[12.04] Cannot Boot - error: no such device: 25c692af-d8f7-4f25-9083-df10a689f1

[UncleAsriel]

Some information re: my hardware setup: I have three hard drives in this machine. One came loaded with Windows Vista (Ubuntu's GUI shows it's name as HP), one came installed with some HP-data on it (Ubuntu's GUI shows this as FACTORY_IMAGE; its purpose is unknown) and I installed one drive through which I boot Ubuntu (this is my home folder; it typically isn't mounted). Ubuntu is the default OS at startup.


Last night I installed updates and rebooted. This caused the usual problems of skipping the GRUB menu on startup and disabling wireless (which is the only way I can get onto the internet).

I did my usual solution for the wireless (install a patch from the Wireless card's vendor) and edited the GRUB boot menu (deleting an 'if statement' named "terminal_outputgfxterm").

Last night, everything seemed to be fine. When I booted my computer this morning, though, the monitor received no signal from the computer.

Frustrated, I decided to run the liveCD and run a system restore

I tried to follow the instructions here, believing that I could re-install the on the drive and then restore things to working order with a backup on a separate HD. I loaded the Live CD and went to re-install. I chose the Something Else option, selecting the device /dev/sdb1 (which was type ext4). I also selected /dev/sdb2 as Swap.

I recreated the computer name, password and username identically so I would have minimal problems when restoring the system.

After completing the installation and rebooting, I receive the following error on screen after the BIOS screen

error: no such device: 25c692af-d8f7-4f25-9083-df10a689f1
>grub rescue

I can only get an OS using the Ubuntu liveCD

Searching on this subject reveals that this is a problem relating to the boot sectors of the Disk, namely that GRUB is not present. I believe I need to install GRUB boot menu, but I am uncertain. I believe that this is the solution, but I have had little luck getting the liveCD to do as I wish.

Step 2 of these instructions showed two boot devices:

/dev/sdb1 (which has an asterix in the  boot column) and is under System (Linux)
/dev/sdb2 and us under System (Linux swap /Solaris)

I make the directory in step 3

In step 4 I mount the thing into the temp folder, but in step 5, when I open the folder Temp under Home, the GUI shows me inside a hard drive called HP. The third drive (normally invisible) now shows up as 496 GB File System.

I'm now confused and slightly scared - did I just install Ubuntu on the Windows-dedicated HD? Have I ruined my ability to use Windows?

Do I need to format my 3rd HD and install GRUB from there, then get in touch with Microsoft for a system restore?

I'm a little out of my depth, and would like to know what to do to restore both OSes to functionality

[GwL3eNC]

Hi there,

it's hard to follow you. The ext4 Partition is a Linux partition, that's clear. The long number is the UUID of a drive.
If you boot up from cd you can type

sudo blkid

In my case it shows

/dev/sda1: LABEL="System" UUID="3654E63F54E6018B" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda5: LABEL="Sicherundsspeicher" UUID="F4EC80ACEC806AA6" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda6: UUID="822945b9-bc28-481a-affc-1b6b23d74ed0" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda7: UUID="731537af-b00f-40b0-a6af-ad923de06fd6" TYPE="ext4"

Make shure that the UUID matches your settings.
I think also Grub use the UUID to identify your boot drive. Possibliy you must
reinstall grub or just change the settings. You can use grub-customizer,
thats nicer.

https://launchpad.net/~danielrichter...rub-customizer

After reading and reading i think you have chances that your sytems
is not broken. Which you luck!

[oldfred]

This may help you fix system, or you can generate BootInfo report and post link.

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.
LighterWeight (Lubuntu based) Boot-RepairCD
http://sourceforge.net/projects/boot-repair-cd/files/
Full Ubuntu 13.04 liveDVD or USB Install with Boot-Repair included (for newer computers)
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LinuxSecureRemix

[UncleAsriel]

I'll admit I'm kind of spinning as I tried to reconstruct the steps which led me here. I'll go over the initial post to re-write it, to clarify things.


