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qv0
November 21st, 2011, 04:18 AM
I am attempting to install Ubuntu 11.10 dual-boot with a pre-existing WinXP partition. Both are on the same physical disk. The Linux install is on a logical partition.

The installation appears to succeed, but I receive the following after rebooting:


Error: no such partition.
grub rescue>


Restoring my MBR is not a problem (done it multiple times now), but that only allows me to boot back to WinXP. I've already read through a number of forum threads concerning the same error, but none have resolved the problem.

Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?

Oh, and I realize that multiple swap partitions are not needed. I created only one of them. The other appeared after running the Ubuntu install.

Following is output from boot_info_script:


Boot Info Script 0.60 from 17 May 2011

============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================
=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for on this drive.
=> Syslinux MBR (3.61-4.03) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
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: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM /ubuntu/winboot/wubildr
/ubuntu/winboot/wubildr.mbr
sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
sda5: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files:
sda6: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sda7: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: ext2
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 11.10
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img
sda8: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sdb1: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: SYSLINUX 3.85 2010-02-20
Boot sector info: Syslinux looks at sector 1593904 of /dev/sdb1 for its
second stage. No errors found in the Boot Parameter
Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /syslinux.cfg /ldlinux.sys
============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________
Disk /dev/sda: 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 Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2,048 245,762,047 245,760,000 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 245,764,094 625,141,759 379,377,666 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 245,764,096 450,564,095 204,800,000 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda6 614,408,192 625,141,759 10,733,568 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 450,566,144 610,213,887 159,647,744 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 610,215,936 614,406,143 4,190,208 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Drive: sdb __________________________________________________ ___________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 1967 MB, 1967128576 bytes
57 heads, 56 sectors/track, 1203 cylinders, total 3842048 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 137 3,842,047 3,841,911 b W95 FAT32

"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 BA9869439868FEEF ntfs
/dev/sda5 51136EA21925F6BF ntfs Data
/dev/sda6 316aa5fc-5882-4967-bd4d-a1fe880746e1 swap
/dev/sda7 6b958270-401b-420d-bda0-e6d9a2301726 ext2
/dev/sda8 dfc979fe-9fe2-4410-9a24-0fa6dec53720 swap
/dev/sdb1 9854-6253 vfat PENDRIVE
================================ Mount points: =================================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda7 /mnt ext2 (rw)
/dev/sdb1 /cdrom vfat (ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,i ocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)

