GRUB Error 18 - URGENT HELP PLEASE

Hi

So you have booted up your machine with the Ubuntu Cd in the cd/dvd-drive, got to the menu item "Try Ubuntu without changes to this machne" and chosen that to get to a working desktop and now you're in here using the gold&blue icon "FireFox"?

Or are you in here by using a different machine?

Please let us know.
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom,

Much appreciate your response.

Well yes at first I used that option "Try Ubuntu without changes to this machne" and then when i thought that I am pretty satisfied with what I want from Ubuntu, thats when i actually installed Ubuntu 9.04 from the CD. It installed fine but when I rebooted my laptop it does not boot up Ubuntu or Win XP and strainght away shows GRUB Error 18 in the black window (like the DOS prompt of XP). It does not let me go further than this. All I can do at this stage is press the power button, all other buttons dont work and give a beeeep sound!

When i reboot the system, while booting up if i press F12 then it asks me which source to boot from. It gives me 2 options (1). Internal HDD and (2). CD/DVD. When I select InternalHDD it goes back to the GRUB Error 18 screen and when I select the second option CD/DVD and insert the Ubuntu 9.04 CD it shows me the working desktop and I can see all my Windows XP files, folders and drives(C, E and F).

Please let me know how to rectify this issue and like I said i am a newbie to computers, please let me know a step-by-step resolution to the issue.

Anyh help will be welcome!

Thanks.
Ashwin.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: <email address hidden>
> Sent: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:58:11 -0000
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #77443]: GRUB Error 18 - URGENT HELP PLEASE
>
> Your question #77443 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Tom proposed the following answer:
> Hi
>
> So you have booted up your machine with the Ubuntu Cd in the cd/dvd-
> drive, got to the menu item "Try Ubuntu without changes to this machne"
> and chosen that to get to a working desktop and now you're in here using
> the gold&blue icon "FireFox"?
>
> Or are you in here by using a different machine?
>
> Please let us know.
> Good luck and regards from
> Tom :)
>

Ok, so you're on the machine that's having troubles which makes this a little bit easier. Please go up to the top taskbar and click on

Applications - Accessories - Terminal

and into the terminal/command window/console type

sudo fdisk -l

and copy&paste the results into here. Err, i'm not sure quite how new you are to computers, can you use the mouse to copy&paste?

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi Tom,

and yes i am able to write the question using another computer.

Thanks.
Ashwin.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: <email address hidden>
> Sent: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:58:11 -0000
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #77443]: GRUB Error 18 - URGENT HELP PLEASE
>
> Your question #77443 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Tom proposed the following answer:
> Hi
>
> So you have booted up your machine with the Ubuntu Cd in the cd/dvd-
> drive, got to the menu item "Try Ubuntu without changes to this machne"
> and chosen that to get to a working desktop and now you're in here using
> the gold&blue icon "FireFox"?
>
> Or are you in here by using a different machine?
>
> Please let us know.
> Good luck and regards from
> Tom :)
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443/+confirm?answer_id=0
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

 It's usually worth checking answers that people give you, just in case someone tells you something dumb, so here's a couple of guides about this for you

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingTheTerminal
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

Note that in a terminal console or on other command-lines you can always check what a command does by typing " -h" or " --help" after the command. for example try typing

fdisk -h

and you'll see a quick hlp or cheat-sheet on how to use the command, from which you can infer what the command does and hence check that the advice does do what it says rather than cause you problems ;) I've not seen much bad advice in here, it's extremely rare - but it's always worth checking especially in other forums ;)

I hope this helps!
Good luck :)
Tom :)

Errr, i really hoped you could use the same machine that has the problem. That way you can read the comments we post in here and then straight-away work on the machine and get back to us quite fast :)

Your comment "when I select the second option CD/DVD and insert the Ubuntu 9.04 CD it shows me the working desktop and I can see all my Windows XP files, folders and drives(C, E and F)." sounds perfect. On the top taskbar there you should see the firefox icon and be able to get into here from that - it's better to post answers directly into the thread at Launchpad rather than use your emailing system to do that. Err, does that make sense or do you need a bit more detail or something? Sorry i'm a bit too used to using computers and you seem to be quite good with them too so i'm not sure what's making sense and what isn't. Please ask, even if it seems like a dumb question.

Hi Tom,

I get the following error when I open Applications - Accessories - Terminal and type sudo fdisk -l at ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ prompt.

Luckily I could manage to take a screen shot of the terminal window. Please see the attachment.
__________________________________________________________________________
To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -1
fdisk: invalid option -- '1'

Usage: fdisk [-b SSZ] [-u] DISK Change partition table
       fdisk -l [-b SSZ] [-u] DISK List partition table(s)
       fdisk -s PARTITION Give partition size(s) in blocks
       fdisk -v Give fdisk version
Here DISK is something like /dev/hdb or /dev/sda
and PARTITION is something like /dev/hda7
-u: give Start and End in sector (instead of cylinder) units
-b 2048: (for certain MO disks) use 2048-byte sectors
____________________________________________________________________________

Is it the right thing that I am doing or I am doing something wrong. Glued to your reply and trying in all earnest to folllow to the T.

