Wubi

Unable to boot into Ubuntu after Update

Asked by Markus Goetz

Hello!
Am in a bit of trouble here. I've tried to update my Ubuntu 09.04 Win-Installation to 11.04. Had to download a lot of update files to 10.04 first (which worked without any problems) and rebooted the machine.

After the reboot the Windows - Start - Manager still showed:
- Vista
- Ubuntu

But when I choose "Ubuntu" I got this instead of the Ubuntu Logon Screen:

GNU GRUB version 1.97 beta 4
[Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists possible device / file completions.]

sh:grub>

-> boot => no loaded kernel
-> exit => Reboot

Now I can't boot into Linux and am stuck with the GNU GRUB! :( What can I do to fix this ?

Thanks in advance..

Markus Goetz

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Markus Goetz
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bcbc (bcbc) said : 		#1

If you were on 9.04 the you'd have to have upgraded to 9.10 first to get to 10.04... or diid you actually have 9.10 in the first place? Because 9.04 uses grub legacy, and the grub version you mentioned is grub2 (and I believe it's the the version that comes with 9.10)

In any case, there are some problems associated with upgrading grub2 on 10.04 and 10.10. Please refer to the Wubi megathread Problem 2, Solution 1 ( http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1639198 ). This should get you booting again.

Note that to get to 11.04 you'll have to first upgrade to 10.10. You'll have the same problem again with that. This is a lot of work for a wubi install (wubi is supposed to be for trying out Ubuntu without partitioning - not really intended for long term use). You might consider backing up important data and installing fresh (should certainly be quicker and less hassle)

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Markus Goetz (macgoetz) said : 		#2

Aye, I installed 9.1 and read he link http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1639198
Still a problem trying to boot into Ubuntu. Sorted my sda:

http://mgoetz.co.uk/ubuntu/dev.jpg

and tried every single kernel that I found on my system (14, 19 and 23) with

linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
boot

http://mgoetz.co.uk/ubuntu/before_boot.jpg

But every time I press "Enter" to 'Boot' the following screen appears for a few seconds

http://mgoetz.co.uk/ubuntu/during_boot.jpg

and then my machine reboots 8-o :( :(

What else can I do?

Regards
MacGoetz

Revision history for this message
bcbc (bcbc) said : 		#3

The only kernels showing are from release 9.10 (2.6.31...) so that means that your upgrade to 10.04 failed to complete. Was there any message shown during the upgrade? Did you perhaps run out of space? Anything else you can think of?

I'm not sure why it's rebooting either.

I would think that if you want to go to 11.04 you might consider saving data and reinstalling. If you really want to try to fix, please boot a live CD and run:
sudo mkdir /media/win
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/win
sudo mount -o loop /media/win/ubuntu/disks/root.disk /mnt
df -h

This will show the space used and available on the loop device for the root.disk. Report back and I'll give some suggestions to try to repair.

Note if you get an error mounting the root.disk due to loop0 being in use, try:
sudo mount -o loop=/dev/loop1 /media/win/ubuntu/disks/root.disk /mnt

While it's mounted, you could rescue some data e.g.
sudo cp /mnt/home/yourusername/Pictures /media/win/savedfromwubi

Or just use nautilus:
nautilus /mnt/home &
nautilus /media/win

then copy across whatever you want.

Or you can also use a tool to access the root.disk from windows: http://ext2read.blogspot.com/

Revision history for this message
Markus Goetz (macgoetz) said : 		#4

Hi bcbc!

Thanks very much for your help. I was able to restore my data stored in root.disk, uninstalled 9.1 and installed 11.04 on its on new partition. All is well in the land now. Ubuntu runs fab.

Thanks again.

Regards..

Markus Goetz