grub error 17- please help

you may need to recover your "grub", you can try following this guide to do that: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows#head-68342fc2e30d51fa0aa6f5bf16c911dd8d3663c6

I went there and started from the top. Didn't get very far. When I typed
find /boot/grub/stage1
I got
Error 15: File not found

Hello Joel:

Here is a nice description of the problem and its solution

http://justlinux.com/forum/showpost.php?p=869980&postcount=6

Regards

Bhavani Shankar.

4 questions:
1: How many partitions/hard drives do you have?
2: does the error popup when you try to boot in linux only, or windows also?
3: since you can boot up using your live CD, can you get access to your existing linux partition during the live session (places>computer>[partition name here])?
4: finally, if you cannot get access to your existing linux partition, whenever the grub menu comes up, can you give the 'root' location for linux and windows?

for example, these are from my menu:

at the grub menu, select ubuntu boot entry and hit 'e' to see:

title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-18-generic
root (hd0,5) ## this is the one you want
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-18-generic root=UUID=bc61271a-7951-43cb-a009-1bffa02416ed ro quiet splash pnpbios=off
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-18-generic

then go back, select the windows boot entry and see this:

title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,0) ## this is the one you want
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

I hope that there is some other way to fix this problem besides deleting all the partitions and re-installing everything. I was kinda hoping to save the data on the hard drive.

Guy In the Bushes,
I am going to need a little more instruction on this. I'm too new at this linux stuff.

sure thing, what do i need to clarify?

Guy... here it goes.
Question 1: I have only one hd. I was running xp alone until I installed 8.04. I believe that there are 4 partitions as a result of installing ubuntu.

Question 2: The problem arises on the initial start-up. I cannot access windows or ubuntu. I can only access ubuntu if I run the live cd.

Question 3: I checked in places>computer... but I don't see a linux partition located there. Of course, I probably don't even know what I'm looking for.

Question 4: I never get to the grub menu. The computer screen just shows an error 17 message when I try to boot without the live cd.

ooh... ok then, this does complicate things a bit. since youve only got one HDD what was running xp alone until you set it up with the ubuntu dual-boot, then youve probably only got 3 partitions... 1 for xp, one for ubuntu, and 1 for ubuntu's swap file...but this isnt too helpful if you cant get into the grub menu at all.... which means that repairing grub is definitely a must.

on that note, you said you didnt get very far through the instructions that gord posted the link to up above... so my first question on that would be, were you at the grub prompt when you typed in "find /boot/grub/stage1" or were you at a regular prompt
regular prompt looks like this:
username@computer:~$

and grub is:
grub>

if you find that you entered the command at the wrong prompt, then i would say try the instructions that gord's link points to again and see if it works again... if not then it may be helpful to have a copy of the 'Super Grub disk,' which can be downloaded from here:
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/index.php?pid=5
provided that you have internet access and a cd burner available, which i would assume you do since youve gotten this far :)

theres another question... are you getting on the forums here from a different computer, or are you getting on when you use the live session from the cd?

next on the list: when you're in the live session, and you go to places>computer, anything thats in there that does not say 'filesystem' or 'CD-RW/CD-R/DVD-RAM/etc' is probably a regular partition. typically they will have names like 'sda1, sda2, etc' or 'hda1, hda2, etc' or a custom name you may have given them. so if you see something like that there, then you probably still have access to your partitions and if worst comes to worst you can easily get your data off before reformatting (last resort, hopefully wont have to do.)

It may take a while for me to get back to you after this post because im about to go into town for a little while, but if you get stuck then heres some things you could try with the super grub disk:

burn it onto a cd (self explanatory), put it in the drive of the misbehaving computer and and boot up.
select the "Super Grub Disk (With Help)" entry (it will be the one with the most smiles next to it ex: :-)))
select your language (presumably english)
*read through the descriptions of what the tools do before each menu, because it will help to explain in simple terms what exactly you are doing, and help you learn
go to the "Boot and Tools" menu option
go to the "Boot Partition" entry
select the "Boot Partition" option there
and it should then show you a list of all bootable partitions on your HDD. just select a partition and try to boot from it (this makes no changes to your system)
if you successfully boot from a partition (probably your linux one), then thats a good sign, but you will still need to restart and go through super grub again to fix it like this:

boot with super grub disk
select the "Super Grub Disk (With Help)" entry
select your language again
go to GNU/Linux
select "Fix Boot of GNU/Linux"
and it should go through its little process and say "SGD has done it!"
once you see this, then remove the super grub disk, reboot and everything should work normally.

