Error: file not found grub rescue>_ After new install 12.10

[Shabakthanai]

Installed OS on a new SSD. Computer does not recognize the SSD, however, a command line entry of grub rescue> _ appears on the desktop. I installed the Super Grub II CD and selected any found OS. I am able to boot normally after that, but I do not know how to fix the problem.

I entered the BIOS to set the boot order, but the options did not include the SSD drive. Options included CD, HDD, and floppy. My motherboard is an ASUS M3N HT Deluxe Mempipe and is about 5 years old. Would an update of the BIOS fix the problem? Not sure the terminology is correct in the last sentence.

Or, is there a method of correcting the grub that would fix the problem? TIA

[james147]

Some BIOSs separate the boot order (and list hdd, removable and cd/dvd) from which hdd is booted, if you have more then one drive installed it could be trying to boot off the old drive, see if there is anywhere you can pick which hdd you can boot (there shouldn't be any difference in an ssd and a spinning disk when it comes to booting.)

The grub rescue line appears when grub is loaded from the mbr of the disk, but then cannot find the /boot partition it is associated with. This normally happens when you remove an old install and install grub to a new drive (which sounds like what you have done)

If all else fails you can install grub to the old disk again but I would see if you can change the bios boot order first. Also, most bioses have a key you can press to select the different drives you can boot from, (normally F8 on desktops or sometimes ESC) this is handy to see what drives the bios is able to boot from, and if it is listed then there should be an option in the bios to change it.

[vinnywright]

well the computer recognizes the SSD or you would not even get the "grub rescue>" , this means that grub is installed to the MBR and just cant find it's boot files for some reason.
so how did you do your install ?
did you pre-partition the drive , or let the installer do it ,,, did you use an encrypted disk option , if at the "grub rescue>" prompt you type ls and hit enter what dose it display? ,, you should get a list of partitions that it see's

VINNY

[Shabakthanai]

Aaa

well the computer recognizes the ssd or you would not even get the "grub rescue>" , this means that grub is installed to the mbr and just cant find it's boot files for some reason.
So how did you do your install ? "i installed using a livecd. I already pre-partitioned the ssd then installed from the live cd.i did not use an encrypted disk option."
did you pre-partition the drive , or let the installer do it ,,, did you use an encrypted disk option , if at the "grub rescue>" prompt you type ls and hit enter what dose it display? ,, you should get a list of partitions that it see's
vinny

"ls at the grub rescue> prompt revealed the following:

Partition hd),1: File system type ext2 - label "/svpersonal" (this is not how i selected the file system or labeled the mount point. I used ext4 and /home for the mount point)
partition hd1,1: File system type ext2 - label "/sg1" ( this is also incorrect. I selected the ext4 file system and labeled the partition "sg1", so the label was correct.)
partition hd2,2: File system type ext2 - (this would be the ssd and contained the os. The file system i selected was ext4 again and mount point set @ "/".)
partition hd2.1: Unknown file system. (this would be the swap partition on the ssd)
device fd): Unknown file system. (i do not have the foggiest idea what this is referring to.)

[vinnywright]

Aaa
"ls at the grub rescue> prompt revealed the following:

Partition hd),1: File system type ext2 - label "/svpersonal" (this is not how i selected the file system or labeled the mount point. I used ext4 and /home for the mount point)
partition hd1,1: File system type ext2 - label "/sg1" ( this is also incorrect. I selected the ext4 file system and labeled the partition "sg1", so the label was correct.)
partition hd2,2: File system type ext2 - (this would be the ssd and contained the os. The file system i selected was ext4 again and mount point set @ "/".)
partition hd2.1: Unknown file system. (this would be the swap partition on the ssd)
device fd): Unknown file system. (i do not have the foggiest idea what this is referring to.)

looks like you have 3 drives hear , is that right?
grub lists drives as hd0 first drive hd0,1 first drive first partition hd1 second drive hd1,1 second drive first partition and so forth.

like @james147 sead did you have a prevents install ? is the BIOS still booting the drive your old install had grub on ? when you did the new install to the SSD did you install grub to the SSD's MBR or some other drive ? ,,,,,,,thare are several reasons you could be experiencing this problem .

in short we kneed to know exactly what the state of the system was before you added the new drive and what you did adding the new drive and what you did installing the new system .
if the BIOS is still using one of the old drives as the primary boot device then you are probably getting the old installes grub ,,,, if you installed the new system to the SSD AND had the installer to put grub on the SSD's MBR then just change the SSD to be the primary drive in the BIOS boot order.