================================ 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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================== sda7/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}
function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
}
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6b958270-401b-420d-bda0-e6d9a2301726
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6b958270-401b-420d-bda0-e6d9a2301726
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
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/light-gray
if background_color 44,0,30; then
clear
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then
if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6b958270-401b-420d-bda0-e6d9a2301726
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=/dev/sda7 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6b958270-401b-420d-bda0-e6d9a2301726
echo 'Loading Linux 3.0.0-12-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=/dev/sda7 ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6b958270-401b-420d-bda0-e6d9a2301726
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 6b958270-401b-420d-bda0-e6d9a2301726
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)" --class windows --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root BA9869439868FEEF
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 ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=============================== sda7/etc/fstab: ================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' 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 nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=6b958270-401b-420d-bda0-e6d9a2301726 / ext2 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=316aa5fc-5882-4967-bd4d-a1fe880746e1 none swap sw 0 0
# swap was on /dev/sda8 during installation
UUID=dfc979fe-9fe2-4410-9a24-0fa6dec53720 none swap sw 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=================== sda7: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
= boot/grub/core.img 1
= boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
= boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic 5
= boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic 3
= initrd.img 5
= vmlinuz 3
============================== sdb1/syslinux.cfg: ==============================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
default menu.c32
prompt 0
menu title UNetbootin
timeout 100
label unetbootindefault
menu label Default
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
label ubnentry0
menu label ^Help
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit
label ubnentry1
menu label ^Try Ubuntu without installing
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
label ubnentry2
menu label ^Install Ubuntu
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash --
label ubnentry3
menu label ^Check disc for defects
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz boot=casper integrity-check quiet splash --
label ubnentry4
menu label Test ^memory
kernel /install/mt86plus
append initrd=/ubninit
label ubnentry5
menu label ^Boot from first hard disk
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
================= sdb1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
?? = ?? ldlinux.sys 1
?? = ?? menu.c32 1
?? = ?? syslinux.cfg 1
============== sdb1: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============
menu.c32 : COM32R module (v3.xx)
======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================
Unknown BootLoader on sda2
00000000 86 e3 5b de 24 fb c5 1f 6a 64 dd 19 58 55 71 16 |..[.$...jd..XUq.|
00000010 30 33 17 2b 42 de c6 e5 9f b3 86 87 99 0c 3f fc |03.+B.........?.|
00000020 b2 8a 5f 4e 1b 46 1a 51 5b 53 ff 02 0c bc 61 fc |.._N.F.Q[S....a.|
00000030 3e 6c a2 84 bd 1b e2 a6 70 0f 50 82 77 d6 b2 a3 |>l......p.P.w...|
00000040 49 d8 06 70 48 8e 09 d3 ab 32 c8 a9 55 de 48 41 |I..pH....2..U.HA|
00000050 6b 3b e1 ca 2d 51 72 cb 68 b2 70 d0 df 8a 64 c3 |k;..-Qr.h.p...d.|
00000060 8f 0f b9 84 c0 5f 88 5f c1 d7 62 17 93 92 ff a7 |....._._..b.....|
00000070 fd 77 fb b0 3d 63 65 a4 3c 96 f3 c5 e6 21 84 c3 |.w..=ce.<....!..|
00000080 45 a1 8c 8f 57 88 87 5d a3 70 26 95 5d d2 7b 7c |E...W..].p&.].{||
00000090 ed b6 5c 23 77 54 58 6e 4c 03 cd 8b 61 53 df a1 |..\#wTXnL...aS..|
000000a0 73 d7 33 7e cc 4a d7 6d af df 7e 27 4d 36 9e 65 |s.3~.J.m..~'M6.e|
000000b0 4e 8a 0d 35 1b 11 ff c7 d4 5b a6 ee 2f 1b 9b 29 |N..5.....[../..)|
000000c0 58 9e 84 b3 0a f0 90 69 de f8 5e 4d b2 47 62 6a |X......i..^M.Gbj|
000000d0 36 26 34 16 7f cb a9 86 96 a6 d5 47 dd 49 db 78 |6&4........G.I.x|
000000e0 82 68 a4 33 29 b7 64 b1 d8 fb e9 b9 bf 9f ef c1 |.h.3).d.........|
000000f0 32 fb f9 a6 f3 d7 fa 00 d7 36 66 4e 81 1b 7b 76 |2........6fN..{v|
00000100 a3 7f 57 64 73 00 9f a8 ed 10 5e 2f de 51 e3 c4 |..Wds.....^/.Q..|
00000110 b5 ff b7 b3 f9 f9 9d 43 46 fc b1 b0 83 51 94 f0 |.......CF....Q..|
00000120 76 00 8f 3c 88 ac 20 3a 32 54 7e 14 f5 32 16 b5 |v..<.. :2T~..2..|
00000130 6d e1 3b af 44 7d 58 2d 53 3a 7c a0 d3 8b bb 49 |m.;.D}X-S:|....I|
00000140 db 26 3c f0 c9 c8 d1 7f ec f9 db 2d 6d 32 c5 73 |.&<........-m2.s|
00000150 15 78 fe 51 0a c4 c4 35 d9 70 9d d4 ff 3d f0 da |.x.Q...5.p...=..|
00000160 0f df f2 55 f3 97 cb 42 35 a5 df 9d be 68 06 c7 |...U...B5....h..|
00000170 4a a7 4a 13 ed bf 13 1b cd ec c5 7b 18 94 5f 41 |J.J........{.._A|
00000180 33 de 4a 5f 08 2c 45 df 49 e9 b6 d4 c4 8f 36 2e |3.J_.,E.I.....6.|
00000190 9f 43 44 54 85 5c 99 49 bd be 53 36 6d 38 2b 53 |.CDT.\.I..S6m8+S|
000001a0 c8 ba 67 ef b4 38 f9 37 6c cb 68 f0 88 2e ad 83 |..g..8.7l.h.....|
000001b0 94 a3 4b 41 15 1d 39 eb 8d 9b ff d8 67 a7 00 1b |..KA..9.....g...|
000001c0 da ff 07 51 c3 ff 02 00 00 00 00 00 35 0c 00 fe |...Q........5...|
000001d0 ff ff 05 fe ff ff 02 08 f9 15 00 d0 a3 00 00 00 |................|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================
unlzma: Decoder error
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in

fantab
November 21st, 2011, 04:48 AM
I am attempting to install Ubuntu 11.10 dual-boot with a pre-existing WinXP partition. Both are on the same physical disk. The Linux install is on a logical partition.

The installation appears to succeed, but I receive the following after rebooting:
[CODE]
Error: no such partition.
grub rescue>

Re-Install Ubuntu and use "Something Else" option to install Ubuntu to manually select your partitions and this way Ubuntu won't create an additional SWAP. INSTALL GRUB to /dev/sda only.

Also, is there any particular reason you've formatted Linux partitions using ext2. If possible use ext4. Not that it matters much but ext4 is the latest version of the ext-filesystem.

Is Windows vista/7 actually on /dev/sda5, which is Logical Partition? If that is so you may have issues booting it. Windows is not friendly with Logical Partitions when booting from. You should consider a Primary Partition to boot any Windows. It is all right if its a DATA partition though.

qv0
November 21st, 2011, 06:03 AM
Re-Install Ubuntu and use "Something Else" option to install Ubuntu to manually select your partitions and this way Ubuntu won't create an additional SWAP. INSTALL GRUB to /dev/sda only.

Also, is there any particular reason you've formatted Linux partitions using ext2. If possible use ext4. Not that it matters much but ext4 is the latest version of the ext-filesystem.

Is Windows vista/7 actually on /dev/sda5, which is Logical Partition? If that is so you may have issues booting it. Windows is not friendly with Logical Partitions when booting from. You should consider a Primary Partition to boot any Windows. It is all right if its a DATA partition though.


I used the Something Else option on the last couple attempts, and you're probably correct that one of the other options (on a previous attempt) decided to be helpful and create a new swap for me.

As to where grub is installed, I thought it was installed on /dev/sda. Do you see anything that indicates otherwise?

I started with ext4, then tried ext3 and finally ext2 on the possibility that grub was having trouble with the newer file systems. As you might guess, that made no difference.

