after installing 12.10, instead of new grub, the old grub loads

**finalni** · February 9th, 2013

I have ubuntu 10.04 and Win7 on one hard drive. I installed ubuntu 12.10 on second hard drive, everything seemed fine (it asked me to install alongside old OSs), installation completed and asked me to restart.
Even though 12.10 got installed, when booting, the old grub (with options only for old OSs) appears, so I can't boot to new ubuntu. I've tried changing the boot device to the second hard drive, but then only a message "not bootable drive" or sth like that appears, no grub.

Any ideas where did new grub go to?

Can grub load from different hard drives?

Just in case, here's the output of fdisk-l (just to see the mess there is

sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 82.0 GB, 81964302336 bytes
252 heads, 39 sectors/track, 16288 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 9828 * 512 = 5031936 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xce0d07d8

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1224 6008832 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1224 1290 326656 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 * 2412 6552 20346322+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 6553 16288 47842704 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 6553 16288 47842684+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00032ddc

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 76525 614680538 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb2 76525 121602 362080257 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 76525 100535 192862423 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 121133 121602 3761152 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb7 100535 121132 165447680 83 Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

**darkod** · February 9th, 2013

I have noticed that sometimes the 12.10 installer doesn't seem to install grub2 to the MBR as it should.

Do you know which one of those partitions is the 12.10 root?

**dabl** · February 9th, 2013

Disclaimer: Fiddling with grub always includes the risk of creating a (temporarily) unbootable computer. Fair warning.

Assuming you have the 12.10 repos set in /etc/apt/:

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install --reinstall grub-pc

There may be a debconf screen inviting you to "x" the applicable drive or partition where you want it. Be careful on that one -- use the Tab key and spacebar to place the "x" where you need it, then tab to "OK".

**finalni** · February 10th, 2013

Originally Posted by darkod

I have noticed that sometimes the 12.10 installer doesn't seem to install grub2 to the MBR as it should.

Do you know which one of those partitions is the 12.10 root?

It seems that /dev/sdb7 got a label/"mount point" 641a0d79-9d9f-4eb8-afeb-0fb3085682ac, which contains bin, boot and other folders of 12.10, so I guess that should be the root partition..?

@dabl, 12.10 sources.list and co. are in /media/641a0d79-9d9f-4eb8-afeb-0fb3085682ac/etc/apt.. perhaps I should run ubuntu 12.10 from DVD ("try ubuntu") and then run this (or some similar) commands?

**darkod** · February 10th, 2013

OK, if sdb7 is the root, from live mode do:

Code:

sudo mount /dev/sdb7 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdb

That should put grub on the MBR of sdb. Try to boot from it as first option and see how it goes.

**dabl** · February 10th, 2013

Yes, try darkod's suggestion. If it doesn't work, then you'll need to boot a Live CD and chroot into the 12.10 installation, and once your are in, run:

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install --reinstall grub-pc

.

Here are chroot instructions:

http://basictheprogram.blogspot.com/...t-archive.html

**darkod** · February 10th, 2013

Originally Posted by dabl

Yes, try darkod's suggestion. If it doesn't work, then you'll need to boot a Live CD and chroot into the 12.10 installation, and once your are in, run:

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install --reinstall grub-pc

.

Here are chroot instructions:

http://basictheprogram.blogspot.com/...t-archive.html

Slight correction, you don't need sudo in front when inside chroot. It will report an error I think.

**finalni** · February 10th, 2013

Originally Posted by darkod

OK, if sdb7 is the root, from live mode do:

Code:

sudo mount /dev/sdb7 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdb

That should put grub on the MBR of sdb. Try to boot from it as first option and see how it goes.

Thanks, this worked

Now I just need to find some drivers for 10 years old graphic card to get passed the blank desktop :S
Really should buy new computer instead of constantly upgrading this one :S