Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: 10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Beans
    3

    10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

    Absolute newbie here...

    Been fighting this situation for last day and a half (on and off...)

    Setup:
    pretty new machine, runs windows 7, 4GB; HP pavilion a6707, 4GB Ram, dual core (it does have a Nvidia Geforce 7100) which I've seen posts with different issues, but I cannot even load yet..

    took HD and put an older 160GB (IDE) HD in so that I would install cleanly Ubuntu from live disk
    (unlugged Windows HD (SATA) and plugged the IDE HD (its only one on the bus, configured as Master)

    after I ran the install (successfully, no errors show up), when I reboot, I get the " disk boot failure, insert system disk ... pres enter" message
    I go through the Bios page, but never get to see a GRUB screen

    I've ran out of ideas now, been looking at the forums unsuccessfully, probably my ignorance..

    my troubleshooting thus far:

    1. changed Bios to boot from new HD, good, it gets recognized, run the Bios test (read, write, etc.) passed all.
    1b - changed IDE cable (tried two sets of cables), power plugs, etc. seems to be fine

    2a here is fdisk output
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

    Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0x000a6cc7

    Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
    /dev/sda1 * 1 18663 149903360 83 Linux
    /dev/sda2 18663 19458 6384641 5 Extended
    /dev/sda5 18663 19458 6384640 82 Linux swap / Solaris

    2b . Run this check to see if it worked and so far it checks as per the post
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...k+boot+failure

    here is output (which matches the poster's 55aa (MBR not locked) and GRUB showing up...

    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo dd if=/dev/sda count=1 | hexdump -C
    00000000 eb 63 90 10 8e d0 bc 00 b0 b8 00 00 8e d8 8e c0 |.c..............|
    00000010 fb be 00 7c bf 00 06 b9 00 02 f3 a4 ea 21 06 00 |...|.........!..|
    00000020 00 be be 07 38 04 75 0b 83 c6 10 81 fe fe 07 75 |....8.u........u|
    00000030 f3 eb 16 b4 02 b0 01 bb 00 7c b2 80 8a 74 01 8b |.........|...t..|
    00000040 4c 02 cd 13 ea 00 7c 00 00 eb fe 00 00 00 00 00 |L.....|.........|
    00000050 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 01 00 00 00 |................|
    00000060 00 00 00 00 ff fa 90 90 f6 c2 80 75 02 b2 80 ea |...........u....|
    00000070 74 7c 00 00 31 c0 8e d8 8e d0 bc 00 20 fb a0 64 |t|..1....... ..d|
    00000080 7c 3c ff 74 02 88 c2 52 bb 17 04 80 27 03 74 06 ||<.t...R....'.t.|
    00000090 be 88 7d e8 1c 01 be 05 7c f6 c2 80 74 48 b4 41 |..}.....|...tH.A|
    000000a0 bb aa 55 cd 13 5a 52 72 3d 81 fb 55 aa 75 37 83 |..U..ZRr=..U.u7.|
    000000b0 e1 01 74 32 31 c0 89 44 04 40 88 44 ff 89 44 02 |..t21..D.@.D..D.|
    000000c0 c7 04 10 00 66 8b 1e 5c 7c 66 89 5c 08 66 8b 1e |....f..\|f.\.f..|
    000000d0 60 7c 66 89 5c 0c c7 44 06 00 70 b4 42 cd 13 72 |`|f.\..D..p.B..r|
    000000e0 05 bb 00 70 eb 76 b4 08 cd 13 73 0d f6 c2 80 0f |...p.v....s.....|
    000000f0 84 d0 00 be 93 7d e9 82 00 66 0f b6 c6 88 64 ff |.....}...f....d.|
    00000100 40 66 89 44 04 0f b6 d1 c1 e2 02 88 e8 88 f4 40 |@f.D...........@|
    00000110 89 44 08 0f b6 c2 c0 e8 02 66 89 04 66 a1 60 7c |.D.......f..f.`||
    00000120 66 09 c0 75 4e 66 a1 5c 7c 66 31 d2 66 f7 34 88 |f..uNf.\|f1.f.4.|
    00000130 d1 31 d2 66 f7 74 04 3b 44 08 7d 37 fe c1 88 c5 |.1.f.t.;D.}7....|
    00000140 30 c0 c1 e8 02 08 c1 88 d0 5a 88 c6 bb 00 70 8e |0........Z....p.|
    00000150 c3 31 db b8 01 02 cd 13 72 1e 8c c3 60 1e b9 00 |.1......r...`...|
    00000160 01 8e db 31 f6 bf 00 80 8e c6 fc f3 a5 1f 61 ff |...1..........a.|
    00000170 26 5a 7c be 8e 7d eb 03 be 9d 7d e8 34 00 be a2 |&Z|..}....}.4...|
    00000180 7d e8 2e 00 cd 18 eb fe 47 52 55 42 20 00 47 65 |}.......GRUB .Ge|
    00000190 6f 6d 00 48 61 72 64 20 44 69 73 6b 00 52 65 61 |om.Hard Disk.Rea|
    000001a0 64 00 20 45 72 72 6f 72 0d 0a 00 bb 01 00 b4 0e |d. Error........|
    000001b0 cd 10 ac 3c 00 75 f4 c3 c7 6c 0a 00 00 00 80 20 |...<.u...l..... |
    000001c0 21 00 83 fe ff ff 00 08 00 00 00 b0 de 11 00 fe |!...............|
    000001d0 ff ff 05 fe ff ff fe bf de 11 02 d8 c2 00 00 00 |................|
    000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
    000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
    00000200
    1+0 records in
    1+0 records out
    512 bytes (512 B) copied, 0.000574411 s, 891 kB/s