Here is the sudo blkid:

/dev/sda1: LABEL="HP" UUID="6ED84C77D84C3F97" TYPE="ntfs" 

/dev/sda2: LABEL="FACTORY_IMAGE" UUID="949CA48C9CA46A86" TYPE="ntfs" 


/dev/sdb1: UUID="8864a41d-4c11-460c-99a5-1cc0089a894e" TYPE="ext4" 


/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs" 


/dev/sr0: LABEL="Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS amd64" TYPE="iso9660" 


/dev/sdc1: LABEL="Seagate Backup Plus Drive" UUID="D87C86257C85FE8E" TYPE="ntfs" 


/dev/sdd1: LABEL="SP UFD U2" UUID="3194-3614" TYPE="vfat"

I'm downloading the BootRepair .iso, now. Hopefully this can give a better insight than my (admittedly scrabled) recounting has.

One thing I must mention: without wireless, I have no internet on the computer I'm trying to fix. I'm only able to access it via wireless, but in order to fix the wireless (via the method discussed in this thread), I need to enter in a password. Since I can only get the Ubuntu liveCD working,m and this appears to lack a password, I can't get the wireless to work (and thus I can't install software via command line)

[GwL3eNC]

Ok, thats a bit curious. In your blkid is no one with
25c692af-d8f7-4f25-9083-df10a689f1

but grub thinks the system is on that drive. Find out in which grub config file
you can change that and give there the
8864a41d-4c11-460c-99a5-1cc0089a894e

Thats the ext4 partition where you installed Linux.
Hope some of the replys here helps you out.

What i forgot. If you found the right file and made your changes you need to do a

sudo update-grub

before the settings work. Also oldfred's way under my reply sounds good.

[oldfred]

LiveCD should let you install driver. It does not have password, just click enter. Without Internet you will not be able to use pastebin and link to the rather large report that Boot-Repair can create. Hopefully Boot-Repair can just reinstall grub.
Did you by any chance install grub to another drive and not change BIOS. And you are booting from the drive with an old version of grub which is now looking for an old install that is now gone?

[UncleAsriel]

oldfred: Trying to make a boot-repair disk now. The first version of it either downloaded incorrectly or burned incorrectly, so I'm re-downloading it and making a new disk. I'm working on it now.

As for the matter of grub on another drive: it seems as though I did. I must've panicked with reinstalling ubuntu from the live CD and/or made a mistake on which drive I installed it onto.

I opened up HP (the Windows drive) and found that there IS a folder called "boot", which appears to contain GRUB. Should I delete this? There is another folder named "Boot", which I think is the windows loader. It appears to be functional.

As far as I can tell, "boot" is the only folder on HP (the Windows Drive). I think everything else is as it ought to be, at least with the matter of directories on this drive.

GwL3eNC: I'm a little confused. All I know is that I got that error when I tried to boot without the liveCD. What am I to change? It has something to do with the string 8864a41d-4c11-460c-99a5-1cc0089a894e but I'm not sure what you want me to do with it.

[VMC]

UncleAsriel,

I'd be curious to know where that errant uuid is located in grub. I've had problems with grub2 being confused about uuid's myself (especially using the testing releases).
There are several unresolved open launchpad bugs on this very subject.
If you can't get your grub fixed using that program you downloaded, open /boot/grub/grub.cfg and find the uuid in question then copy and paste it back here.


This is an example:

...
Found Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS (12.04) on /dev/sda7menuentry 'Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS (12.04)' --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'osprober-gnulinux-simple-f65e4bda-c9d5-4c2f-b604-7b5d3c3b67c7' {
        insmod part_msdos
        insmod ext2
        set root='hd0,msdos7'
        if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos7 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos7 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos7  f65e4bda-c9d5-4c2f-b604-7b5d3c3b67c7
        else
          search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root f65e4bda-c9d5-4c2f-b604-7b5d3c3b67c7
        fi
        linux /vmlinuz root=UUID=f6b5309d-76b4-4db8-b8d5-338038087bb2 ro splash quiet  <== nonexistent UUID
        initrd /initrd.img
}
...

[UncleAsriel]

Please find attached the text version of the grub.cfg files found on 496 GB File System.

The HP version of grub.cfg is non-existant. There is grubenv, but no grub.cfg. I am annoyed.
grub - 496 GB File System .txt


Currently trying the BooRepair utility now

[VMC]

I wonder what's inside fstab. After you run boot-repair, we can get a look-see from your paste bin output.
The grub.cfg shows the second hard drive only.