if you cannot boot from a partition then ignore the bit about "Fix Boot of GNU/Linux" for now... hopefully that will help you out a bit, and if not ill be back!

when I go to super grub to download, I see a list of several files. do I need to download each file separately and burn them to a cd or do I just need one of them?

I thank you for you help so far. My problem is not solved yet, I'm not sure why launchpad is showing my problem as solved. I created a super grub cd and followed your instructions. In the boot partition option, it showed 3 partitions. One 94 GB windows partition, one 195 GB linux partition, and one 8GB swap partition. I attempted to boot from each partition. I was only able to boot from the windows partition. I then tried to run the "fix boot of gnu/linux" but was unsuccessful. I received "Error 15: file not found Booting not lucky" error message.

I'll try to provide some more information while I have a little time. I was at the grub prompt when I typed "find /boot/grub/stage1".
In Places > Computer, it shows the windows partition, the dvd drive and the filesystem. That is it. It does not show the ubuntu or swap partitions.
I am able to access the internet and forums while using the live cd, but I have been using my other computer to do those things and only using the "broken computer" for attepmting to fix it.
I guess the good news is that my windows partition appears to be intact so I shouldn't lose anything there. The bad news is that it appears that my ubuntu partitions may be trashed, but I'll wait for your reply before going any farther.
thanks

hey, sorry the boot fix didnt work nicely... unfortunately it seems that grub has been fried somehow, though this does not necessarily mean that the ubuntu partition is a total loss. lets see what we can do...
first off ill say that the instructions im going to walk you through are also present in gords first post under the section 'troubleshooting' but ill walk you through it just the same.

first, ill need a bit more info so i can help you better... if you could, please type in the command "fdisk -l" into a console and post the output back up here and we can get started (and thats fdisk -(lowercase L) all that does is give you a list of your local partitions and their name assignments so we can figure out which one we need to gain access to)

oh, and your post may have said 'solved' by it if you accidentally hit the 'problem solved' button to submit your post instead of the 'im still having a problem' one. it happens...

dangit... i meant to say, up there, boot up with the livecd, open a console via Applications> Accessories> Terminal and type the fdisk -l command...sorry bout that

here is the results of the fdisk -l command:

Disk /dev/sda:320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0d780d77

    Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 12360 99281668+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 12361 38913 213286972+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 12361 38831 204595776 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 37832 38913 8691133+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

ok good...now what you will need to do is this:

boot in LiveCD, if not already there, open a new console and type in the following set of commands (stuff between the **s means comment, so don't type those lines, and the # and $ signify different terminal types [$ = normal and # = root] so you shouldn't enter that either, just what comes immediately after the # or $):

$ sudo su
** this gives you permanent root access to the computer via the terminal for as long as the terminal is open to simplify the steps that come next, because they all would require root access. you should have a root prompt that says "root@computer:/#" If it says anything after that (line "root@computer: /home/user etc.) type in the following: **

# cd /
** this gets you to the root directory ( or the " / " directory). remember, if theres any question or something wierd happens please ask before continuing so the situation doesn't get worse **

# mkdir /ubuntu
** This command tells the computer to create a folder(directory) called "ubuntu" in the root directory " / " nothing too complicated yet. next command: **

mount /dev/sda5 /ubuntu
** This command mounts your main ubuntu partition (sda5) in the folder you just created. Now you should have the root partition for your original ubuntu install mounted and accessible under the path /ubuntu. now we just want to check and make sure that we have the correct partition mounted, so you run this: **

ls /ubuntu
** thats a lowercase L and S. ls is for list, which gives you a color coded list of the files/directories contained in the path you specify. ls by itself gives contents of your present location, and the command dir or dir <path> will give you the same output without the pretty colors. provided everything to this point has worked well, the output of "ls /ubuntu" should look something like this:

