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kyral210
February 18th, 2011, 10:07 AM
I thought I would take the plunge and install Ubuntu on my PC. Not taking a massive leap though, im installing it inside Windows. It seemed to install fine, but then it had to restart and I got this screen:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5252/5455115673_35f98f4127_z.jpg

What does it mean? What can I do to get Ubuntu working? Oh, I run Windows 7 as my main OS.

sikander3786
February 18th, 2011, 12:38 PM
The error you are receiving is a result of bad burn or corrupt ISO image in most cases.

Check the MD5SUM of your downloaded image and make sure it is healthy.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

If ok, burn it to a CD and burn it at the lowest possible speed. I use 4x.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

Or if your Bios supports USB boot, burn a USB using UNetbootin.

http://ubuntu4beginners.blogspot.com/2011/01/create-ubuntu-live-usb-using-unetbootin.html

Rubi1200
February 18th, 2011, 01:16 PM
See my answer here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1041067

Please don't hijack threads or post on the same subject multiple times. It makes it harder for those who want to try and help you to keep track of what is happening.

Try also to be more specific about when exactly you did during the installation process e.g. did you choose to install to the C drive or another drive?

The more information we have, the better we can help you.

Thanks.

kyral210
February 18th, 2011, 02:26 PM
Hi

Sorry, I wasn't trying to hijack any other threads or anything. Im just a bit lost in all of this.

Yes, I installed on my C Drive.

I uninstalled Ubuntu and then reinstalled it with a new DVD burnt with the latest download ISO. All was fine. I was in Ubuntu. So I did what I always do with OS's and I installed the updates. All seemed fine. I added the additional Nvidia driver and I had to restart to complete. Ok, so I restarted and lo and behold, the error I posted above came back.

Does that mean I have to uninstall Ubuntu again?

Rubi1200
February 18th, 2011, 02:53 PM
This is what I suggest you do:

Boot the Ubuntu Live CD/USB. Choose the option "Try Ubuntu without any changes." Once the desktop loads come back here and do the following:

1. Download the boot info script. There is a link in my signature.
2. Once downloaded, move the boot info script to the desktop.
3. Open a terminal and run the 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 in a new post. Once pasted highlight all text and click the # sign on the toolbar to place code tags around the text.

kyral210
February 20th, 2011, 10:15 AM
Here you go, sorry it took me so long.


Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010

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

=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb
=> HP/Gateway is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc
=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdd

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe
/wubildr.mbr /ubuntu/winboot/wubildr.mbr /wubildr
/ubuntu/winboot/wubildr /ubuntu/disks/root.disk
/ubuntu/disks/swap.disk

sda1/Wubi: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed:
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop1,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so


sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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:

sdc1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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:

sdc2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: HP Recovery
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs: /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM

sdd1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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:

=========================== 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
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 976,771,071 976,769,024 7 HPFS/NTFS


Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdb1 2,048 156,299,263 156,297,216 7 HPFS/NTFS


Drive: sdc ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdc: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdc1 * 11,197,305 488,392,064 477,194,760 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdc2 63 11,197,304 11,197,242 12 Compaq diagnostics


Drive: sdd ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdd: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdd1 2,048 625,139,711 625,137,664 7 HPFS/NTFS


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/loop1 79ce9e68-a97c-47e2-a23c-cb6e5434d49f ext4
/dev/sda1 4AD08D69D08D5BD7 ntfs Main Hard Drive
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdb1 4E9C0CFA9C0CDDF9 ntfs Speed Disk
/dev/sdb: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdc1 3C3C1BAF3C1B6366 ntfs Data Store 1
/dev/sdc2 2D55-4C0A vfat RECOVERY
/dev/sdc: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdd1 54F4B347F4B32A5E ntfs Backup
/dev/sdd: PTTYPE="dos"

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

Device Mount_Point Type Options

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

Miguel Tavares
February 20th, 2011, 10:20 AM
Hi,
this is a bug in the windows installer + grub config and ive created a bug ticket on this issue and a workaround for it:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub/+bug/722030

Regards

Miguel Tavares

Miguel Tavares
February 20th, 2011, 10:26 AM
Its simple man,
you just have to do the following:
umount /host
ls -l |grep /dev/sd*
find the sd that as the /ubuntu and to do this if you do not recall mount them one by one untill you mount the correct one.
When you find it, memorise the /dev/sd that provided the /ubuntu and edit the /boot/grub/grub.cfg for the correct menuentry... eg below

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.35-25-generic" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 6e6c082d6c07eea1
loopback loop0 /ubuntu/disks/root.disk
set root=(loop0)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-25-generic root=/dev/sda5 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-25-generic
}

after that just issue a reboot and you should not drop to a shell again :D

Kindest Regards

Miguel Tavares

kyral210
February 20th, 2011, 10:47 AM
Im really sorry, but im not sure what all of that means. Im very new to Linux and I dont know how to interpret and carry out what you said. Could you make it a bit clearer, sort of 'idiots guide'?

