GRUB 'no such disk' error, dual boot XP

[Killy01]

Well last night I tried to install ubuntu, everything went fine. I installed it by using the live cd, and then just following the prompts on the screen. After the install finished and I rebooted grub came up with an error of "no such disk" so I did some research and tried to fix it myself using this wiki (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Command%20Line%20&%20Rescue%20Mode) entry, which I found on another thread. But that didn't help either. I also ran the shell script that is asked for on most of the GRUB related threads to see if that helps anyone figure it out. The text file says that ubuntu is installed on sdb5, which I *think* translates to hd1,5. However, in the grub recovery mode there is no hd1,5 when I run the ls command, there is only hd0; hd0,1 ; hd1; hd1,0. So does anyone know what is happening? any help would be greatly appreciated, because in the end I had to put the XP disk back in and run fixboot and fixmbr just so I could get the PC in a working state again.
Results of text file below:


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

=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda
=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks on the same drive in
partition #5 for /boot/grub.
=> 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: Windows XP
Boot files/dirs: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM /IO.SYS /MSDOS.SYS

sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sdb2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sdb5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sdb6: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sdc1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: MSWIN4.1: Fat 32
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

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

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 41.1 GB, 41110142976 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4998 cylinders, total 80293248 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xfea0fea0

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 80,276,804 80,276,742 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: 0x00000001

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdb1 63 573,665,084 573,665,022 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 573,665,085 976,768,064 403,102,980 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 573,665,148 970,759,754 397,094,607 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 970,759,818 976,768,064 6,008,247 82 Linux swap / Solaris


Drive: sdc ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdc: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1385dc4c

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdc1 63 312,576,704 312,576,642 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 AC94A50D94A4DADA ntfs
/dev/sdb1 4848DDC948DDB642 ntfs Data
/dev/sdb5 81305bee-9595-4bbd-b013-17191fcfd6ab ext4
/dev/sdb6 dd961095-7c5d-471e-910a-84ed70bc689b swap
/dev/sdc1 2E01-14F5 vfat USB-HDD

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

Device Mount_Point Type Options

aufs / aufs (rw)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (rw)
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (rw)


================================ sda1/boot.ini: ================================

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

=========================== sdb5/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=(hd1,5)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 81305bee-9595-4bbd-b013-17191fcfd6ab
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=(hd1,5)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 81305bee-9595-4bbd-b013-17191fcfd6ab
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=81305bee-9595-4bbd-b013-17191fcfd6ab 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=(hd1,5)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 81305bee-9595-4bbd-b013-17191fcfd6ab
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=81305bee-9595-4bbd-b013-17191fcfd6ab 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 "Microsoft Windows XP Professional (on /dev/sda1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ac94a50d94a4dada
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 ###

=============================== sdb5/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/sdb5 during installation
UUID=81305bee-9595-4bbd-b013-17191fcfd6ab / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sdb6 during installation
UUID=dd961095-7c5d-471e-910a-84ed70bc689b none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

=================== sdb5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


293.7GB: boot/grub/core.img
293.7GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
293.7GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
293.7GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
293.7GB: initrd.img
293.7GB: vmlinuz



Thanks

James

[darkod]

Try to reinstall grub2 first. Boot with 9.10 cd, Try Ubuntu option, and in terminal execute:

sudo mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sdb

Set in BIOS to boot from /dev/sdb, the 500GB disk. See if that sorted it out.

Maybe it won't, because of this:

=================== sdb5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


293.7GB: boot/grub/core.img
293.7GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
293.7GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
293.7GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
293.7GB: initrd.img
293.7GB: vmlinuz

If you computer is older, some of the older BIOSes can't read boot files that are beyong 137GB on the hdd. Not sure if this is your case, maybe the grub2 reinstall with the commands above will sort everything out.

[presence1960]

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:search

At the GRUB menu highlight the Ubuntu kernel -DO NOT PRESS ENTER-press "e" instead. use the arrow keys to navigate to the
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 86d32ee3-aec6-490b-8dab-e5cfff9c7af9
and delete only that. press Ctrl + x to boot ubuntu

Once the desktop loads run in terminal
gksudo gedit /usr/lib/grub/grub-mkconfig_lib

Scroll down to this:


# If there's a filesystem UUID that GRUB is capable of identifying, use it;
# otherwise set root as per value in device.map.
echo "set root=`${grub_probe} --device ${device} --target=drive`"
if fs_uuid="`${grub_probe} --device ${device} --target=fs_uuid 2> /dev/null`" ; then
echo "search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ${fs_uuid}"
fi

Add a # before the last 3 lines like this:


# If there's a filesystem UUID that GRUB is capable of identifying, use it;
# otherwise set root as per value in device.map.
echo "set root=`${grub_probe} --device ${device} --target=drive`"
# if fs_uuid="`${grub_probe} --device ${device} --target=fs_uuid 2> /dev/null`" ; then
# echo "search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set ${fs_uuid}"
# fi

Click Save on top toolbar & close file. Run in terminal
sudo update-grub

You should be good to go. reboot & try it.

[Killy01]

Thanks for the replies.

Darkod - I'll give it a go, thanks for the help, hopefully it will work. Yeah it is quite an old PC. Maybe about 2003-2004 but it might work.

presence1960 - Sorry to be a pain but how do I get to the grub menu? when grub was the bootloader all that was happening was that I was getting the grub recovery system thing. How would I get to the menu?

Thanks

[Killy01]

Update: Well I tried what 'darkod' said and I think i've moved forward, the error message has come up with saying "no such partition" so i think this means it's found the disk?