From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jan 29 20:35:39 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 815E716A4CE for ; Thu, 29 Jan 2004 20:35:39 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp2.mts.net (smtp2.mts.net [205.200.16.113]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C6D4F43D45 for ; Thu, 29 Jan 2004 20:35:37 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from gval@mts.net) Received: from [192.168.0.5] (wnpgmb01dc6-40-11.dynamic.mts.net [142.161.40.11])i0U4ZXrB007296; Thu, 29 Jan 2004 22:35:34 -0600 (CST) From: greg To: Ion-Mihai Tetcu In-Reply-To: <20040130022305.4b1e5e37@it.buh.cameradicommercio.ro> References: <1075420318.743.16.camel@localhost.localdomain> <20040130022305.4b1e5e37@it.buh.cameradicommercio.ro> Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <1075437327.636.30.camel@localhost.localdomain> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.5 Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 22:35:27 -0600 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Booting Release 5.2 and XP X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 04:35:39 -0000 On Thu, 2004-01-29 at 18:23, Ion-Mihai Tetcu wrote: > On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 17:51:59 -0600 > greg wrote: > > [..] > > > I have fomated the MBR on the second drive, so it is MSed. > > So it boots if you set the BIOS to boot from the first drive, right ? Yes. > [... Snip ...] > Take a look on the Recovery console by booting from the XP CD. It's the > infamous ntdlr thing. It is supposed to be fixable without reinstalling > XP. > This is not an ntldr issue. I forgot to mention that it will load Windows XP if I change the boot device to IDE-2 in the BIOS settings (see complication below). I would not bother worrying about the boot loader if I could change boot devices easily from the BIOS settings. I would just change the boot device to be IDE-2 when ever I wanted to use XP. However, there is one complication. Here is what I have found with some experimentation: My computer ignores the BIOS boot device settings. It will always try to boot off the device it booted from last boot. If that device is no longer present, it will then check the BIOS settings. I will clarify with a situation. I am in FreeBSD and I want to use Windows: - Reboot - Change boot device to IDE-2 in BIOS settings - The BSD loader comes up - Shutdown - Disconnect Primary Master - Turn on - Windows XP now boots - Shutdown - Reconnect primary master - Turn on - Windows XP boots, both drives are connected Now that I am in Windows, I decide I want to go back to FreeBSD. - reboot - Change boot device to IDE-0 - Windows XP loads - Shutdown - disconnect secondary master - Turn on - Now BSD boots - shutdown - reconnect secondary master - BSD boots and I have both hard drives accessable (but only primary master boots). This is a BIOS issue. Maybe the BIOS is flakey or something. This is not a BSD issue, I am just giving a little background into why I want to get this boot loader dual booting. The boot loader IS my fix to my flakey BIOS. Now what I want to do, is boot of the primary master all the time and use a boot loader so I can dual boot. > [... snip ...] > Try something like: > Replace in /boot/grub/grub.conf something like: > ------------------------------------------------------ > title BSD/UN*X FreeBSD 5.1 (UFS2) > root (hd1,0,a) > kernel /boot/loader > ------------------------------------------------------ > to: > ------------------------------------------------------ > title BSD/UN*X FreeBSD 5.1 (UFS2) > root (hd1,0,a) > chainloader +1 > ------------------------------------------------------ > > It is supposed to work. If not, post on rofug@rofug.ro asking about how > to do it. I will research that. When I tried to install grub from ports, It gave me a message "GRUB does not support booting from UFS (yet)." I do not have an ext2 filesystem to install GRUB on. I will also take a look at Kurt Claussen's suggestion of using BootIt NG. Thanx guys. -- greg