Miguel Tavares
February 20th, 2011, 11:51 AM
ok ,
when you drop to the shell, give me the output from these commands and we will go from there:

Q. --> How many Disks and Slices / Partitions do you have-->
Please Execute the Following
1 - ls -ls /dev/sd*
2 - ls -ls /host

Good to Know

sda is a hard disk drive
sdb is a hard disk drive
sdc is a hard disk drive
sda1 is a slice or partition within the sda hard disk drive
sda2 is a slice or partition within the sda hard disk drive
sdb1 is a slice or partition within the sdb hard disk drive

Now:

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/loop0 15G 3.9G 9.7G 29% /
none 993M 276K 993M 1% /dev
none 1000M 876K 999M 1% /dev/shm
none 1000M 108K 1000M 1% /var/run
none 1000M 0 1000M 0% /var/lock
/dev/sda5 120G 67G 54G 56% /host

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 62926604 31463271 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 62926605 312576704 124825050 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 62926668 312576704 124825018+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

root@ubuntu:/host/ubuntu/disks# ls -lh
drwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 2011-02-18 14:40 boot
-rwxrwxrwx 2 root root 15G 2011-02-20 11:00 root.disk
-rwxrwxrwx 2 root root 256M 2011-02-18 16:11 swap.disk

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/loop0 15G 3.9G 9.7G 29% /

the root.disk is the file that you are looking for and it is not on the disk that you currently have mounted on the directory /host.
You will need to find this file in your /dev/sd* in order to put the correct path for it to boot properly because the partition that you currently have mounted in /host does not contain the install dir of ubuntu, nor root.disk...

Please Execute the Following:
1 - ls -ls /dev/sd*
2 - ls -ls /host

kyral210
February 20th, 2011, 11:57 AM
Ok, this is weird. I rebooted my PC, chose Ubuntu and after briefly flashing the 'log in with user name' screen, went strait into Ubuntu. I am not writing this from the desktop environment. Do you think launching Ubuntu from the CD somehow fixed it? I cant think how. Either way, I will let you know if the problem comes back.

Miguel Tavares
February 20th, 2011, 12:19 PM
Ok, this is weird. I rebooted my PC, chose Ubuntu and after briefly flashing the 'log in with user name' screen, went strait into Ubuntu. I am not writing this from the desktop environment. Do you think launching Ubuntu from the CD somehow fixed it? I cant think how. Either way, I will let you know if the problem comes back.

Cool, in the mean time, consider SOLVING this thread using the Thread Tools (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1690220&page=2&nojs=1#goto_threadtools)

Kindest Regards

Miguel Tavares

Rubi1200
February 20th, 2011, 12:32 PM
Hi kyral210,
thanks for posting the results of the script.

I see meanwhile you seem to be back in business:

I rebooted my PC, chose Ubuntu and after briefly flashing the 'log in with user name' screen, went strait into Ubuntu.

We have seen this happens sometimes; not sure if there is a logical explanation for when it happens.

In any event, I suggest you lock the grub packages to prevent this happening again.

See here for more details (section right after the Permanent Fix):
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1639198

kyral210
March 20th, 2011, 11:39 PM
It keeps happening to me. Why? Pretty much every time I do an update it happens. Sometimes I boot into Windows and that solves it, other times not (like now).

Myother laptop is really reqally old, and duel booting Vista and Ubuntu (same installation CD) and guess what, not a single Ubuntu problem ever. Is it worth I uninstall UBuntu and reinstall it?

kyral210
March 21st, 2011, 10:56 AM
NOpe, reinstalling with a freshly burnt CD installation of Ubuntu 10.10 doesnt help

Rubi1200
March 21st, 2011, 12:04 PM
Before you reinstall again, which I suggest, first defragment the drive and run chkdsk.

After reinstalling, lock the grub-* packages. Details can be found in the main post here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1639198