Grub not booting error loading operating system

[jukingeo]

Hello all,

I was wondering if someone could help me with a situation I am having with Grub.

First a little background. I had Ubuntu working fine on a dual boot setup with Windows XP. Everything was fine with Grub and it did what it supposed to do. However, I had a partitioning accident and lost my Windows partition. Needless to say I spent a good 6 hours or so loading everything back on to Windows. BUT (there is always a BUT), Windows decided to replace Grub with a bootloader of it's own and of course it booted fine into Windows, but left Ubuntu in the dust.

Being that I had problems with my Ubuntu partition to begin with I decided to nix it and start over. With reinstallation complete, I booted up the system and I get this error message:

Error: Couldn't load operating system.

And it just sits there.

So I decided to try a "warm boot" from the boot menu instead. I selected the first drive and Grub came up! From here I can get into Ubuntu, but not Windows.

So I have two problems I need to fix:

1) Get rid of the error message on bootup
2) Fix the Windows bootup selection.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

Thank You,

Geo

[Pumalite]

I would check the partition table with rescuecd:
http://www.sysresccd.org/Download
You can fix your Windows MBR with Super Grub:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzo...bDiskPage.html

[jukingeo]

I would check the partition table with rescuecd:
http://www.sysresccd.org/Download
You can fix your Windows MBR with Super Grub:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzo...bDiskPage.html

Hello,

Thank you for responding, but do you have a solution that doesn't involve "wasting" a disc?

Thank You,

Geo

[dstew]

The error message "Error: Couldn't load operating system" comes from the Vista boot loader. You probably messed up the Vista bootloader configuration when you re-installed Ubuntu. If you want to use the Vista boot loader to dual-boot Vista and Ubuntu, you will have to reconfigure it.

I am not sure what you mean by a "warm boot". Is that a BIOS program, or possibly a part of the Vista boot loader? It does not sound like part of grub.

I would recommend installing grub to dual boot Vista and Ubuntu. You can do this using the Ubuntu live CD. Open a terminal and enter

sudo grub

That should get you the grub shell, with the grub> prompt. At the grub prompt, enter

find /boot/grub/stage2

That should get you the name of the grub root partition in grub-speak, say (hd0,0). Whatever it returns, use as the argument for a root statement:

root (hd0,0)

Then, install the boot loader into the MBR of the first hard disk, and quit:

setup (hd0)
quit

Hopefully you will get the grub menu at boot time. Let us know if Vista will boot from the grub menu item or not. If not, we should be able to configure grub to boot Vista.

[jukingeo]

Hello Dstew,

I am on Windows XP and not Vista. However, I did as you instructed and it didn't work. I still have both problems. On a cold boot (which means when you first turn on the machine) I still get the "Cannot load operating system" error. On a warm boot (you are booting to someplace with the machine already turned on...in this case I am instructing the computer to pull up the boot menu), going into the boot menu if I pick Windows, it still isn't loading it up.

Geo

[Pumalite]

Post your menu.lst

[jukingeo]

Post your menu.lst

Here is my menu.lst:

# menu.lst - See: grub(8 ), info grub, update-grub(8 )
# grub-install(8 ), grub-floppy(8 ),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to 'saved' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

# Pretty colours
color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=791 splash=silent

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd1,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(single-user) single
# altoptions=(single-user mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title 64studio, kernel 2.6.21-1-multimedia-486
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21-1-multimedia-486 root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=791 splash=silent
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.21-1-multimedia-486
savedefault

title 64studio, kernel 2.6.21-1-multimedia-486 (single-user mode)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21-1-multimedia-486 root=/dev/sda1 ro vga=791 splash=silent single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.21-1-multimedia-486
savedefault

title 64studio, kernel memtest86
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86.bin

title 64studio, kernel memtest86+
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/hda1
title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1



Since I did a full reinstall of both operating systems, I CAN get into them both from the F12 boot menu, but Grub will NOT load up on machine start up. It always yeilds an "Error: Cannot Load Operating System" message.

I did look over this menu.lst carefully and I didn't see anything in regards to where Grub is set up to appear upon bootup.

According to my BIOS it SHOULD appear on the IDE Master Drive C:, but it instead appears on my Primary Master Drive. The F12 menu list has these listed separately and, yes, if I select IDE Master Drive C (or Normal boot) I will get the infamous error message above.

So it would see though from the error message, Grub moved something that it shouldn't have. I am wondering if that is something that can be fixed or if not, if it is possible to delete Grub and use a different boot loader.

Thanx,
Geo

[dstew]

One thought about your BIOS choices. It is a little strange that your BIOS gives you the choice of a C: drive. That is the name of a partition, in DOS/Windows format. Unless you specifically installed grub to that partition, there would not be a boot loader there. Usually, the default is to install grub to the MBR of the boot disk, which is not a part of any partition.

There is some confusion about this, because many Windows users have only one partition, and they are used to thinking of C: as a disk. But it is really a partition. And, some BIOSes have the capacity to boot a partition, so it makes sense.

Maybe you could figure out which partition is C: and re-install grub there. It might them make your BIOS happy, even though it is a bit non-standard. I would think you should be able to tell your BIOS to boot the "Primary Master Hard Drive", which probably means the MBR of one of the drives, by some part of its menu. Since it works if you pick this from the F12 boot choices, you know that grub is installed correctly somewhere, probably the MBR of one of the disks. Look for a BIOS menu choice that lets you designate the Primary Master drive, and see if you can change it.

[dstew]

Are you sure you have your BIOS set to boot the correct disk? You might have to tell it to boot from the hard disk where you installed grub. Did you get any error messages when you installed grub?

[jukingeo]

Update:

Frustrated with this problem, last night I wiped both operating systems from my machine COMPLETELY.

My main drive is an 80gig IDE and the Linux drive is a 500gig SATA.

This is what I did:

1) Deleted both drives and deleted all partitions on the Sata drive so Windows will not even see that it exists.

2) Installed Windows and tested it that it boots fine from start up.

3) Reconfigure the Sata drive and installed Ubuntu

4) Told Grub to install on the first disk MBR.

Now when I tested the installation I still get the confounded "Error: Couldn't Load Operating System" message.

However, if I go into the F12 boot menu I CAN now get into both Windows and Linux without a problem. So one issue was taken care of.

So being that Windows booted fine prior to loading up Ubuntu and I have the same problem...AGAIN, I am assuming that Grub is causing the problem.

The problem isn't with BIOS either as I did check it and it is correctly set up. Also the fact that Windows loaded in fine prior to the Ubuntu installation is further proof that the BIOS is OK.

So something is wrong when the machine is first turned on. Also selecting "Normal" from the boot menu will also yeild the same error message. So something must be very wrong with the first part of the boot up procedure that tells the system which drive to boot up (so I can see why many are thinking that Bios is the problem). But it is software not firmware because the problem isn't happening with Windows alone. Also because I loaded everything up separately, the Windows bootloader was out of the question this time around.

So at this point in time if I delete everything and start over, it will probably happen again. So I think I have to get right in there on the MBR and find the problem and fix it, or perhaps I should use a different bootloader than Grub.

Any ideas or advice?

Thank You,

Geo