bin dev initrd lib mnt root sys var
boot etc initrd.img lost+found opt sbin tmp vmlinuz
cdrom home initrd.img.old media proc srv usr vmlinuz.old

if this is what you see, then you're in good shape for the next bit. if you don't see this, stop and post back what you do see, because we are not in a position to modify essential parts of your system. the next commands for you should be run one after the other...aka dont put them in all at once. each line is a different command, so enter each line seperately, but in the same order they appear here: **

mount -o bind /dev /ubuntu/dev
mount -o bind /proc /ubuntu/proc
cp /proc/mounts /ubuntu/etc/mtab
** this sets up a working enviroment that may be required during the repairing process. essentially all it does is bind several system-essential folders from your actual ubuntu installation, into the local folders of the live session. now we have to 'enter' the broken environment: **

chroot /ubuntu/ /bin/bash
** this command instructs the filesystem to now consider the directory "/ubuntu" as the system's root directory " / " and to read the system command line from that location. this means that we will no longer be using the LiveCD, and all changes that are made will permanently affect your ubuntu installation, so be extra careful from now on. now we must attempt a repair of grub. enter the following command (note: i dont remember if you automatically still get root access or not, so i included the 'sudo' in the command just in case. if you still have a root terminal then ignore the sudo): **

# sudo /sbin/grub-install /dev/sda
** Tada! if this command gives no error, you've just successfully repaired grub and you can skip the next bit. if it does give an error, then you need to take a few extra steps to repair manually. in these steps the "grub> is grubs terminal, so dont type that...just the command after the > : **

# sudo /sbin/grub
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
**this will give you the address location of the "stage1" boot file. according to your setup, grub is probably going to see it as (hd0,2) so im going to assume that address for the rest of the commands. if it outputs an address different than that, then post back with the address it gives. heres the last of the manual configuration commands: **

grub> root (hd0,2)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit
** this sets the system root as the (hd0,2) partition, sets grub up on that drive, then should bring you back to a root terminal. now one last step is we need to verify that the menu.lst (again thats a lowercase L) file is pointing in the correct location. so type in : **

# gedit /ubuntu/boot/grub/menu.lst
**if that doesnt work try "gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" instead **
**scroll down to the bottom and make sure that the root entry reads for ubuntu:
root (hd0,2)
and the root for windows reads:
root (hd0,0)
again, if it differs from this, post back with what it says and ill help you out from there. **

then that should be that! close the terminal, reboot the computer, remove the live cd, and it should work normally! sorry about the long post, but i wanted to cover everything i could just in case i have to go again. if theres any problems, then please post back before continuing and ill help the best i can! hope this worked out for you!

 Thanks for the help so far. I really appreciate it.
When I typ in: mount /dev/sda5 /ubuntu
It says: mount: you must specify the filesystem type

ok....never had that happen before...

try this:

# mount -t ext3 /dev/sda5 /ubuntu

and no problem at all!, i just hope we can get this thing fixed for you so you can go on enjoying your ubuntu!

when I type in the new command that you sent, I get the following:
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda5,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

ok... run this:
# cfdisk /dev/sda
and copy the output here

also...the cfdisk command opens a command line partition editor, so dont push any buttons in there. 'q' is quit though

Disk Drive: /dev/sda
Size: 320072933376 bytes, 320.0 GB
Heads: 255 Sectors per track: 63 Cylinders: 38913

Name Flags Part Type FS Type (Label) Size (MB)
sda1 Boot Primary NTFS ( ) 101664.47
sda5 Logical Linux 209506.11
sda6 Logical Linux swap / Solaris 8899.76

thats not a good sign...

try running this:
# fsck /dev/sda5
(linux disk check) and see what happens.

it said:
fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
e2fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
fsck.ext2: Superblock invalid, trying backup blocks...
Superblock has an invalid ext3 journal (inode 8).
Clear<y>?

oh crap....unfortunately i believe that may mean that your linux partition is shot. i dont know if this will do any good or not, but if you want to try it, and you dont have anything too precious on the linux partition, id say try hitting 'y' to see if it fixes it, but theres a good chance that the partition is lost...

