9.04 dual boot and stumped.

[Ethangar]

Ok. I've played with the live CD and it detects all my hardware fine. It actually came to the rescue when my XP drive failed but with liveCD I was able to get online and send off a project on time. That convinced me that having a second OS installed would be a good thing. Since I've wanted to get into Linux and away from XP ( I can't totally drop it since some of my 3D software is not available in linux flavor.) I decided to give it a go after the drive failure.

I replaced the dead 300 gig with a 500 and restored my system on a 200 gig partition. My backups are stored on a 100 gig partition and the last 200 gig was going to be for Ubuntu. The drives are set up like this in disk manager under XP. (see image.)

Drive 0 is actually an ide but shows as SDA. Its also a slave to by DVD.
Drive 1 is SATA (master) and shows as SDC. More on the Ubuntu partition in a bit.
Drive 2 is SATA (master) and show as SDB

I first tried to install to the Ubuntu partition so it was on a different drive than my system. Install went fine with no errors reported. I had to manually partition the drive gparted so that there was a swap and a / dir. Reboot and...... straight to XP. I set the boot preferences to that drive and got a grub 22 error.
Back in XP I killed the partition and let windows have it back.

Attempt #2
Install to SDB as shown. Again manual partition as shown. No errors and reboot. Straight into XP.????

Attempt #3
As above but when it came to the final screen of the install I clicked the advanced button and tried to tell it to put the bootloader ON SDB where the install was going. Reboot and this time JUST a grub error. I reset the MBR and got back into windows.

That is where I'm at now and totally lost as to what to try next. I eyed the "side by side with XP when I point the install to SDB but I'm unsure how its going to handle NOT resizing my XP partition and leaving my back up partition alone.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I am installing 9.04 since I heard that there have been some problems with 9.10. I figured that if I install 9.04 and then upgrade to 9.10 once it was up and running fine. If I hit a problem I can just select 9.04 from the boot menu. If I went straight to 9.10 and had a problem, I wasn't sure that I would be left with a fall back option.

[presence1960]

Let's get a better look at your setup & boot process. Boot the Ubuntu Live CD/USB. Choose "try ubuntu without any changes", when the desktop loads come back here and use the link in my signature to download the Boot Info Script to the desktop. Once on desktop open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and run this command
sudo bash ~/Desktop/boot_info_script*.sh This will create a RESULTS.txt file on the desktop. Paste the entire contents of that file back here. Once pasted highlight all text and click the # sign on the toolbar to place code tags around the text.

I need a little more info than you peovided. Run the script please and post back the results.

[Ethangar]

Thanks... I'll try it when I get home from work and get back to you.

[darkod]

Run the script as presence said and post the results. One thing to take into account is that people have reported issues with combination of IDE and SATA drives with BIOS not accepting your boot order but instead always booting from the IDE for example. This has nothing to do with ubuntu, and you'll have to see how your BIOS handles your choices.
That can interfere with plans where to have your grub bootloader.
As far as 9.04 versus 9.10 is concerned, distro upgrade later might create more issues than clean install. You might want to consider trying out the 9.10 also, and if you're happy with it running reconsider which one to install. Don't get too much worried about reported problems with 9.10, remember these forums are for problems in fact. :) Happy users rarely visit them except the ones trying to help.
Maybe I was just lucky but 9.10 is running fine on both my desktop (64bit) and netbook (32bit). And I wasn't too experienced in ubuntu either, 9.10 was my first go with it. Have played with linux before though.

PS. Another option is installing 9.04 since you're happy with it, and in April doing a clean install of 10.04 LTS (Long Term Supported) version over it. So you might wanna plan a separate /home partition too which you can keep intact during clean install.

[Ethangar]

Getting it to boot off of the SATA drives is no problem. Thats where XP resides. I have the BIOS set to boot from cd then HDD. In boot prefs I have the choice of the 3 drives. I have it set to the new 500 (drive 2) in XP and it works fine. I was wondering if ubuntu would miss that since it seems (from what I've read) to want to put the boot loader on HD0 and that would normally be the 300 gig IDE drive.

