12.04 blank screen bootup

[agenlax]

I just downloaded the latest 32bit 12.04 and created a usb stick using unetbootin and it installed successfully, but now it'll only boot if i select the usb stick from the boot options menu under my bios and if I just boot normally by pressing the power button it gives me a blanking underscore. I suspect something screwed up during the installation and I'd like to know how to fix it.

[wilee-nilee]

Sounds like you have the grub bootloader installed in the usb's master boot record rather than the HD you installed Ubuntu to.

Since you can get to the Ubuntu install boot to it and run these commands. The first is to identify the HD.


sudo fdisk -l

You will see something like this, yours will show the the usb as well.


Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1209d5dd

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 83015679 41506816 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 83015680 150210559 33597440 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 150212606 312580095 81183745 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 150212608 212791295 31289344 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 212793344 242360319 14783488 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 242362368 308369407 33003520 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 308371456 312580095 2104320 82 Linux swap / Solaris
bubba@bubba-development:~$


Now I can see that my HD is actually sda, and the partitions have sda and a number like sda1.

sda is the master boot record area. So Identify the HD and then run this command to load grub to your mbr, I will use sda in this command make sure you use the letter for your HD,


sudo grub-install /dev/sda

Then run this to update grub and reboot and grub should show if the HD is first in the boot order in the bios.


sudo update-grub

[chingtuna]

In the past, waiting a minute or two for your Ubuntu Linux system to boot and get ready for use was par for the course. Today, however, if you don't see a login screen, a terminal prompt or even scrolling text within few seconds, it may indicate that something is wrong with your system. A blank, gray or black screen on startup is especially troubling, as there can be many plausible causes for the failure.

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web design canada (http://riicon.ca)
website designers canada (http://riicon.ca)

[wilee-nilee]

In the past, waiting a minute or two for your Ubuntu Linux system to boot and get ready for use was par for the course. Today, however, if you don't see a login screen, a terminal prompt or even scrolling text within few seconds, it may indicate that something is wrong with your system. A blank, gray or black screen on startup is especially troubling, as there can be many plausible causes for the failure.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
web design canada (http://riicon.ca)
website designers canada (http://riicon.ca)

That is not necessarily true and a abroad generalization.

This is a fairly straight forward cause and effect, if the thread writer is correct. The OS boots from the usb to the installed Ubuntu, it has the grub bootloader in its mbr, instead of the mbr of the HD where Ubuntu is installed.

[agenlax]

Sounds like you have the grub bootloader installed in the usb's master boot record rather than the HD you installed Ubuntu to.

Since you can get to the Ubuntu install boot to it and run these commands. The first is to identify the HD.


sudo fdisk -lYou will see something like this, yours will show the the usb as well.


Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1209d5dd

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 83015679 41506816 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 83015680 150210559 33597440 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 150212606 312580095 81183745 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 150212608 212791295 31289344 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 212793344 242360319 14783488 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 242362368 308369407 33003520 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 308371456 312580095 2104320 82 Linux swap / Solaris
bubba@bubba-development:~$
Now I can see that my HD is actually sda, and the partitions have sda and a number like sda1.

sda is the master boot record area. So Identify the HD and then run this command to load grub to your mbr, I will use sda in this command make sure you use the letter for your HD,


sudo grub-install /dev/sdaThen run this to update grub and reboot and grub should show if the HD is first in the boot order in the bios.


sudo update-grub

Thank you! That worked perfectly!

[wilee-nilee]

Thank you! That worked perfectly!

Cool, no problem, enjoy. :)

[mister_c]

Thanks, this also happened to me and the solution above fixed my problem. Has a bug been filed?

[gort701]

I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to say thank you for the extremely helpful info. I just installed 12.04 over windows xp and I had the same problem. Thanks to you I can now enjoy the ease and speed of a fantastic OS. It's nice to find a forum with people willing to help out noobs like me without resorting to scathing sarcasm and insults just because we don't have the same knowledge base as the 'experts'. P.s. I really can't understand why anyone would want to use windows after experiencing ubuntu.

[bereeen]

sda is the master boot record area. So Identify the HD and then run this command to load grub to your mbr, I will use sda in this command make sure you use the letter for your HD,


sudo grub-install /dev/sda


Hi,

Can you tell me how I can identify my HD? /dev/sda1,2,3,5..?

Also, I've tried all of them, but I always get a new error: "cannot find a device for /boot/grub (is /dev mounted?)". So I've tried mounting the drive (as shown here (http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:Cannot_Find_A_Device _For_boot/grub)) but again, no good. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance. Been wrecking my brains over this for 2 days now...

Best regards

[Noor1101]

Thank you so much wilee-nilee!! It worked for me! HURRAY!



Hi,

Can you tell me how I can identify my HD? /dev/sda1,2,3,5..?

Also, I've tried all of them, but I always get a new error: "cannot find a device for /boot/grub (is /dev mounted?)". So I've tried mounting the drive (as shown here (http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:Cannot_Find_A_Device _For_boot/grub)) but again, no good. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance. Been wrecking my brains over this for 2 days now...

Best regards

Hi Bereeen,

I don't think you should put any number after sda - at least I didn't and you already read it worked for me :)

In Terminal, my USB was 'sdb' with a number behind it. (PLUS the asterisk (*) which meant it was the booting disc.)
All sda's are apparently the same HD.

Did you try putting just sda without a number?

I hope this helps.

Regards! Have a nice day/night.