I pushed the y button:

*** ext3 journal has been deleted - filesystem is now ext2 only ***

Superblock doesn't have has_journal flag, but has ext3 journal inode.
Clear<y>?

I pressed y again:

/dev/sda5 was not cleanly unmounted, check forced.
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks and sizes
Journal inode is not in use, but contains data. Clear <y>?

 I pressed y again:

Deleted inode 5292044 has zero dtime. Fix<y>?

I pressed that darn y again

Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
Block bitmap differences: (insert a whole bunch of numbers in parenthesis here that I'm not gonna take the time to type)
Fix<y>

Y again

Free blocks count wrong for group #0 (0, counted+31479).
fix<y>

again for group #1
again for group #3
again for group #57

ehhh... I'm gonna quit typing there.

So, what do I have to do to reload ubuntu into this partition?

Thanks for your patience in working with me through this issue. I would gladly buy you a beer (or whatever your drink of choice would be) if you were here.

Whoa...
after entering the "y" command for approximately 5000 times, I got the following:

*** journal has been re-created - filesystem is now ext3 again ***

/dev/sda5: *****FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sda5: 128554/12787712 files (0.5% non-contiguous) , 1177611/51148944 blocks
root@ubuntu:/#

Well, something happened... I just don't know what.

heh id accept a virtual beer, and your welcome...sorry we couldnt get the thing working again. unfortunately since the partition was damaged somehow the only way to get it back on there is to re-set it up with a liveCD. i hope you didnt have anything you needed too badly on there...
i can help you set it back up though if you like. i also have some advice for setting it up so if this ever happens again, you won't have to worry about loosing any personal settings/info

oh wow...well then try the mount command again
# mount /dev/sda5 /ubuntu

 I ran "fsck /dev/sda5" again and it said:

fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
e2fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
/dev/sda5: clean, 128554/12787712 files, 1177611/51148944 blocks
root@ubuntu:/#

I ran "mount /dev/sda5 /ubuntu"

mount: mount point /ubuntu does not exist

I went back to your previous message with all those root commands to enter. I made it all the way to:

/sbin/grub-install /dev/sda
You shouldn't call /sbin/grub-install. Please call /usr/sbin/grub-install instead!

Could not find device for /boot: Not found or not a block device.

ok, just skip that step then and go to the next one. the step you just tried is for the automatic grub installation...ill repost the next steps you should need here:

# sudo /sbin/grub
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
**this will give you the address location of the "stage1" boot file. according to your setup, grub is probably going to see it as (hd0,2) so im going to assume that address for the rest of the commands. if it outputs an address different than that, then post back with the address it gives. heres the last of the manual configuration commands: **

grub> root (hd0,2)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit
** this sets the system root as the (hd0,2) partition, sets grub up on that drive, then should bring you back to a root terminal. now one last step is we need to verify that the menu.lst (again thats a lowercase L) file is pointing in the correct location. so type in : **

# gedit /ubuntu/boot/grub/menu.lst
**if that doesnt work try "gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" instead **
**scroll down to the bottom and make sure that the root entry reads for ubuntu:
root (hd0,2)
and the root for windows reads:
root (hd0,0)
again, if it differs from this, post back with what it says and ill help you out from there. **

then that should be that! close the terminal, reboot the computer, remove the live cd, and it should work normally! sorry about the long post, but i wanted to cover everything i could just in case i have to go again. if theres any problems, then please post back before continuing and ill help the best i can! hope this worked out for you!

ok, just skip that step then and go to the next one. the step you just tried is for the automatic grub installation...ill repost the next steps you should need here:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
**this will give you the address location of the "stage1" boot file. according to your setup, grub is probably going to see it as (hd0,2) so im going to assume that address for the rest of the commands. if it outputs an address different than that, then post back with the address it gives. heres the last of the manual configuration commands: **

grub> root (hd0,2)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit
** this sets the system root as the (hd0,2) partition, sets grub up on that drive, then should bring you back to a root terminal. now one last step is we need to verify that the menu.lst (again thats a lowercase L) file is pointing in the correct location. so type in : **

