Ubuntu
ubiquity package

Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat only works with my usb drive plugged in.

Asked by Nigel Jones

I used my USB to download Ubuntu 10.10 on it, using Ubuntu 10.04. I plugged the USB in to install and the installation seems to work perfectly. But my netbook will boot fully without my USB drive in my netbook. If i try to turn on my computer without the USB in it, a blank screen just shows up and sits there. With the USB in it, it boots quickly and works well.

I would like to boot up my computer normally without a USB drive in it.

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delance
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Revision history for this message
marcus aurelius (adbiz) said : 		#1

Log a bug. Several people have this problem back with 10.04.

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Best delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#2

When you installed Ubuntu, you installed MBR (first sector if disk which is a part of boot chain loading) on USB stick instead of hard disk. With Maverick 10.10, it seems that sometime, and more frequently with netbook, sda is assigned to USB stick which contains installer instead of internal drive (hard drive or flash card).

Reinstall Grub following this link (replace CD-ROM with USB stick):
   https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling%20from%20LiveCD
Be careful. If you got error, it's probably because you must not install on sda, but on another drive.
If you have some doubt, post result of command:
   sudo parted -l
where "-l" is lower case "-L".

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Nigel Jones (nigel-j-jones) said : 		#3

I realize that you're right. I took a second look at the Startup Disk Creator in Ubuntu Lucid and realized that with the partition thing there, I managed to wipe my initial operating system clean and installed Ubuntu 10.10 on my USB, leaving my netbook without any operating system, unless my USB was in the drive. I'm going to try re-installing Ubuntu 10.10 on this USB and wiping the first install clean from it. It should perfectly install from the USB this time.

Revision history for this message
Nigel Jones (nigel-j-jones) said : 		#4

I realize that you're right. I took a second look at the Startup Disk Creator in Ubuntu Lucid and realized that with the partition thing there, I managed to wipe my initial operating system clean and installed Ubuntu 10.10 on my USB, leaving my netbook without any operating system, unless my USB was in the drive. I'm going to try re-installing Ubuntu 10.10 on this USB and wiping the first install clean from it. It should perfectly install from the USB this time. Thanks for your help. :)

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#5

Please, could you mark question solved.

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Nigel Jones (nigel-j-jones) said : 		#6

Thanks delance, that solved my question.

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#7

Hello, I'm tired to manage this issue and expect a fix from programmers.
Could you raise a bug about it with title "Ubiquity install MBR in sda instead of hard disk"