Ubuntu
grub2 package

dual boot failure

Asked by Osler

Hi,
I have installed Ubuntu 10.04LTS on the 2nd hard drive (20GB). The first hard drive is W2K. When I install it, I let the boot loader installed on sda. And I got error when I reboot: error: no such device xxxxx (uuid) and prompt grub rescue.

1. under grub rescue, I type ls. It only shows (hd0), (hd0,1), (fd0), but not ohters.
2. I boot from live CD and I can see my second drive (sdb5), I checked: sudo fdisk -l, sudo blkid, redid mount and sudo grub-install as suggested from other thread. All gave me the same results.
3. I can recover window by boot from window CD and repair it by using fixboot and fixmbr.

I've already spent a few days on this. Can anyone help?

Thanks,

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Ubuntu grub2 Edit question
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Osler
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Revision history for this message
Osler (guoweili) said : 		#1

I'm not using wubi. When I used sudo fdisk -l, I can see linux is on the second hard drive as sdb5.

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Maxim Petrov (maximpetrov) said : 		#2

I think it happens because your 2nd hard drive not installed in BIOS. Check it and install if need.

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Osler (guoweili) said : 		#3

Thanks Maxim. I doubt if it is not installed in BIOS as I can format it. When I put the 2nd hard drive in the computer, it was pretty straightforward wired up. When I rebooted, I could see it. I don't know too much about BIOS, how do I check if my 2nd hard drive is installed in BIOS.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

Check the bootable drive is theone you put grub on

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Osler (guoweili) said : 		#5

I'm sure I've put the grub on the bootable drive. The bootable drive is the first hard drive (hd0 or sda). I put the grub on sda.

Revision history for this message
Maxim Petrov (maximpetrov) said : 		#6

I just check it. When I disable 2nd drive in BIOS, grub couldn't see it, but fdisk -l show this drive with all partitions.
In BIOS must be something like "Primary Master", "Secondary Master", etc.

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Osler (guoweili) said : 		#7

Thanks Maxim for the tip. I changed BOIS primary 1 disk to auto to detect the second hard drive. It is amazing that my computer worked a several years without this setup.

Now, when I boot, it goes over the error and gets into grub menu which is new and unexpected. I'm going to reinsall ubuntu.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#8

Thought it'd be a BIOS thing :)

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Osler (guoweili) said : 		#9

Here is the summary:

Symptom:
1. dual boot with W2K on 1st hard drive and Ubuntu 10.04LTS on the 2nd hard drive.
2. when booting, error: no such device xxxx (uuid) and prompt grub rescue
3. when ls under grub rescue, it only shows (hd0), (hd0,1) and (fd0) but no other disk, which can be seen by sudo fdisk -l.

Cause:
1. the 2nd disk is not registered by BIOS

Solution:
1. Get into BIOS setup and turn on the second primary hard drive.
2. Reinstall grub.

Thanks Maxim and Andrew.