Ubuntu
grub package

problem with grub

Asked by J A G A N

I had dual os suse 10.1 & ubuntu 8.04 in my laptop. i completely formated suse partition from ubuntu patition manager.But the default seems to be suse in grub line. next i tried to install windows xp professional in seperate partition but i had problems with that so i quit that installation.Now the problem is UBUNTU OS IS NOT SHOWING UP IN GRUB LINE WHILE LOADING. it goes to default suse,but i formated suse partition so it says unable to detect hard disk.
so how to boot ubuntu? how to bring that in grub line?
note: i had not modified ubuntu partition or file system
help pleeease..............

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quantenemitter (quantenemitter) said : 		#1

You can boot ubuntu without problems, it's just a little complicated.

The idea is to use the command line (!) in grub. For that, press "c" while the grub-menu shows up. Now we tell grub from wich partition it should boot. Of course, we need the ubuntu-partition here.

===========
(1) The grub way
===========

Assuming ubuntu is on your fist harddisk on the third partition, you need to enter
> root (hd0,2)
 Without the ">". The first number ist (harddisk-1), the second (partition-1).
Now, we need to tell grub wich kernel to boot. If you don't know wich one, I'll tell you later what to do.
> kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=/dev/sda3 ro quiet splash
> initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
 Here, you have to correct the kernel version and enter the correct partition of your ubuntu-system again, this time in linux-style (/dev/...).
Now, Tell grub to fire your ubuntu up:
> boot
 that's it! Now your system runs. Let's correct grub. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst in that way, that the lines you entered above appear in it. Then, enter
> grub-install --recheck --no-floppy /dev/sda
 Now, your problem should have vanished.

If you don't know what kernel and/or initrd you are using, You're not lost. First, get access to your ubuntu-files. Do this by using a live CD or acessing them with windows (http://www.fs-driver.org/ , http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9449). Now, go into /boot/grub/menu.lst and look up the correct values for the lines above.

If there is no ubuntu-entry in menu.lst, look up your kernel by reading the contents of the /boot - directory.

===========
(2) The live-cd way
===========

Boot a linux live-cd and mount your ubuntu partition to /mnt:
> mount /dev/sda3 /mnt
 while subtituting "sda4" with the correct partition. Then, fire up an editor and correct /mnt/boot/grub/menu.lst by removing the suse-lines and entering the ubuntu lines like above. After that, enter
> grub-install --recheck --no-floppy --root-directory=/dev/sda3 /dev/sda
 Don't forget to exchange "sda3" and "sda" with the correct values.

If you get problems here, look at my comments at the end of (1).

Have fun.

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