Help in Tri Boot & Deleting Last Installed. [SOLVED]

[0x00FE]

Hi guys,
I've initially partitioned my computer to 5 partitions. (Windows NTFS, Free Space FAT32, Linux Kubuntu 8.04 EXT3, Home EXT3 & SWAP).

Of course this system is dual boot.

I've then decided to test Xubuntu 8.04 on the last free space partition. Of course the boot loader changed to include Xubuntu's boot info.

Now I want to delete it's partition & reformat it as Fat32, mostly I'll do that from Windows.
My problem is that when I've entered Kubuntu's "menu.lst", I've recognized the old boot loader.

title		Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-18-generic
root		(hd0,3)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-generic root=UUID=b5a5cd78-c20b-494a-9bc1-60aa62a646f6 ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-18-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,3)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-generic root=UUID=b5a5cd78-c20b-494a-9bc1-60aa62a646f6 ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-17-generic
root		(hd0,3)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-17-generic root=UUID=b5a5cd78-c20b-494a-9bc1-60aa62a646f6 ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-17-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-17-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,3)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-17-generic root=UUID=b5a5cd78-c20b-494a-9bc1-60aa62a646f6 ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-17-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root		(hd0,3)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=b5a5cd78-c20b-494a-9bc1-60aa62a646f6 ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,3)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=b5a5cd78-c20b-494a-9bc1-60aa62a646f6 ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.04, memtest86+
root		(hd0,3)
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/sda1
title		Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root		(hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1

The new loader which includes the Xubuntu's boot info is on the Xubuntu's partition along with the previous list.

So the MBR might be pointing to Xubuntu's partition for booting up. If I delete the partition I would no longer be able to boot.

My question:
How to restore or reinstall boot loader from Kubuntu to restore old settings (The above menu.lst file - dual boot), so I would be able to delete Xubuntu's partition trouble free.

Thnx in advanced.

[Qqmike]

Re: Help in Tri Boot & Deleting Last Installed.

This is easy to do, just a few details.
Conceptually, you re-install GRUB to the MBR to point at your working Kubuntu partition (and you might have edit menu.lst in Kubuntu at /boot/grub/menu.lst – but the menu.lst that is there may work fine as is).
How to:
How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0
(after re-installing GRUB, you may delete the Xubuntu partition)
Note: See the part with
root – setup – quit GRUB commands.

**************EDIT:
and you can do this while booted into Kubuntu at Konsole or from a Live CD


Problem I see might be your partitioning, but it's hard to tell based on just the menu.lst.
At Konsole
sudo fdisk -lu
would show your partitions.

Kind of strange that (hd0,3) appears in your menu.lst.

Partitioning—how to, Rog131:
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3090704.0

You can have only 4 primary partitions; if there's more, you need the 4th one to be an Extended partition and within the Extended you can have more partitions (a fifth, a sixth, etc.).


As for how to avoid this situation in the future, there's many ways,
but a separate, small partition for GRUB is one clean way:

See the How To GRUB Methods – Toolkit, Reply #14:
--- Separate GRUB-boot partition. Recent experience with it. Install Kubuntu 7.04. Two HDDs. Reply #14
(That way, you can add/delete OSs easily and not upset the main booting setup.)

[Qqmike]

Re: Help in Tri Boot & Deleting Last Installed.

And so you need

Konsole
sudo grub
grub> root (hd0,y)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit

and re-boot to test it.

(One hard drive, right?)

Where,
(hd0,y) is the partition that Kubuntu is on.

You can get at that by:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

which will return two partitions, from which you should choose the one with Kubuntu on it (not Xubuntu).

The notation
(hdx,y)
is GRUB notation:
hard drive x
partition y
and in both cases, counting starts from zero
(i.e., the first hard drive is hd0; the first partition is partition 0).


To learn about the drive & its partitions

grub> geometry (hd<press the TAB key now>

(don't type the < or the > signs)

[0x00FE]

Re: Help in Tri Boot &amp; Deleting Last Installed.

Yes yes,
Did that & worked like a charm.

Before I post, I was choosing the wrong partition & it wasn't working,

Now, I've understand the idea behind it. You point the MBR to your Kubuntu boot loader

Thnx Qqmike.

[Qqmike]

Re: Help in Tri Boot &amp; Deleting Last Installed. [SOLVED]

Yep, you got it! You got it figured right (and some persistence helps, too, right? )
Good job, 0x00FE.

[0x00FE]

Re: Help in Tri Boot &amp; Deleting Last Installed. [SOLVED]

Yep, you got it! You got it figured right (and some persistence helps, too, right? )
Good job, 0x00FE.

Well thanks Qqmike, persistence helps, but sometimes too much trouble gets on your nerves, specially when you don't have time for troubleshooting.

And yet, we learn from the masters

[klerfayt]

Re: Help in Tri Boot &amp; Deleting Last Installed. [SOLVED]

is there a simple command to update the list after:
### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
?