Grub Rescue - cant boot anything

**liam4** · October 6th, 2013

I tried to install Ubuntu 13.04 alongside Windows 7 on my HP laptop today. All was well, until I rebooted and was greeted with a command line called grub rescue, saying no such device. I know this issue has been posted before, but none of their answers have helped. I know that the install was going to be interesting, as my laptop has two hard drives, a 32GB SSD called the 'OS', and I think its running Intel's RAID. Then the other harddrive is for personal stuff.
I was able to run the live usb again and follow some tutorials to reinstall grub, and run the boot-fixer program with apparent success, untill I reboot and found myself in the grub rescue command line. Ive also tried to run a windows recovery disk, but it doesnt work (Gets stuck on "Start Boot from usb")
One more thing, I noticed that the partitons are seperated like so...
dev/sda (i think) Windows
-sda1
-sda2
and
dev/sdb (i think) Ubuntu
-sdb1 This one I think is the problem, as it says its a 'OS/2' Hidden C: Storage
-...
-sdb5 This one (i think) is the main Ubuntu Drive
To sum up, basicly is there a thing I may have missed or something I havent tried yet that may get (at least) Windows going again and (if Im lucky) Ubuntu.
I dont have anything important on the Linux Partition.
Thanks heaps for your help,
Liam

**oldfred** · October 7th, 2013

Your sdb, the SSD is not really OS/2 partition type, but is the Intel SRT which somehow uses RAID that causes grub to not install. Desktop installer does not support RAID (you need server for RAID). Most turn off the Intel SRT in Windows and remove the RAID meta-data since you really have a desktop. Then you can reimplement the Intel SRT and it will readd the meta-data and work.
Some that want Ubuntu more than faster Windows, just install Ubuntu / (root) to the SSD and never turn on the Intel SRT. Others just install Ubuntu to hard drive. Some with larger SSD have been able to sqeeze a small Ubuntu into part of the SSD and still have the Intel SRT as it does not seem to use all of SSD?

Brand of computer does not make much difference. It is Windows & Intel SRT.
Intel Smart Response Technology
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support...ts/chpsts/imsm
Some general info in post #3
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2071242
ubuntu 12.10 & Windows 8 oem Sony T & Intel SRT
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2090605
Intel SRT - Dell XPS Screen shots of Intel SRT screens & lots of details
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2038121
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2036204
Details in post #10 on an install that worked
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2020155

Ubuntu on hard drive, re-enable SRT post #19 details
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2129157

Disable the RAID, it was using the Intel rapid management thingy and telling it to disable the acceleration or the use of the SSD. If you have a different system, just disable the RAID system then install Ubuntu. Once installed you can then re-enable it.
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sda
sudo dmraid -E -r /dev/sdb

You will need to use the dmraid command prior to running the Ubuntu Installer so that it will be able to see the partitions on the drive because otherwise with the raid metadata in place it will see the drive as part of a raid set and ignore its partitions.

**liam4** · October 7th, 2013

Thanks, so all I have to do, is install ubuntu after ive disabled raid on my SSD. Will reinstalling Ubuntu fix grub?

**oldfred** · October 7th, 2013

You can remove RAID meta-data and run Boot-Repair to install grub. Or you can re-install.
I think Ubuntu installs correctly it just is grub that does not know where to install. It should be in MBR, but with RAID it normally goes into the RAID not MBR. But your RAID is not standard RAID.

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 Flash drive Installer with Boot-Repair included (for newer computers)
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LinuxSecureRemix

**nathanservicesinc2** · October 7th, 2013

Theres going to be a whole bunch of other packages to download after you finish the download of Ubuntu 13.04 ; you'd better do them real quick when you first get internet access or else.