Why do I get no option to boot either Ubuntu or Windows after UBUNTU 12.1 installation for a dual boot (PC automatically loads windows xp sp3)?

Question

I've just Installed Ubuntu 12.10. When asked to remove dvd to restart there was no boot option menu and PC started to load windows.

Checkdisk ran and displayed multiple messages, eg. Deleting orphan file record segment 123416.

In Windows XP my C:\ was reduced by the amount of space allocated to ubuntu partitions.
I accessed boot menu and there was only the option for Normal windows start up and windows recovery start up.

Answer 1

Take a look at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair. Sometimes the installer cannot properly place the GRUB (first-level boot menu) on the hard disk. Repairing it is often as simple as running the Boot-Repair tool.