Master boot record failure please help

[NERDMAN!]

I just tried to update my completely dead install of mint 12 by replacing it with mint 13. as testified by my presence on the Internet I was successful in making mint 13 work, the downside is I stuffed up pretty hard with the multi-booting.

the long and short of it is I have been using a multi-booted laptop with windows 7 and mint. I was stupid enough to forget grub could load windows and i went with the easyBCD method of chain-loading. (windows boot loader into grub installed on Linux partition)

so I was in windows using easyBCD to edit the master boot record and change the entry for Linux, and that's where I stuffed up. I thought I removed the old mint 12 (sda7) entry and replaced it with mint 13 (sda6), turns out I somehow removed windows entirely from the list, when I rebooted I had two options, mint 12 and mint 13, both of which led directly to mint 13.

unfortunately i require windows for both work and study purposes, and i now have a perfectly working windows partition i simply cant boot into.

thats my story, now I need some help. I need to know what my options are, can I install grub to the master boot record and have it load windows when I need it? can I access the windows bootloader list and manually edit it? or is my system a total writeoff and reformat?

[wilee-nilee]

From mint or a live cd run this command set, and post all the text from the results.txt that will show in home.

When you paste to a reply, with all of the text, highlight all of it, then click the # in the reply panel, then submit reply.


wget -O bootinfoscript 'http://bootinfoscript.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=bootinfoscript/bootinfoscript;a=blob_plain;f=bootinfoscript;hb=HE AD'
chmod a+x bootinfoscript
sudo bash bootinfoscript

[NERDMAN!]

Boot Info Script 0.61 [1 April 2012]


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

=> Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.

sda1: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sda2: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Boot file info: Grub2 (v1.97-1.98) in the file /NST/nst_linux.mbr
looks at sector 613988520 of the same hard drive for
core.img. core.img is at this location and looks for
on this drive.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sda3: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sda5 starts
at sector 2048.
Operating System:
Boot files:

sda6: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda7: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: Grub2 (v1.99)
Boot sector info: Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the boot sector of sda7
and looks at sector 1150660280 of the same hard drive
for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for (,msdos7)/boot/grub on this drive.
Operating System: Linux Mint 13 Maya
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda4: __________________________________________________ ________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sda4 has
30722047 sectors, but according to the info from
fdisk, it has 30943919 sectors.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /boot/bcd

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda __________________________________________________ ___________________

Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders, total 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2,048 411,647 409,600 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda2 411,648 584,480,767 584,069,120 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda3 584,482,814 1,219,319,807 634,836,994 f W95 Extended (LBA)
/dev/sda5 1,158,512,640 1,219,319,807 60,807,168 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sda6 584,482,816 592,480,255 7,997,440 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 592,482,304 1,158,508,543 566,026,240 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 1,219,319,808 1,250,263,727 30,943,920 12 Compaq diagnostics


"blkid" output: __________________________________________________ ______________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/sda1 CA5E2D995E2D7EF7 ntfs
/dev/sda2 9E682F2A682F009F ntfs
/dev/sda4 88FE353CFE3523BA ntfs LENOVO_PART
/dev/sda5 E49E715D9E7128E6 ntfs LENOVO
/dev/sda6 2dda1291-9236-48fd-9ec4-d3022ad54485 swap
/dev/sda7 4ed01dee-0755-4a1a-ac59-38b038acedf1 ext4

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/sda7 / ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)


=========================== 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 4ed01dee-0755-4a1a-ac59-38b038acedf1
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 4ed01dee-0755-4a1a-ac59-38b038acedf1
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en_AU
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
if [ "${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
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=white/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
set gfxpayload="${1}"
if [ "${1}" = "keep" ]; then
set vt_handoff=vt.handoff=7
else
set vt_handoff=
fi
}
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 'LinuxMint, with Linux 3.2.0-23-generic' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 4ed01dee-0755-4a1a-ac59-38b038acedf1
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=UUID=4ed01dee-0755-4a1a-ac59-38b038acedf1 ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic
}
menuentry 'LinuxMint, with Linux 3.2.0-23-generic (recovery mode)' --class linuxmint --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 4ed01dee-0755-4a1a-ac59-38b038acedf1
echo 'Loading Linux 3.2.0-23-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=UUID=4ed01dee-0755-4a1a-ac59-38b038acedf1 ro recovery nomodeset
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###
### END /etc/grub.d/10_lupin ###

