Q
Problem solve Get help with specific problems with your technologies, process and projects.

Boot process freeze with XP/SimplyMepis dual boot

Bernard Golden
By
Published: 29 Aug 2005
I'm attempting to set up a dual-boot PC. I have installed WinXP Pro on an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ and then installed SimplyMEPIS on the same PC. I used GRUB to set up the dual boot. When I reboot, I can boot MEPIS just fine. But when I try XP, I get these messages and the boot process freezes:

Booting 'Windows at hda1'
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
savedefault

So I played around with /boot/grub/menu.lst to no avail. This is my partition info:

Number Partition Type Status Usage

01 /dev/hda1 ntfs Active Windows XP
02 /dev/hda2 ext3 Linux mount
03 /dev/hda3 linux-swap Linux Swap
04 /dev/hda4 ext3 Linux Home

What am I missing?

As it happens, I ran into exactly this same problem when doing a dual-boot install. As I remember (this was all about a year ago, so my memory might be a bit hazy), I ended up having to modify the drive characteristics in bios to enable LBA. If you do some poking around the Internet via a search engine, you'll come across a number of postings on this topic.

In the end, I was concerned that, since I would inevitably need to reinstall Windows, I would run into drive formatting issues. I ended up buying a used box to install Linux on. Another strategy would be to install a second drive and put Linux there.

Never fear -- this problem can be solved and you're not that far away from the solution!

Dig Deeper on Linux servers

Have a question for an expert?

Please add a title for your question

Get answers from a TechTarget expert on whatever's puzzling you.

You will be able to add details on the next page.

Meet all of our Data Center experts

View all Data Center questions and answers

Start the conversation

Send me notifications when other members comment.

Register

Please create a username to comment.

-ADS BY GOOGLE

SearchWindowsServer

SearchServerVirtualization

SearchCloudComputing

Close