Boot Problem with Grub

[Guest]

ok, this is totally due to my stupidity, well actually more like my ignorance
I'm not a pro with computers and stuff, but I always like to try new stuff and end up with some sort of problem most of the time

ok so now I got kubuntu 8 a while back, when it came out newly, but I didn't have the time to back up my laptop to check it out
so finally i decided why not buy an external HDD and install it on there. (this is the major cause of all the problems

well so earlier today I went to office, and decided, since it's a saturday i dont have any work, i'll just install the kubuntu on my external HDD
i basically followed the whole installation process, but didn't know anything about GRUB and ended up installing that as the booting mechanism.
now the problem is
none of the OS on the PC would load without GRUB and GRUB happens to be on the external HDD, which I prefer leaving it home.

I would like to know if there is a way to restore the MBR on the PC, without having to use the windows CD or having to format the computer. Since I am not in the IT department and I have a pretty badd record messing around with their system, I don't want anyone of the IT people to find out what I did.
I wou;dn't mind if I have to install GRUB on the PC itself, nut I do not know how to do that either.

If anyone could help me out, it would really be appreciated
Thanks.

[flarson]

Re: Boot Problem with Grub

I am guessing that your computer has some version of Windows installed on the first partition of the first hard drive and you want to boot to that, as it did after someone installed Windows. If so you can install mbr

sudo aptitude install mbr

and then use the install-mbr program to restore a master boot record that points at partition 1 of hard disk 1.

man install-mbr

I think it is possible to install grub so that it stores its configuration on the Windows partition and installs to the MBR of the internal hard drive. This would give you a situation in which you could adjust the boot parameters when booted into linux from the external drive. With targets for Windows and linux the menu would allow you to boot linux when the external drive is connected and to set Windows as the default so it would boot to Windows if no one intervenes.

If you want to try that you should look at
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0

[Guest]

Re: Boot Problem with Grub

alright will look into that
thanks

ok I totally suck at this
you put up 2 codes
how exactly do i use them?