# gedit /ubuntu/boot/grub/menu.lst
**if that doesnt work try "gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" instead **
**scroll down to the bottom and make sure that the root entry reads for ubuntu:
root (hd0,2)
and the root for windows reads:
root (hd0,0)
again, if it differs from this, post back with what it says and ill help you out from there. **

then that should be that! close the terminal, reboot the computer, remove the live cd, and it should work normally! sorry about the long post, but i wanted to cover everything i could just in case i have to go again. if theres any problems, then please post back before continuing and ill help the best i can! hope this worked out for you!

disregard the first of those last 2 posts..i screwed up that one

...sorry, i meant the last of the 2 posts...its getting late

 I can't get into grub. When I type "/sbin/grub" I get:
bash: /sbin/grub: No such file or directory

Yeah, I know its getting late. Might just have to pick this up again tommorrow evening if thats possible. I need to get to bed soon, unless of course we are getting really close to a solution!?!?

i think we may be close to a solution... unfortunately im away from my linux computer atm, but ill do the best i can...if we cant get this in the next little bit though, i think it may be best if we pick it up tomorrow... but in the mean time...try this to get into grub:

# sudo grub

so simple that i may have overlooked it

after that, continue with the steps in the list from:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

onwards. lets see if that works.

it shows hd0,4

ok perfect then run this:

grub> root (hd0,4)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub> quit

then...

# gedit /ubuntu/boot/grub/menu.lst
**if that doesnt work try "gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" instead **
**scroll down to the bottom and make sure that the root entry reads for ubuntu:
root (hd0,4)
and the root for windows reads:
root (hd0,0)

then reboot, remove liveCD and that should be it! Fingers Xed!

When I run both of the gedit commands I get:

cannot open display:

 it is supposed to be a lowercase L, correct? thats what I used

yes thats right...that last part isnt too important at this stage. if you reboot now and get to the grub menu, you can change them there temporarily, so you can boot into ubuntu and change the menu.lst permanently. go ahead and reboot aand see if you get the error 17 again

no more error 17. the computer boots up and everything seems to be there just as it is supposed to be. Thanks for doing an awesome job helping me fix this problem. I really appreciate your patience in working with a noob like me. If you have any tips on how to avoid this problem in the future, we can go over all that later. Thanks again, I need to get some sleep now.

I'm glad that everything finally worked out! and really, it was no problem...everybody's gotta start somewhere...it wasn't that long ago that i was in a similar boat, now i just wanna help out however i can. the only tip i really have though wont affect the installation you currently have, but it can help protect against possible loss of data. in addition to the regular backups you should make of your home folder, just like with any other OS, i would suggest that when installing Ubuntu for the first time, do not use the automatic partitioning. rather, create the partitions manually by yourself so you know a little better how your computer's hard drive looks. this would allow you to create a partition with a custom mount point...namely to the "/home" folder. this way, if something ever happens to your installation and you have to reformat/reinstall Ubuntu, you just wipe/reformat the system drive, leaving the custom /home partition intact, and protecting your valuable files and preserving your custom settings such as background, custom themes, mouse pointers, etc... Ive done something similar on my computer with a 260GB hard drive and a 500GB hard drive for ubuntu and windows, partitioned roughly so:

260GB drive-- Filesystem mount point
120GB NTFS (Windows System)
20GB ext3 /
105GB ext3 /home
8GB NTFS Windows Pagefile
8GB swap linux swap

500GB drive--
Documents and Settings/ Program Files for windows

Its not a requirement to do it like this, (though it is a requirement to have separate / (root) and swap partitions) but Ive found that its useful and kind of adds a second safety net when it comes to preserving your documents and settings. again, glad everything worked out, and now you can get back to enjoying your Ubuntu!

Thanks for the advice. And thanks again for helping me resolve this issue. I hope that someday I will be knowledgable enough to help someone with Ubuntu. Of course, I also hope that Ubuntu will become a bit more reliable and not just suddenly crash for some yet unknown reason.
Cheers.

I have the same exact problem as Joel and am very happy that guy in the bushes fixed it for him. I tried following your instructions here but can't get nowhere.
This is the problem:
1. at boot I get GRUB error 17 and there is nothing else on the screen. Nothing else can be typed in.
2. I booted my system from live Ubuntu CD, opened the terminal and typed in "sudo su" and get this "root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu#"
What do I need to do next?
Thank you.