[Boot-Repair] Graphical tool to repair the PC boot in one click

[Qwertinsky]

What does this mean?

Please enable a repository containing the [grub2] packages in the software sources of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (sda1). Then try again.

I have all the repositories enabled including the source repository.


http://paste.ubuntu.com/1024509/

[YannBuntu]

Hello Qwertinsky,
The apt commands of your sda1's 12.04 return the following error:

apt-get: error while loading shared libraries: libapt-pkg.so.4.12: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Another 12.04 user had the same error 4days ago after an update: http://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?pid=9525471 He didn't find any solution.

Please try to purge and reinstall GRUB via the command lines method: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...talling_GRUB_2

Then, if the error persists, i would simply reinstall this way: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuReinstallation

[YannBuntu]

New:

Boot-Repair is now compatible with separate /usr partitions. (useful nearly only for servers)



Any feedback is welcome.

[honestann]

Can any of the following destroy the grub2 bootloader in the MBR or elsewhere (like in the /boot directory)?

#1: You reboot your system, press "delete" to enter BIOS/UEFI, change the hard-disk boot order, then reboot.

#2: You power-down your system, change which SATA cable connects to which SATA hard-disk drive, then reboot.

#3: Some combination of #1 and #2.

=====

I had some similar problems about 2 years ago, and just had a similar problem again. Before I run Boot-Repair and "just ignore what caused these problems", I want to make sure I'm not doing things that might cause problems.

Here are some things that I do, because I'm "paranoid" (trying to be "prudent") when I install a new OS. If any of these things can be problematic, say so.

I will describe the process I just went through, and caused my 1TB drive to become non-bootable, and in the process mention things I do.

##### the basics #####
: All the following applies to my ubuntu linux computer. I have an entirely separate ******* computer, and I would rather eat plutonium than let anything ******* on my linux computer! So there is no issue here with linux and ******* not getting along together. Furthermore, each of my hard drives is a fresh install of ubuntu on that single disk drive. Each hard-disk was a fresh install of ubuntu from from an ubuntu live-CD installation disk, with all other SATA cables unplugged so "no way, no how could I accidentally destroy data on my other drives". After I have rebooted the hard-disk a couple times, and configured my desktop and applications they way I like them, I then power-down, connect all my SATA cables again, and reboot.

Since I create each hard-disk in this way, and never mount any disk-drive or partition or directory on a different disk-drive, in my (demented simplistic way of thinking), I should be able to boot from any of these drives by changing the hard-disk boot order in BIOS. I have no idea whether I could accomplish the same thing by swapping SATA cables around, but I would guess that doesn't work.

##### what happened #####
A month or so ago I decided to update my ubuntu system from 64-bit ubuntu 10.04 to 64-bit ubuntu 12.04. So I:

- download the ISO for the DVD install of 12.04
- burn the ~1.60GB 64-bit ubuntu 12.04 ISO to a DVD
- power the computer OFF
- disconnect the SATA cables from all my internal hard-disk drives
- disconnect my seagate 2TB external USB disk-drive
- connect one SATA cable to my new seagate 3TB internal hard-disk drive
- power the computer ON
- computer boots installation DVD
- follow instructions to install 64-bit ubuntu 12.04
- manually specify drive to have 4 partitions:
forget-name, but something like [grubboot] - the "UEFI way"?
/boot : ext2 : 8590MB
swap : 8590MB
/ : ext4 : rest-of-drive
- specify boot from same drive
- continue installation to completion
- reboot
- new drive will not boot
- power the computer OFF
- disconnect SATA cable from new 3TB drive
- connect SATA cable to old 1TB boot drive (ubuntu 10.04)
- power the computer ON
- old 1TB boot drive will not boot
- I reinstall about 8 times with different partitioning
- no cigar... can't make the 3TB drive boot
- I assume the problem is: "install process fails to handle 3TB drives".
- I go buy a new seagate 2TB internal drive
- I repeat the above steps, except with 3 partitions:
/boot : ext2 : 8590MB
swap : 8590MB
/ : rest of drive
- install process works fine

I have a couple old 250GB internal drives that also boot ubuntu 10.04 for backups and alternate "just-in-case" installation. As a test, I plug in one of my two old 250GB SATA2 drives (which also boots into ubuntu 10.04 when so selected in BIOS "hard-drive boot order"), and perform a complete fresh install of 64-bit ubuntu 12.04 on the new 2TB drive (but with the 250GB drive plugged in) - complete with deleting all partitions and specifying them all over again. Note: I always check the "format" box on all partitions that can be done (the swap partition doesn't allow that).

After all this, the 2TB drive boots fine, and I can access files on the 250GB from the nautilus file manager. I power the computer OFF, switch the "hard-drive boot order" to boot the 250GB drive, and... it will not boot. I disconnect the 2TB drive and try to boot the 250GB drive again (no other drives connected), and... it will not boot. I backup my files on the 250GB drive, then perform a fresh install of ubuntu 12.04 on the 250GB drive, and it boots just fine.

As you can see, I'm having a problem that previously healthy boot drives fail to boot after I install ubuntu on a new disk drive. Maybe it has nothing directly to do with the install process, but my choice to disconnect other drives when I perform installations. Or maybe it has something to do with changing "hard-disk boot order" in BIOS, though I can't see how that changes anything --- those settings are inside the BIOS flash memory, right? Or maybe it has something to do with me sometimes changing the SATA cables from drive to drive. Or.... something.

So, the above begs speculation from you gurus.