VINNY

[Shabakthanai]

Yes, Vinny, a 1TB 6gps, a 500gb 3gps, and an SSD. From your paragraph 2, I believe i installed to the SSD. I actually identified them by their size, I believe. Since the SSD and swap drives were so much smaller, I think that is how I made the connection to the drive. It may be that I previously installed the former OS to the 1TB drive, but the 500gb drive has always been used for a TV series called Stargate SG1. That drive was used all but perhaps about 75gb.

I believe I formatted the former drive space of the 1TB drive and then expanded it to include the entire drive, eliminating the area used by the last OS installation. I do not understand how to do what you said in your last sentence. How do I "just change the SSD to be the primary drive in the BIOS boot order"? In the BIOS, the order of the drives are indicated by the following identies: Removable, HHD, CD. This being the order they are to boot. Am I thinking of the proper place to change to the primary drive?

It is difficult for me to arrange my thoughts about the problem. I will return to the BIOS and look at all the options for determining ??primary??.

I apologize for being so obtuse, it may be my getting old. I will get back to you in a few minutes after refreshing myself over the options in the BIOS. Thanks for your patience.

[Shabakthanai]

I have returned from an in detail inspection of each entry of the BIOS. The only relevant screen was entitled "Boot" which contained the following:

>Boot Device Priority
> 1st Boot Device [Hard Drive]
> 2nd Boot Device [CDROM]
> 3rd Boot Device [Removable]
> 4th Boot Device [Disabled]
>Removable Drives
> Floppy Disks (I do not have a floppy drive on this computer)
>Hard Disk Drives
> 1. SATA4 : ADATA SP900 (This is the SSD drive)
> 2. SATA1 : WDC WD10EADS-00L5B1
> 3. SATA3 : WDCWD5000AADS-00S9B0]
(On this screen, I changed SATA4 from 3. to 1., in an attempt to follow your instructions.)
>CDROM Drives
> SATA2 : HL-DT-STDVD-RAM GH22LS30
(On this screen, I have 2 DVDRW's so it surprised me that they both were not entered.)
>Boot Settings Configuration
> Case Open Warning [Disabled]
> Quick Boot [Enabled]
>Bootup Num-Lock [On]
> Typematic Rate Setting [Disabled]
x Typematic Rate 6
x Typematic Delay 250
> OS Select for DRAM > 64 MB [Non-OS2]
> Full Screen Logo [Disabled]
> Halt On
> All Errors [x]
> No Errors [ ]
> All. bit Doslette [ ]
>Security

I saved the changes and restarted the computer. Nonetheless, when the boot completed the screen had the command line "grub rescue> Prompt, so I restarted again and used the Super Grub 2 disk to locate the OS.

I thought when I moved the SATA3 from 3. to 1. position the problem would be fixed. Not the case. Any other ideas?

[james147]

See if you can get the bios boot menu up (normally F8 or ESC on most computer, but it can vary)

[Shabakthanai]

That is very easy; anytime I boot, the first screen I get is an ASUS screen. It has access to the Internet even before any OS is installed. One of the choices is to enter the BIOS. So prior to attempting to boot anything, I have direct access to the BIOS.

[vinnywright]

That is very easy; anytime I boot, the first screen I get is an ASUS screen. It has access to the Internet even before any OS is installed. One of the choices is to enter the BIOS. So prior to attempting to boot anything, I have direct access to the BIOS.

Hummm ,,I think what @james147 is saying is that there is usualy a button you can press at startup that will get you a screen to select a device to boot from ,,,,,,,not in the BIOS settings but a selection menu of it's own ,, and most times if you have more than 1 drive it will list eatch one as a choice to boot from , so if you can find this boot menu screen you could chose diferent HD's and see what was what .

but I think if you just use the super grub disk to get into your install then install/reinstall grub from their you would be good .

like

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

but first lets see the output of

sudo parted -l

from in the installed os.

VINNY

[Shabakthanai]

When the system is first restarting, I can press f8 and a boot menu appears with the different choices for booting the system. I use this after putting the Super Grub II CD in the CDROM so I can force the system to boot from the CDROM. That is how I am able to find an OS to boot from which is located by the Super Grub II CD.

Here is the "parted list":

Model: ATA WDC WD5000AADS-0 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 106MB 500GB 500GB primary ext4 boot


Model: ATA ADATA SP900 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 128GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 12.7GB 12.7GB primary linux-swap(v1)
2 12.7GB 128GB 115GB primary ext4 boot


Warning: Unable to open /dev/sr0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr0
has been opened read-only.
Error: Can't have a partition outside the disk!

steven@Yeshuah:~$

Here is the "sudo grub-install /dev/sda":

steven@Yeshuah:~$ sudo grub-install /dev/sda
Installation finished. No error reported.
steven@Yeshuah:~$

I am restarting to see if that repaired the problem. I will return for any future instruction if it doesn't work. I will return to say thanks and look for aditional help if it doesn't work. In either case, much gratitude.

