10.04 -> 10.10 -> no boot!

[tunist]

hi all,

i just upgraded an install of 10.04 to 10.10 using the built-in software upgrade manager and upon reboot i am seeing the 'basic grub' command line interface.

the laptop is a dell inspiron 6400 and is set to dual boot within win7.

i originally installed ubuntu from inside windows (if i recall correctly) - so there doesn't appear to be a specific partition for ubuntu visible anwhere.. i guess it must be some kind of hidden file structure on the c: drive that is being used for windows.

can anyone give me any tips or links to pages that can explain how to resolve this?

i've read through the notes that i have found on the ubuntu website so far and have seen people describe a similar outcome, but not when upgrading in exactly the way that i have done.

i'm pretty new to linux so don't really know where to start..

i don't really have a problem with wiping the whole hard drive and starting again.. except that i have some data on the linux 'partition' that i'd like to get off first.. and i am not able to locate it through win7.. i just installed the app from http://fs-driver.org to see if that helped, but it didn't detect any linux data as far as i can see.

anyone?
thanks

[Rubi1200]

Are you still able to boot into Windows?

See here also:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MaverickMeerkat/ReleaseNotes#Known%20Issues

[kansasnoob]

If I understand correctly you can not boot either Windows or Ubuntu now, is that correct?

[tunist]

ah yes, i forgot to add that..
i am able to boot into windows, yes.

[Rubi1200]

From what you describe, you have a Wubi installation.

See here for an explanation of the problem and possible solution:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9932369&postcount=5

[tunist]

thanks for the link..

replacing the wubi file as in the linked text's solution #1 resolves to the grub interface not loading on boot.. and instead an error about wubibldr is displayed. (and 2 other errors appear too fast to read after that.

so i booted with a live CD and attempted to follow the 2nd solution.. but hit a snag or two..


Boot the Ubuntu Desktop CD, or another LiveCD, then mount the windows partition:

sudo mkdir /win
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /win
Replace sda1 with the appropriate device (a = disk, 1 = partition number), then mount the virtual disk therein
sudo mkdir /vdisk
sudo mount -o loop /win/ubuntu/disks/root.disk /vdisk


when i attempt to mount the partition using sudo mount /dev/sda2 /win

i am notified that the partition cannot be mounted because the NTFS partition is already exclusively opened.. may be already mounted. etc..

i attempted to use 'fuser' to find out about how/in what way it is mounted but didn't get any useful info.


any suggestions for other commands to play with?
thanks

[searchfgold6789]

sudo umount /dev/sda2

[tunist]

thanks, that worked.. i have been able to access the file structure and retrieve the data i need.

when i attempt to edit the file '/mountpoint/boot/grub/grub.cfg'
using the command that is listed on the linked page..
an empty file opens.. with no content.. i also tried the same path but with /vdisk/ in front.. still no content.

any idea why that might be?

[searchfgold6789]

Instead of doing that, you could open a terminal, type in
sudo nautilus and go to the file /boot/grub/grub.cfg on your hard disk. It will let you edit it.

Or, to explain the command they gave you, there is no such folder as /mountpoint. Replace that with wherever you mounted the wubi thing. For example if the disk is mounted on /win it would be /win/boot/grub/grub.cfg.

When a disk is mounted, it is accessible at the mountpoint where you mounted it on. So if I wanted to put a file on my /dev/sdXY hard disk, I would first mount it on some folder I created for this purpose, go into the file, put my file there, and then unmount the disk. Then my file would be on the disk.

[tunist]

ah ok, i see the confusion.. ;)

in the end i just wiped the whole hard drive and did a fresh install from cd.. i needed extra space for linux anyway and windows isn't really needed any more.. :)

thanks for the help.

so far 10.10 is working very well indeed.

[searchfgold6789]

Glad we could help.
If the problem is resolved, which I think it is, please mark the thread as [SOLVED] using the Thread Tools button at the top of the page :)