BillD Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 I have a dual boot setup with Windows XP (NTFS) and Boshi Linux on a laptop. Each time I boot into Windows, it works fine while I am in Windows, but when I attempt to reboot the computer, the MBR is lost and I cannot boot into anything until I restore GRUB which also restores the XP part of the MBR,Rebooting into Linux works fine every time, but no amount of fooling with and fixing Windows XP has accomplished anything. I, at one point, came to the conclusion that it was the latest version of Avast free that was causing it (because it seemed to start after I installed the new version of Avast free), so I used Revo Uninstaller to remove Avast, and staying off line I continued to experiment, and the problem is still there. It is a bit much to know that if I use Windows, I am going to have to get out my Acronis True Image disk and restore the MBR before I can use the computer again with either OS Any suggestions would be most welcome because I have lost many hours over the past two days, and I cannot figure this one out . . .Thank you,Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewmur Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 (edited) I have a dual boot setup with Windows XP (NTFS) and Boshi Linux on a laptop. Each time I boot into Windows, it works fine while I am in Windows, but when I attempt to reboot the computer, the MBR is lost and I cannot boot into anything until I restore GRUB which also restores the XP part of the MBR,Rebooting into Linux works fine every time, but no amount of fooling with and fixing Windows XP has accomplished anything. I, at one point, came to the conclusion that it was the latest version of Avast free that was causing it (because it seemed to start after I installed the new version of Avast free), so I used Revo Uninstaller to remove Avast, and staying off line I continued to experiment, and the problem is still there. It is a bit much to know that if I use Windows, I am going to have to get out my Acronis True Image disk and restore the MBR before I can use the computer again with either OS Any suggestions would be most welcome because I have lost many hours over the past two days, and I cannot figure this one out . . .Thank you,BillYou can't have both XP's bootloader and grub in the MBR at the same time. If you want to dualboot, then you need and entry in grub to boot XP. To clarify what is happening, after you use True Image to fix things, what happens when you first reboot. Do you get a Grub boot menu with the option to boot either XP or Linux? And then you can keep booting Linux as many times as you want? But after using XP, you get an error the first time you reboot? If so, then XP has a virus that is corrupting it. It wouldn't be Avast. Try using Combofix to remove the virus in XP.edit: BTW, have you considered using VirtualBox to run XP instead of dual booting? Edited June 7, 2011 by lewmur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillD Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 (edited) Do you get a Grub boot menu with the option to boot either XP or Linux? And then you can keep booting Linux as many times as you want? But after using XP, you get an error the first time you reboot? Yes.If so, then XP has a virus that is corrupting it. It wouldn't be Avast. Try using Combofix to remove the virus in XP.edit: BTW, have you considered using VirtualBox to run XP instead of dual booting?I have never used a virtual box, but I always thought of it as something that ran on top of Windows? Not so? If not wouldn't I need driver disks for an XP installation? Oddly, I was just getting on to edit my original post, because when I got away from the problem, I suddenly recalled a guy I know who got a virus that prevented him from booting his Windows computer, and I was about to post an edit and ask what I might use to look for it and remove it if it was there.Having looked up combofix, I am not sure about that because it requires rebooting the computer . . . What about something like Malwarebytes?Thanks,Bill Edited June 7, 2011 by BillD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewmur Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Yes.I have never used a virtual box, but I always thought of it as something that ran on top of Windows? Not so? If not wouldn't I need driver disks for an XP installation? Oddly, I was just getting on to edit my original post, because when I got away from the problem, I suddenly recalled a guy I know who got a virus that prevented him from booting his Windows computer, and I was about to post an edit and ask what I might use to look for it and remove it if it was there.Having looked up combofix, I am not sure about that because it requires rebooting the computer . . . What about something like Malwarebytes?Thanks,BillFirst, Malwarebytes might do the job but if not, use your true image to get XP running and download and run Combofix prior to shutting XP down. As to VirtualBox, you can use it with Linux as the host and it already has all the drivers it needs to run XP. But you will need an Windows OS (2k, XP, Vista or Win7) CD to install it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolphil Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 (edited) Hi,Did you try when in Linux at a terminal sudo update-grub That should add windows to the grub list if Boshi uses Grub2..If Boshi uses the older Grub you will need to add Windows to the grub.lstGoodluckjolphilEdit do you mean Bodhi Linux? Edited June 9, 2011 by jolphil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillD Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 Yes, I updated grub in terminal and saw that Windows was listed, but the fact is that never was the problem; Windows was/is listed along with Linux but if I boot into Windows it destroys the mbr so that after logging out of Windows I then cannot boot into anything again until I repair the mbr.However after hours of running various malware scans, it was suggested to me that maybe it was not a virus . . . so I tried restoring the mbr of Windows with an old EBD from Win 98, and that solved the problem . . . but of course I could then not boot into Linux.There is something wrong with the Bodhi grub (yes it is grub 2) that I have never seen before, but at least the basic problem is now evident. And it really does not matter that much because I am not sure why I have Windows on there anymore anyway, this is an old laptop that I only wanted to use when traveling and I would probably only use Linux for that purpose anyway . . . but the basic problem was driving me nuts until I got it figured out!Thanks,Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burninbush Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 However after hours of running various malware scans, it was suggested to me that maybe it was not a virus . . . so I tried restoring the mbr of Windows with an old EBD from Win 98, and that solved the problem . . . but of course I could then not boot into Linux. >BillD++++++++++++++++Not clear to me that is a correct fix. I'd get out the XP install cd, boot it, and when it is first offered choose the Repair option. When that then gives you a dos-style prompt, you want to run fixboot and fixmbr. That will put a proper XP MBR onto the disk. And then as I wrote on your linux thread, get a copy of grub4dos and use that to boot your linux installs. This will leave the good working XP MBR untouched -- you'll always be able to boot into XP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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