MBR booting problems

[linuxlvr]

When I boot into my computer It usually boots into my grub menu, but when i did the last two times it said MBR Error and booted straight into my SDA1. This started happening after i did a heavy defragmenting by Distrix Ultimate Defrag. Does anyone know how i can get my grub back?Thankz

[Qqmike]

Re: MBR booting problems

From a Live Kubuntu CD, you simply need to reinstall GRUB (using the GRUB files in your Kubuntu root partition and installing them into the MBR of the first-boot drive which is called hd0):

How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0

Probably this:

Start the Live Kubuntu CD session.
Open Konsole.
sudo grub
and press Enter to get a GRUB prompt:
grub>
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
That will return some output, like (hdx,y); put that in what follows here:
grub> root (hdx,y)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit
$exit
Exit out of the Live CD, and re-boot the PC to test it.
(You may still have to edit the boot menu, /boot/grub/menu.lst), but maybe not.)

[linuxlvr]

Re: MBR booting problems

OK so i booted into the LiveCD and i opened a command prompt...
sudo grub
then i tried saying root (sda3) but i got Error 23
all my partitions are called sda (1(Windows),2(Swap),3(Kubuntu))
it didnt recognize it...
oh and when i boot I get MBR Error 3 if that means anything

[Qqmike]

Re: MBR booting problems

You might have corrupt data in the MBR. And, if so, it might be fixable simply by reinstalling the GRUB code. Which is what my post above does., You should try to reinstall GRUB following exactly the steps in my post above, starting with the find command. For example, GRUB will not understand "root (sda3)."

[linuxlvr]

Re: MBR booting problems

find command produced:

Error 15: File Not Found

[Qqmike]

Re: MBR booting problems

That's not good news. It suggests that your GRUB is gone, and that suggests that perhaps other files in your Kubuntu might be gone/damaged. You might try Super Grub Disk live CD and see if you can use it to re-install your GRUB files. However, there seems to be something goofy here: even though your MBR might be damaged, your files located in Kubuntu OS should still be OK, but they may not be OK. (=> reinstall Kubuntu? I don't know for sure ...)
(btw, I'm headed out of town for a day or more -- you might do a bump to get some of the other boot-jocks to jump in with fresh ideas.)

[linuxlvr]

Re: MBR booting problems

thanks Qqmike.
I think im gunna just reinstall my OS.. dont have anything majorly important on there anywayz... thanks tho...

[jglen490]

Re: MBR booting problems

Oops. I was going to suggest booting to your LiveCD again, opening a konsole, and then running

fdisk -l

to see if your partitions are still set the way that you thought they were. The reason I'm going that direction is that if grub can't find its Stage 1 file, then either something whacked it, or something whacked it!! That might indicate that there is a partition that is no longer viable.

However, since you are going to reinstall anyway. Go for it. Just watch your defragger the next time you run it and immediately check to see if a Linux partition was accidentally compromised. I'm not saying it was, but the coincidence is just too much to ignore.

[linuxlvr]

Re: MBR booting problems

Ya my disks were all in order and how i wanted them so I just went ahead and reinstalled

[jglen490]

Re: MBR booting problems

Well that's good!!

Just for kicks and grins, when you get a chance see if grub can find anything this time.

Open Konsole.
sudo grub
and press Enter to get a GRUB prompt:
grub>
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

It should have worked then and it should now, but I guess we'll never know the reason it didn't .

[linuxlvr]

Re: MBR booting problems

lol i dont know why is says this but this is what i got

(hd0,2)

but when i installed it was all sda

[jglen490]

Re: MBR booting problems

hd0,2 == sda3



Whacky, ain't it?

[Qqmike]

Re: MBR booting problems

So, looks like you got Kubuntu on the third partition of the hard drive hd0 = sda.
Another curious thing to know would be a picture of what's on your hard drive:
Open Konsole
sudo fdisk -lu



(btw, linuxlvr: Linux enumerates hard drives as sda, sdb, sdc, etc., and partitions with numbers starting with partition 1; so sda3 is the third partition on the hard drive sda, the "first" hard drive, which is what jglen490 told you. However, GRUB enumerates things differently: it counts drives and partitions starting from zero; the hard drives are hd0, hd1, hd2, etc., and the partitions are partition 0, partition 1, partition 2, etc. So, in GRUB (hd0,2) is the first hard drive hd0, the third partition, partition 2. The command fdisk -lu will give you the drive(s) and partitions in Linux notation, which is what you are used to.)