The system isn't running Win7/Vista, it's running WinXP that happens to be on /dev/sda1. /dev/sda5 is an NTFS formatted non-bootable data partition. No clue why it's suddenly being labelled as Win7/Vista...

qv0
November 21st, 2011, 07:12 AM
I used the Something Else option on the last couple attempts, and you're probably correct that one of the other options (on a previous attempt) decided to be helpful and create a new swap for me.

As to where grub is installed, I thought it was installed on /dev/sda. Do you see anything that indicates otherwise?

I started with ext4, then tried ext3 and finally ext2 on the possibility that grub was having trouble with the newer file systems. As you might guess, that made no difference.

The system isn't running Win7/Vista, it's running WinXP that happens to be on /dev/sda1. /dev/sda5 is an NTFS formatted non-bootable data partition. No clue why it's suddenly being labelled as Win7/Vista...


I reinstalled with the Something Else option again, making sure it was installing grub to /dev/sda. Same error after reboot.



Boot Info Script 0.60 from 17 May 2011

============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================
=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for on this drive.
=> Syslinux MBR (3.61-4.03) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
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: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM /ubuntu/winboot/wubildr
/ubuntu/winboot/wubildr.mbr
sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
sda5: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files:
sda6: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sda7: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 11.10
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img
sda8: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sdb1: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: SYSLINUX 3.85 2010-02-20
Boot sector info: Syslinux looks at sector 1593904 of /dev/sdb1 for its
second stage. No errors found in the Boot Parameter
Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /syslinux.cfg /ldlinux.sys
============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________
Disk /dev/sda: 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 Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2,048 245,762,047 245,760,000 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 245,764,094 625,141,759 379,377,666 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 245,764,096 450,564,095 204,800,000 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda6 614,408,192 625,141,759 10,733,568 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 450,566,144 610,213,887 159,647,744 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 610,215,936 614,406,143 4,190,208 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Drive: sdb __________________________________________________ ___________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 1967 MB, 1967128576 bytes
57 heads, 56 sectors/track, 1203 cylinders, total 3842048 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 137 3,842,047 3,841,911 b W95 FAT32

"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 BA9869439868FEEF ntfs
/dev/sda5 51136EA21925F6BF ntfs Data
/dev/sda6 316aa5fc-5882-4967-bd4d-a1fe880746e1 swap
/dev/sda7 ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ext4
/dev/sda8 dfc979fe-9fe2-4410-9a24-0fa6dec53720 swap
/dev/sdb1 9854-6253 vfat PENDRIVE
================================ Mount points: =================================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda7 /mnt ext4 (rw)
/dev/sdb1 /cdrom vfat (ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,i ocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)

================================ 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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================== sda7/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}
function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
}
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
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/light-gray
if background_color 44,0,30; then
clear
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then
if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
echo 'Loading Linux 3.0.0-12-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
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)" --class windows --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root BA9869439868FEEF
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 ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=============================== sda7/etc/fstab: ================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' 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 nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=316aa5fc-5882-4967-bd4d-a1fe880746e1 none swap sw 0 0
# swap was on /dev/sda8 during installation
UUID=dfc979fe-9fe2-4410-9a24-0fa6dec53720 none swap sw 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=================== sda7: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
= boot/grub/core.img 1
= boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
= boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic 2
= boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic 1
= initrd.img 2
= vmlinuz 1
============================== sdb1/syslinux.cfg: ==============================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
default menu.c32
prompt 0
menu title UNetbootin
timeout 100
label unetbootindefault
menu label Default
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
label ubnentry0
menu label ^Help
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit
label ubnentry1
menu label ^Try Ubuntu without installing
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
label ubnentry2
menu label ^Install Ubuntu
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash --
label ubnentry3
menu label ^Check disc for defects
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz boot=casper integrity-check quiet splash --
label ubnentry4
menu label Test ^memory
kernel /install/mt86plus
append initrd=/ubninit
label ubnentry5
menu label ^Boot from first hard disk
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
================= sdb1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
?? = ?? ldlinux.sys 1
?? = ?? menu.c32 1
?? = ?? syslinux.cfg 1
============== sdb1: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============
menu.c32 : COM32R module (v3.xx)
======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================
Unknown BootLoader on sda2
00000000 86 e3 5b de 24 fb c5 1f 6a 64 dd 19 58 55 71 16 |..[.$...jd..XUq.|
00000010 30 33 17 2b 42 de c6 e5 9f b3 86 87 99 0c 3f fc |03.+B.........?.|
00000020 b2 8a 5f 4e 1b 46 1a 51 5b 53 ff 02 0c bc 61 fc |.._N.F.Q[S....a.|
00000030 3e 6c a2 84 bd 1b e2 a6 70 0f 50 82 77 d6 b2 a3 |>l......p.P.w...|
00000040 49 d8 06 70 48 8e 09 d3 ab 32 c8 a9 55 de 48 41 |I..pH....2..U.HA|
00000050 6b 3b e1 ca 2d 51 72 cb 68 b2 70 d0 df 8a 64 c3 |k;..-Qr.h.p...d.|
00000060 8f 0f b9 84 c0 5f 88 5f c1 d7 62 17 93 92 ff a7 |....._._..b.....|
00000070 fd 77 fb b0 3d 63 65 a4 3c 96 f3 c5 e6 21 84 c3 |.w..=ce.<....!..|
00000080 45 a1 8c 8f 57 88 87 5d a3 70 26 95 5d d2 7b 7c |E...W..].p&.].{||
00000090 ed b6 5c 23 77 54 58 6e 4c 03 cd 8b 61 53 df a1 |..\#wTXnL...aS..|
000000a0 73 d7 33 7e cc 4a d7 6d af df 7e 27 4d 36 9e 65 |s.3~.J.m..~'M6.e|
000000b0 4e 8a 0d 35 1b 11 ff c7 d4 5b a6 ee 2f 1b 9b 29 |N..5.....[../..)|
000000c0 58 9e 84 b3 0a f0 90 69 de f8 5e 4d b2 47 62 6a |X......i..^M.Gbj|
000000d0 36 26 34 16 7f cb a9 86 96 a6 d5 47 dd 49 db 78 |6&4........G.I.x|
000000e0 82 68 a4 33 29 b7 64 b1 d8 fb e9 b9 bf 9f ef c1 |.h.3).d.........|
000000f0 32 fb f9 a6 f3 d7 fa 00 d7 36 66 4e 81 1b 7b 76 |2........6fN..{v|
00000100 a3 7f 57 64 73 00 9f a8 ed 10 5e 2f de 51 e3 c4 |..Wds.....^/.Q..|
00000110 b5 ff b7 b3 f9 f9 9d 43 46 fc b1 b0 83 51 94 f0 |.......CF....Q..|
00000120 76 00 8f 3c 88 ac 20 3a 32 54 7e 14 f5 32 16 b5 |v..<.. :2T~..2..|
00000130 6d e1 3b af 44 7d 58 2d 53 3a 7c a0 d3 8b bb 49 |m.;.D}X-S:|....I|
00000140 db 26 3c f0 c9 c8 d1 7f ec f9 db 2d 6d 32 c5 73 |.&<........-m2.s|
00000150 15 78 fe 51 0a c4 c4 35 d9 70 9d d4 ff 3d f0 da |.x.Q...5.p...=..|
00000160 0f df f2 55 f3 97 cb 42 35 a5 df 9d be 68 06 c7 |...U...B5....h..|
00000170 4a a7 4a 13 ed bf 13 1b cd ec c5 7b 18 94 5f 41 |J.J........{.._A|
00000180 33 de 4a 5f 08 2c 45 df 49 e9 b6 d4 c4 8f 36 2e |3.J_.,E.I.....6.|
00000190 9f 43 44 54 85 5c 99 49 bd be 53 36 6d 38 2b 53 |.CDT.\.I..S6m8+S|
000001a0 c8 ba 67 ef b4 38 f9 37 6c cb 68 f0 88 2e ad 83 |..g..8.7l.h.....|
000001b0 94 a3 4b 41 15 1d 39 eb 8d 9b ff d8 67 a7 00 1b |..KA..9.....g...|
000001c0 da ff 07 51 c3 ff 02 00 00 00 00 00 35 0c 00 fe |...Q........5...|
000001d0 ff ff 05 fe ff ff 02 08 f9 15 00 d0 a3 00 00 00 |................|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================
unlzma: Decoder error
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in