[Shabakthanai]

When I restarted, "grub rescue>_" resulted again. It took my Super Grub II disk to open the computer. The grub choices that were offered to open were as follows: (and both worked)
Linux 3.5.0-21-generic
Linux 3.5.0-21-generic (single-user mode)
Linux 3.5.0-7-generic
Linux 3.5.0-7-generic (single-user mode)

Although I do not have the experience, I have heard that grub can be edited. When I get the grub rescue>_ prompt, it says that a file is missing, can it be re-introduced into the grub? Or can my current grub be removed and a new grub installed? I realize that the questions are probably really stupid. Or is that what I did with the "sudo grub-install /dev/sda" command? And if I did install a new grub, why the problem ongoing?

I recently thought my MB may be defective because I was unable to connect with the Internet using the On-board LAN. I replaced the network card and the problem continued with the new card. Later, and I don't know what change I tried that corrected the connection problem, other than instead of using a rental modem from Time-Warner, I purchased and installed a modem, the TW tech was able to make the connection work again. I assumed the MB was OK then.

Once I get the computer booted using the Super Grub II disk, it works better than ever. Seemingly no hesitation with extreme rapid and crisp everything. It is wonderful. Nevertheless, it would be great to just press the ON button to get the system up and running again.

[vinnywright]

your parted output is only showing 2 drives ? the 500Gib as sdb and a128Gib as sdc ,and looks to be where your install is .
this time try doing the grub-install to /dev/sdb this time and see if that is the drive that is getting booted , was the 500Gib drive the location of your previous install ?

VINNY

[Shabakthanai]

I have to admit I do not understand this post very well. I will try to respond with info that will help. I used the KDE partition manager gui to take a look at the drives. It indicates the TB drive as sda1, the 500gb drive as sdb1, and the SSD drive as sdc1. All three show space that could contain grub info. Nevertheless, I cannot remember ever having an OS in the 500gb drive. It is possible, but when I installed the Stargate episodes, I may have formatted the HDD completely to hold the series exclusively. It has been so long, I cannot remember if that is what happened, but there is a small portion of the HDD that is used but not explained in the graphic representation that could contain an old grub, I suppose.

I am certain that when I installed the new OS, I put it in the SSD, so if the computer is picking up an OS from the 500gb drive, it was installed a few years ago and retained when I formated the drive for exclusive use of the Stargate series.

steven@Yeshuah:~$ sudo grub-install /dev/sdb
[sudo] password for steven:
Installation finished. No error reported.
steven@Yeshuah:~$

If I understand you properly this is what you suggested. I will restart now to see what happens and get back to you. Thanks! for your patience.

[Shabakthanai]

I followed your instruction and I think you finally got through this rock solid brain. After installing the grub in sdb, I restarted, but this time I tried to boot from the 500gb drive. It booted fine. I then restarted and attempted to boot from the TBdrive and it also worked, but when I restarted and tried to boot from the SSD, I got the grub rescue>_ prompt. So, I then installed grub in the SSD, and when I restarted, the computer started as it is supposed to without having to open the boot menu. Halaluah, it seems to be fixed. And I finally understand, I believe.

This is perhaps the most pleasurable resolution I have experienced because I believe I understand. Thanks to all of you who helped. You are the best.

My daughter recently sent me a laptop that contained the Windows Vista OS. It allows me to watch film on Netflix. After about 20 years of using Linux, I finally got to experience a reasonably current version of Windows OS. The only thing I use the laptop for is Netflix. I have relearned how to use the Windows OS, but it is so antiquated compared to Linux. I cannot understand why the few companies that produce websites that only work with Windows and Mac Systems do not make their applications compatible with Linux machines.

If they did, I can not understand why anyone would ever pay money to purchase such an inefficient and un-configurable system as Microsoft sells. I installed Kubuntu 12.10 on the laptop, dual boot, and the only time I will use Vista is to play Netflix. Kubuntu is so fast, by comparison, that when I am in the Vista OS, I find myself clicking on the applications multiple times, thinking I must not have clicked properly. Then the system is confused by multiple enacting of the same programs. And all the hassle when trying to get and install any open source application is very frustrating. You can install an application once you figure out how to read the fine print of the offerings and uncheck all the junk they try to force you to install just to get the application you want.

It is like all Microsoft users have been brainwashed into maintaining loyalty to a much inferior operating system. And there are no people, like the Kubuntu forum, to help someone in trouble.

You are the best. You make computing such a pleasure. You are so appreciated.