Cheers !
Ashwin.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <email address hidden>
> Sent: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:24:40 -0000
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #77443]: GRUB Error 18 - URGENT HELP PLEASE
>
> Your question #77443 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Tom proposed the following answer:
> Ok, so you're on the machine that's having troubles which makes this a
> little bit easier. Please go up to the top taskbar and click on
>
> Applications - Accessories - Terminal
>
> and into the terminal/command window/console type
>
> sudo fdisk -l
>
> and copy&paste the results into here. Err, i'm not sure quite how new
> you are to computers, can you use the mouse to copy&paste?
>
> Good luck and regards from
> Tom :)
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443/+confirm?answer_id=2
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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Hi Tom,

I think I could manage to type the correct format at command line. Please see the attached screenshot for the output.
_________________________________________________________________________
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x15341533

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 4 32098+ de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 * 5 13266 106527015 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 13267 30401 137636887+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 13267 21834 68822428+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 21835 29749 63577206 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x75d271c5

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 91201 732572001 7 HPFS/NTFS
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
______________________________________________________________________________
Thanks a ton!

Ashwin.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: <email address hidden>
> Sent: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:24:40 -0000
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #77443]: GRUB Error 18 - URGENT HELP PLEASE
>
> Your question #77443 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> Tom proposed the following answer:
> Ok, so you're on the machine that's having troubles which makes this a
> little bit easier. Please go up to the top taskbar and click on
>
> Applications - Accessories - Terminal
>
> and into the terminal/command window/console type
>
> sudo fdisk -l
>
> and copy&paste the results into here. Err, i'm not sure quite how new
> you are to computers, can you use the mouse to copy&paste?
>
> Good luck and regards from
> Tom :)
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443/+confirm?answer_id=2
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

Have a look here at a similar problem:

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub/+question/31179

Yes certainly Tom, I have started to work on the same laptop now. I have been sending you screen shots from the same machine which has Win Xp and Unbuntu 9.04 and I am working out using the Ubuntu on CD.

Cheers!

Ashwin.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: <email address hidden>
> Sent: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:55:46 -0000
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #77443]: GRUB Error 18 - URGENT HELP PLEASE
>
> Your question #77443 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> Tom proposed the following answer:
> Errr, i really hoped you could use the same machine that has the
> problem. That way you can read the comments we post in here and then
> straight-away work on the machine and get back to us quite fast :)
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443/+confirm?answer_id=5
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

Ok, we are just scouting around the problem and hunting out potential lines of attack. We haven't really started actually fixing it yet!

Fdisk has given a lot of meaningless info but it also does tell us a lot of very useful stuff too. All the "HPFS/NTFS" are Windows partitions, Windows calls these "drives" but really they are all on 1 physical hard-drive - they are just parts of the 1 hard-drive so we call them partitions. I think Windows greatly confuses this issue in order to make it difficult for people to understand what's really going on but *shrugs* who knows why lol

Ok, so there are 2 physical hard-drives, we call them sda and sdb. There's only 1 partition on sdb but 5 on sda. This is all pretty normal. Form the numbering i would guess that a Windows partition editor did the partitioning lol. It's ok, we can tidy it up a bit later :)

We don't get screen-shots as the term is normally used but the text info you have been pasting in has been very helpful

Thats good to know from your earlier posts that this problem is fixable...Hope I come over this soon.

Cheers!

Ashwin.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: <email address hidden>
> Sent: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:14:18 -0000
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #77443]: GRUB Error 18 - URGENT HELP PLEASE
>
> Your question #77443 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> Tom proposed the following answer:
> We don't get screen-shots as the term is normally used but the text info
> you have been pasting in has been very helpful
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443/+confirm?answer_id=12
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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Well i'm not certain that it's fixable. It's looking a lot like a Windows problem but i am pretty sure we can fix this. At least we know that all the data is there and that you have something workable at the moment. The next main thing is to see what we can do to improve on that :)

When you boot up the machine do you get just 1 option for booting into Ubuntu or do you get lots of options? This will confirm whether you have installed Ubuntu inside Windows using the Wubi installer and either way tehre's stuff we can do to proceed from there.

Good luck and regard from
Tom :)

Hmmm, thanks Vihar but i think it might be easier to just get Ubuntu properly installed on sdb rather than mess with the bios or try shuffling all those partitions around on sda, especially as sda1 is Dell Utilities/recovery partition and is est left where it is. Thanks for the link though, i'd been looking for a decent page like
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/GRUB#Error_18

Cheers and regards from
Tom :)

Ashwin

Please go up to the top taskbar and click on

System - Administration - Partition Editor

on the top right-hand corner is a button that says something like "/dev/sda (245.3 GiB)" when you click it it should show both that and something like "/dev/sdb (732.4 GiB)", it's this sdb one that we want to have a look at to see if we can install a proper dual-boot of Ubuntu onto there. In the bottom pane of GPartEd should be a couple of lines of text and it's really just the amount of free-space that interests me. Is there over 15Gb free? lol, i would guess so but it's worth checking. Note that GPartEd is a very powerful tool so just close it - don't click on the "Apply" button!

