Can't boot into Vista Vista Bugs and Problems Discuss Can't boot into Vista in the Windows Vista forums; I had VISTA Installed on my DELL XPS M 1530 laptop. After that I installed Fedora 9. I loaded the Fedora boot manager in Master Boot Record (MBR) which is /...

[nsa_tanay]

I had VISTA Installed on my DELL XPS M 1530 laptop. After that I installed Fedora 9. I loaded the Fedora boot manager in Master Boot Record (MBR) which is /dev/sda in my computer. Then Fedora 9 installed properly and running ok. But I can't log onto VISTA.





I typed 'fdisk -l' in Fedora and the found the following conf. for my computer :--

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x80000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 12 96358+ 6 FAT16
/dev/sda2 13 1318 10485760 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 * 1318 26656 203526367+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 26657 30402 30083025+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 30075 30402 2620416 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 26657 26688 256977 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 26689 28766 16691503+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 28767 29810 8385898+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 29811 30071 2096451 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdb: 4089 MB, 4089446400 bytes
61 heads, 60 sectors/track, 2182 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 3660 * 512 = 1873920 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 3 2183 3989504 b W95 FAT32
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indeed there is a 'other' option in the Fedora boot menu. But when I press 'other' , I get a blank screen with the following message:--
----------------------------------------------------
Booting 'Other'

rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1


BOOTMGR is missing
Press ctrl+Alt+Del to restart
------------------------------------------------

[felix8406]

You may try this: How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows Vista

[crabby]

This is not a Vista issue. You have installed a linux bootloader over the vista and it is not linked properly to the vista partition. You should be able to get it to boot by simply altering the code.

Try a fedora forum and they should be able to help you edit your grub.conf, it's simply a case of pointing it to the right partition!!

If you are really stuck, post back and I'll check it out for you.

crabby

[ProCookie]

Crabby is the best Linux guy on here for sure, Personally i haven't a clue about Linux

[crabby]

Lol, thanks ProCookie.

I guess it's good to have someone around so that we at least don't start to try and fix problems that really aren't Vista related.

crabby

[felix8406]

I remember a suggestion from Crabby a long way back. He suggested basically to use two hard drives. For example, if one hard drive has Vista, then disconnect the power from it and then install Fedora or any other OS on the other drive, then reconnect the power to the Vista HD. I saw this suggestion again a few days back, and maybe is what is needed for Fedora. Perhaps Crabby can expand on that.

[crabby]

That's exactly what I do felix!

It means that both the Vista and linux boot managers are kept intact and you just choose which hard drive to boot from... works a treat!

I have, however, edited a grub.conf to boot direct to vista... and I know ubuntu can automatically create it perfectly.

crabby

[nsa_tanay]

Guys, Thanks to all of you for your replies. I edited the grub.conf and now finally able to boot into VISTA.

But there are so many issues in VISTA. I am not able to run AVG antivirus, Zone Alarm Firewall... etc.. etc...

[nsa_tanay]

Even I am not able to copy and paste simple texts from web sites.

[crabby]

Told you it was the grub.conf

The problems you describe would usually herald a loud chant of "REPAIR INSTALLATION". The problem with this is that you cannot hide linux from windows and so a repair install may flatten GRUB... you won't lose fedora but you will have a new issue where you can't boot the linux.

I would still suggest the repair install with a proviso of a reinstall of the linux boot manager straight after. I would also backup your grub.conf so that you don't have this issue next time.

As a side note, all of the programs you are having issues with install fine for msot people, hence why it is likely to be an installtion error.

crabby