PS. If I go the /home route. How much should I have for / and how much for /home? Once the swap is taken out there is about 190 gig left in that partition.

[presence1960]

Getting it to boot off of the SATA drives is no problem. Thats where XP resides. I have the BIOS set to boot from cd then HDD. In boot prefs I have the choice of the 3 drives. I have it set to the new 500 (drive 2) in XP and it works fine. I was wondering if ubuntu would miss that since it seems (from what I've read) to want to put the boot loader on HD0 and that would normally be the 300 gig IDE drive.

PS. If I go the /home route. How much should I have for / and how much for /home? Once the swap is taken out there is about 190 gig left in that partition.

Let's not wonder or deal with maybes and what ifs- run the script and we will see what is going on.

[Ethangar]

Oh I will.. I have to get done work first.

[Ethangar]

Ok here are the contents of the result file.


============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

=> Grub 0.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on boot drive #2
in partition #6 for /boot/grub/stage2 and /boot/grub/menu.lst.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc
sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows XP
Boot files/dirs: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM

sdb2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sdb3: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdb5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdb6: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 9.04
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/menu.lst /etc/fstab

sdc1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0004ce72

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 409,593,239 409,593,177 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 409,593,240 625,137,344 215,544,105 7 HPFS/NTFS


Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xbd156596

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdb1 * 63 419,441,084 419,441,022 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 419,441,085 614,759,354 195,318,270 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb3 614,759,355 976,768,064 362,008,710 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 614,759,418 629,169,659 14,410,242 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 629,169,723 976,768,064 347,598,342 83 Linux


Drive: sdc ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdc: 300.0 GB, 300069052416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36481 cylinders, total 586072368 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x37cf37cf

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdc1 63 586,067,264 586,067,202 7 HPFS/NTFS


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 0418C5D918C5CA3E ntfs Biggy
/dev/sda2 E44C82434C82110A ntfs Ubuntu
/dev/sdb1 14944E6E944E5282 ntfs WorkBench
/dev/sdb2 F61880F61880B6E1 ntfs Backup
/dev/sdb5 05ec3eff-0b43-4c50-9e1b-f9b4330b5b47 swap
/dev/sdb6 061baf44-549c-4320-be18-c419d3172dbc ext4
/dev/sdc1 029885BB9885AE2B ntfs Work

============================ "mount | grep ^/ output: ===========================

Device Mount Point Type Options

rootfs / rootfs (rw)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)


================================ sdb1/boot.ini: ================================

[boot loader]

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer


=========================== sdb6/boot/grub/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 use 'savedefault' 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

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# 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=UUID=061baf44-549c-4320-be18-c419d3172dbc ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=061baf44-549c-4320-be18-c419d3172dbc

## 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=quiet splash

## 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=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery 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

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically
## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa
## e.g. indomU=detect
## indomU=true
## indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## 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

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
uuid 061baf44-549c-4320-be18-c419d3172dbc
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=061baf44-549c-4320-be18-c419d3172dbc ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 061baf44-549c-4320-be18-c419d3172dbc
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=061baf44-549c-4320-be18-c419d3172dbc ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
uuid 061baf44-549c-4320-be18-c419d3172dbc
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### 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/sdb1
title Windows XP Media Center Edition
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
savedefault
makeactive
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1


=============================== sdb6/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'vol_id --uuid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sdb6 during installation
UUID=061baf44-549c-4320-be18-c419d3172dbc / ext4 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sdb5 during installation
UUID=05ec3eff-0b43-4c50-9e1b-f9b4330b5b47 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

=================== sdb6: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


323.5GB: boot/grub/menu.lst
323.9GB: boot/grub/stage2
323.8GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
323.9GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic
323.8GB: initrd.img
323.9GB: vmlinuz
=======Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive==============

sdd sde sdf sdg

[presence1960]

Ok you want to put GRUB on sdb (500 GB) and make that disk first in the hard disk boot order in BIOS. then you will have to edit your windows entry in menu.lst. Do this:

Boot the Ubuntu Live CD. Choose "try ubuntu without any changes." When the desktop loads open terminal and do this:

1. Boot your computer up with Ubuntu CD
2. Open a terminal window or switch to a tty.
3. Type sudo grub. Should get text of which last line is grub>
4. Type "find /boot/grub/stage1". You'll get a response like "(hd1,5)".
Use whatever your computer spits out for the following lines.
5. Type "root (hd1,5)"
6. Type "setup (hd1)", to install GRUB to MBR
7. Quit grub by typing "quit".
8. Reboot and remove the bootable CD.

