Ubuntu

GRUB

Asked by Michel Segeren

I have installed Ubuntu 12.04 on a Windows 7 laptop.

I have had some problems with an SD card reader in my laptop and my troubles began after that. On reboot my Ubuntu got hung on the purple screen before the login. I booted back in Windows and it recommended. I run CHKDSK as if Windows had sensed something was wrong somwhere. I let it run and it deleted some faulty records. Then I tried to reboot into Ubuntu but now I get stuck in a screen called GNU GRUB.

Could someone please tell me if I can recover from here on? I found a scenario on the web telling me how to search in GRUB for /vmluniz and /sbin/init and to use the linux, initrd and boot commands, but the search did not find anything. What should I do next? Thank goodness, I still have Windows going.

I could re-install Ubuntu but I probably would loose all my data, as it wants me to uninstall the old installation. Is this correct ?

PS1: I know nothing of GRUB so if I could get precise instructions, it would be very much appreciated.

PS2: When I boot I still see both Windows and Ubuntu in the boot menu.

I booted Ubuntu from a CD (temporarily) and ran Boot-Repair in a command window. The result is posted at http://paste.ubuntu.com/6564581/ Hope this provides some insight into the problem.

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Thomas Krüger
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Thomas Krüger (thkrueger) said : 		#1

You installed Ubuntu with the Wubi Windows installer, which is not the recommanded procedure, simply because it leads to problems as you have. The installer creates drive images on the Windows drive which contain all Ubuntu files. If you have troubles with the Windows file system (which is actually not so rare), this might also corrupt the Ubuntu installation.
The boot repair tried to mount your home folder to allow you recovering your data, but it was unable to do so.

To recover your files, you need to mount the drive image manually. Can you post a list of all files in the ubuntu directory of your windows drive, including file size? Thanks!

If you want to install Ubuntu again, please follow the Installation guide at http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/install-desktop-long-term-support and create a dedicated Ubuntu partition.

Revision history for this message
Michel Segeren (michel416) said : 		#2

 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is B209-291E

 Directory of C:\ubuntu

22/05/2013 02:52 PM <DIR> .
22/05/2013 02:52 PM <DIR> ..
22/05/2013 02:52 PM <DIR> disks
22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> install
22/05/2013 02:12 PM 2,504,624 uninstall-wubi.exe
22/05/2013 02:52 PM <DIR> winboot
               1 File(s) 2,504,624 bytes

 Directory of C:\ubuntu\disks

22/05/2013 02:52 PM <DIR> .
22/05/2013 02:52 PM <DIR> ..
22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> boot
12/12/2013 12:03 PM 0 root.disk
22/05/2013 12:03 PM 268,435,456 swap.disk
               2 File(s) 268,435,456 bytes

 Directory of C:\ubuntu\disks\boot

22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> .
22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> ..
22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> grub
               0 File(s) 0 bytes

 Directory of C:\ubuntu\disks\boot\grub

22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> .
22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> ..
               0 File(s) 0 bytes

 Directory of C:\ubuntu\install

22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> .
22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> ..
22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> boot
22/05/2013 02:12 PM 454 preseed.cfg
22/05/2013 02:12 PM 302 wubildr-disk.cfg
               2 File(s) 756 bytes

 Directory of C:\ubuntu\install\boot

22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> .
22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> ..
22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> grub
               0 File(s) 0 bytes

 Directory of C:\ubuntu\install\boot\grub

22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> .
22/05/2013 02:12 PM <DIR> ..
               0 File(s) 0 bytes

 Directory of C:\ubuntu\winboot

22/05/2013 02:52 PM <DIR> .
22/05/2013 02:52 PM <DIR> ..
22/05/2013 02:52 PM 135,596 wubildr
22/05/2013 02:09 PM 29 wubildr-bootstrap.cfg
22/05/2013 02:09 PM 1,463 wubildr.cfg
22/05/2013 02:09 PM 8,192 wubildr.mbr
22/05/2013 02:09 PM 10,240 wubildr.tar
               5 File(s) 155,520 bytes

     Total Files Listed:
              10 File(s) 271,096,356 bytes
              23 Dir(s) 29,786,181,632 bytes free

Revision history for this message
Best Thomas Krüger (thkrueger) said : 		#3

Bad luck! Your Ubuntu disk image has been zeroed by the Windows disk repair. There might be a small chance to recover it with special software, but that is a windows related question and would not fit here.

Revision history for this message
Michel Segeren (michel416) said : 		#4

OK Thanks Thomas, next time I'll install Ubuntu on its own partition.