### 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 4ed01dee-0755-4a1a-ac59-38b038acedf1
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 4ed01dee-0755-4a1a-ac59-38b038acedf1
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" --class windows --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root CA5E2D995E2D7EF7
chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Windows Recovery Environment (loader) (on /dev/sda4)" --class windows --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,msdos4)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 88FE353CFE3523BA
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=4ed01dee-0755-4a1a-ac59-38b038acedf1 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=2dda1291-9236-48fd-9ec4-d3022ad54485 none swap sw 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sda7: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

GiB - GB File Fragment(s)

548.677604675 = 589.138092032 boot/grub/core.img 1
396.665180206 = 425.915994112 boot/grub/grub.cfg 1
284.070705414 = 305.018597376 boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic 2
300.651103973 = 322.821664768 boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic 1
284.070705414 = 305.018597376 initrd.img 2
300.651103973 = 322.821664768 vmlinuz 1

[wilee-nilee]

From the live cd we will chroot grub to the mbr run these commands.


sudo mount /dev/sda7 /mnt
for i in /dev /dev/pts /proc /sys; do sudo mount -B $i /mnt$i; done
sudo chroot /mnt
grub-install /dev/sda
grub-install --recheck /dev/sda
update-grub
Exit chroot: CTRL-D on keyboard
sudo reboot

Once in the mint install run.

sudo update-grub

[oldfred]

You have Windows in MBR and willee's instructions will get grub2's boot loader into the MBR if you do not want EasyBCD.

But you installed grub2's boot loader to the Windows PBR - partition boot sector. All NTFS partitions have to have partition info in them similar to partition table and if bootable which boot file to use bootmgr or ntldr.

If you only installed grub2's boot loader to the pbr once, you can use the backup to restore the correct PBR.


sda2: ______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Boot file info: Grub2 (v1.97-1.98) in the file /NST/nst_linux.mbr
looks at sector 613988520 of the same hard drive for
core.img. core.img is at this location and looks for
on this drive.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /Windows/System32/winload.exe


Fix for most, a few have other issues, better than windows fix in many cases as it also fixes other parameters:
If win7 use small 'system reserved' NTFS partition instead of the partition where windows was installed for win7
This has instructions on using testdisk to repair the install of grub to the boot sector for windows from Ubuntu or Linux LiveCD.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:Boot_Sector
You want to get to this screen:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step#NTFS_Boot_sector_recovery

OR:
[HowTo] Repair the bootsector of a Windows partition - YannBuntu
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1926510

[wilee-nilee]

You have Windows in MBR and willee's instructions will get grub2's boot loader into the MBR if you do not want EasyBCD.

But you installed grub2's boot loader to the Windows PBR - partition boot sector. All NTFS partitions have to have partition info in them similar to partition table and if bootable which boot file to use bootmgr or ntldr.

If you only installed grub2's boot loader to the pbr once, you can use the backup to restore the correct PBR.


sda2: ______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Boot file info: Grub2 (v1.97-1.98) in the file /NST/nst_linux.mbr
looks at sector 613988520 of the same hard drive for
core.img. core.img is at this location and looks for
on this drive.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /Windows/System32/winload.exe
Fix for most, a few have other issues, better than windows fix in many cases as it also fixes other parameters:
If win7 use small 'system reserved' NTFS partition instead of the partition where windows was installed for win7
This has instructions on using testdisk to repair the install of grub to the boot sector for windows from Ubuntu or Linux LiveCD.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:Boot_Sector
You want to get to this screen:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step#NTFS_Boot_sector_recovery

OR:
[HowTo] Repair the bootsector of a Windows partition - YannBuntu
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1926510

Oh shoot, DOH, good eye oldfred I missed that. ;)

[NERDMAN!]

thankyou for your help kind sir but that did not solve the issue, only extended it.
as per your instructions i now have grub on the master boot record, but when loading into windows 7 it goes right back to my stuffed windows bootloader, which is still configured for multibooting as stated in my first post. the issue is the windows bootloader menu does not contain a windows entry. only two linux entries. which puts me right back at square one again.

