Error: file not found. grub rescue (Ubuntu 10.04)

**wthelpp** · September 13th, 2011

I once installed ubuntu on my friends 160gb HDD and it worked fine on my netbook. And I made sure the boot priority was for my hdd, I got the same error. No other device was present in my netbook.

"Error: partition not found ... grub rescue>"

**drs305** · September 13th, 2011

Check the BIOS reported disk size.

You can also check to see if BIOS/GRUB can see the boot files from the Grub rescue prompt, in a roundabout way.

Type the first part of each of these commands (to but not including the # symbol). The info after the # is what you should see on a working system. If you still have another drive connected, the 0 may need to be 1 in the commands.

Code:

ls # (hd0), (hd0,5)
ls (hd0,5)/  # System folders, and 'vmlinuz' and 'initrd.img'
ls (hd0,5)/boot # a grub folder
ls (hd0,5)/boot/grub # a lot of *.mod files, and if you can find it in the long list, grub.cfg

**wthelpp** · September 13th, 2011

Each time I type these I get the error "no such partition"

How do I check the bios reported disk size ?

**drs305** · September 13th, 2011

Originally Posted by wthelpp

Each time I type these I get the error "no such partition"

How do I check the bios reported disk size ?

Did you try (hd1,5) as well. You may not have seen my edit.

To find the reported disk size, you enter BIOS setup. The key to press during boot varies by manufacturer. It's usually one of the function keys (F1, F2, etc), the DEL or ESC key. Once in setup, there should be a section that describes the drives (size, id's, etc).

If it is reported as 137GB, see if there is an option in BIOS to enable LBA or large drives so it can see the entire drive.

**wthelpp** · September 13th, 2011

when I type (hd1,5) it tells me : hd1,5 cannot get C/H/S values.

And there is no option to see drive size on my bios. I can only set time, date, boot priority and some other stuff.

BTW in the IDE config. it tells me " Primary IDE master: not detected"

**drs305** · September 13th, 2011

Code:

ls (hd1,5)/

as well as the other ones listed previously, replacing (hd0, with (hd1,

**wthelpp** · September 13th, 2011

Yeah thats what I did

ls (hd1,5)/

ls (hd1,5)/boot

ls (hd1,5)/boot/grub

I get the same error hd1,5 cannot get C/H/S values.

Any other ideas ?

And thanks for helping me out again, appreciate it.

**drs305** · September 13th, 2011

I have to log off in a few moments. We haven't really established whether you are having a hard drive/BIOS issue or something else.

I think I'd first try booting to the Desktop (however you did it earlier - LiveUSB?). Once at the Desktop, you can try mounting your Ubuntu partition to see if the files exist.

Open a terminal Window and mount your Ubuntu partition (it should be sda5 or sdb5). You access the terminal via System, Applications menu or typing 'terminal' in the Dash Window. Or ALT-F2.

Code:

sudo mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt
gksu nautilus /mnt

Once you know whether the system files still exist:

Code:

sudo umount /mnt

If the files are there, I would probably try to shrink the Ubuntu partition using Gparted so the end of it is no farther into the disk than about 130GB.

If that doesn't work, I think it's time to reinstall. Create a partition within the first 130GB of the drive and select the partitions manually.

If you can't read any of the files once you mounted the partition, perhaps it is a disk problem and you should figure out whether the hard drive cables, etc are as they should be.

I understand you don't have much Ubuntu experience and you may not understand how to do the things I've suggested. You can google these forums or ask from others who may read this thread. I'll check back when I can.

I wrote a Grub Rescue thread, which might provide some additional help:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1594052

**wthelpp** · September 13th, 2011

Originally Posted by drs305

I have to log off in a few moments. We haven't really established whether you are having a hard drive/BIOS issue or something else.

I think I'd first try booting to the Desktop (however you did it earlier - LiveUSB?). Once at the Desktop, you can try mounting your Ubuntu partition to see if the files exist.

Open a terminal Window and mount your Ubuntu partition (it should be sda5 or sdb5). You access the terminal via System, Applications menu or typing 'terminal' in the Dash Window. Or ALT-F2.

Code:

sudo mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt
gksu nautilus /mnt

Once you know whether the system files still exist:

Code:

sudo umount /mnt

If the files are there, I would probably try to shrink the Ubuntu partition using Gparted so the end of it is no farther into the disk than about 130GB.

If that doesn't work, I think it's time to reinstall. Create a partition within the first 130GB of the drive and select the partitions manually.

If you can't read any of the files once you mounted the partition, perhaps it is a disk problem and you should figure out whether the hard drive cables, etc are as they should be.

I understand you don't have much Ubuntu experience and you may not understand how to do the things I've suggested. You can google these forums or ask from others who may read this thread. I'll check back when I can.

I wrote a Grub Rescue thread, which might provide some additional help:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1594052

Gparted Fixed it ...

**drs305** · September 13th, 2011

Excellent.

So you just shrank the partition size?

Edit: Looks like you've already done the following. Thanks.
Once you have no more questions on this issue, please mark the thread SOLVED via the 'Thread Tools' link at the top right of the first post. It's helpful for both helpers and those seeking threads with solutions.

Happy Ubuntu-ing !