very difficult, at least is difficult for me. However he's suggestion is still helpful, because let me think about reboot parameters,
then I start to search around for possible reboot option, and found in kernel docs the followings:

from kernel-parameter.txt

        reboot=         [BUGS=X86-32,BUGS=ARM,BUGS=IA-64] Rebooting mode
                        Format: <reboot_mode>[,<reboot_mode2>[,...]]
                        See arch/*/kernel/reboot.c or arch/*/kernel/process.c

from x86/x86-64/boot_options.txt:

Rebooting

   reboot=b[ios] | t[riple] | k[bd] | a[cpi] | e[fi] [, [w]arm | [c]old]
   bios   Use the CPU reboot vector for warm reset
   warm   Don't set the cold reboot flag
   cold   Set the cold reboot flag
   triple Force a triple fault (init)
   kbd    Use the keyboard controller. cold reset (default)
   acpi   Use the ACPI RESET_REG in the FADT. If ACPI is not configured or the
          ACPI reset does not work, the reboot path attempts the reset using
          the keyboard controller.
   efi    Use efi reset_system runtime service. If EFI is not configured or the
          EFI reset does not work, the reboot path attempts the reset using
          the keyboard controller.

   Using warm reset will be much faster especially on big memory
   systems because the BIOS will not go through the memory check.
   Disadvantage is that not all hardware will be completely reinitialized
   on reboot so there may be boot problems on some systems.

   reboot=force

   Don't stop other CPUs on reboot. This can make reboot more reliable
   in some cases.

as I can read in the x86/x86-64/boot-option.txt, those boot option are specific to AMD 64 CPUs, anyone know what reboot options can be really used in PCLinuxOs ? Texstar ?

I was not able to find the referenced source files (reboot.c process.c) in current PCLinuxOS kernel tree, the source for vanilla kernel is here:
http://lxr.free-electrons.com/source/arch/x86/kernel/reboot.c Help needed around this reboot options!   

AS

[smcs_steve]

Thanks as,

I thought it should be as simple as inserting a suitable executable script into a run level control like /etc/rc?.d
No?
>Steve

[kjpetrie]

ms_meme,

The problem is rare, but it's inherent in dual-booting two or more OSes. Any OS will set up the hardware the way it likes it and expect it to be in the state it set it to when it last shut down, or the default state set by the BIOS. A warm boot from another OS means it will be in the state the other OS left it in... This might mean the OS can't access it properly.

I would guess, judging by the Synaptic history and the symptoms, that the graphics card is likely to be the hardware in question, especially if it's nVidia. As someone else suggested, upgrading the driver in Windows to the latest version might help. Also, trying to adjust things on shutdown might help. As as suggested, you could try adding reboot=cold to your kernel line in /boot/grub/menu.lst and see what happens. Finding out what to add in /etc/rc6.d/ would be quite difficult unless a solution is already known.

However, there can be no guarantee one OS will leave hardware in a state that suits another, and the surprising thing is that this isn't a more common problem. Both Oses are actually working correctly, in that they can start everything when it is set up by the BIOS. No OS is designed to start hardware that has been left in an unpredictable state by another. If you have insufficient RAM to run Virtualbox you might just have to accept the inconvenience.

[AS]

Thanks as,

I thought it should be as simple as inserting a suitable executable script into a run level control like /etc/rc?.d
No?
>Steve

@Steve,

Unfortunately not as simple as I can think:
a reboot generally correspond to init 6, then the scripts inserted in /etc/rc6.d are executed, to execute script in rc8.d probably a manual
command like init 8 is required. Other than this the script actually is clearing only 4 kb and I really don't know what ram can be safely
cleaned up without destroying the system. (4 Kb probably was Ok for clearing the password related to the security issue.

@kjpetrie,
the video card of ms_meme is a Intel, as previously posted.  

AS

[ms_meme]

First of all....thanks to all who have spent time trying to help me resolve this problem.  I always learn a little something.

I know if there was a quick fix, it would have been suggested yesterday.  I also realize giving instructions to another user and not completely knowing the outcome could potentially cause other problems. I did not know that it would be this difficult. And I am thankful that most of my other problems have been routine.

I know I cannot use the virtual box and have not found a Linux based program that I can satisfactorily use in place of the Windows one. 

I am not sure from the discussions above if something else for me to do is being suggested or not??  My cpu#1 is  intel  Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz.  There was also a cpu#2 listed that said the same thing.

I am willing to try something else if there is hope that it might work.  I just don't want to ruin anything.
As  kjpetrie said, perhaps one must accept the inconvenience.

[Bald Brick]

Many posts ago some of us suspected that ms_meme's RAM wasn't entirely cleared unless it was left without power much longer than a second or two -- and, of course, that her peripherals might need to be powered down a bit longer too. (Interestingly a recent thread -- http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,89362.0/topicseen.html -- indicates that DRAM may need several minutes to be entirely cleared, and under certain circumstances a lot more.)

Now, kjpetrie is right, of course: sometimes one just has to accept an inconvenience. But if something that used to work has stopped working? The strange thing is that ms_meme's problems started after an update about a month ago. So the question is: what did the update change? Why didn't the problem manifest itself before the update?

[ms_meme]

Yes, to what Bald Brick has posted.  The problem did appear after a large update.
While there has been a lot of discussion  (and I have done a lot of rebooting) the only thing that I really did was get a different kernel.  That did not appear to do any good.  Then I did another update and things worked again.

Then recently the booting to Windows from Linux stopped again and I know there were updates done after the updates mentioned above.  For 2 and a half years things went fine. 

I think there is an update waiting for me now.  Perhaps I should..........     Will do it tomorrow morning.

[longtom]

I think there is an update waiting for me now.  Perhaps I should..........    

[ms_meme]

I think there is an update waiting for me now.  Perhaps I should..........     Will do it tomorrow morning.

I finished doing the latest update and booted into Windows from Linux. No problem.
I feel like I am crying WOLF.  But it really has been happening and I for sure have been crying. 
I don't do anything but press ENTER and keep my fingers crossed.  I am back in Linux and haven't tried a 2nd time to return to Windows ... but will try before I do the next updating.  Then just keep reporting.

I feel like that head in the picture posted by longtom.  I have lost all of my hair (after it turned grayer).