GRUB Rescue

[drs305]

I'm currently not able to make my computer run from the CD. I've had the CD in the drive the whole time I've been in this conversation, but so far the disk drive doesn't spin up. Maybe I just don't understand exactly what I'm being told to do.

Does the CD work in another computer?

If it's not spinning at all, you may have to change the BIOS settings to allow the CD to boot first. How to enter BIOS setup varies by system, but it's usually it is by pressing the DEL key or one of the function F** keys as the computer starts. If you can get into BIOS, find the boot options and set the system to boot from the CD drive first.

Added: I'm going to be away for a bit but will check in a few hours. There are a number of helpers on here who are excellent at interpreting the Results.txt contents who may reply before then.

[Shelton2142]

The CD has run in both the computer I broke and the laptop I am currently using to post here. I just don't install it on the laptop because there isn't enough space.

Okay, I managed to get into BIOS. I have 3 options in the menu under Boot.

Boot Device Priority
Boot Settings Configuration
Security

In Device Priority, there are 3 listed devices.

floppy drive
sata:3m-wdc wd3200
cdrom: pm-atapi ihd

I switched the CD to first priority and now the computer is running from the disk. That first hurdle is finally fixed.

[Cavsfan]

The CD has run in both the computer I broke and the laptop I am currently using to post here. I just don't install it on the laptop because there isn't enough space.

Okay, I managed to get into BIOS. I have 3 options in the menu under Boot.

Boot Device Priority
Boot Settings Configuration
Security

In Device Priority, there are 3 listed devices.

floppy drive
sata:3m-wdc wd3200
cdrom: pm-atapi ihd

Yes, you want to make the cdrom first. I have mine that way normally.
That is the problem, right now it is taking the HD option.

[Shelton2142]

Well, now I have the boot info script and I'm in the Terminal about to use the command

sudo bash [path/to/the/download_folder]/boot_info_script*.s

I'm not familiar with Ubuntu enough for this. What is the name of the default path to the download folder in a LiveCD session?

[Cavsfan]

Well, now I have the boot info script and I'm in the Terminal about to use the command

sudo bash [path/to/the/download_folder]/boot_info_script*.s

I'm not familiar with Ubuntu enough for this. What is the name of the default path to the download folder in a LiveCD session?

Where did you download it? If it went to home then it would be ~/home/your user goes here/boot_info_script*.s

[Shelton2142]

Would the user of a LiveCD be named "ubuntu"? because that's the parent folder of my downloads.

[Cavsfan]

Would the user of a LiveCD be named "ubuntu"? because that's the parent folder of my downloads.

Yes, try plugging that in place of your user goes here and see if that does the trick.

[Shelton2142]

okay, I seem to keep mistyping the path, because I keep coming up with "no such directory exists". should the path be

file_system/home/ubuntu/downloads/boot_info_script

[drs305]

Most likely the command will be:

sudo bash ~/Desktop/boot_info_script*.sh
or 
sudo bash ~/Downloads/boot_info_script*.sh

since most downloads are either to the Desktop or the user's Downloads folder.

[Shelton2142]

Got it!

                Boot Info Script 0.55    dated February 15th, 2010                    

============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

 => Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive in 
    partition #5 for /media/sda5/boot/grub.

sda1: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows XP
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  Windows XP
    Boot files/dirs:   /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM /wubildr.mbr 
                       /ubuntu/winboot/wubildr.mbr /wubildr 
                       /ubuntu/winboot/wubildr

sda2: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows XP
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   

sda3: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  

sda5: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  
    Operating System:  Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
    Boot files/dirs:   /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda6: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot         Start           End          Size  Id System

/dev/sda1    *             63   268,414,019   268,413,957   7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2         268,414,020   447,304,905   178,890,886   7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3         447,305,726   625,141,759   177,836,034   5 Extended
/dev/sda5         447,305,728   617,814,015   170,508,288  83 Linux
/dev/sda6         617,816,064   625,141,759     7,325,696  82 Linux swap / Solaris


blkid -c /dev/null: ____________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL                         

/dev/loop0                                              squashfs                                 
/dev/sda1        14A48F43A48F25F8                       ntfs       Local Disk                    
/dev/sda2        506CD7DA6CD7B8C4                       ntfs       New Volume                    
/dev/sda3: PTTYPE="dos" 
/dev/sda5        baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08   ext4                                     
/dev/sda6        8d2d7718-c09c-4219-a553-dce7ee34ff77   swap                                     
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos" 

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev  output: ===========================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

aufs             /                        aufs       (rw)
/dev/sr0         /cdrom                   iso9660    (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop0       /rofs                    squashfs   (ro,noatime)


================================ sda1/boot.ini: ================================

[boot loader] 
timeout=15 
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS 
[operating systems] 
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn 
C:\ubnldr.mbr="UNetbootin" 
C:\wubildr.mbr = "Ubuntu" 

=========================== sda5/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
  set saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then
    saved_entry=${chosen}
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function recordfail {
  set recordfail=1
  if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  insmod gfxterm
  insmod vbe
  if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
    # For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
    # understand terminal_output
    terminal gfxterm
  fi
fi
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-22-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    recordfail
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08 ro   quiet splash
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-22-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    recordfail
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08
    echo    'Loading Linux 2.6.32-22-generic ...'
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08 ro single 
    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-21-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    recordfail
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08 ro   quiet splash
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-21-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    recordfail
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08
    echo    'Loading Linux 2.6.32-21-generic ...'
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08 ro single 
    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08
    linux16    /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08
    linux16    /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Professional (on /dev/sda1)" {
    insmod ntfs
    set root='(hd0,1)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 14a48f43a48f25f8
    drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
    chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

=============================== sda5/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=baaf6d96-6112-4a47-9206-6885c352dc08 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=8d2d7718-c09c-4219-a553-dce7ee34ff77 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/fd0        /media/floppy0  auto    rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0

=================== sda5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


 308.6GB: boot/grub/core.img
 259.5GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
 308.6GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-21-generic
 308.6GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-22-generic
 308.6GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic
 308.6GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic
 308.6GB: initrd.img
 308.6GB: initrd.img.old
 308.6GB: vmlinuz
 308.6GB: vmlinuz.old

Maybe now I can figure out just how stupid I was with all of this.