Unbootable Windows Vista partition

[steve7233]

Hello, I recently built a new desktop. After installing Kubuntu on my 200 Gig SATA, I decided to put my old desktops Win Vista HD in my new computerr. When I select to boot Win from the Grub menu I get 'HD read error'. I can acess it completely via dolphine so why won't it boot. Motherboard - Gigabyte model number GA-EP45-UD3P. Can someone please tell me what I need to do? Thanks in advance.

[NickStone]

It appears you had installed Windows after installing Kubuntu. I'd have done it the other way around, install Windows first then install Kubuntu on a separate partition and have Kubuntu set up the grub in order to select either Kubuntu or Windows from boot.

I'm sure some one else will come along and guide you how to amend grub to boot Windows.

[steve7233]

I built a new desktop and after getting it running I decided to pull my Win drive out of my old desktop and put in my new one. This way the few games that I can't get running in wine can be played in Windows until I get the wine installs working. That way when I get frustrated then I can just switch to Windows. Of course this won't work for games like Everquest: Landmark since that requiers a minimum of Win 7 and 64bit. This Win I have is 32 bit which is slowly becomeing obslete requiering wine developers to start improveing wine's 64 bit stuff.Unfortunatly it won't boot. I am not sure if the error message is comming from Grub or the CMOS.

[jlittle]

Can your machine boot from the Vista disk?

I'm told that windows 7 and 8 can survive a total change of hardware, booting with some base level drivers, but Vista was hated, not just for being slow. If you can't get your BIOS settings to go directly to the Vista disk, you could try disconnecting all but the Vista disk. If your new box has UEFI firmware you might need some kind of BIOS legacy mode. If it

A better option, if you have install media, is to install windows into a VM (this is a linux forum ).

[steve7233]

I tried Reparing with the Vista DVD but it can't see thee partition. Kununtu 14.04 can but Vista DVD can't. I am thinking Win DVD needs a driver that Kubuntu has but what is it and can it be added to Grub menu?

[Qqmike]

Will Boot Repair fix this?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

[SteveRiley]

I'd recommend beginning with jlittle's suggestion of eliminating extra variables. Remove all hard drives except the one containing Windows Vista. Will the machine boot from that? If yes, then you know that the next step is to get it integrated with GRUB on the other disk, which Boot Repair (among other tools) can do. If no, then the cause could be a variety of things.

• The new machine may be in UEFI-only mode, and the disk doesn't contain a UEFI loader. Try changing the firmware settings in the machine to BIOS compatibility mode.
• The new machine may be in UEFI-only mode, and the disk may also contain a UEFI loader, but the machine's firmware is unaware of this. The UEFI boot manager must contain an NVRAM variable that points to the boot loader on the disk. The Boot Repair tool can help here, too.
• The new machine may be in BIOS-only emulation mode, and the disk doesn't contain an MBR. Try changing the firmware settings in the machine to UEFI mode.

Let us know what you find out.

[steve7233]

Today I tried several setttings in the CMOS setup. The last thing I tried was switching HD mode from IDE to ACH. I don't know what ACH is but... IT WORKED! I now have a dual boot system. Maybe now I get Farcry 3 and Tropico 5 to work as nethier Vrtual Box nor wine 1.7.20 could get it to work. Now I see wine 1.7.22 is out but I don't have enough HD space to try it yet. Linux drive has 8 GB or so left. I play a lot of other games so I need a few Gigs for save files.Maybe I can find enough space on my Windows drive to resize the Win partion and make another partion to extend /home.

[Snowhog]

See Difference Between AHCI and IDE

[steve7233]

Great I clicked the wrong button and my post disappeared. PHP should save a post when you click on reply to thread by accedent and already have a bunch of stuff typed into the window. That way if you meant to click on post then you can recover.

[steve7233]

See Difference Between AHCI and IDE

Thanks for the link. My Kubuntu is on a SATA so AHCI is better anyway. @ Qqmike I tried repair boot the other day but obviously the Vista DVD couldn't see the Win Vista install.

[SteveRiley]

Today I tried several setttings in the CMOS setup. The last thing I tried was switching HD mode from IDE to ACH.

Ah, I would never have even thought to suggest that, as IDE mode is hardly used any more. Your other machine's drive controller was in ACHI mode when Windows was installed, and Windows configures storage drivers appropriately. When you try to boot such a system on a machine where the driver controller is in IDE mode, Windows can't make sense of the communications format between the drive and the controller because the IDE drivers aren't installed. Good sleuthing.

Great I clicked the wrong button and my post disappeared. PHP should save a post when you click on reply to thread by accedent and already have a bunch of stuff typed into the window. That way if you meant to click on post then you can recover.

If you allow your web browser to save the cookie our forum gives you and also save your ID and password in the browser, then vBulletin's autosave feature might help you recover from this.

[steve7233]

am going to boot Windows so I can play Farcry 3 since even wine 1.7.22 or Virtualbox can't run it... or at least I can't figure it out. *Stupid Uplay DRM crap.