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Thread: Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
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    Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.

    I have (I should say had) a triple boot - Win7, Mint 14, Ubuntu 12.04 on my laptop. At the moment I am unable to boot into anything because I am getting the grub restore prompt. This problem started with a 57gb partition on my hard drive that came up as unusable in Linux which I was unable to use to increase the size of the Win 7 volume either, so I was trying to change it to a small basic volume for storage. I was prompted to change one of the other partitions from primary to logical. I changed one of the administrative Win7 partitions from primary to logical. It could have been PQ Service or the other one (can't recall the name) that gets installed with pre-installed Win 7 setups. By doing that I screwed up the boot numbers (letters) and got grub restore (no boot). I can still see all the partitions from inside a live dvd of either mint, ubuntu or pinguy, but when I try to install Peppermint 3, I only see one large partition marked unallocated. None of the other linux partitions show up. I have tried restoring the grub using the boot repair utility in the Pinguy live CD but all it did was to remove grub. I couldn't find a boot repair utility on either of the other dvd's Would you please help me get my grub restored and my laptop running again. Please let me know what other technical information you need to help me. Please spell out what I need to do. I haven't been at Linux for a few years and I want to stay interested. Thanks so much.
    Last edited by archp2009; April 4th, 2013 at 12:56 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
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    SW Forida
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    Hidden!
    Distro
    Kubuntu

    Re: Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.

    You can add the ppa and download into your existing liveCD/DVD/Flash.

    Post the link to the BootInfo report that this creates. Is part of Boot-Repair:
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Info
    Boot Repair -Also handles LVM, GPT, separate /boot and UEFI dual boot.:
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
    You can repair many boot issues with this or 'Create BootInfo' report (Other Options) & post the link it creates, so we can see your exact configuration and diagnose advanced problems.
    Install in Ubuntu liveCD or USB or Full RepairCD with Boot-Repair (for newer computers)
    http://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/
    https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LinuxSecureRemix
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

  3. #3
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    Oct 2009
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    177

    Re: Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.

    I really appreciate this reply. It gives me something to get my teeth into. Unfortunately the local time is 11 p.m. and I was about to retire for the day and I have to travel 400 miles tomorrow leaving early in the morning. I will do the work and get back to you tomorrow evening or Friday morning.

  4. #4
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    177

    Re: Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.


  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
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    177

    Re: Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.

    I tried doing boot-repair but the terminal hung after the second line with ldconfig deferred processing. Please advise as to what I should do from here. Thanks again.

  6. #6
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    Oct 2009
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    177

    Re: Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.

    I tried doing the grub repair again and this time it gave me a choice of installing grub to the first or 15th partition. I chose the first and it came back and said, "You have chose not to install grub." and didn't do so. I didn't think the 15th partition would work but I can try it the next time.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    SW Forida
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    Hidden!
    Distro
    Kubuntu

    Re: Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.

    You will not be able to do much until you fix this.

    /dev/sda1 overlaps with /dev/sda3
    /dev/sda2 overlaps with /dev/sda3

    I would try fixparts even though it does not work on overlapping partitions. But yours is more the extended partition that is the issue. Did you use Windows tools to edit partitions?


    To convert a partition from primary to logical, at least one free (unallocated) sector must exist between the partition and the one that precedes it.
    Fixparts - Repair broken partition tables (not overlapping issues) & delete Stray gpt data from MBR drives
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1705325
    http://www.rodsbooks.com/fixparts/
    First backup partition table, use your drive for sdX or sda, sdb etc.
    sudo sfdisk -d /dev/sdX > parts.txt

    You also have 3 swap partitions, you should only need one, unless hiberating three different systems. And when multi-booting hibernation is not normally recomended.

    If you wrote grub to sda1 you may have damaged Windows. All NTFS partitions have to have a NTFS boot sector not grub in the boot sector. You can use testdisk to restore the backup boot sector that NTFS has.

    IF fixparts does not work then testdisk may rewrite partition table also.


    As described, it has an option to "Recover NTFS boot sector from its backup"
    If Backup BS isn't available, choose RebuildBS.
    Instructions
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
    http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Menu_Analyse
    UEFI boot install & repair info - Regularly Updated :
    https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
    Please use Thread Tools above first post to change to [Solved] when/if answered completely.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
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    177

    Re: Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.

    Sorry this is way over my head. I don't have a picture in my head of what I need to do. How do you tell that the partitions are overlapping? .delete Stray gpt data from MBR drives - I don't know any linux abbreviations . I knew about the duplicate swap files but they're only 2gb or less each. Total reinstallation of both Linux distros sounds easier to me. And you say overlapping partitions can't be fixed. How can I attempt to restore the Windows 7 boot loader from a Win 7 install disk or repair disk w/o regard to either of the Linux systems? I do have Pinguy on another computer which, all things considered is more than enough for the nerves of this user. I hate Grub and Grub 2 is worse IMO. With both you can't change anything w/o creating a heavy paper weight and having to restore grub which doesn't always work. When Windows 7 comes pre-installed it creates 2 other partitions besides Win7. What I did wrong was to change the first of these two partitions from primary to logical. Is there a way to change that back to primary before attempting the bootloader restore? Is that necessary? I created the unallocated spaces for LInux using Easeus. I think it was Win 7 disk mgt that I used to change the system partitiion from primary to logical. It was only a right click of the mouse and "change to logical" did not compain. In 40 years I have never previously heard of overlapping partiitions. I have a backup image of Win 7 on an external hard drive but the Win 7 restore image function has not worked for me previously. It may relate to insufficient usb power to the hard drive. Can I recover select partitions from a Win 7 backup image without restoring the whole image which is likely to fail. I have Gparted 0.14-6-i486. Haven't hear of fixpart. Will use as last resort. Do you know for a fact that my Windows 7 is irreparably damaged. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
    Last edited by archp2009; April 6th, 2013 at 02:56 AM.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
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    177

    Re: Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.

    I need a step by step totally idiot proof guide. I am a certifiable Linux idiot. Assume I am 12 years of age and installed Linux for the first time. My Windows data (images and video) are more important to me. No data on the Linux whatever. Most ot the images and data may be also backed up on dvds but not sure. Are you totally sure the FAT are damaged? I meant to say Partition tables.
    Last edited by archp2009; April 6th, 2013 at 03:00 AM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Beans
    177

    Re: Unable to boot into Triple Boot system on my laptop.

    I need a step by step totally idiot proof guide. I am a certifiable Linux idiot. Assume I am 12 years of age and installed Linux for the first time. My Windows data (images and video) are more important to me. No data on the Linux whatever. Most ot the images and data may be also backed up on dvds but not sure.

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