fantab
November 21st, 2011, 10:56 AM
I reinstalled with the Something Else option again, making sure it was installing grub to /dev/sda. Same error after reboot.

As far as I can see, you have installed Ubuntu correctly.



Did you change the BIOS in anyway to use your LiveUSB (I think you are using LiveUSB)?
If you have then have you changed it back to boot from your hard disk?


If the above questions do not apply to you then:
Please read this information GRUB RESCUE (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1594052) and try to recover GRUB.

Keep the forum posted.

larrypg
November 21st, 2011, 12:30 PM
hello,

Do you have both a wubi install (inside of windows) and a regular install? Noticed this...Boot files: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM /ubuntu/winboot/wubildr
/ubuntu/winboot/wubildr.mbr

qv0
November 21st, 2011, 06:42 PM
As far as I can see, you have installed Ubuntu correctly.



Did you change the BIOS in anyway to use your LiveUSB (I think you are using LiveUSB)?
If you have then have you changed it back to boot from your hard disk?


If the above questions do not apply to you then:
Please read this information GRUB RESCUE (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1594052) and try to recover GRUB.

Keep the forum posted.

Correct, I installed from a LiveUSB image. No recent changes to the BIOS. It is configured to boot from USB as a first choice, but there is no USB device connected when I reboot and end up on a grub rescue command line. An MBR that points to WinXP works fine, so I hadn't paid much attention to BIOS or the boot sequence.

I've tried the normal set of GRUB RESCUE commands but noticed that it's "insmod linux" at the link you provided. The instructions I had followed specified "insmod normal", resulting in an unknown file system response (this is when I tried reverting to ext2).

Going to try it with "insmod linux" shortly. Warning - I am new to Grub Rescue. Not even sure it existed last time I had problems with Grub...

qv0
November 21st, 2011, 06:51 PM
hello,

Do you have both a wubi install (inside of windows) and a regular install? Noticed this...Boot files: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM /ubuntu/winboot/wubildr
/ubuntu/winboot/wubildr.mbr


Wish I had a good explanation for that. I do not run wubi. In fact, I've never run any Linux install from this particular laptop until now.

Could LILO have deposited those wubi boot files? I used LILO to restore the MBR several times (sudo lilo -M /dev/sda mbr) and that's roughly when those files appeared.

:confused:

Rubi1200
November 21st, 2011, 08:11 PM
Boot from the LiveCD/USB and run the following commands:


sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gawkWhen completed, download and run the boot info script again and post the results as before.

