Ubuntu
grub package

grub gone after booting from supergrub disk

Asked by dilog

First I got Grub loading ... error 17, so I burned a supergrub disk and tried to boot int grub this way. Several trials got no results so I choosed the WIndows option and was abled to get windows. Now, I can no longer boot into the supergrub disk, so I wonder if there is another option to restore the grub from a live cd? I have Ubuntu 8.10 and Windows 2000 on partitions on the same harddisk.

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Wyatt Smith (wyatt-smith) said : 		#1

Grub Error 17 : Cannot mount selected partition
This error is returned if the partition requested exists, but the filesystem type cannot be recognized by GRUB.

Many times reinstalling grub will solve this problem.

To reinstall grub, boot your Ubuntu Live CD, open a terminal from the menu Applications > Accessories > Terminal, and type

sudo grub
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
grub> find /grub/stage1

One of the above commands should return your Ubuntu partition in the form of (hdX,Y) where X and Y are numbers, for example (hd0,4), but use whatever it returns as follows:

grub> root (hdX,Y)
grub> setup (hdX)
grub> quit

Hope this helps

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dilog (dilog) said : 		#2

Unfortunately could not find nothing, but Error 15: File not found.

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dilog (dilog) said : 		#3

fdisk -l : cannot open /dev/sda
mount: wrong fs type, bad options, bad superblock etc.
dmesg: VFS: cannot find ext3 on dev sda3

I think the best way is to reinstall ubuntu on that partition!

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Wyatt Smith (wyatt-smith) said : 		#4

One thing that can cause GRUB Error 17 is a damaged file system in your Ubuntu partition. A lot of people have solved their GRUB Error 17 problems simply by running a file system check. It is not recommend to run this from a mounted filesystem so boot to the LiveCD and open a terminal

sudo fsck /dev/sdbX

substitute you ubuntu partition for sdbX

Secondly check your /boot/grub/menu.lst file and make sure to check your operating system entry's 'root (hdx,y)' details are correct. If you have used hard disk partitioning software recently, it could have renumber you partitions on you without telling you. If that's the case, you probably need to

(1) edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst file to make it point to the correct hard disk and partition number
(2) re-install GRUB's IPL to MBR in your first hard disk

Please let me know if these help. If not, we will have to look elsewhere and try a grub CLI direct kernel boot.

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dilog (dilog) said : 		#5

I've already done this and much more without results, besides I reformatted the partition and tried to reinstall
ubuntu again but the installation process hangs on partitioning. I tried with the partition mounted and unmounted, all the same the installation hangs! My conclusion is that inspite of all checks the disk is damaged by an unknown damage! I have thus to reformat the whole disk and try again otherwise buy a new disk.
Many thanks for trying to help, I really appreciate it!
best regards
Dimitris