Good luck with this!
regards from
Tom :)

Ok? It's all gone quiet so here's what i'm proposing we do from the LiveCd use the installer icon in the top right-hand corner to install using this guide
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

making sure that you use sdb rather than sda and use "Guided" partitioning, which is the second option in the "Partitioning Section" of the installer. "Manual" is normally the one i prefer but "Guided" is good too. This installer should 'fix' the MBR to point at Ubuntu's boot-loader on sdb which might completely solve the whole problem, although normally i would expect to have to manually uninstall the Wubi to finish everything off neatly.

So, copying all the data and perhaps settings from the Wubi install of Ubuntu inside Windows before removing the Wubi probably using this guide's part 4 to manually remove the Wubi
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
and that should get sda back to the way it was so that Windows can boot properly too. This might need to be done from inside the new install of Ubuntu.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Dear Tom,

Sorry for not replying to your earlier 3 posts, we had a servere power issue here & hence no internet:(.

Anyways, what I have done so far is, I boot the system from a Windows Recovery CD, selected "R" for Repair, and then ran "fixmbr" at the DOS prompt in C:\windows.

What this has done is a sigh of relief. It has brought back my WinXp into bootable form. But it has taken off Ubuntu I guess as when the O/S boots up I dont see Ubuntu in list of O/S to boot from.

Later i tried installing Unbuntu 9.04 from the CD using the defualt options but the same damn error 18.

So I once again ran the "fixmbr" command at Dos prompt and that fixed the WinXP to boot but removed Ubuntu from boot loader.

Now my earlier issue takes a new turn. I would appreciate help to install afresh Ubuntu 9.04. I am all ready to go to install with your guidance and help.

Cheers!

Ashwin.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: <email address hidden>
> Sent: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 09:30:09 -0000
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [Question #77443]: GRUB Error 18 - URGENT HELP PLEASE
>
> Your question #77443 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> Tom proposed the following answer:
> Ok? It's all gone quiet so here's what i'm proposing we do from the
> LiveCd use the installer icon in the top right-hand corner to install
> using this guide
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot
>
> making sure that you use sdb rather than sda and use "Guided"
> partitioning, which is the second option in the "Partitioning Section"
> of the installer. "Manual" is normally the one i prefer but "Guided" is
> good too. This installer should 'fix' the MBR to point at Ubuntu's
> boot-loader on sdb which might completely solve the whole problem,
> although normally i would expect to have to manually uninstall the Wubi
> to finish everything off neatly.
>
> So, copying all the data and perhaps settings from the Wubi install of
> Ubuntu inside Windows before removing the Wubi probably using this
> guide's part 4 to manually remove the Wubi
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
> and that should get sda back to the way it was so that Windows can boot
> properly too. This might need to be done from inside the new install of
> Ubuntu.
>
> Good luck and regards from
> Tom :)
>
> --
> If this answers your question, please go to the following page to let us
> know that it is solved:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443/+confirm?answer_id=17
>
> If you still need help, you can reply to this email or go to the
> following page to enter your feedback:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/77443
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.

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Fixing the mbr to point at the Windows boot-loader might not be removing all of Ubuntu but until we fix the grub boot-loader it seems best to keep the mbr pointing at NtLdr so that at least 1 OS works on your machine :)

Boot up with the Ubuntu Cd in the cd/dvd-drive and get to the LiveCd session. In a terminal console type

free -m

and paste the result into here. This should tell us how much ram your machine has. During the install we need to set a "linux-swap" partition to be more than ram-size but not more than twice ram-size. After that it would be good to have a 5 or 10Gb partition for the root of the linux file-system / and then the remainder of the drive-space you can give to ubuntu can be the /home partition to keep all your data & settings safely on it's own space.

Note that linux can read data stored on Windows partitions and can even use the same formats for documents, pictures, music, movies and so on - so at first it makes sense to keep Ubuntu's space quite small and keep almost all your data on the Windows side of things so that both OS's can usefully use it all. I would give Ubuntu about 25Gb in total which is plenty more than it needs.

But we can worry about those details after finding the results of "free -m", and after you've decided how much space to give Ubuntu on your 750Gb drive - if you want to avoid installing onto the 750Gb drive then we could find another way to do this but it might involve a bit more time.

Glad to hear you got power back :) i was worried that i hadn't given a whole plan and with all the various choices possible in linux that maybe finding a good end-result might take some time to explore.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Hi :)

Have you been able to try the new Ubuntu 10.04 before it gets officially released?
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/testing/lucid/beta2
Trying it as a LiveCd or as an extra dual/multi-boot would be ideal. Developers and everyone are keen to try to iron out any problems before 10.04 gets officially released so you might find faster & more effective answers to your bug reports which would make 10.04 work better on your system for you

Thanks and regards from
Tom :)