By the way, installing lilo could not have installed those Wubi files; they are the remnants of an old, uninstalled Wubi install.


Wish I had a good explanation for that. I do not run wubi. In fact, I've never run any Linux install from this particular laptop until now.
Is it possible someone else installed and uninstalled Wubi on the laptop?

qv0
November 21st, 2011, 09:48 PM
[QUOTE=Rubi1200;11477340]Boot from the LiveCD/USB and run the following commands:


sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gawk


Sorry about gawk. Got lazy after the eighth or ninth install. :oops:

Results with gawk installed:


Boot Info Script 0.60 from 17 May 2011

============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================
=> Lilo is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
=> Syslinux MBR (3.61-4.03) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
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: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM /ubuntu/winboot/wubildr
/ubuntu/winboot/wubildr.mbr
sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
sda5: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files:
sda6: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sda7: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 11.10
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img
sda8: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sdb1: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: SYSLINUX 3.85 2010-02-20
Boot sector info: Syslinux looks at sector 1593904 of /dev/sdb1 for its
second stage. No errors found in the Boot Parameter
Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /syslinux.cfg /ldlinux.sys
============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________
Disk /dev/sda: 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 Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2,048 245,762,047 245,760,000 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 245,764,094 625,141,759 379,377,666 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 245,764,096 450,564,095 204,800,000 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda6 614,408,192 625,141,759 10,733,568 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 450,566,144 610,213,887 159,647,744 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 610,215,936 614,406,143 4,190,208 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Drive: sdb __________________________________________________ ___________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 1967 MB, 1967128576 bytes
57 heads, 56 sectors/track, 1203 cylinders, total 3842048 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 137 3,842,047 3,841,911 b W95 FAT32

"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 BA9869439868FEEF ntfs
/dev/sda5 51136EA21925F6BF ntfs Data
/dev/sda6 316aa5fc-5882-4967-bd4d-a1fe880746e1 swap
/dev/sda7 ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ext4
/dev/sda8 dfc979fe-9fe2-4410-9a24-0fa6dec53720 swap
/dev/sdb1 9854-6253 vfat PENDRIVE
================================ Mount points: =================================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda7 /mnt ext4 (rw)
/dev/sdb1 /cdrom vfat (ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,i ocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)

================================ 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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================== sda7/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}
function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
}
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
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/light-gray
if background_color 44,0,30; then
clear
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then
if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
echo 'Loading Linux 3.0.0-12-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
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)" --class windows --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root BA9869439868FEEF
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 ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=============================== sda7/etc/fstab: ================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' 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 nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=316aa5fc-5882-4967-bd4d-a1fe880746e1 none swap sw 0 0
# swap was on /dev/sda8 during installation
UUID=dfc979fe-9fe2-4410-9a24-0fa6dec53720 none swap sw 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=================== sda7: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
263.077674866 = 282.477502464 boot/grub/core.img 1
263.077690125 = 282.477518848 boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
216.226554871 = 232.171495424 boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic 2
255.015121460 = 273.820401664 boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic 1
216.226554871 = 232.171495424 initrd.img 2
255.015121460 = 273.820401664 vmlinuz 1
============================== sdb1/syslinux.cfg: ==============================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
default menu.c32
prompt 0
menu title UNetbootin
timeout 100
label unetbootindefault
menu label Default
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
label ubnentry0
menu label ^Help
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit
label ubnentry1
menu label ^Try Ubuntu without installing
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
label ubnentry2
menu label ^Install Ubuntu
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash --
label ubnentry3
menu label ^Check disc for defects
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz boot=casper integrity-check quiet splash --
label ubnentry4
menu label Test ^memory
kernel /install/mt86plus
append initrd=/ubninit
label ubnentry5
menu label ^Boot from first hard disk
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
================= sdb1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
?? = ?? ldlinux.sys 1
?? = ?? menu.c32 1
?? = ?? syslinux.cfg 1
============== sdb1: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============
menu.c32 : COM32R module (v3.xx)
======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================
Unknown BootLoader on sda2
00000000 86 e3 5b de 24 fb c5 1f 6a 64 dd 19 58 55 71 16 |..[.$...jd..XUq.|
00000010 30 33 17 2b 42 de c6 e5 9f b3 86 87 99 0c 3f fc |03.+B.........?.|
00000020 b2 8a 5f 4e 1b 46 1a 51 5b 53 ff 02 0c bc 61 fc |.._N.F.Q[S....a.|
00000030 3e 6c a2 84 bd 1b e2 a6 70 0f 50 82 77 d6 b2 a3 |>l......p.P.w...|
00000040 49 d8 06 70 48 8e 09 d3 ab 32 c8 a9 55 de 48 41 |I..pH....2..U.HA|
00000050 6b 3b e1 ca 2d 51 72 cb 68 b2 70 d0 df 8a 64 c3 |k;..-Qr.h.p...d.|
00000060 8f 0f b9 84 c0 5f 88 5f c1 d7 62 17 93 92 ff a7 |....._._..b.....|
00000070 fd 77 fb b0 3d 63 65 a4 3c 96 f3 c5 e6 21 84 c3 |.w..=ce.<....!..|
00000080 45 a1 8c 8f 57 88 87 5d a3 70 26 95 5d d2 7b 7c |E...W..].p&.].{||
00000090 ed b6 5c 23 77 54 58 6e 4c 03 cd 8b 61 53 df a1 |..\#wTXnL...aS..|
000000a0 73 d7 33 7e cc 4a d7 6d af df 7e 27 4d 36 9e 65 |s.3~.J.m..~'M6.e|
000000b0 4e 8a 0d 35 1b 11 ff c7 d4 5b a6 ee 2f 1b 9b 29 |N..5.....[../..)|
000000c0 58 9e 84 b3 0a f0 90 69 de f8 5e 4d b2 47 62 6a |X......i..^M.Gbj|
000000d0 36 26 34 16 7f cb a9 86 96 a6 d5 47 dd 49 db 78 |6&4........G.I.x|
000000e0 82 68 a4 33 29 b7 64 b1 d8 fb e9 b9 bf 9f ef c1 |.h.3).d.........|
000000f0 32 fb f9 a6 f3 d7 fa 00 d7 36 66 4e 81 1b 7b 76 |2........6fN..{v|
00000100 a3 7f 57 64 73 00 9f a8 ed 10 5e 2f de 51 e3 c4 |..Wds.....^/.Q..|
00000110 b5 ff b7 b3 f9 f9 9d 43 46 fc b1 b0 83 51 94 f0 |.......CF....Q..|
00000120 76 00 8f 3c 88 ac 20 3a 32 54 7e 14 f5 32 16 b5 |v..<.. :2T~..2..|
00000130 6d e1 3b af 44 7d 58 2d 53 3a 7c a0 d3 8b bb 49 |m.;.D}X-S:|....I|
00000140 db 26 3c f0 c9 c8 d1 7f ec f9 db 2d 6d 32 c5 73 |.&<........-m2.s|
00000150 15 78 fe 51 0a c4 c4 35 d9 70 9d d4 ff 3d f0 da |.x.Q...5.p...=..|
00000160 0f df f2 55 f3 97 cb 42 35 a5 df 9d be 68 06 c7 |...U...B5....h..|
00000170 4a a7 4a 13 ed bf 13 1b cd ec c5 7b 18 94 5f 41 |J.J........{.._A|
00000180 33 de 4a 5f 08 2c 45 df 49 e9 b6 d4 c4 8f 36 2e |3.J_.,E.I.....6.|
00000190 9f 43 44 54 85 5c 99 49 bd be 53 36 6d 38 2b 53 |.CDT.\.I..S6m8+S|
000001a0 c8 ba 67 ef b4 38 f9 37 6c cb 68 f0 88 2e ad 83 |..g..8.7l.h.....|
000001b0 94 a3 4b 41 15 1d 39 eb 8d 9b ff d8 67 a7 00 1b |..KA..9.....g...|
000001c0 da ff 07 51 c3 ff 02 00 00 00 00 00 35 0c 00 fe |...Q........5...|
000001d0 ff ff 05 fe ff ff 02 08 f9 15 00 d0 a3 00 00 00 |................|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200

