On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:09:13 +0000, eric wrote:

> Hi all, hope someone can help.
> I'm having a problem with my desktop machine (dual Windows/Linux, both
> installed on a single Maxtor 200GB disk): when I turn it on, it never
> boots and it goes into the CMOS Setup Utility instead. I still see the
> disk so I wonder if the disk is broken or there is some other problem.
>
> This is what I see within the CMOS Setup Utiliy:
>
> Channel 0 Master [None]
> Channel 0 Slave [Benq DVD]
> Channel 1 Master [None]
> Channel 1 Slave [None]
> Channel 2 Master [Maxtor 6V200E0]
> Channel 3 Master [None]
> Channel 4 Master [None]
> Channel 5 Master [None]
>
> The IDE Channel 2 Master is as follows:
>
> Extended IDE Drive [Auto]
> Capacity 203 Gb
> Cylinder 65535
> Head 16
> PreComp 0
> Landing Zone 65534
> Sector 255
>
> Thanks a lot.

A question. Is your hard drive plugged into the IDE0 port? It should
be, since it's your Master system drive. Windows "likes" being on IDE0
Master. Linux doesn't care. You might have a "blown" IDE0 controller
chip, too. I had this happen on a system, which caused it to refuse to
boot. I just sat there.

Check all your connections to the motherboard and to your drives. Make
sure nothing is loose or broken. Clean contacts.

Check that your CMOS battery is good. When it dies, sometimes this
causes booting problems.

I'm assuming that this just started. What were you doing before the last
shutdown when everything was working?

Boot your system using a Linux Live CD to check that there is nothing
wrong with your hardware. See if it recognizes and configures
everything. Run fsck on your Linux partition(s). Any errors? If not,
check if you can mount your hard drive, DVD, etc. Check that your MBR
(Master Boot Record) is not damaged. I'm assuming that when you
installed Linux, you wrote GRUB or LILO, to the MBR overwriting Windows'
MBR.

Boot with your Windows CD in Repair Mode, and see what happens. As a
last resort you can write the Windows' MBR back to the hard drive
(overwriting the Linux one) using the command 'fixmbr'. However, you
won't be able to boot Linux anymore.

Switch where your drives are connected. See if that does anything.

Stef