Grub 17 error

[woodnotoil]

So I have been using Kubuntu for a while dual boot with XP on the same drive. Everything works fine... Then yesterday my wife was downloading pictures from our camera and my 2 year old walks over and turns the power strip off. When she turns the computer back on we get the Grub stage 1.5 error 17 message and can't get past it.

I tried super grub disk from cd and it sees two partitions one windows the other linux. I get error 18 whenever I try to have it repair Grub or boot or any of the other options from the linux partition.

I am on a live CD right now. I read some threads but I seem unable to figure out how people are getting to the menu.lst file on the linux partition. I can't access that partition from the live cd. It is not mounted nor does it show up in the list of partitions in system settings. My windows partition /dev/sda1 is listed but not enabled and the swap partition /dev/sda5 is listed and enabled. Not sure if that is helpful at all.

Most of the other threads had people getting this error after an install. In my case it seems to have been caused by an improper shutdown and/or the fact that the camera was transfering data. Help would be appreciated. I can't afford to lose data on either partition, so a repartitioning or reformatting is not an option. Thanks guys

[Qqmike]

Re: Grub 17 error

I just revised this:

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

You need to re-install GRUB from the Live CD -- Section 3
Section 4 is menu.lst, btw.
See the OP for the Table of Contents.

You can do all this from the Live CD.
No need to re-install Kubuntu.
Go slow -- this is easy

[woodnotoil]

Re: Grub 17 error

Having trouble with Section 3. The only thing that returns usuable information is the fdisk -lu. None of the grub commands seem to work at all. I am working from a live cd. Please help clarify if possible. Thanks

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 163.9 GB, 163928604672 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19929 cylinders, total 320173056 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00064b52

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 63 274518719 137259328+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 274518720 318167324 21824302+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 318167325 320159384 996030 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 318167388 320159384 995998+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

All of the other grub commands return
Error 21: Selected disk does not exist
if I use (hd2)

All of the other grub commands return
Error 23: Error while parsing number
If I use (sda2)

[Qqmike]

Re: Grub 17 error

"Please help clarify if possible." -- Clarify what exactly?

hd2 doesn't exist -- you only have one drive
sda2 used with GRUB is improper device notation.

Here:
To reinstall GRUB from Kubuntu to the MBR of that drive:
Live CD
Konsole
sudo grub
grub>find /boot/grub/stage1
That returns your Kubuntu partition (hd0,?)
Put that here:
grub>root (hd0,?)
grub>setup (hd0)
grub>quit
$exit
Exit out of the Live CD session.
Re-boot to test it.

Done.
UNLESS, there's something else damaged ...

[woodnotoil]

Re: Grub 17 error

Thanks. I got through section 3 successfully. I am working on section 4. Here is what I have done so far on section 4 and the result.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 163.9 GB, 163928604672 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19929 cylinders, total 320173056 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00064b52

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 63 274518719 137259328+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 * 274518720 318167324 21824302+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 318167325 320159384 996030 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 318167388 320159384 995998+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mkdir /media/sda2
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /media/sda2
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda2,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

[Qqmike]

Re: Grub 17 error

re mounting--You might need options in the mount command, BUT it should mount any way (options for ext2/ext3 filesystem -t type -- see man mount).

BUT, that's all irrelevant!
You are not doing what I said to do.
We ONLY want to TRY to re-install GRUB to see IF that is the problem.
Editing menu.lst will not do anything good for you here -- assuming your existing menu.lst was working before the damage.
Your dual-boot system worked before the damage.
I just want to see if the MBR code got damaged.

[woodnotoil]

Re: Grub 17 error

I did section 3 successfully and tried to reboot. I still got the same Grub Stage 1.5 error 17 message.

Yes my dual boot worked perfectly for many months until this incident.

[Qqmike]

Re: Grub 17 error

OK, so re-installing GRUB did not work.

In your post above, you got this:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /media/sda2
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda2,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

=> I noticed that, but was hoping to ignore it. Ouch. Your Kubuntu filesystem seems damaged.
You might try to fix that using
> GParted Live CD (right-click on the suspect partition > Check filesystem or whatever it says like that);
or:
> Running a filesystem check on an ext3 filesystem
http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzo...xt3_filesystem


I'll drop this, too:
One other thing, but it should not be an issue with XP (whereas it may be an issue with Vista):
in the menu.lst (/boot/grub/menu.lst) in Kubuntu, for XP, try
rootnoverify (hdx,y)
instead of just
root (hdx,y)

(with rootnoverify, no attempt is made to mount the filesystem).


GParted (Live CD, USB, HD)
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
New Manual. New man page. See Documentation:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/documentation.php

[Qqmike]

Re: Grub 17 error

Ah!!! You were downloading pics while in Kubuntu? -- if so, Ouch -- damaged filesystem.
Should be easy to repair, though.
I don't have it at my fingertips, but bigpond should, and we have some filesystem people here, too (do a bump here to get attention).

You gotta fix that.
Sorry I ran past it so quick.

[woodnotoil]

Re: Grub 17 error

Thanks. BTW - what is bigpond?

[Qqmike]

Re: Grub 17 error

That link I gave above--Herman's site--I believe an Australian hosting service (?).

[woodnotoil]

Re: Grub 17 error

Would fsck be able to fix the filesystem? If so, can I run it from the live cd. If I can´t, what do I have to do to get to a prompt where I can?

[Qqmike]

Help Fix Filesystem? --Re: Grub 17 error

I'm sorta on the run here, but did once use bigpond to do it, probably as you are thinking of. Yes, you can do it from a live CD, or try booting into Kubuntu as see if it drops you to a prompt -- be careful though, as I recall you must unmount the filesystem first...?

I put a Help bump on my Reply, hoping someone can jump in ---

[Qqmike]

Re: Grub 17 error

woodnotoil, I looked at Herman's approach (bigpond), and I guess it can get detailed, but looks like it should work OK. Also noticed a couple links he recommends for such, there in the text before he demonstrates his thing.

That's why you are getting Error 17: Cannot Mount Selected Partition."
GRUB loads from the MBR OK, then turns control to Stage_1.5 (in the 16 sectors following the MBR but before the Kubuntu partition), but then GRUB's Stage 1.5 can't get to Stage _2 located in the Kubuntu partition--and where the menu.lst is--because of this bad Superblock.

[woodnotoil]

Re: Grub 17 error

Back in Business!

Qqmike- You are the man! Had e2fsck use the first backup superblock and once the filesystem was fixed booted up great. The links you provided were perfect. Thanks for talking me through this throughout the day! You Rock!

We'll try to keep the toddler away from the power strip from now on...