Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10 64 bit woes

[Biscayne]

I have a machine which was running Windows 7 64bit, the installation was working fine. I decided to install Ubuntu 9.10 64 bit on a separate hard drive. Now, Ubuntu works great, but I try to boot Windows through GRUB (2, BTW) I get the following error:

error: No Such Device 3624fcb624fc7a67

Tried running grub-update, no avail. Also tried running a repair disk with my Windows 7 install disk-also no luck.

EDIT: Also, if it helps, I can see both the System Reserved and full Windows partitions in Ubuntu.

Any ideas?

[darkod]

Boot the computer and move on the windows entry in the menu but DON'T hit Enter. Hit 'e' instead. It will show you the lines with the commands to boot windows. You can move the cursor with the arrows. Delete the line starting with search....
Press Ctrl + X to boot windows.
If it worked, look here at simple instructions how to make the fix permanent:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:search

ONLY IF IT WORKED!!!

[Biscayne]

New Problem.

Did as suggested above, and a new error message presented itself

Error - No Such Partition

Again, can see the drives in Ubuntu, and grub-update does nothing

Am I screwed?

[darkod]

You're not, but more info is needed. Download the script in my signature, move it on desktop for example, and run it with:
sudo bash ~/Desktop/boot_info_script*.sh

It will create results.txt file with detailed info about the boot process. Post the content of the file here and wrap it in CODE tags for easier reading (with the text selected hit the # button in the toolbar above when creating a post).

[Biscayne]

Not sure what the relevant data is, so here is the whole results.txt file.


Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010

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

=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks for
(UUID=6e269511-1809-4e64-85f8-2b8db0b680e2)/boot/grub.
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files/dirs: /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed:
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdb2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sdb3: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

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

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe188764a

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 206,847 204,800 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 206,848 976,771,071 976,564,224 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: 0x00000000

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdb1 1 976,773,167 976,773,167 ee GPT


GUID Partition Table detected.

Partition Start End Size System
/dev/sdb1 34 262,177 262,144 Microsoft Windows
/dev/sdb2 264,192 758,024,191 757,760,000 Linux or Data
/dev/sdb3 758,025,088 976,773,134 218,748,047 Linux or Data

blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/sda1 3624FCB624FC7A67 ntfs System Reserved
/dev/sda2 A87A00E17A00AE5E ntfs
/dev/sdb2 7A1042291041ECA7 ntfs
/dev/sdb3 6e269511-1809-4e64-85f8-2b8db0b680e2 ext4

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

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sdb3 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)


=========================== sdb3/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=(hd1,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6e269511-1809-4e64-85f8-2b8db0b680e2
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=(hd1,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6e269511-1809-4e64-85f8-2b8db0b680e2
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=6e269511-1809-4e64-85f8-2b8db0b680e2 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=(hd1,3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6e269511-1809-4e64-85f8-2b8db0b680e2
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=6e269511-1809-4e64-85f8-2b8db0b680e2 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 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 3624fcb624fc7a67
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 ###

=============================== sdb3/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/sdb3 during installation
UUID=6e269511-1809-4e64-85f8-2b8db0b680e2 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

=================== sdb3: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


391.2GB: boot/grub/core.img
388.8GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
388.7GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
388.6GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
388.7GB: initrd.img
388.6GB: vmlinuz
=======Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive==============

sde

EDIT: I realized I had a bunch of external hard drives plugged in, which made the file a mess, I removed the drives, and re-ran the program

Thanks a lot for your help!

[darkod]

OK, you see this:

/dev/sdb1 1 976,773,167 976,773,167 ee GPT

New large hdds started using GPT partition table instead of "old" type DOS. This can confuse grub.

Try this. Because you can't boot the hdd ubuntu, boot the live desktop and to reach your hdd ubuntu do:

sudo mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
sudo chroot /mnt
gedit /etc/default/grub

At the end of the file add the line:
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_msdos"
Save and close the file.
In the terminal continue running:

update-grub
umount /mnt/sys
umount /mnt/dev
umount /mnt/proc
exit
(if terminal is still open again execute) exit

Reboot and see if it helped. You also have the bootloaders on opposite drives but it's not a big issue right now, we'll sort it once you can boot ubuntu, hopefully after these commands.

[meierfra.]

Because you can't boot the hdd ubuntu,

??? The OP is able to boot into Ubuntu. In fact, according to the "mount" data on RESULTS.txt, the boot info script was run from Ubuntu:


/dev/sdb3 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)


So just do this part of darkrod's instruction:



gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

At the end of the file add the line:

GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_msdos"

Save and close the file.
In the terminal continue running:


update-grub

[darkod]

Sorry, my bad. The first post says the error is there only when trying to boot windows. And it makes the commands much simple. :oops:

That's what happens when reading too many threads. :(

[Biscayne]

That worked! Thanks a lot

Now, on a somewhat unrelated note, how do I change the default OS in the new GRUB? I used to know how in the old GRUB, but things have apparently changed since 8.04.

Again, thanks a lot for the help!

[darkod]

That worked! Thanks a lot

Now, on a somewhat unrelated note, how do I change the default OS in the new GRUB? I used to know how in the old GRUB, but things have apparently changed since 8.04.

Again, thanks a lot for the help!

You can install a package called startupmanager which allows you to easy change default OS and timeout.
sudo apt-get install startupmanager

I don't use it, and not sure how well it works with the new grub2.

Personally I prefer the editing of the config files. Write down what your windows entry is called in the grub menu, exactly.
Then open
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

and in the line GRUB_DEFAULT="exact text of your windows entry"

Save and close. Run
sudo update-grub

That should do it and will stay default even if new ubuntu kernels are added with updates. You could also use GRUB_DEFAULT=n but you have to adjust after every new kernel because you probably know it relates to the position of the windows entry. Your choice. :)