Ubuntu
grub2 package

question #147291

Asked by Dave Merritt

After trying several methods, I've now lost everything. So, I'm stuck with only my old XP box. I can of course boot my linux pc off a live cd, but I can't actually open either OS (ubuntu or kubuntu). I think the problem is this: I assumed I had Grub2 because I was running 10.10, but it appears I was on Grub legacy. I realized that I could simple go into synaptic and upgrade to Grub2, that is when I discovered something had gone horribly wrong. Something that would be a huge help is a list of commands for "grub" prompt. Is there a way to get back into the grub menu from there? I'm new to linux, I've been using ubuntu for just over a year, so when I tried the commands "ubfan" suggested they wouldn't take on the terminal or the grub prompt.

I think part of what happened is when i installed Kubuntu, it re-labeled my drives. This is only a guess, since i can no longer access it. And when I tried "delance"s suggestion from the terminal on a live CD, I get "no such file or directory. I'm trying method 3 "chroot" but I'm getting nothing but error messages.Probably because it re-install grub2 not grub legacy.

I know I can simply re-install ubuntu, but it's impossible to do so without losing something.

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Ubuntu grub2 Edit question
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Dave Merritt
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Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#1

Please follow your previous questions where users trying to help already instead of opening another one.

> list of commands for "grub" prompt

delance already posted the link which incl. those rescue cmds.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

Grub_legacy is explained there.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1014708
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1195275

If this isn't enough there are lots more tutorials for every taste.
http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/p20.html
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/grub-2.html

> simply re-install ubuntu ... without losing something

No backup?
In case of separate /home partition, you can reinstall, format only / and to install root fs and keep /home as is without formatting.

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#2

Even if you have not a dedicated partition for /home, you can with latest Ubuntu versions install directly. Only file systems will be modified, not /home folder.

Revision history for this message
Dave Merritt (davemerritt-primus) said : 		#3

Thanks to all for your pointers. It turns out nothing worked because a had grub legacy not grub2. Furthermore, as Kubuntu had changed the names of my drives and two of them are indentical externals, it was hard to tell one from the other. So I unmounted my externals, booted from a live CD and carried the instructions here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DualBoot/Grub

It worked like a charm.

Thanks once again to everyone for their valuable help: Problem solved!

Cheer,
Dave.