[wilee-nilee]

thankyou for your help kind sir but that did not solve the issue, only extended it.
as per your instructions i now have grub on the master boot record, but when loading into windows 7 it goes right back to my stuffed windows bootloader, which is still configured for multibooting as stated in my first post. the issue is the windows bootloader menu does not contain a windows entry. only two linux entries. which puts me right back at square one again.

Follow oldfreds post to clean out the grub you put in the windows partition.

I missed that part but what you have done so far is part of fixing this altogether.

If you want to go back to easybcd after you are all fixed you would just reload the MS bootloader to the mbr.

Honestly easybcd is not a good option, grub is much more flexible.

[NERDMAN!]

You have Windows in MBR and willee's instructions will get grub2's boot loader into the MBR if you do not want EasyBCD.

But you installed grub2's boot loader to the Windows PBR - partition boot sector. All NTFS partitions have to have partition info in them similar to partition table and if bootable which boot file to use bootmgr or ntldr.

If you only installed grub2's boot loader to the pbr once, you can use the backup to restore the correct PBR.


sda2: ______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Boot file info: Grub2 (v1.97-1.98) in the file /NST/nst_linux.mbr
looks at sector 613988520 of the same hard drive for
core.img. core.img is at this location and looks for
on this drive.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files: /Windows/System32/winload.exe
Fix for most, a few have other issues, better than windows fix in many cases as it also fixes other parameters:
If win7 use small 'system reserved' NTFS partition instead of the partition where windows was installed for win7
This has instructions on using testdisk to repair the install of grub to the boot sector for windows from Ubuntu or Linux LiveCD.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/bootinfoscript/index.php?title=Boot_Problems:Boot_Sector
You want to get to this screen:
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step#NTFS_Boot_sector_recovery

OR:
[HowTo] Repair the bootsector of a Windows partition - YannBuntu
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1926510

i'm afraid i do not have the backup bootsector option as described in either of those guides.

i take it i'm going to need to hunt up my windows disk?

[Perfect Storm]

Moved to Other OS/Distro Talk.

[oldfred]

If the backup boot sector is also bad, you have to repair the boot sector. But Windows will not directly repair it as it does not see it as NTFS.

So use testdisk to write a (basic) NTFS boot sector (rebuild BS). With XP that often worked, but with Windows 7 or Vista all it does is make it so you can then repair it with Windows repairCD or install CD in repair mode.

Then in Windows Repair console:

oldfred's Windows Vista/Win7 repair links posts #7:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9826152
Make sure boot flag is set for any partition you try to repair.

How to Boot to the System Recovery Options in Windows 7
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/668-system-recovery-options.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html
http://windows7ultimate.windowsreinstall.com/repairwin7startup/indexthumbs.ht
fix boot loader With screen shots from full Windows install media
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/32523/how-to-manually-repair-windows-7-boot-loader-problems/

Windows 7 has its own separate boot/repair partition which looks ok. So in your case can you boot into the repair from your sda1 partition. You may need to use f8 and from grub that is real quick or almost the same time as you hit enter in grub on the Windows entry. Otherwise you may have to move boot flag to sda2, as Windows normally only repairs the boot flagged partition. It probably will then make it fully bootable without the separate boot partition, so you may or may not want to move boot flag back to sda1. You can use gparted or Windows to move boot flag. In Windows it is makeactive.

[NERDMAN!]

wilee-nilee and oldfred, you guys will be remembered as living legends.

thanks for the help, rebuilt the bootsector, works like a charm.

thanks guys.

[wilee-nilee]

wilee-nilee and oldfred, you guys will be remembered as living legends.

thanks for the help, rebuilt the bootsector, works like a charm.

thanks guys.

Cool, sorry I missed that grub in the windows, it could of gone easier, thanks to oldfred it got done.