GRUB Error: out of disk. Cannot boot default entries.

[darkod]

Yeah, I added my old HDD after the install was over in order to transfer all of the old files. Should I avoid doing that?

Yes and no.

Your situation is precisely why I rarely recommend unplugging disks.

Yes, it sounds like a good idea to keep your old disk disconnected and the data safe. But even if it was connected, it was safe as long as you are careful and install ubuntu to the new disk. There is no way to install on the wrong disk, if you know at least a little about what you are doing.

On the other hand, you can never know how things will go with connecting disks later.

If your both disks were connected during install, ubuntu and grub would have made all the correct settings. Like this, we have to chase them around now.

And when it reported a wrong device.map file you shouldn't have restarted before running the command to create a new one.

Try this:
Power down and disconnect the older disk. Leave just the new install. If you boot, will it boot OK?

Second question: are both of your disks sata or ide, or a mix?

[anthony62490]

Both drives are IDE.

Okay, reset the pc and disconnected the old drive. It does not appear to do anything. I continue to get the grub command line.
Isn't this exactly what should be happening? I updated grub without updating device.map, so I would imagine that that's what is causing this.
Could I just change device.map to say
"(hd0) /dev/sdb"
or
"(hd0) /dev/sdb1"

[darkod]

For IDE disks, check this:

1. Make sure the jumper settings are correct if you are using them. If the disks are on the same cable and you use CS, plug the new disk at the end, the old at the middle of the cable.

2. If using separate cables, plug the new disk in the primary port and as Master, the old disk in the secondary port as Master or Slave.

That should make the new disk sda and the old sdb hopefully.

As for changing the device.map, did you plan to do this from live mode (because you can't boot)? What the device map should say depends on whether your new disk is sda or sdb, because it needs to be hd0. You should be able to check that from live mode with:

sudo fdisk -l

If the new disk is sdb, the map should be changed to something like:

(hd0) /dev/sdb
(hd1) /dev/sda

[anthony62490]

Okay, I put both HDDs on the same cable and they are both set to CS. The new drive is at the end of the cable and the old drive is in the middle.

terminal output:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 20.0 GB, 20008035328 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2432 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x55aa55aa

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        2325    18675531   83  Linux
/dev/sda2            2326        2432      859477+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5            2326        2432      859446   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 41.1 GB, 41110142976 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4998 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x4b36bdea

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1        4812    38652358+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb2            4813        4998     1494045    5  Extended
/dev/sdb5            4813        4998     1494013+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

[darkod]

Your new disk, the 20GB is sda. It doesn't boot like this too? Still the same error?

If yes, we can try chroot and to update the grub configuration.

[anthony62490]

The answer is Yes. I still get the same error. Honestly, I didn't change much. The only thing that changed was that the 40GB HDD was changed from Master to CS. The 20GB was already set to CS, which I imagine sets it as Master.

[oldfred]

Is your cable the newer cable select type with 80 wires and three different color connectors or the older 40 wire cable.

with pictures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA
Some history:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCS-c.html
If you have the more modern 80 conductor 'cable-select' type of IDE ribbon cables, make sure the blue plug is connected to the motherboard, the grey plug is plugged into your slave drive (if any), and the black plug is plugged into your master hard drive.

If you have the old kind of IDE ribbon cables, check that one hard disk is set as 'master' and the other is set as 'slave' if there's another drive on the same cable.

[anthony62490]

It's a 40 wire cable

[anthony62490]

Okay, changing the 20GB HDD to Master only seems to have made things worse. Neither the GRUB menu or command line comes up. The BIOS begins its procedures and when it is detecting the Masters and Slaves, the Primary Master (20GB) never shows up. I've look at the CMOS to see if I could make it autodetect the HDD, but I got nowhere. Funny thing is, the Maxtor 40GB HDD popped right up as the Primary Slave.

[darkod]

With every further post it sounds like hardware problem. I have to go back to what I said about never unplugging hardware when installing an OS, it needs to know what you have.
If the two disks can't work together, you would have noticed that even before installing ubuntu on the 20GB.

Double check the jumper settings, or try finding another cable and use them on the different channels. In that case use the 20GB on the primary channel, because you want that to be the primary disk.

You have to make the hardware work first, only after that we can start discussing ubuntu.