When rebooting go into BIOS and set the 500 GB (sdb) as first in the hard disk boot order. Save changes to CMOS and continue booting. Choose Ubuntu at the GRUB menu. When ubuntu loads open a terminal & run
gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
That is a lowercase L in .lst

Scroll down to this:


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sdb1
title Windows XP Media Center Edition
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
savedefault
makeactive
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1

change it to:


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sdb1
title Windows XP Media Center Edition
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1


Click Save on top toolbar & close file. Reboot & try booting to windows.

[Ethangar]

Well... I've booted into linux made the final changes and am now back in windows so I'd say we have a success on our hands!

You my friend are a prince! This has been bugging me for 3 weeks now but I don't like to just blurt out questions without doing everything that I can to try and fix it on my own. I didn't know the commands but I think I even followed what you did and why.

Thanks so much!

[presence1960]

Well... I've booted into linux made the final changes and am now back in windows so I'd say we have a success on our hands!

You my friend are a prince! This has been bugging me for 3 weeks now but I don't like to just blurt out questions without doing everything that I can to try and fix it on my own. I didn't know the commands but I think I even followed what you did and why.

Thanks so much!
Glad you got it working. Enjoy!

[Ethangar]

Hi... me again.

I was running the update to 9.10 and the computer froze, screen saver just sat there. Now Ubuntu will not load. In my infinite wisdom decided that since I was doing the upgrade to 9.10 and it looked like I was to reinstall anyway. Might as well just install the 9.10 iso. I figured that the worst that would happen is I would have to redo the commands that you listed. Well GRUB wouldn't load when I rebooted so I put in the liveCD and prepared to follow your instructions again.

That thought didn't last long. The first thing you said to do was sudo grub. Worked fine last time but it looks like they have changed something because now all I get is

sudo: grub: command not found

I don't know what to do with that now since that was the first thing.

Here is the .txt from your script in case you need it.


============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks for
(UUID=20dcd049-f8dc-43aa-8ecf-0318b240e129)/boot/grub.
=> Grub 0.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks on the same drive
in partition #6 for /boot/grub/stage2 and /boot/grub/menu.lst.
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc
sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows XP
Boot files/dirs: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM

sdb2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sdb3: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdb5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdb6: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 9.10
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sdc1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0004ce72

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 409,593,239 409,593,177 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 409,593,240 625,137,344 215,544,105 7 HPFS/NTFS


Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xbd156596

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdb1 * 63 419,441,084 419,441,022 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 419,441,085 614,759,354 195,318,270 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb3 614,759,355 976,768,064 362,008,710 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 614,759,418 629,169,659 14,410,242 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 629,169,723 976,768,064 347,598,342 83 Linux


Drive: sdc ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdc: 300.1 GB, 300069052416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36481 cylinders, total 586072368 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x37cf37cf

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdc1 63 586,067,264 586,067,202 7 HPFS/NTFS


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 0418C5D918C5CA3E ntfs Biggy
/dev/sda2 E44C82434C82110A ntfs Ubuntu
/dev/sdb1 14944E6E944E5282 ntfs WorkBench
/dev/sdb2 F61880F61880B6E1 ntfs Backup
/dev/sdb5 05ec3eff-0b43-4c50-9e1b-f9b4330b5b47 swap
/dev/sdb6 20dcd049-f8dc-43aa-8ecf-0318b240e129 ext4
/dev/sdc1 029885BB9885AE2B ntfs Work

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

aufs / aufs (rw)
/dev/sr1 /cdrom iso9660 (rw)
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (rw)


