Grub Rescue Shell, Ubuntu partition deleted

[JoshDude]

Hi kiyop,

I don't believe there is anything that I need from the HDD, excluding perhaps the drivers (though I should be able to download these later).

Now when I attempt to boot with Ubuntu-Secure-Remix I now find myself stuck each time with the following message for more than 20mins:

[11.903564] xor: automatically using best checksuming function:

Also when attempting to boot without a USB drive I'm presented with the 'No Operating system found' message which is completely new?

I've invested quite a bit of time attempting to fix this netbook now, and think now that a fresh start would be the most painless option. Would you personally recommend that I wipe the harddrive completely first before reinstalling either windows xp/ubuntu?

Thanks for the help

[oldfred]

Do not know about the xor error. Seems like corruption on some partition. chkdsk on NTFS or fsck on ext partitions.

The no operating system found is usually a BIOS message. Windows has to have a boot flag and you did have one on sda2. Grub does not use boot flag. But some BIOS look for the boot flag and will not let you start to boot unless partition table has boot flag on a primary partition.

Did boot flag get erased?

[JoshDude]

Hi oldfred,

I must have done. To be honest it was a few years ago when I set up the ubuntu/xp dual boot so I don't recall the process - so formatting the partition with ubuntu through windows may have caused this.

I did not attempt to modify/fix the boot problem with the LiveUsb, I simply ran the Boot-Info tool, but now I can't even get the Ubuntu drive to start properly.

I've decided to do a clean install of windows/ubuntu, effectively start over - I'm not sure if it is best practice to wipe the HDD first, or to just format the discs in the OS installation process?

I appreciate the help, you may close the thread if you wish. It's unfortunate that my issue wasn't resolved, though this may help solve theirs with the advice provided by both yourself and kiyop.

[kiyop]

I must have done.

Do you mean that you must have removed the boot flag from /dev/sda2?
If you did, add boot flag on /dev/sda2 and try #10.

I don't believe there is anything that I need from the HDD, excluding perhaps the drivers (though I should be able to download these later).

I see. Do you think that there may be some malware, such as virus, trojan, spyware, in your Windows?

Now when I attempt to boot with Ubuntu-Secure-Remix I now find myself stuck each time with the following message for more than 20mins:

[11.903564] xor: automatically using best checksuming function:

Also when attempting to boot without a USB drive I'm presented with the 'No Operating system found' message which is completely new?

What did you do after posting #5?
The situation must have been changed.

I did not attempt to modify/fix the boot problem with the LiveUsb, I simply ran the Boot-Info tool, but now I can't even get the Ubuntu drive to start properly.

If you have not done anything which may change the contents of the HDD, I wonder if your HDD and/or memory is/are (close to) out of order.

Did you change BIOS boot order? If so, set USB (or CD/DVD) first boot media and then try boot with Ubuntu-secure-remix LiveUSB (or CD/DVD).

I've decided to do a clean install of windows/ubuntu, effectively start over - I'm not sure if it is best practice to wipe the HDD first, or to just format the discs in the OS installation process?

I appreciate the help, you may close the thread if you wish. It's unfortunate that my issue wasn't resolved,

I do not want you to give up fixing, but it may take shorter time to do clean-reinstall than to fix. Of course, it's up to you.

[JoshDude]

1. I may have removed the bootflag by mistake, however I'm unable to attempt #10 as I'm currently unable to boot in Ubuntu using my LiveUsb.

2. I'm almost certain there was, part of the reason why I chose to remove the Ubuntu partition was for recovery purposes, as the dual boot setup I was making the process that much more difficult.

3. I'd done nothing other than browse & backup a few files onto an external HDD that I was able to view in WindowsXP partition through Ubuntu.

4. I surely hope not. The system is only 2.5 yrs old.

5. I appreciate your help really, but it has proven a lot more difficult than anticipated to restore my system to an already unstable point. Hence why I'm opting for a clean start.

Thanks again. I have KillDisk on another flash drive and will attempt to erase the HDD this evening.

[trent.josephsen]

I have had trouble in the past when trying to install Windows on a disk that has partitions of multiple types -- Windows would format some partitions, but fail to recognize others, and so wasn't able to install onto the whole disk. On the other hand, when you do install onto the whole disk, Windows has this annoying tendency to put the hibernation file at the end of the partition so you can't resize it from within Windows.

If I were you I would wipe the whole thing and create an empty NTFS partition over half the drive (or however much you want Windows to have) using GParted or something. Then try to install Windows just to that one partition.

Good luck.