FC1 and WinXP - dual boot?

[worker201]

I have Fedora Core 1 and Windows XP both installed on my computer at work. Normally, I use a boot floppy to toggle between them - if the floppy is in I get Fedora, if it is out, I get Windows. It works okay, but it is crazy slow. In my most recent install, I asked it to go ahead and put grub in there to choose between the 2 OSs, but grub never came up - it just went straight to windows. So i am back to the boot floppy again.

Anyone have any advice on how I can rectify this situation? I tried using Partition Magic's bootloader awhile ago, and it didn't work - wouldn't boot to the ext3 partition. How can I get Windows and Fedora to cooperate? Maybe grub is not working right?

For learning purposes, I wonder if someone can give me more information about the 1024 boot limit, and how it may or may not apply to this topic.

[Void Main]

I don't believe GRUB has a problem with the 1024 cylinder limit like the older versions of LILO did. When you installed Fedora you probably installed GRUB to the partition boot record (e.g. /dev/hda2) rather than the master boot record (/dev/hda). If this is true then you should be able to set your Linux partition as the "active" partition and it should boot Linux (or give you the GRUB menu). What I would do if I were you is boot Fedora with your floppy. Edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst file and make sure it has a boot entry for both Linux and eXPee and then install grub to /dev/hda (assuming your OSs are on the first IDE drive). To do this you would simply:

# /sbin/grub-install /dev/hda

If you would like us to look over your grub.conf to make sure it looks right before commiting just post it here. It would also be helpful if you posted the output of this:

# /sbin/fdisk -l

That's a lower case L in the above command line.

[worker201]

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,6)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda7
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda7
default=1
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,6)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Fedora Core (2.4.22-1.2115.nptl)
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl ro root=LABEL=/1 hdc=ide-scsi rhgb
initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.img
title Windows XP
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14589 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 5 40131 de Dell Utility
/dev/hda2 * 6 7801 62621370 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda3 7802 14589 54524610 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda5 7802 9076 10241406 b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda6 9077 9367 2337426 82 Linux swap
/dev/hda7 9368 14589 41945683+ 83 Linux

Thanks for all your help. I'm pretty good with LILO, but lost when it comes to grub.

[Void Main]

That looks right. The only thing I might change is "root=LABEL=/1" to "root=/dev/hda7" (I sometimes have trouble using the partition label, the "/dev/xxx" way always works). Then all you should have to do is "/sbin/grub-install /dev/hda" and it should boot the grub menu the next time you boot.

[worker201]

[root@ocean grub]# /sbin/grub-install /dev/hda
Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map /boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.

# this device map was generated by anaconda
(fd0) /dev/fd0
(hd0) /dev/hda

Looks okay so far. But we'll see what happens when I reboot later.

[worker201]

Yay, both OS boot very nicely!

Now, I want to set the timeout to infinity, so no OS is automatically booted. If you don't enter a choice, it should just sit there and wait, for weeks if necessary. What is the proper grub syntax for this? I know how to do it in lilo...

btw, VoidMain, your link to bluethingy's article on gnome menus was a lifesaver. Thanks!

[Void Main]

Wow, to be honest I am not sure. I don't see the answer in the documentation:

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/

If I were to guess the first thing I might try is commenting out the "timeout=" line. You still have your boot disk handy right. :) Also since you are new to GRUB you might not realize that you can make changes to the menu (/etc/grub.conf or /boot/grub/grub.conf or /boot/grub/menu.lst) and not have to reinstall grub like you had to do with LILO. Once you change your grub.conf the changes are effective.