Deleted Bootmgr

[dibl]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

That's a 8.10 system -- you're not gonna boot 9.10 with that.

[Remmelt]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

Hi dibl,

Thanks for that ! But I am aware of that. If you'll read all the posts you'll get it )

Remmelt

[tawee2009]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

Hi,

Below the menu.lst. The file grub.cfg is not found in the directory you mentioned.

..........................
.............................

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
uuid ca91c746-ab9c-4707-af60-50ab76999004
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=ca91c746-ab9c-4707-af60-50ab76999004 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
uuid ca91c746-ab9c-4707-af60-50ab76999004
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=ca91c746-ab9c-4707-af60-50ab76999004 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
uuid ca91c746-ab9c-4707-af60-50ab76999004
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

My Goch... I'm not Sherlock Holm!!! But, I would comment as follows:

C1: This disk wasn't mentioned in the problem. So, it must be posted as another subject.
C2: You might have another box running hardy. Or, running hardy live CD.
C3: You had performed your plan already, having nothing to shown.

Your problem might be solved after reading a lot of solved problems. Good fliuck !

[Remmelt]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

Hi,

Hey, you asked for it !!

I do not understand your comments however:

C1: Which disk do you mean ? Should be posted as another subject ?? What I did not mention that I somehow double-installed Ubuntu 8.04.

However. Last night I discovered a new thing. As I mentioned I moved my data. Yesterday evening I formatted my 500 GB drive (the sda one), using NTFS. This removed one of the listings of the OS in the menu.lst. Again I tried to install Windows 7. The installation is tediously slow and halts !! When it halts, after about 5 minutes (the screen tells me that stup is starting), it gives a message that some CD/DVD drivers are missing and that I should install them. So I googled that message and all kind of forum posts popped up ! It seems that windows 7 is very picky about having the most recent drivers. I will dive into this after I get home from work if I have the time available.
When using the CD/DVD drive for Ubuntu/Kubuntu/GParted/UltimateBootCD I have no problems whatsoever.

I am puzzled and irritated. I'll keep struggling and hoping that you guys here can relief my grieve

Remmelt

[Qqmike]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

I must admit to also having scrambled brains here again. Here, let's keep this simple.
Let's say you have three "Choices," labeled 1, 2, and 3. Here they are (as a suggestion).

Note 1:
For all choices, I'll let you deal with specifics, like where all your data will be; how many extra partitions you will make or allow for (for the future; e.g., Ubuntu or other Linux).

Note 2:
If Windows will not install right now, that's OK. Go ahead as if it did install OK. You can fix it later. Whenever GRUB is installed, if you then install Windows, Windows will overwrite the GRUB bootloader with its own bootloader. That's OK; use the GRUB how-to's to re-install GRUB (thus having GRUB overwrite the Windows bootloader).

Note 3:
In case there's any problems, you must know how to re-install GRUB, either GRUB Legacy or GRUB 2.
GRUB Legacy. Also be aware of the method to regenerate a new boot menu, sudo grub-install. See:
-- How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0
GRUB 2:
GRUB 2 A Guide for Users
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3106368.0

Note 4:
Before doing anything, you should download and burn Super Grub Disk (SGD) on CD. You can use it to fix GRUB and/or to boot into Kubuntu or Windows, if necessary. To fix GRUB problems, you must use a Live CD or you must use SGD to boot into Kubuntu and then fix them.



Choice #1
All operating system on the same drive, call it Drive-OS. The second drive is for data, call it Drive-Data.
Set the BIOS to boot first from Drive-OS.
Do the partitioning using GParted Live CD.
Install Windows first on Drive-OS, partition 1.
Then install Kubuntu 9.10 on Drive-OS, partition 2.


Choice #2
>>> Set the BIOS to boot first from Drive-Win.
Windows on the first drive, on drive Drive-Win. Kubuntu/Linux on the second drive, call it Drive-Linux.
Install Windows first on Drive-Win, partition 1.
Then install Kubuntu 9.10 on Drive-Linux, partition 1.
Bootloader will be GRUB (from Kubuntu).
> If it is GRUB Legacy, no problem, everything will boot normally.
> If it is GRUB 2, then be aware of this bug:
Current grub-pc takes several minutes to show menu
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...b2/+bug/420933
It occurs when there is dual boot on two or more drives.
No problem: it will work, but is slow, and they will fix this bug in the future.

