GRUB loading error

[jbisetto]

I'm running a dual boot system, Windows7/Ubuntu 9.10. I wake up the other day and my monitor has the following message:

CD ROM Boot Priority ... no medium
GRUB loading
the symbol '???f?U??Sj*???' not found
Aborted. Press any key to exit

This was after putting the machine into sleep mode in W7. My guess is that the W7 update ran and corrupted the entries in the MBR table? Has anyone else experience anything similar?

[oldfred]

A variety of windows software seems to think it can use the MBR which is reserved for booting as a place to hide things.

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:Windows_Writes_To_MB R
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/wiki/WindowsErasesGrub
HP ProtectTools, Dell Recovery, and a few others write into MBR meierfra.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/441941
https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/441941?comments=all
Dell Media direct issues with MBR
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=923576

[jbisetto]

Thanks fred, I thought it might be the Dell Recovery. I'll look through the links you posted for more information.

[jbisetto]

I tried reinstalling grub but it didn't help, so I decided to just install fully blown Ubuntu. Goodbye W7 ;)