Dual boot: Ubuntu - Kubuntu, need help

[SquareRunner]

Hey forum,

Posted this in Ubuntu forums too, but it occurred after I installed Kubuntu so I figured it has something to do with the installation.

Got a little bit of an issue here. I am running Ubuntu 10.10 and just yesterday installed Kubuntu 10.10 on an external drive. Now it takes over 2 minutes to boot up (from a previous 15 seconds), I am only able to run one OS a power on can only run the other OS (starting from either) after I shut the computer down. If I just reset the computer it says that the drive I am looking for cannot be found.

In Grub2 both OSs show up as Ubuntu, but the actual Ubuntu seems to cycle through the HDs it says it's running from at the end of the title in Grub. Also, I cannot edit Grub2, which is the Grub I'm running on both OSs. For example, I tried editing the default startup OS and it just didn't take the change in either Terminal or Startup Manager.

Is there something I'm missing? I really don't want to have to do a clean install.

Also, if I unplug the external drive my computer is directed to the grub command line.

[Linkmaster]

Re: Dual boot: Ubuntu - Kubuntu, need help

I am only able to run one OS a power on can only run the other OS (starting from either) after I shut the computer down. If I just reset the computer it says that the drive I am looking for cannot be found.

When you say this, are you meaning that it gives you a GRUB command line, and nothing happens from there? If so, I can do you a tremendous amount of good.

Just recently, I tried installing an OS on my PenDrive[MintKDE, so its similar to Kubuntu] and it ended up wiping GRUB/mounting points from my computer. This means the only thing I can do is boot directly from the USB, then I can choose which partition I want. My advice[and this is what I'm currently about to do] is on whichever OS you have installed on the harddrive of the computer, reinstall GRUB onto it. Then, if in case you need to reinstall the OS on the mini, make sure you take out the harddrive of the computer, else you'll run into the problem that I had, which is that the mount point switched to the USB/mini. I believe that will solve your problem, though I canNOT give a guaranetee that it will work.

[SquareRunner]

Re: Dual boot: Ubuntu - Kubuntu, need help

Wow, in retrospect it really couldn't have been anything else. I'm kicking myself for not going through the least bit of troubleshooting.

As it turns out Kubuntu had installed GRUB legacy which seemed to cause the issue. Uninstalled both, then reinstalled GRUB2 and it worked great. Even all the settings I had changed previously actually came up on the GRUB menu this time.

Thanks a lot, you saved me from doing something dumb like wiping everything and doing it over again.

[Linkmaster]

Re: Dual boot: Ubuntu - Kubuntu, need help

Anytime fellow Linux user! I want to help as many things as I can, it also helps the more experienced users deal with things that are much more difficult. I'm glad you figured out to reinstall GRUB, I totally forgot to post a link that would have explained it much easier :P

As well, make sure you put "[SOLVED]" as the title for this, so that other people won't go looking in it to try and solve it to see they read everything to find it solved already. It also enables other users to see its been solved, and they will look in it to see if it applies to them.

Last thing, don't kick yourself. I've done worse myself, so its all good, haha.

[dibl]

Re: Dual boot: Ubuntu - Kubuntu, need help

Good to see it solved -- sorry to be so late to the thread. But, upon reviewing it, and understanding it's too late for this case, I wanted to point out that with a satisfactory Ubuntu 10.10 installation in place, if a person wants the ability to choose to run Kubuntu 10.10, there's no necessity to make a second installation of the OS. By installing the kubuntu-desktop metapackage, you pull in all of the KDE suite that comes with a default Kubuntu installation, and you merely choose it on the greeter when logging in to X. The kernel and the plumbing underneath the desktop environment are the same for Ubuntu and Kubuntu, within a given version.