Choice #3
Same as Choice #2, except set BIOS to boot first from the Drive-Linux.
You would only use Choice #3 is you are using the new GRUB 2; NOT if using GRUB legacy.
This is a workaround to the slow-boot bug (that some users say will work; some say it doesn't work for them).
Thus, Windows will be on a non-first hard drive, which is OK.

Note:
If you use Choice #2, it is easy to convert it to Choice #3.
(You would change the BIOS setting. Then you would re-install GRUB, pointing it at the MBR of the first BIOS boot drive (which normally will be denoted as sda or hd0).)

[Remmelt]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

Hi Qqmike,

Thanks for your suggestions. I have the CD-s you mentioned. However the SGD cd is akward. It does not boot ! (yes BIOS is set to boot from CD-rom first). But I must say that the files on the CD are only about 400 kB or something like that (I used one of the links you pointed me to earlier). I'll have to check that again.

BTW As I mentioned I had Ubuntu 8.04 installed. I updated that to 9.1. What a beautifull OS (very nice splash screens btw) ! However there are hick-ups, the systems locks up for seconds. Strange, but for me not the issue right now.

And yesterday evening again I was busy to get things right. Downloaded drivers for the CD/DVD-drive and put them on a USB stick. Inserted the windows 7 installation disk. After the question had arisen for new drivers I pointed it to the USB stick but according to the system there we no drivers there. &*(^&^& !!! I am getting so tired of this annoying stuff.

I also tried to boot my system from the USB stick by copying all the files from the windows 7 DVD to the stick (the stick being empty and formatted FAT32 first). But, although BIOS was set to boot form the USB FDD first, it did not boot from the stick.

So, then I started Ubuntu up again and the boot was very very very very sloooooooooooooow (more than 30 minutes) !! This happened after the above mentioned things, before booting into Ubuntu was normal.

I finished drinking a very tastfull Affligem Double Beer and went to bed, feeling frustrated.

Remmelt

[Qqmike]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

The Windows 7 thing is greek to me (I have/don't use XP). I'm not hearing very good things about Windows 7, but I should be still about that subject and stay focussed on the big picture here. For now, we are just using Windows 7 partition as a place holder and can ignore the fact that it is a broken OS.

SGD: I would try a new burn, a new CD. Make sure you get the iso version of SGD (just like we do with Kubuntu).
I would not use Super Grub Disk 2 yet (chicken superstition).
Stick with old GRUB legacy SGD, at the bottom of the list of of Mirror 0:
super_grub_disk_0.9799.iso
(released 10-5-09)
http://developer.berlios.de/project/...group_id=10921
> Of course that SGD will use GRUB legacy, and if you use it to install/fix GRUB, you'll get GRUB legacy installed, but who cares! After getting your PC to boot, you can get in there and install GRUB 2 if you wish.

The slow boot time, wow! Thirty minutes! You read the GRUB 2 bug report (slow boot with two hard drives), but 30 minutes is way out there. I would try the temporary workaround they are recommending: Choice #3 above.

Now, do bear in mind another option: you can install GRUB Legacy (from inside Kubuntu using your package manager; it's call, just, grub), then install it to the MBR of the first BIOS boot drive and let it boot your PC without any problems. (Optionally, then, you can uninstall GRUB 2, but I'd leave it there, it won't hurt, and it will get updates when you get updates.)

[tawee2009]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

......
......
BTW As I mentioned I had Ubuntu 8.04 installed. I updated that to 9.1. What a beautifull OS (very nice splash screens btw) ! However there are hick-ups, the systems locks up for seconds. Strange, but for me not the issue right now.
......
......

Actually, you did not install or update to 9.10, yet. You just try a live CD!!!

