grub on a eeepc 900A - why sd1, sda2 then sda5, sda6?

[bigpcman]

TC 2.2
I'm dual booting a eeepc using grub and I was surprised to see the partition mapping it uses. I have 3 partitions on the ssd, the last one contains the tc boot files. Everything works fine except the device mapping seems strange. Grub reports via the command [setup (hd "tab"] that hd (0,0), hd (0,1), hd (0,4) & hd (0,5) are present and tc reports that sda1,2,5,6 are all present. Although, sda2 will not mount. Any ideas?

Here's my menu.lst:

Code: [Select]

#timeout 30
#default /default

title WinXP
find --set-root /ntldrxp
chainloader /ntldrxp

title TCL
root=(hd0,5)
kernel /bzImage tinycore waitusb=5 norestore embed pause
initrd /tinycore.gz
boot


[gerald_clark]

sda2 (hd0,1) is an extended partition containing sda5 and sda6.

[bigpcman]

sda2 (hd0,1) is an extended partition containing sda5 and sda6.

Thanks for the answer. I wonder why sda3 and sd4 are not used? So if in tc I delete the extended partition and create new partitions using fdisk I should have a "normal mapping"?

edit: I deleted the extended partition and created two primary partitions and now all is well ( sda1,2,3).

[gerald_clark]

Ask the person who setup the partitions.

[^thehatsrule^]

The (old) standard only allowed one disk to have up to 4 partitions.  So the extended numbering starting at 5 is likely for compatibility

[Kingdomcome]

sda1-4 are reserved for either up to 4 primary partitions or up to 3 primary partitions and an extended partition which can contain up to 128 logical drives. logical drive names start at sda5.  see here for a more in depth explanation.