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    #1

    grub not working, all i get when grub loads is grub rescue.

    Hi,

    i recently wanted to try Linux mint, so i installed it on another hd on my kubuntu computer, it all worked like a charm, however grub did load a bit slower for some reason?

    but my problem came when i removed linux mint, then grub stopped working and all i get is the grub rescue screen...

    now, ive tried installing grub from the live cd, from the manual i found online, but when i try to mount the /boot i get a error saying there is no such directory....i can however mount my home directory which is on a separate partition...but the guy from live cd guide said i should mount them both....

    also when i am in live cd i see both partitions as volume...and i can enter them, but i cannot change the grub files on the /boot partition..

    ive been at it for a few hours now and also a few hours yesterday, so any help would be much appreciated...


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    #2
    Re: grub not working, all i get when grub loads is grub rescue.

    got a few replies here:

    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...01#post8939801
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      #3
      Re: grub not working, all i get when grub loads is grub rescue.

      Most distros default to installing GRUB onto the master boot record of the first hard drive because that is where you would want it if you were doing a new install on a new computer.

      Unfortunately, in cases like yours - you likely let Mint overwrite your original GRUB install and since GRUB relies on some files to be available, when you removed Mint you removed those files.

      First things first: If you installed Kubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala initially it installed GRUB2 aka GRUB-PC. Mint - depending on which version you installed might have installed GRUB-Legacy. Also Kubuntu 9.04 started with GRUB-Legacy.

      When you say "grub rescue screen" I assume you mean the GRUB text console
      Code:
      GRUB>
      Assumptions:
      you are using GRUB2 ala Kubuntu 9.10
      you did not create a separate /boot partition when you installed kubuntu
      your kubuntu install is on the first primary partition of the first hard drive - /dev/sda1
      your bios boots to the first hard drive - sda

      Try these steps:

      Boot the Kubuntu 9.10 liveCD
      Open a console Kmenu>System>Terminal
      type these commands in bold, my comments are in italics

      sudo -i
      enter password root
      create new folder on /media
      mkdir /media/myroot
      mount your root partiton
      mount /dev/sda1 /media/myroot
      reset root to your hard drive
      chroot /media/myroot
      run the grub commands to install grub to your /dev/sda
      grub-install /dev/sda
      grub-install --recheck /dev/sda
      grub-update

      You may need to adjust some things if the above assumptions are incorrect.

      After restart, your grub 2 should appear again and ready boot. I don't offer any guarantee it will work, but if it doesn't - post back with specific errors and report the exact steps you did.

      Please Read Me
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        #4
        Re: grub not working, all i get when grub loads is grub rescue.

        Now to PREVENT this from happening again...

        Most distros will allow you to select the location to install a bootloader to (or to not install one at all). You MUST not allow any new install to overwrite your boot drive master boot record unless you are planning on it being your primary install and you want to remove your previous install.

        There are several ways to deal with this, but I think this is the easiest way:

        When you do any new secondary installs - install the BOOTLOADER to the same partition as the install. In other words; you boot to the Mint install CD, select /dev/sda5 (or whatever) as your install partition, when it offers you the choice of where to install the bootloader select the SAME partition /dev/sda5. Then when you reboot after the install, it will send you back to Kubuntu. Then simply run update-grub and the new install should be detected and put into your grub menu. If the distro uses some unusual startup procedure not automatically detected by GRUB, you can still boot it by chainload boot to the install partition.

        I also have a dedicated GRUB partition that holds GRUB files and is thus untouched by the install/removal of new distros.

        PROS - Never leaves your system un-bootable
        CONS - May require manual editing of your config files, rather than relying on update-grub.

        Please Read Me
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          #5
          Re: grub not working, all i get when grub loads is grub rescue.

          Originally posted by oshunluvr

          There are several ways to deal with this, but I think this is the easiest way:

          When you do any new secondary installs - install the BOOTLOADER to the same partition as the install. In other words; you boot to the Mint install CD, select /dev/sda5 (or whatever) as your install partition, when it offers you the choice of where to install the bootloader select the SAME partition /dev/sda5. Then when you reboot after the install, it will send you back to Kubuntu. Then simply run update-grub and the new install should be detected and put into your grub menu. If the distro uses some unusual startup procedure not automatically detected by GRUB, you can still boot it by chainload boot to the install partition.

