Instaled Ubuntu 7.04 and now grub error 17..

Asked by Britlion

I'm passable at dealing with linux, but the grub error is driving me nuts. I've looked at other answers to similar questions, but frankly, without knowing why some arcane string might make a difference, I'm rather afraid to follow along. I don't want to lose my vista installation.

Ubuntu on this machine has been a nightmare. The 64 bit live cd got to the main menu and when told to start goes to black screen and stays there. The 32 bit version runs, but after install I got grub error 17...

Edit: Another weird thing. If I run the file browser, and go to File System - /boot/grub - there is only a device map file there.
If I go to "disk" /boot/grub - there's the grub file listed below. I have no idea where in the file system "disk" is that's listed in places on the left hand menu.

If I do things like sudo grub and try the /find command, it always comes back with a not found error.

-- End edit.

Here's the fdisk setup. Vista is on /dev/sda1 Linux (as you can see) is on /dev/sdb1

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 74.3 GB, 74355769344 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9039 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 9040 72610816 7 HPFS/NTFS

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

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 38162 306536233+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 38163 38913 6032407+ 5 Extended
/dev/sdb5 38163 38913 6032376 82 Linux swap / Solaris

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

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 38913 312568641 7 HPFS/NTFS

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

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 1 38913 312568641 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sde: 251.0 GB, 251000193024 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30515 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sde1 * 1 30514 245103673+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdf: 515 MB, 515768320 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1967 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdf1 * 1 1968 503664 e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

And here's the grub menu file:

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to 'saved' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=312933bd-301e-47bb-b958-57756b1faa62 ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd1,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=312933bd-301e-47bb-b958-57756b1faa62 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic
quiet
savedefault

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=312933bd-301e-47bb-b958-57756b1faa62 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.20-15-generic

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

Question information

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Ubuntu grub Edit question
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Britlion
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Revision history for this message
Britlion (britlion) said :
#1

I tried replacing the UUID sections with /dev/sdb1 since that was suggested elsewhere. This makes no difference.

Revision history for this message
Antonio Pérez-Aranda Alcaide (ant30) said :
#2

Is not a good idea install the /boot in other disk than MBR grub stay. I some situations it crash as with you.
You may uncomment the line
# groot=(hd1,0)
and put it as follow line:
groot = (hd1,0)

Revision history for this message
Britlion (britlion) said :
#3

I didn't choose to install it anywhere - ubuntu's installer program made all the choices. All I did was click on the "install" icon, and choose the blank hard drive to install it to. I went pretty much with default options where I could.

Changing that line from comment to active made no difference. Grub still throws error 17.

Revision history for this message
Britlion (britlion) said :
#4

That might be a little confusing. I didn't choose where to install grub, just the balnk drive for linux. I assumed it would put the grub loader into the the only active partition - the windows boot drive (/dev/sda1 in linux terms).

Revision history for this message
Cesare Tirabassi (norsetto) said :
#5

>The 64 bit live cd got to the main menu and when told to start goes to black screen and stays there.

Out of curiosity, do you have an AMD64 and a Radeon card (perhaps a Sapphire)?

Revision history for this message
Britlion (britlion) said :
#6

No on either count.

Hardware: Intel Core 2 Duo, Asus P5B premium Motherboard. 4 Gigabytes of RAM. 5 Hard drives (see above), on SATA. Graphics is an Nvidia 8800 based card.

Oddly the 32 bit cd failed on first run, but came up and "installed" after a reboot. I could retry the 64 bit one. I doubt it will make any difference to grub.

I have noted that the 32 bit CD when told to go to "test memory" also seems to go to black screen and stay there. I would suspect hardware issues, but the live CD seems to run fine, and vista installed and ran okay for the past couple of weeks.

Revision history for this message
Sam Cater (wraund-deactivatedaccount) said :
#7

have you tried re-installing grub, or is that not possible with your error

Revision history for this message
Britlion (britlion) said :
#8

I have attempted this:

as per https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows

sudo grub

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For
         the first word, TAB lists possible command
         completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
         completions of a device/filename. ]

grub> find /ind /boot/grub/stage1

Error 15: File not found

grub>

And that's somewere else I get stuck.

Revision history for this message
Britlion (britlion) said :
#9

I mistyped. find /ind /boot/grub/stage1 should actually read

find /boot/grub/stage1

That was a copy-paste error. It was typed correctly into the console.
Sorry for any confusion.

Revision history for this message
Best Britlion (britlion) said :
#10

There is a small 3rd party utility called "mbrfix" - and in this case I needed the 64 bit version to erase all traces of grub from my machine.

Which allowed me to go back to windows, and not darken Ubuntu's door again. *sigh*

Thanks for trying folks.

Signing out.