On Wed, 2008-05-07 at 21:38 +0200, Kai Schaetzl wrote:
Lanny Marcus wrote on Wed, 07 May 2008 13:13:13 -0500:
On compaq1300, I do *not* have the three boot options (original kernel, latest kernel and Windows XP). I have two (2) options, if I interrupt grub: (a) the original kernel (b) other, which is Windows XP
Ok, that explains it. I bet you see that different on your other systems. You either boot with the Windows Boot-Manager (which looks different from the CentOS one, so you should be able to easily see that) or with some Grub on *another* partition (not the boot partition on hd(0,2) which is the third partition on disk 1). In which order where the systems installed? Did you run into any trouble after installing the second one concerning the dual-boot scenario? Try to reminisce about the history of the system and what got installed when and how. And if you reinstalled grub (or fixed the Windows boot manager with fixmbr from the Windows recovery console) some time later for instance (and then to the wrong partition). That is the clue to understanding why it is different to your other systems. The Windows boot menu is called "boot.ini" and is in the root drive of the Windows installation (it's hidden in Windows). If that doesn't contain any mention of your CentOS, then try to mount the other unmounted partitions one by one and check which holds the other /boot partition.
Kai: I am not using Windows Boot Manager. Grub comes up, as on the 2 boxes, where things are working properly.
Questions: (a) Can I copy /boot/grub/grub.conf on my box and replace that file on my wife's box, with my version? Would that work OK? Worth a try?
(b) Which files should I compare, between my box and my wife's box, the problematic one, to see if I can locate differences?
There was confusion on my part, when I installed Windows XP on my wife's box. Hers was the first one I installed Win XP on, which I'd never installed before and it ended up getting installed more than once. However, in general, I thought her box was the easiest, with regard to the WinXP installations. There may have been some partitioning issues also, since each box has 4 partitions on the Windows side (C, D, E & F). In general, it is *much* easier for me to install CentOS than to install Windoze. And, *much* faster. :-)
TIA, Lanny