Can't get dual-boot to work, always goes to Vista

Mike Silva · External Since: Jun 19, 2007 Posts: 4

I'm new to Linux, though I've been using PCs since they came out.
I've got a machine running Vista and I added a 2nd hard drive to try
out Linux (both drives are 160GB). I have Fedora Core 6 and have run
through the installation and modify install (many times now!) and when
I reboot I never get a choice of OS to start up - the machine always
comes up in Windows. Frustrating!

Here is my drive information as given by the install program:

VolGroup00 152480
LogVol01 swap 1792
LogVol00 ext3 150688

Hard Drives
/dev/sda
/dev/sda1 ntfs 146726 start=1
/dev/sda3 ntfs 5899

/dev/sdb
/dev/sdb1 /boot ext3 102 start=1
/dev/sdb2 VolGroup00 LVM PV 152523

So, can somebody tell me what I need to do differently to make this
all work? I'm amazed that I am already stuck on page 1, sentence 1.
Thanks.

Mike

Mike Silva · External Since: Jun 19, 2007 Posts: 4

On Jun 20, 7:46 am, "Sandgroper" <steve....RemoveThis@KNICKERSiinet.net.au>
wrote:
> "Mike Silva" <snarflem....RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1182271011.301623.195560@c77g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
>
> > I'm new to Linux, though I've been using PCs since they came out.
> > I've got a machine running Vista and I added a 2nd hard drive to try
> > out Linux (both drives are 160GB). I have Fedora Core 6 and have run
> > through the installation and modify install (many times now!) and when
> > I reboot I never get a choice of OS to start up - the machine always
> > comes up in Windows. Frustrating!
>
> When you boot up and just after all the BIOS message are displayed , hit the
> [Escape] key to get to the Grub menu.
> By default , Fedora puts a 'hiddenmenu " command in the grub.conf file and
> you will need to comment out ( or delete ) this command so that the grub
> boot menu shows up on every boot.
>
> When you manage to get into Fedora , navigate to the file
> /boot/grub/grub.conf and open it up with a text editor and then comment out
> the hiddenmenu command , you may also want to change the boot time and
> possibly the default boot OS as well.

Thanks for the reply. When I hit ESC at that point the system just
pauses for a bit and then loads Vista. I know I have told the
installer to install Grub in the MBR.

BTW, if I hit ESC during the boot screen I am given a choice of drives
to boot from, and if I select the 2nd drive I get the cryptic menu

F1 Linux
F2 ??
F5 Disk 1

Hitting F1 or F2 just makes the machine beep. Hitting F5 produces the
text "Err2Err3", and then the machine boots Vista.

Oh, and a disclosure. I started to think this was a quiet group so I
posted my question on comp.os.linux.setup after I posted here. Not
proper etiquette, I know.

Sandgroper · External Since: Apr 12, 2005 Posts: 143

"Mike Silva" <snarflemike.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1182271011.301623.195560@c77g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> I'm new to Linux, though I've been using PCs since they came out.
> I've got a machine running Vista and I added a 2nd hard drive to try
> out Linux (both drives are 160GB). I have Fedora Core 6 and have run
> through the installation and modify install (many times now!) and when
> I reboot I never get a choice of OS to start up - the machine always
> comes up in Windows. Frustrating!
>

When you boot up and just after all the BIOS message are displayed , hit the
[Escape] key to get to the Grub menu.
By default , Fedora puts a 'hiddenmenu " command in the grub.conf file and
you will need to comment out ( or delete ) this command so that the grub
boot menu shows up on every boot.

When you manage to get into Fedora , navigate to the file
/boot/grub/grub.conf and open it up with a text editor and then comment out
the hiddenmenu command , you may also want to change the boot time and
possibly the default boot OS as well.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
True Multitasking is having three computers and a chair with wheels.

Sandgroper
------------------------------------
Remove KNICKERS to Email
steveray.DeleteThis@KNICKERSiinet.net.au

Sandgroper · External Since: Apr 12, 2005 Posts: 143

"Mike Silva" <snarflemike.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1182359415.916324.5950@w5g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> On Jun 20, 7:46 am, "Sandgroper" <steve....DeleteThis@KNICKERSiinet.net.au>
> wrote:
>> "Mike Silva" <snarflem....DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>>
>> news:1182271011.301623.195560@c77g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
>>
>> > I'm new to Linux, though I've been using PCs since they came out.
>> > I've got a machine running Vista and I added a 2nd hard drive to try
>> > out Linux (both drives are 160GB). I have Fedora Core 6 and have run
>> > through the installation and modify install (many times now!) and when
>> > I reboot I never get a choice of OS to start up - the machine always
>> > comes up in Windows. Frustrating!
>>
>> When you boot up and just after all the BIOS message are displayed , hit
>> the
>> [Escape] key to get to the Grub menu.
>> By default , Fedora puts a 'hiddenmenu " command in the grub.conf file
>> and
>> you will need to comment out ( or delete ) this command so that the grub
>> boot menu shows up on every boot.
>>
>> When you manage to get into Fedora , navigate to the file
>> /boot/grub/grub.conf and open it up with a text editor and then comment
>> out
>> the hiddenmenu command , you may also want to change the boot time and
>> possibly the default boot OS as well.
>
> Thanks for the reply. When I hit ESC at that point the system just
> pauses for a bit and then loads Vista. I know I have told the
> installer to install Grub in the MBR.
>
> BTW, if I hit ESC during the boot screen I am given a choice of drives
> to boot from, and if I select the 2nd drive I get the cryptic menu
>
> F1 Linux
> F2 ??
> F5 Disk 1
>
> Hitting F1 or F2 just makes the machine beep. Hitting F5 produces the
> text "Err2Err3", and then the machine boots Vista.

It sounds like grub may not have been install properly , when you did the
install , did you set up the bootloader to boot from the main boot HDD , in
this case it should be the vista drive , sda1.
If you did install grub properly but did not make it bootable from the XP
drive , then what you will need to do is to use the Fedora DVD/CD and boot
into Linux rescue mode , mount the volume and then get grub to install
itself on to the MBR of the vista drive.

To do this , firstly boot up to the Fedora DVD/CD
At the install screen type "linux rescue"
Start the install process and answer a few basic questions about the
machine.
When you get to a command prompt type :
chroot /mnt/sysimage
cd /boot/grub
grub-install --recheck /dev/sda to check the grub setup
Once you do recheck , re-install grub again using the command :
grub-install /dev/sda

While you are in the /boot/grub directory , edit the grub.conf file and
remove or comment out the command "hiddenmenu" so that the grub menu will
show up on boot up.

Remove the DVD/CD and re-boot the system.

Also , grub uses a different notation when referring to HDDs ,
i.e.
sda1 = hd0,0
sda3 = hd0,3
sdb1 = hd1,0
sdb2 = hd1,2

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
True Multitasking is having three computers and a chair with wheels.

Sandgroper
------------------------------------
Remove KNICKERS to Email
steveray.DeleteThis@KNICKERSiinet.net.au