    3. Reinstalled GRUB2 two different methods multiple times (method 1, 2) outlined here:
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...ion%20Commands

  2. #2
    anewguy is offline I Ubuntu, Therefore, I Am
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Sometimes I visit earth
    Beans
    5,435
    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Wink Re: 10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

    Dumb question:

    I assume your BIOS was set for boot CD first, then the SATA drive that you disconnected. Did you change the BIOS boot order so the IDE drive follows the CD?

    EDIT: Sorry. Re-read your post and it appears you did so, however I would still suspect something in the boot order.

    Dave

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Beans
    15

    Re: 10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

    Its been a while since I played with IDE but if I remember right, you only set a IDE HD to master if you have another drive that is set to slave. If you only have one IDE you need to set it to cable select.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    UK
    Beans
    148
    Distro
    Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

    Re: 10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

    reinstall, since you've done nothing it wont take long and on the very last page of the install questions right before it does the actual copying and install process there is a "advanced" button. Click that and make sure it it is installing grub to the highest on the list. for example it may say "dev/sda" "dev/sda1" and maybe even "dev/hd0" you want the one at the very top normally. no numbers at the end except a zero in the last case. I've had a few problems before the same as you and this has always fixed it. iIf that doesn't work then try the second option. basically it all has to do with either grub or your bios. since you said you checked the bios then it must be grub. good luck

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Beans
    3

    Re: 10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

    Thanks, a couple of things

    Ortayus, checked again the jumper, I have it as master or single, (the other two options are master with slave, slave), so I think that should be fine.

    acrazyplayer, I know which screen you are talking about (installer) , by default it selects /sda , the only other option is sda1, so I selected /sda1 just for kicks (I have reinstalled always on /sda) to see if it did anything different

    when it rebooted it just gave me blank black screen, unresponsive.

    So I am trying to re-install again, but now the live disk freezes at the 5 red dot screen...

    very weird..., twice I rebooted already... hangs at the same spot (5 red dots...)
    third time is a charm, just got back into ubuntu from live disk, (but back to square 1...)

    any other ideas?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    UK
    Beans
    148
    Distro
    Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

    Re: 10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

    when it gave you a blank screen did it by chance only have a blinking cursor in the top left corner? how long did you leave it blank without touching anything? Im only asking as mine right now is blank up untill the desktop loads.

  7. #7
    anewguy is offline I Ubuntu, Therefore, I Am
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Sometimes I visit earth
    Beans
    5,435
    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Wink Re: 10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

    If you can get it to boot via the LiveCD so you are at least running Ubuntu off the LiveCD, start parted via:

    - open a terminal window

    - sudo parted

    at the parted> prompt:

    print

    check to see which partition it lists as boot. If you want, copy and paste the output back here and we'll take a look at it.

    Dave

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Webster, ny
    Beans
    482
    Distro
    Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

    Re: 10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

    What extension are you putting the OS on? Use ext4
    The government and my wife work together to provide me with a fixed income. The government provides the income and my wife fixed it so I don't see any of it.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Beans
    637
    Distro
    Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

    Re: 10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

    Quote Originally Posted by pdlethbridge View Post
    What extension are you putting the OS on? Use ext4
    Partitioning with 10.04 seems to badly screw up the boot sector on some drives. I had this happen with both an SATA drive and an IDE drive. It took some effort to get these drives back in service and I almost decided it would be easier to consign them to the round file. On my latest installs, I used gParted Live to format an Ext3 partition (and swap partition) on the drive and then did NOT let Ubuntu 10.04 or LinuxMint 9 format the drive. Everything seemed to go a lot better that way! Installation of Mint 9 seemed to go a bit more smoothly than Ubuntu 10.04 and sharing files with Windows machines on the network was definitely easier.

    Installation seems to be a lot faster with Ext3 than Ext4.

    Jerry

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Beans
    3

    Re: 10.04 disk boot failure; help ran out of ideas !!!

    Thanks Guys,

    will try Jerry's suggestion regarding Gparted and ext3 and keep you posted

    will check the sudo parted..

    - regarding the blank screen, I left it there for 15-20 min. (this is when installer is on sda1, which from what I read it should be on sda, but when I do that I immediately get the disk boot failure...)

    - thus far, I have been using the default ext4 (from the installer, which also formats the drives)

    Max

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •