[SOLVED] how to delete swap partition without screwing up grub

[josephellengar]

I recently figured out that my swap partition didn't work so I started using a swap file. Now I want to get rid of it (the partition). I deleted it with gparted and put the extra space into my ubuntu install, but then my grub got messed up. I fixed it by putting back the partition and doing some other stuff, but now if I try to get rid of the swap partition I alway get a grub error 17. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[cariboo]

Did you run update-grub after removing the partition?

Jim

[josephellengar]

Did you run update-grub after removing the partition?

Jim

No. lol Is it that simple? What does that do?

[caljohnsmith]

It might be that your Ubuntu partition number changed after you deleted the swap partition, so please post:

sudo fdisk -lu
cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
And we can work from there if you want.

[josephellengar]

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 127202670 234436544 53616937+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda2 * 63 127202669 63601303+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda5 127202733 232508744 52653006 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 232508808 234436544 963868+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

and:

(I had to change the root for ubuntu and for the splashimage manually to hd0,4. I guess that I'm going to have to change the root for recovery and memtest as well?)

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=c260499c-b40a-48da-a8be-e88ae8b67d9c ro splash vga=normal crashkernel=384M-2G:64M@16M,2G-:128M@16M
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=c260499c-b40a-48da-a8be-e88ae8b67d9c ro crashkernel=384M-2G:64M@16M,2G-:128M@16M single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda2
title Windows XP Media Center Edition
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

[caljohnsmith]

I was just thinking, have you made sure you don't have /dev/sda6 being mounted in your /etc/fstab any more? Make sure of that, and then I would go ahead and delete your swap partition again, and resize Ubuntu to use that space. If Ubuntu still is sda5, you should be just fine as far as booting goes. If Ubuntu changes partition numbers, then you will have to reinstall Grub to the MBR (Master Boot Record), and also change your menu.lst. Not too big of a deal. Let me know how it goes, and I can give you specific help with Grub if your partition number changes. :)

[josephellengar]

Thanks! It worked this time. I've tested all of my boot options and they all work. Wow, this is the fastest I've ever been able to close a thread.

[caljohnsmith]

That's great it turned out to be so simple. Cheers and have fun with Ubuntu. :)