error code 18 Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS
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Background Info here (for reference):
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/GRUB
Error 18: Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS
This error is returned when a read is attempted at a linear block address beyond the end of the BIOS translated area. This generally happens if your disk is larger than the BIOS can handle (512MB for (E)IDE disks on older machines or larger than 8GB on others.). In more practical terms this means the BIOS is unable to start executing the kernel because the kernel is not located within the block it can access at boot up time.
This can be circumvented by creating a boot partition at the beginning of the disk that is completely within the first 1023 cylinders of the harddrive. This partition will contain the kernel.
The kernel itself does not suffer from the same limitations as the BIOS so after the BIOS has loaded the kernel the kernel will have no problem accessing the whole harddrive. Newer BIOSes will automatically translate the harddrives size in a way that it can be completely contained within the first 1023 cylinders and hence modern computers do not suffer from this problem.
The same error can happen when the BIOS detects a disk in a different way as Linux does. This can happen when changing motherboards or when moving a GRUB-bootable disk from one computer to another. If this happens, just boot with a GRUB floppy, read the C/H/S numbers from the existing partition table and manually edit the BIOS numbers to match. If using a SUSE linux and installing on VM Ware this problem is solved by creating a small partition at the very beginning of the harddisc, and mounting it as /boot.
Error 18 on Dual Boot Systems Using a Single Hard Drive
This error often occurs when creating a dual boot system (with Windows) on a single hard disk drive, as in a notebook PC, because the Linux partitions end up being beyond the LBA range. On a large notebook drive you may need to re-install Windows into a smaller primary partition (or resize the partition), then create an extended partition in the unallocated space and create partitions for Linux Root, Linux Swap, and Linux Home, then in the remaining unallocated space create another NTFS partition for Windows. In other words, the Linux partitions must be immediately after the Primary Windows partition so they are still within the LBA range, then you can place additional NTFS or FAT32 partitions after the Linux partitions.
On a 160GB notebook drive, the following gave Error 18:
Primary: 80GB Windows NTFS
Extended: 4GB (FAT32), 50GB (NTFS), 4GB Linux Root (ext3), 2GB Linux Swap, 20GB Linux home (ext3).
The following worked:
Primary: 80GB Windows NTFS
Extended: 4GB Linux Root (ext3), 2GB Linux Swap, 20GB Linux home (ext3), 4GB (FAT32), 50GB (NTFS).
It can be somewhat of an annoyance to have the NTFS file system split into two partitions, but it's a workaround.
[Note: the reason for the 4GB FAT 32 partition is that it makes it possible for both Windows and Linux to access that partition, which can be useful when transferring files between the two operating systems.]
Removing GRUB After Error 18 on a Dual Boot System (Windows/Linux) Using a Single Hard Drive
If you install GRUB on a dual boot system with a single hard drive, and get Error 18, you will not be able to boot Windows. To fix this, you need to boot the system from a Windows Recovery CD, select "R" for Repair, and then run "fixmbr" (fix master boot record) at the DOS prompt in C:\windows. This will remove GRUB. If you don't have a recovery CD, you can download floppies from Microsoft for XP, see "http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994".
Read more: http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/GRUB#ixzz0mb0VbZJC
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/GRUB
Error 18: Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS
This error is returned when a read is attempted at a linear block address beyond the end of the BIOS translated area. This generally happens if your disk is larger than the BIOS can handle (512MB for (E)IDE disks on older machines or larger than 8GB on others.). In more practical terms this means the BIOS is unable to start executing the kernel because the kernel is not located within the block it can access at boot up time.
This can be circumvented by creating a boot partition at the beginning of the disk that is completely within the first 1023 cylinders of the harddrive. This partition will contain the kernel.
The kernel itself does not suffer from the same limitations as the BIOS so after the BIOS has loaded the kernel the kernel will have no problem accessing the whole harddrive. Newer BIOSes will automatically translate the harddrives size in a way that it can be completely contained within the first 1023 cylinders and hence modern computers do not suffer from this problem.
The same error can happen when the BIOS detects a disk in a different way as Linux does. This can happen when changing motherboards or when moving a GRUB-bootable disk from one computer to another. If this happens, just boot with a GRUB floppy, read the C/H/S numbers from the existing partition table and manually edit the BIOS numbers to match. If using a SUSE linux and installing on VM Ware this problem is solved by creating a small partition at the very beginning of the harddisc, and mounting it as /boot.
Error 18 on Dual Boot Systems Using a Single Hard Drive
This error often occurs when creating a dual boot system (with Windows) on a single hard disk drive, as in a notebook PC, because the Linux partitions end up being beyond the LBA range. On a large notebook drive you may need to re-install Windows into a smaller primary partition (or resize the partition), then create an extended partition in the unallocated space and create partitions for Linux Root, Linux Swap, and Linux Home, then in the remaining unallocated space create another NTFS partition for Windows. In other words, the Linux partitions must be immediately after the Primary Windows partition so they are still within the LBA range, then you can place additional NTFS or FAT32 partitions after the Linux partitions.
On a 160GB notebook drive, the following gave Error 18:
Primary: 80GB Windows NTFS
Extended: 4GB (FAT32), 50GB (NTFS), 4GB Linux Root (ext3), 2GB Linux Swap, 20GB Linux home (ext3).
The following worked:
Primary: 80GB Windows NTFS
Extended: 4GB Linux Root (ext3), 2GB Linux Swap, 20GB Linux home (ext3), 4GB (FAT32), 50GB (NTFS).
It can be somewhat of an annoyance to have the NTFS file system split into two partitions, but it's a workaround.
[Note: the reason for the 4GB FAT 32 partition is that it makes it possible for both Windows and Linux to access that partition, which can be useful when transferring files between the two operating systems.]
Removing GRUB After Error 18 on a Dual Boot System (Windows/Linux) Using a Single Hard Drive
If you install GRUB on a dual boot system with a single hard drive, and get Error 18, you will not be able to boot Windows. To fix this, you need to boot the system from a Windows Recovery CD, select "R" for Repair, and then run "fixmbr" (fix master boot record) at the DOS prompt in C:\windows. This will remove GRUB. If you don't have a recovery CD, you can download floppies from Microsoft for XP, see "http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994".
Read more: http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/GRUB#ixzz0mb0VbZJC