qv0
November 22nd, 2011, 12:11 AM
Please read this information GRUB RESCUE (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1594052) and try to recover GRUB.

Keep the forum posted.


I've been playing around with grub rescue and am consistently running into the following error from "ls (hd0,6)":

error: no such partition.

Also, the output of plain "ls" is:



(hd0) (hd0,msdos5) (hd0,msdos1)



I'm assuming that (hd0,msdos1) is my WinXP NTFS file system, and (hd0,msdos5) is the other NTFS file system. Shouldn't I expect the Linux file systems to show up here as well?

And the partition table looks fine when I view it after booting from a USB image...

Quackers
November 22nd, 2011, 12:36 AM
Somehow you have lost grub from the MBR of /dev/sda and it has been replaced by Lilo.
I would suggest re-installing grub as a first measure at this stage.
Please boot from the Ubuntu live cd/usb and select "try Ubuntu" then when the desktop loads open up a terminal and run these two commands, one at a time, pressing enter after each line.

sudo mount /dev/sda7 /mnt
sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt /dev/sda This should report no errors and should put grub back in the MBR of the drive.
See if it boots after that. Other measures may still need to be taken.
If it won't boot please install gawk again and re-run the boot script.

It does look like there has been a wubi installation at some time.

By the way is this on an older pc?

qv0
November 22nd, 2011, 02:54 AM
Somehow you have lost grub from the MBR of /dev/sda and it has been replaced by Lilo.
I would suggest re-installing grub as a first measure at this stage.
...
By the way is this on an older pc?


The last boot_info_script output showed LILO because I had used LILO to restore the MBR in order to boot back to Windows.

I manually installed grub anyway as you suggested (in case the installer was doing something strange), but am getting the same error on boot. boot_info_script output reflecting this state is below.

It is an older system - Dell Inspiron 9300



Boot Info Script 0.60 from 17 May 2011

============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================
=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for on this drive.
=> Syslinux MBR (3.61-4.03) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.
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: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM /ubuntu/winboot/wubildr
/ubuntu/winboot/wubildr.mbr
sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
sda5: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files:
sda6: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sda7: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 11.10
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /grub/core.img
/boot/grub/core.img
sda8: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sdb1: __________________________________________________ ________________________
File system: vfat
Boot sector type: SYSLINUX 3.85 2010-02-20
Boot sector info: Syslinux looks at sector 1593904 of /dev/sdb1 for its
second stage. No errors found in the Boot Parameter
Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /syslinux.cfg /ldlinux.sys
============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________
Disk /dev/sda: 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 Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2,048 245,762,047 245,760,000 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 245,764,094 625,141,759 379,377,666 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 245,764,096 450,564,095 204,800,000 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda6 614,408,192 625,141,759 10,733,568 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 450,566,144 610,213,887 159,647,744 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 610,215,936 614,406,143 4,190,208 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Drive: sdb __________________________________________________ ___________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 1967 MB, 1967128576 bytes
57 heads, 56 sectors/track, 1203 cylinders, total 3842048 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 137 3,842,047 3,841,911 b W95 FAT32

