Grub Error 21

[Dad1985]

I am trying to install Ubuntu. I install it fine, I tell it to put the MBR on the hard rive(not partition) in which I installed the os, which is dev/sdd.

No matter what I do or how much I change the hard drive parameters I cant get it to work. grub either says, It cant find or mount the partition.

I can install slackware fine with lilo, but grub from my reading doesnt like my motherboard which is a abit ip-35 pro. I have also tried the Grub Super disk.


anny help would be appreciated.

[meierfra.]

Do your bios detect your ubuntu drive?

Does the grub menu appear at boot up? (you might have to press "Esc" after the bios screen)

Can you set the bios to boot from the ubuntu drive?

Do you have any kind of raid?

Boot from Supergrub disk. Press "c" at the first menu. Type


find /boot/grub/stage2

and post the output.

Boot from the Ubuntu Live CD and post the output of


sudo fdisk -l
(l is a lower case L)


Go to Computer->Places, double click the icon for the ubuntu partition, go to /boot and then /boot/grub. This folder contains the file "menu.lst" . Open "menu.lst" and post it content.

[xamlah]

Hey!

I just installed Ubuntu 8.04 on a USB Hard Drive on my laptop. My internal hard drive has some data and Windows XP on it. I forgot to install GRUB on my internal drive, so now I have to connect my USB drive, everytime I boot, to get GRUB.

Is there any way I can shift grub to my internal HDD?

Thanks!

[meierfra.]

xamlah: I wrote a HowTo for this situation. Click on "Dual" in my signature.
(Since your are using Hardy, there is a small problem with that HowTo. "ms-sys" is not in the hardy repositories. You need to get the Debian package instead:http://packages.debian.org/etch/ms-sys, Download the i386 version. Right Click to install)

If you have futher question, please respond in the "Dual" thread.

[xamlah]

Thanx a lottt!

[Dad1985]

Do your bios detect your ubuntu drive?

Does the grub menu appear at boot up? (you might have to press "Esc" after the bios screen)

Can you set the bios to boot from the ubuntu drive?

Do you have any kind of raid?

Boot from Supergrub disk. Press "c" at the first menu. Type


find /boot/grub/stage2

and post the output.

Boot from the Ubuntu Live CD and post the output of


sudo fdisk -l
(l is a lower case L)


Go to Computer->Places, double click the icon for the ubuntu partition, go to /boot and then /boot/grub. This folder contains the file "menu.lst" . Open "menu.lst" and post it content.




Does the grub menu appear at boot up? (you might have to press "Esc" after the bios screen)

yes it does and I get the 3 Ubuntu options

Can you set the bios to boot from the ubuntu drive? Yes, and I have

Do you have any kind of raid? Yes, I have raid 0 on my first 2 hard drives on a ICH9R controller.

Boot from Supergrub disk. Press "c" at the first menu. Type


find /boot/grub/stage2

and post the output.

(hd2,0)

Boot from the Ubuntu Live CD and post the output of


sudo fdisk -l
(l is a lower case L)




Disk /dev/sda: 74.3 GB, 74355769344 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9039 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x24532453

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 18078 145211503+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 74.3 GB, 74355769344 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9039 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00320039

Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x02b4aa3c

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 60801 488384001 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdd: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xde48cdfb

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 * 1 23330 187398193+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdd2 23331 24321 7960207+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdd5 23331 24321 7960176 82 Linux swap / Solaris



Go to Computer->Places, double click the icon for the ubuntu partition, go to /boot and then /boot/grub. This folder contains the file "menu.lst" . Open "menu.lst" and post it content.[/QUOTE]


there is no such file or a folder named grub in /boot/

[meierfra.]

Yes, I have raid 0 on my first 2 hard drives on a ICH9R controller.

Your raid is probably causing the problem. I don't know much about raid, accept that it is usually best to install grub to the MBR of the ubuntu drive. Try this


At the grub menu at boot up, press "c". Type


find /boot/grub/stage2

This should return "(hd2,0)" (the same as from Supergrub)
Type


root (hd2,0) (use the output from "/boot/grub/stage2)
setup (hd2) (use the first number of the output)
halt


"halt" should turn of the computer, but sometimes you will have to press the power button to turn it off completely.

Set your bios to boot from the Ubuntu Drive.

At the Grub menu select Ubuntu, but do not press enter. Press "e" instead. At the new screen press "e" again. Change

"root (hd?,0)" to "root (hd0,0)"
(So change the first number to zero, but do not change anything else)

Press "enter" and then "b" to boot.

If you are lucky this boots you into ubuntu. Once you booted into Ubuntu, you need to make this change permanent:

Open a terminal and type


gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
(l is a lowercase L)

change

# groot=(hd?,0)

to

# groot=(hd0,0)

Save the file. In the terminal type


sudo update-grub


If this did not solve your problem:



there is no such file or a folder named grub in /boot/

Very strange. Try this from the LiveCD



mkdir ubuntu
sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sdd1 ubuntu
ls ubuntu/boot


If the grub folder appears on the list


gksudo gedit ubuntu/boot/grub/menu.lst