          I have not tested Grub 2 with more than 2 OSs installed, but for sure it does a fine job with this method on my system. update-grub will also pick up new kernels in the "secondary" OS, and add them to the boot menu, and it will also delete them if you have removed a kernel from the "secondary" OS. So this is a good trouble-free way to set it up.*


          *If your second OS also makes a "memtest86" menu item for its boot menu, then your Kubuntu update-grub is going to pick that up too. This makes too many "memtest86" entries. You can fix this by finding the /etc/grub.d script for memtest86, and commenting out every line of it. After update-grub, you will only see the memtest86 item for the Kubuntu menu.
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            #6
            Re: grub not working, all i get when grub loads is grub rescue.

            Originally posted by oshunluvr
            Most distros default to installing GRUB onto the master boot record of the first hard drive because that is where you would want it if you were doing a new install on a new computer.

            Unfortunately, in cases like yours - you likely let Mint overwrite your original GRUB install and since GRUB relies on some files to be available, when you removed Mint you removed those files.

            First things first: If you installed Kubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala initially it installed GRUB2 aka GRUB-PC. Mint - depending on which version you installed might have installed GRUB-Legacy. Also Kubuntu 9.04 started with GRUB-Legacy.

            When you say "grub rescue screen" I assume you mean the GRUB text console
            Code:
            GRUB>
            Assumptions:
            you are using GRUB2 ala Kubuntu 9.10
            you did not create a separate /boot partition when you installed kubuntu
            your kubuntu install is on the first primary partition of the first hard drive - /dev/sda1
            your bios boots to the first hard drive - sda

            Try these steps:

            Boot the Kubuntu 9.10 liveCD
            Open a console Kmenu>System>Terminal
            type these commands in bold, my comments are in italics

            sudo -i
            enter password root
            create new folder on /media
            mkdir /media/myroot
            mount your root partiton
            mount /dev/sda1 /media/myroot
            reset root to your hard drive
            chroot /media/myroot
            run the grub commands to install grub to your /dev/sda
            grub-install /dev/sda
            grub-install --recheck /dev/sda
            grub-update

            You may need to adjust some things if the above assumptions are incorrect.

            After restart, your grub 2 should appear again and ready boot. I don't offer any guarantee it will work, but if it doesn't - post back with specific errors and report the exact steps you did.
            i am running 9.10, and its grub2 yes...but i have /home and /boot partition separate, i also have a few ntfs and another (former) mint hd partition..

            the problem with mounting is that the /boot partition will not mount, however the /home partition will...

            the grub rescue screen is basically a grub> screen yes, but it says grub rescue .
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              #7
              Re: grub not working, all i get when grub loads is grub rescue.

              im going to do a fresh install ...

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                #8
                Re: grub not working, all i get when grub loads is grub rescue.

                When you get it set up, don't worry about the slow boot times:

                Current grub-pc takes several minutes to show menu
                https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...b2/+bug/420933

                Happens with multi-boot on multi-disk systems.
                Fixed in PPA. Not clear if it's fixed for 9.10 repos. It will be OK for 10.04
                I wouldn't be concerned, just be patient for now.
                An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski
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                  #9
                  Re: grub not working, all i get when grub loads is grub rescue.

                  Originally posted by dibl
                  *If your second OS also makes a "memtest86" menu item for its boot menu, then your Kubuntu update-grub is going to pick that up too. This makes too many "memtest86" entries. You can fix this by finding the /etc/grub.d script for memtest86, and commenting out every line of it. After update-grub, you will only see the memtest86 item for the Kubuntu menu.
                  Another way to fix this is to chmod a-x /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ making it non-executable so update-grub will just pass it by. In the even you wanted to keep the memtest from your primary install but not have it detected in others you can copy the entire memtest stanza from your /boot/grub/grub.cfg and put it in /etc/grub.d/40_custom.

                  Or you could uninstall the memtest from your secondary installs.

                  Please Read Me
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