================================ sdb1/boot.ini: ================================

[boot loader]

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Media Center Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer


=========================== sdb6/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,6)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 20dcd049-f8dc-43aa-8ecf-0318b240e129
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,6)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 20dcd049-f8dc-43aa-8ecf-0318b240e129
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=20dcd049-f8dc-43aa-8ecf-0318b240e129 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd1,6)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 20dcd049-f8dc-43aa-8ecf-0318b240e129
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=20dcd049-f8dc-43aa-8ecf-0318b240e129 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows XP Media Center Edition (on /dev/sdb1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root=(hd1,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 14944e6e944e5282
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

=============================== sdb6/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sdb6 during installation
UUID=20dcd049-f8dc-43aa-8ecf-0318b240e129 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sdb5 during installation
UUID=05ec3eff-0b43-4c50-9e1b-f9b4330b5b47 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd1 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

=================== sdb6: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


322.1GB: boot/grub/core.img
322.1GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
322.1GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
322.1GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
322.1GB: initrd.img
322.1GB: vmlinuz
=======Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive==============

sdd sde sdf sdg

[darkod]

There was one quite big change introduced in 9.10, grub2. 9.04 and earlier were using grub1 or grub legacy. Also, upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10 was keeping the old grub1 unless specific grub upgrade is also performed.
Presence's commands you did last time were for grub1. Now with a clean install of 9.10 you have grub2. To reinstall grub2 to the MBR of your 500GB disk, /dev/sdb, boot with 9.10 cd into the live desktop and execute:

sudo mount /dev/sdb6 /mnt (mounting your root partition to /mnt)
sudo grub-install -root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sdb (installing grub2 to /dev/sdb with the root directory being /mnt where you mounted /dev/sdb6)

That should get you going. And in BIOS you have to boot from the 500GB disk, it has to be first in hdd boot order.

[Ethangar]

Trying it now.

The only thing that it didn't like was

sudo grub-install -root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sdb

The options that came up showed --root-directory..... so I put in the second hyphen and it looks like it went and reported no errors.

I'm going to reboot and give it a try.

wish me luck.

[darkod]

Trying it now.

The only thing that it didn't like was

sudo grub-install -root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sdb

The options that came up showed --root-directory..... so I put in the second hyphen and it looks like it went and reported no errors.

I'm going to reboot and give it a try.

wish me luck.

Sorry, typo. :oops: Yes, options are usually with --

[Ethangar]

Well.. xp is back but. Boot brings up grub (something like 1.97beta?) with the proper options but selecting linux goes to a black screen with a cursor top left. And sits there. I waited 4 min with no disk activity then my monitor shuts off. ctrl-alt-del didn't do anything so I had to hard reset. Any other options?

[Ethangar]

Ok. I followed a link to here.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1014708

Its basically what you said so I gave that a shot. Again no errors reported and I haven't rebooted yet but this has me wondering if it doesn't work


To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0004ce72

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 25496 204796588+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 25497 38913 107772052+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xbd156596

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 26109 209720511 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 26110 38267 97659135 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb3 38268 60801 181004355 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 38268 39164 7205121 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6 39165 60801 173799171 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 300.1 GB, 300069052416 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36481 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x37cf37cf

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 36481 293033601 7 HPFS/NTFS
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mkdir /media/sdb6
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sdb6 /media/sdb6
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/sdb6 /dev/sdb
Installation finished. No error reported.
This is the contents of the device map /media/sdb6/boot/grub/device.map.
Check if this is correct or not. If any of the lines is incorrect,
fix it and re-run the script `grub-install'.

(hd0) /dev/sda
(hd1) /dev/sdb
(hd2) /dev/sdc
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
Would hd0 being sda cause a problem? The bios is set to boot off of sdb. Just curious.

[Ethangar]

YIPEEEEEEEE.

For some reason there is eventually a hell of a lag where it just sits there with the cursor blinking. I was just going to insert the liveCD and reboot when it went.

at this point. I'm not going to question it. Just happy that its working.