=====

The second question here is to ask how to make my old 1TB boot drive --- bootable again with Disk-Repair. I suspect this question is the simplest case possible --- if I pull out all SATA cables except this one 1TB drive. All I care about is... the directory structure on the drive not be destroyed. I want it to boot up 64-bit ubuntu 10.04 again, so I can learn a few things before I never boot up 10.04 again.

For example, I have a couple extremely cool applications installed that I cannot identify any more. One of them puts 8 little icons on the bar across the top of the screen, one each for the 8 cores in my 8-core FX-8150 CPU, and displays the current speed on each of them. I don't remember what app that is, and can't find a reference to it anywhere. So I need to boot up the system and find out. Which brings up another question that I should know the answer to --- where do I find the names of the apps started up automatically upon bootup?

PS: Great little application. It saved my butt a couple years ago, but I have totally forgotten what to do, and what to avoid doing. I notice it is NOT found when I search in the "ubuntu software center" application, which is a travesty --- unless it doesn't work on 64-bit ubuntu 12.04 that is.

[YannBuntu]

@honestann: hello

Can any of the following destroy the grub2 bootloader in the MBR or elsewhere (like in the /boot directory)?

#1: You reboot your system, press "delete" to enter BIOS/UEFI, change the hard-disk boot order, then reboot.

#2: You power-down your system, change which SATA cable connects to which SATA hard-disk drive, then reboot.

#3: Some combination of #1 and #2.

No, these actions don't affect GRUB, nor any data on your disks.
But it may change the disk on which your BIOS will boot. So if it makes your BIOS boot on a disk where there is no GRUB, your boot will fail. Please run Boot-Repair, click "Create BootInfo", and indicate the URL that will appear.

[YannBuntu]

@all:

1) Has anyone ever successfully used the --allow-floppy option of GRUB? (please answer HERE: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...1#post12036111 )

2) here are some thoughts about installing GRUB on an EFI system:
- some EFI-BIOS have an option to deactivate EFI boot, some don't. Some BIOS don't have EFI mode at all.
- The procedure for activating/deactivating EFI in the BIOS can be different for each BIOS
- on some systems, it is possible to use grub-pc even if the BIOS is in EFI mode
- on some systems, it is possible to use grub-efi (if BIOS setup in EFI mode), or grub-pc. On some other systems, it is possible to use only grub-pc , or only grub-efi.
- If you want to try grub-efi, it is first necessary to have a GPT disk with an ESP (EFI partition= FAT32, >200Mo, start_of_the_disk, boot flag), and to setup the BIOS in EFI mode. Then you need to install grub-efi (an easy way for this is to use Boot-Repair with the "Separate /efi" option). To finish, some old EFI-BIOS need to create an entry that boots the grub*.efi file in the EFI partition.
- If you want to try grub-pc, it is necessary to have either a non-GPT disk, or a GPT disk with a BIOS-boot partition (>1Mo, no filesystem, bios_grub flag). On some systems it is also necessary to deactivate EFI in BIOS. Then you need to install grub-pc (an easy way for this is to use Boot-Repair without the "Separate /efi" option).
- If you don't know which method you need (grub-pc or grub-efi). I don't know any general rule to know if a system can/must use grub-pc or/and grub-efi. But there are clues that may orientate to one or the other method (eg if Windows is installed in the MBR, try grub-pc first). What I recommend here is to run Boot-Repair's "Recommended repair" which will install either grub-pc or grub-efi according to these small clues, it will also give advice on how to setup BIOS and boot partitions. Note the URL that will appear on a paper, and reboot the PC. If you still can't access Ubuntu, you can try the other method this way: run Boot-Repair again, click "Advanced options",go to the "GRUB location" tab, toggle the "Separate /efi" option, apply. Note the 2nd URL that will appear, then reboot. If both methods don't work, you may have not setup your BIOS and/or boot partitions correctly, so indicate your 2 URLs to ask help here.

Hope this helps. Any comment is appreciated.

[cybercity@localhost]

thank you so much for sharing such a great information.

[gshiz]

I'm having a bit of trouble with my boot and could use a little help. If anyone could give me some idea of what even happened, I would be very appreciative.

Background:
This is on my secondary computer, which I am using to learn Linux and generally toy around with. It boots Ubuntu 10.04, Mint 12, and XP.

The Problem:
I came up with a grub rescue screen on startup, with no warning signs of trouble. To attempt to fix the problem, I live booted from a Mint CD and used Boot-Repair. Upon restart, I now get the blinking underscore.

This is the Boot-Repair report: http://paste.ubuntu.com/1048208/.

Further Info:
As best I can tell, sda5 is what should be recognized as my Mint partition. That is the only oddity from the report I could find so far.

The data I have on this hard drive is not critical. I would prefer to save it, but it is no great loss.

Thanks for any advice.

[YannBuntu]

Hi

This is the Boot-Repair report: http://paste.ubuntu.com/1048208/.

Your Mint and Ubuntu are detected, but they are broken (no GRUB nor apt packages, so no way to repair them). Your XP is not detected (only the Dell Utility partition).
I'm not sure, but there may be a problem with your disk or your FS.

So if I were you, i would:
1) boot a live-CD, open a file browser (gksu nautilus) and backup all my documents
2) format the entire disk, reinstall XP, then Mint, then Ubuntu.

Alternatively, you can reinstall XP then use this method to reinstall Mint and Ubuntu: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuReinstallation (this will reuse your settings, but this may keep some FS problems).

[YannBuntu]

Today i saw several cases of "127" or "137" error (eg http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2006319 ) when reinstalling GRUB. This may due to a PPA update done yesterday. Working on it.

If you see someone with this error, tell him/her to use Boot-Repair-Disk or Ubuntu-Secure-Remix, WITHOUT UPDATING the software from PPA.