Comment 82 for bug 403408

Sorry for the long post everyone! I pondered whether to write this all here or not - but decided it may be relevant to this bug for some Ubuntu beginners.

@JimUSA - I know it can be frustrating but that is the nature of the beast. All things considered (the breadth of different hardware, the limited support from hardware vendors, etc) I think it is a huge accomplishment that a free OS (mailed to your door free too!) manages to run as trouble free on as many different hardware platforms as it does. Having said that, I know its a pain when it doesn't work and I really hope a proper fix is released very soon (and new ISOs distributed).

To be honest, I don't know whether I'd even be installing Ubuntu on hardware of that vintage. I would imagine it would have limited RAM as well? Don't get me wrong, Ubuntu is a great OS from a user standpoint and I think it achieves a nice balance between cutting edge software/features and legacy hardware support, but for older systems I think an OS that is less resource intensive is better. I'd be inclined towards PuppyLinux or DamnSmallLinux. IMHO Ubuntu is too clunky and unresponsive on older hardware.

Back on topic! - in response to your questions Jim, assuming you may wish to push on with Ubuntu:
1) Not sure about blocks and clusters, but I don't think they're the same thing. Don't think not knowing will stop you from solving your issues here.

2) Have you tried changing the BIOS setting and see if XP still boots? If so how about Ubuntu now? Worst case scenario, change the BIOS setting back.

3) You could move the XP partition and put a boot partition at the start...But: !!!DO NOT DO IT!!! You will open up a whole new world of pain! When you try to boot into XP it will see the boot partition and call that "C:" so in effect Windows will now be installed on "D:" (assuming it was on "C:" initially). Obviously Windows will crash and burn because it won't find any of the files it's looking for on "C:". It can theoretically be repaired (think lots of manual registry editing) but its a much better idea not to put yourself in that position to start with.

4) Don't worry about entries in Grub too much at this point. Make sure WinXP is working properly first. First thing I'd do (if you haven't already) is get a portable hard drive, and back up anything even remotely important (including your Win CD Keyif you don't have the box handy anymore, the sticker has gone AWOL or its a laptop with an OEM factory install - use RockXP, MagicJellybean or similar).

Personally I would just use the fix in #1/#10 but if that doesn't work or you choose not to, try this: If you can fit a small / (root) partition (say 30GB - as suggested above #50) AFTER the XP partition but completely within the 136GB limit (followed by /home and swap in the remaining space) then that should prepare you for a trouble free install.

If it will not fit, then you'll need to break your XP partition into 2 (basically the same as what your doing with the Ubuntu Install). In the past I've used Paragon Partition Manager and found it good for moving/resizing NTFS partitions. I notice they have a free version (http://www.paragon-software.com/home/pm-express/download.html). Create a new NTFS partition and move as much of your personal data as you can onto it. If most of the stuff is in your "My Documents" then you can redirect that to a new folder in the new partition (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310147). If you would like to live a little more dangerously (and the volume of space taken by "Documents and Settings" makes it justifiable) you can change the location of the whole "Documents and Settings" folder (right near the bottom: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/236621). Other things you can do: turn off hibernate, move pagefile/virtual-memory to new partition and/or delete old System Restore points. Once you have the contents of "C:" below 106GB, defrag both partitions. Then resize both partitions (using Paragon or similar), leaving ~30GB free between them. Make sure you leave min 10-15% free on "C:" for Windows to run happily. Then partition the free space; (either with Paragon or similar if it can do ext4, otherwise with GParted/Ubuntu install CD) set the 30GB (within the 136GB) as / and the other space (at the end) as / and swap.

Once you have it working, running "sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc" should remove the dead Ubuntu Grub entry.

All should be well now!? If not, try thrashing it out over on the Ubuntu forums (http://ubuntuforums.org/) and report your fix back here later when its working.