"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________
Device UUID TYPE LABEL
/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 BA9869439868FEEF ntfs
/dev/sda5 51136EA21925F6BF ntfs Data
/dev/sda6 316aa5fc-5882-4967-bd4d-a1fe880746e1 swap
/dev/sda7 ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ext4
/dev/sda8 dfc979fe-9fe2-4410-9a24-0fa6dec53720 swap
/dev/sdb1 9854-6253 vfat PENDRIVE
================================ Mount points: =================================
Device Mount_Point Type Options
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda7 /mnt ext4 (rw)
/dev/sdb1 /cdrom vfat (ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,i ocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)

================================ 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" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================== sda7/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}
function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
}
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
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/light-gray
if background_color 44,0,30; then
clear
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then
if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-13-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-13-generic root=UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-13-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-13-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
echo 'Loading Linux 3.0.0-13-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-13-generic root=UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-13-generic
}
submenu "Previous Linux versions" {
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.0.0-12-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
echo 'Loading Linux 3.0.0-12-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic
}
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275
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)" --class windows --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root BA9869439868FEEF
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 ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=============================== sda7/etc/fstab: ================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' 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 nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=ba28fd7a-441d-44f6-ad4a-17f1bc32c275 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=316aa5fc-5882-4967-bd4d-a1fe880746e1 none swap sw 0 0
# swap was on /dev/sda8 during installation
UUID=dfc979fe-9fe2-4410-9a24-0fa6dec53720 none swap sw 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=================== sda7: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
263.054244995 = 282.452344832 boot/grub/core.img 1
263.220489502 = 282.630848512 boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
261.851554871 = 281.160966144 boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-12-generic 2
262.357421875 = 281.704136704 boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-13-generic 2
255.015121460 = 273.820401664 boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic 1
261.956466675 = 281.273614336 boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-13-generic 1
280.971706390 = 301.691072512 grub/core.img 1
261.851554871 = 281.160966144 initrd.img.old 2
261.956466675 = 281.273614336 vmlinuz 1
255.015121460 = 273.820401664 vmlinuz.old 1
============================== sdb1/syslinux.cfg: ==============================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
default menu.c32
prompt 0
menu title UNetbootin
timeout 100
label unetbootindefault
menu label Default
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
label ubnentry0
menu label ^Help
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit
label ubnentry1
menu label ^Try Ubuntu without installing
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash --
label ubnentry2
menu label ^Install Ubuntu
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash --
label ubnentry3
menu label ^Check disc for defects
kernel /casper/vmlinuz
append initrd=/casper/initrd.lz boot=casper integrity-check quiet splash --
label ubnentry4
menu label Test ^memory
kernel /install/mt86plus
append initrd=/ubninit
label ubnentry5
menu label ^Boot from first hard disk
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
================= sdb1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================
GiB - GB File Fragment(s)
?? = ?? ldlinux.sys 1
?? = ?? menu.c32 1
?? = ?? syslinux.cfg 1
============== sdb1: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============
menu.c32 : COM32R module (v3.xx)
======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================
Unknown BootLoader on sda2
00000000 86 e3 5b de 24 fb c5 1f 6a 64 dd 19 58 55 71 16 |..[.$...jd..XUq.|
00000010 30 33 17 2b 42 de c6 e5 9f b3 86 87 99 0c 3f fc |03.+B.........?.|
00000020 b2 8a 5f 4e 1b 46 1a 51 5b 53 ff 02 0c bc 61 fc |.._N.F.Q[S....a.|
00000030 3e 6c a2 84 bd 1b e2 a6 70 0f 50 82 77 d6 b2 a3 |>l......p.P.w...|
00000040 49 d8 06 70 48 8e 09 d3 ab 32 c8 a9 55 de 48 41 |I..pH....2..U.HA|
00000050 6b 3b e1 ca 2d 51 72 cb 68 b2 70 d0 df 8a 64 c3 |k;..-Qr.h.p...d.|
00000060 8f 0f b9 84 c0 5f 88 5f c1 d7 62 17 93 92 ff a7 |....._._..b.....|
00000070 fd 77 fb b0 3d 63 65 a4 3c 96 f3 c5 e6 21 84 c3 |.w..=ce.<....!..|
00000080 45 a1 8c 8f 57 88 87 5d a3 70 26 95 5d d2 7b 7c |E...W..].p&.].{||
00000090 ed b6 5c 23 77 54 58 6e 4c 03 cd 8b 61 53 df a1 |..\#wTXnL...aS..|
000000a0 73 d7 33 7e cc 4a d7 6d af df 7e 27 4d 36 9e 65 |s.3~.J.m..~'M6.e|
000000b0 4e 8a 0d 35 1b 11 ff c7 d4 5b a6 ee 2f 1b 9b 29 |N..5.....[../..)|
000000c0 58 9e 84 b3 0a f0 90 69 de f8 5e 4d b2 47 62 6a |X......i..^M.Gbj|
000000d0 36 26 34 16 7f cb a9 86 96 a6 d5 47 dd 49 db 78 |6&4........G.I.x|
000000e0 82 68 a4 33 29 b7 64 b1 d8 fb e9 b9 bf 9f ef c1 |.h.3).d.........|
000000f0 32 fb f9 a6 f3 d7 fa 00 d7 36 66 4e 81 1b 7b 76 |2........6fN..{v|
00000100 a3 7f 57 64 73 00 9f a8 ed 10 5e 2f de 51 e3 c4 |..Wds.....^/.Q..|
00000110 b5 ff b7 b3 f9 f9 9d 43 46 fc b1 b0 83 51 94 f0 |.......CF....Q..|
00000120 76 00 8f 3c 88 ac 20 3a 32 54 7e 14 f5 32 16 b5 |v..<.. :2T~..2..|
00000130 6d e1 3b af 44 7d 58 2d 53 3a 7c a0 d3 8b bb 49 |m.;.D}X-S:|....I|
00000140 db 26 3c f0 c9 c8 d1 7f ec f9 db 2d 6d 32 c5 73 |.&<........-m2.s|
00000150 15 78 fe 51 0a c4 c4 35 d9 70 9d d4 ff 3d f0 da |.x.Q...5.p...=..|
00000160 0f df f2 55 f3 97 cb 42 35 a5 df 9d be 68 06 c7 |...U...B5....h..|
00000170 4a a7 4a 13 ed bf 13 1b cd ec c5 7b 18 94 5f 41 |J.J........{.._A|
00000180 33 de 4a 5f 08 2c 45 df 49 e9 b6 d4 c4 8f 36 2e |3.J_.,E.I.....6.|
00000190 9f 43 44 54 85 5c 99 49 bd be 53 36 6d 38 2b 53 |.CDT.\.I..S6m8+S|
000001a0 c8 ba 67 ef b4 38 f9 37 6c cb 68 f0 88 2e ad 83 |..g..8.7l.h.....|
000001b0 94 a3 4b 41 15 1d 39 eb 8d 9b ff d8 67 a7 00 1b |..KA..9.....g...|
000001c0 da ff 07 51 c3 ff 02 00 00 00 00 00 35 0c 00 fe |...Q........5...|
000001d0 ff ff 05 fe ff ff 02 08 f9 15 00 d0 a3 00 00 00 |................|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa |..............U.|
00000200