......
......
And yesterday evening again I was busy to get things right. Downloaded drivers for the CD/DVD-drive and put them on a USB stick. Inserted the windows 7 installation disk. After the question had arisen for new drivers I pointed it to the USB stick but according to the system there we no drivers there. &*(^&^& !!! I am getting so tired of this annoying stuff.
......
......

Windows7 did not see the usb drive, or perhaps the drivers are not for Windows7. Look for the proper ones. If your machine is supported by Windows, then you don't need any drivers. What machine did you have?

.......
.......
I also tried to boot my system from the USB stick by copying all the files from the windows 7 DVD to the stick (the stick being empty and formatted FAT32 first). But, although BIOS was set to boot form the USB FDD first, it did not boot from the stick.
.......
.......

Microsoft never allows you to do that !!!
And, there is no boot sector in the usb drive.




I would suggest you shrink the drive (whichever one you like, the 500G or 750G) by using gparted which might be in your 8.04 or install new one there. Big enough to install fresh Windows. Then report the result again.

[Qqmike]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

Sounds like good advice to me. (I was also concerned about whether the USB contained a valid boot sector/MBR or if it contained just a bunch of isolated files.)

[Remmelt]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

Hi,

Tawee: I did upgrade to 9.1. What makes you say I did not ?
Tawee: I downloaded the most recent drivers for my CD-DVD drive because during the Windows installations I was asked to do that. And I have read on Windows forums that. although it seems to be a fake driver problem. it helps to install them. Off course my machine can run on Windows, it has done that for many, many years.
Tawee: On the same Windows forums I read several threads where people bypassed the above mentioned problem by booting from a USB stick. So Windows/Microsoft does support that !
Tawee: Are you being serious ??

Qqmike: I'll give the SGD (Grub Legacy) a try.

This evening I will be working on it again,

Thanks guys,

Remmelt

[Remmelt]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

Hi,

I generated this ouput from fdisk -lu, note that the boot mark has dissapeared !!

remmelt@remmelt-desktop:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x4effcce4

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 63 976768064 488384001 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 750.2 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000ea936

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 63 1446910289 723455113+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 1446910290 1465144064 9116887+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 1446910353 1465144064 9116856 82 Linux swap / Solaris
remmelt@remmelt-desktop:~$


Looks akward to me !

Remmelt

[Qqmike]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

You can use GParted Live CD to put a boot flag on a partition of your choice (Partition > Manage Flags, > boot).

[Remmelt]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

Hi,

So I downloaded SGD as you proposed. It does not do anything for me. Booting takes about 30 - 45 minutes. Also SGD is extremely slow when it performs actions. Also I set the bootflag (with GParted) on my Ubuntu disk.

Overview of my problems:
1 I cannot install Windows 7 (so called cause of CD/DVD missing drivers).
2 Booting into Ubuntu 9.1 is too slow (30-45 minutes).

Could the slow booting time have anything to do with SATA drives in RAID configuration ? (BTW I have absolutely no knowledge of SATA and RAID). In BIOS I have 3 options to define the boot-order for the RAID configuration. Again I have no knowledge on that either.

Again, many thanks.

Remmelt

[Qqmike]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

OMG, had I known this involved RAID, I would not have jumped in. I have no clue about RAID (other than its textbook definition), I've seen nothing good about it (except in server environments), and don't see why it is even needed for desktop PCs. However, it does have its advocates, notably, lately, this user case:
RAID, Intel Matrix FakeRAID, installing with GRUB 2, user case (by abigsky, Reply #9):
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...seen#msg201558
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...7472#msg207472

[tawee2009]

Re: Deleted Bootmgr

OMG, had I known this involved RAID, I would not have jumped in. I have no clue about RAID (other than its textbook definition), I've seen nothing good about it (except in server environments), and don't see why it is even needed for desktop PCs. However, it does have its advocates, notably, lately, this user case:
RAID, Intel Matrix FakeRAID, installing with GRUB 2, user case (by abigsky, Reply #9):
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...seen#msg201558
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...7472#msg207472

hi, mike;

I would agree with you, perhaps if none of us post anything on this topic, who else is gonna do?

Hope you enjoy your time !