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================
unlzma: Decoder error

Quackers
November 22nd, 2011, 03:17 AM
You didn't re-install gawk I think.
Does the error message at boot mention a UUID number of the missing partition?
Also is the pc an older one?
Check in your bios to see if there is anything about a 137GB limit for the hard drive. It may be called "large drive" or LBA or something else. If there is a switch to turn large drives on then try it.
This is because some older bioses cannot "see" anything bootable beyond a 137GB limit. Your Ubuntu partition is beyond 137GB into the disc.

qv0
November 22nd, 2011, 06:08 AM
You didn't re-install gawk I think.
Does the error message at boot mention a UUID number of the missing partition?
Also is the pc an older one?
Check in your bios to see if there is anything about a 137GB limit for the hard drive. It may be called "large drive" or LBA or something else. If there is a switch to turn large drives on then try it.
This is because some older bioses cannot "see" anything bootable beyond a 137GB limit. Your Ubuntu partition is beyond 137GB into the disc.

gawk is installed. When it isn't installed, I get the following:

unlzma: Decoder error
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in
There was nothing about awk or Math support in the latest output. Also, I can invoke gawk from the same command line.

As stated earlier, it is an older laptop (Inspiron 9300). There's no mention of LBA in the BIOS configuration menu, but I'll bet you're correct - the problem probably is the 28-bit ATA limitation. If so, then presumably I'm screwed unless I want to repartition the WinXP file system down to something that would allow for a reasonable /boot partition within the 137GB, correct?

Quackers
November 22nd, 2011, 04:51 PM
Once gawk is installed the first line of the boot script should say something like this

=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks in partition 7 for /boot/grub
on this drive.
I'm not sure why your boot script doesn't do that if gawk was installed.

Yes, a separate boot partition early in the drive would fix any limit in bios. I'm not 100% sure that it's your problem, but it could be.

qv0
November 22nd, 2011, 07:33 PM
Once gawk is installed the first line of the boot script should say something like this

=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks in partition 7 for /boot/grub
on this drive.
I'm not sure why your boot script doesn't do that if gawk was installed.

Yes, a separate boot partition early in the drive would fix any limit in bios. I'm not 100% sure that it's your problem, but it could be.

After a bit of research, it looks like early 9300s were limited to 28-bit addressing, but later 9300s were upgraded to SATA and had an LBA-capable BIOS. Mine is among the first category. :(

Anyway, I appreciate your help. My curiosity is probably going to get the better of me, so that WinXP partition might get pared down soon to find out if BIOS is really the problem. 200MB should be plenty for /boot...

qv0
November 22nd, 2011, 10:55 PM
... My curiosity is probably going to get the better of me, so that WinXP partition might get pared down soon to find out if BIOS is really the problem. 200MB should be plenty for /boot...

That worked, so the problem was definitely my BIOS. Thanks for your help Quackers.

Quackers
November 22nd, 2011, 11:15 PM
You're welcome.
Very happy to hear that it's solved :-)

Rubi1200
November 23rd, 2011, 04:57 AM
Glad to hear you got things worked out.

Good work from Quackers there :)