installed Ubuntu, now nothing will boot

[Adcadet]

Tonight I felt like screwing with Linux, since I'm really getting tired of Windows. Tried to update my ATi driver in my SuSE install, which didn't go well, so I decided to give Ubuntu a shot. During the partitioning, I tried to set up my drives as follows:

sda = WD Raptor
/dev/sda1 - swap
/dev/sda2 - root (ReiserFS, for no good reason)
/dev/sda3 - home (old FAT32 partition)

hdc = Hitachi 7K250
hdc1 and hdc2 contain Windows on NTFS partitions.

In screwing with the partition mangaer, I managed to crash the installer. No biggy, I just restarted it, which ran fine the second time. It installed, didn't ask me at all about a boot loader, and when it booted up I told it to boot off the Raptor. It brough up GRUB, with options to boot Ubuntu, Ubuntu safe, other, or Windows. If I chose Ubuntu (including safe) it would give me "file system type unknown, partition type 0x42, error 17: can't mount selected partition...". If I chose Windows it would give me the same message but with partition type 0x82.

Grrr. I tried to boot off of the Hitachi, the BIOS would give me a quick one liner about boot record from IDE1 OK, and then the computer would reboot to the beginning of the BIOS.

Unplug Raptor, tell BIOS to boot off of the Hitachi, and it gives me "GRUB loading stage1.5. GRUB loading, please wait....Error 21".

What on earth is going on???? I never gave Ubuntu permission to do anything to my Hitachi and Windows partitions, so in my mind I should be able to unplug the Raptor and run Windows like nothing ever happened. Shouldn't Ubuntu's loader recognize it's own damn file type? Is there some crazyness with trying to use a ReiserFS partition in Ubuntu?

Luckily I backed everything up tonight, so I can live without my home computer for a short while without going completely crazy.

Any help you guys could provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mercutio]

Put in an XP install disc.
Boot to the recovery console.
Do
checkdsk /f
fixboot
fixmbr

On your boot drive.
And you'll probably be OK.

You might try disconnecting drives before you try installing Ubuntu again.

WRT SuSE, didn't you just download the binary package from ATI and do a 'sh ati-driver-installer-whateverthehellitis'?
The ATI binary drivers work very well unless you have one a couple nonsupported cards. I know they don't support 3D for the X600Pro or X700Pro for some reason, and I kind of doubt they're up to date on whatever the current $600 high-end card is, either. Unless you were hoping for 3D support on a high-end ATI chip I'm not sure why one would bother with ATI's drivers anyway.

 

[Adcadet]

Thanks, Merc. I'll give it a shot when I get home.

I use the ATi drivers to get dual head support. Out of the box I get a mirrored monitor, and I'm under the impression that I need to install the specific ATi drivers to spread my desktop across both monitors. My SuSE 10 install had dual monitors working a few months ago, but I ran one of the automatic updates and it stoped working. Rather than trying to fix it in SuSE, I decided to install Ubuntu and see what it was like, since it seems like all the rage. Unless I start getting much warmer and fuzzier feelings from Ubuntu, I'm heading back to SuSE.

Any idea on what Ubuntu is complaining about?

 

[Mercutio]

Nope, but as I have time today, I'll build you a custom XP slipstream CD image. You'll have to find your own key (cough) but I can make a disc for you and put it somewhere you can get it.

 

[Adcadet]

Ah, Merc, you're like my own tech support company. My Windows MBR is fixed, and Windows is back. Now, if only I can get Ubuntu installed and booting. Maybe I'll try that late tonight.

 

[sechs]

Why not use the NT OS Loader rather than GRUB or LiLo?

Windows like to be in charge, irrelevant as to what's best for you, and, in this case, you can let it.

 

[Adcadet]

I just haven't bothered to load the NT OS loader. No good reason.

 

[Mercutio]

Grub and Lilo are both rather more flexible than ntldr, sechs.

 

[Adcadet]

Well, I reinstalled Ubuntu, used ext3 rather than ReiserFS, and unplugged my other HD during the install. Not sure what was the problem, but Ubuntu boots now, no prob. No bootloader, but I prefer to use my BIOS for that anyway. I'm very impressed with it overall. Stupid name, but apt-get is amazing. Took me al little while to figure out how to get my dual monitors working, and it's still a bit buggy, but overall it's great.

 

[sechs]

Grub and Lilo are both rather more flexible than ntldr, sechs.

True. But Windows is not. That's often the problem.

 

[ddrueding]

No bootloader, but I prefer to use my BIOS for that anyway.

This is the way I've been doing it. It's just a lot cleaner all-'round.

 

[Howell]

I had no problem letting the install procedure resize my windows installation to make room and using grub to boot with on my X31.

Err, except the first time I tried it I didn't pay close enough attention to the install drive and installed to my USB drive where all my ripped music and backups lived. :0 After that, no problem.

 

[RWIndiana]

Here's one I actually know, although it appears I'm too late. Anyway, you were attempting to boot Windows off of the Linux swap partition (type 0x82), and Linux off of (I think) some kind of Windows (2000?) partition (type 0x42). I have dealt with this problem with GRUB so much with dual-booting different setups that it doesn't even seem like a problem anymore, just a check-list item. Newer distros are getting better at doing it right the first time, though.

 

[Adcadet]

Here's one I actually know, although it appears I'm too late. Anyway, you were attempting to boot Windows off of the Linux swap partition (type 0x82), and Linux off of (I think) some kind of Windows (2000?) partition (type 0x42). I have dealt with this problem with GRUB so much with dual-booting different setups that it doesn't even seem like a problem anymore, just a check-list item. Newer distros are getting better at doing it right the first time, though.

Ah, good to know. But why would it matter if GRUB was trying to boot Windows off my Linux partition - wouldn't it just boot Linux? And why would it matter if it was trying to boot Linux off my Windows partition - wouldn't it just boot Windows?

If you don't mind, can you point me to a nice reference or just tell me how can I can set up GRUB to let me choose which partition to boot off of? I have no idea how to even start editing my GRUB. If I get more comfortable with GRUB I might abandon my tried and true method of choosing the boot medium through my BIOS.

Thanks!
Adcadet

 

[RWIndiana]

With different partition types, filesystem types and so on, you have different options that need to be set. I'm sure I'm not the most qualified person to do this, but I'll just post some samples from my current GRUB setup and try to explain the best I can (what I know).
Here is what a typical Linux boot option will look like in the menu.lst file:

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.15-1-686
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-1-686 root=/dev/hda2 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-1-686
savedefault
boot

#note, first of all, the "root" is hd0,1 (this means hard disk 0, partition 1), because I'm booting Linux off of the second partition on the first drive (which is partition 1). next, it points to the location of the kernel, and then points to the root again. As you can see it uses a different scheme - the typical Linux drive numbering - here to name the same partition. Usually these two things (hd0,1 and hda2, or whatever they may be) are the only things that need to be changed when it's trying to boot the wrong partition. I've had problems with the "savedefault" option before. I'm actually not even sure what it does, but there was a time when I discovered it was the cause of a kernel panic on one system that refused to boot. I make sure to keep it if it works (like I said, there was only one instance where it didn't, and it was probably another problem), because it seems to be standard.



title Windows XP
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
root (hd1,0)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

#Here I mapped the second hard disk to act as the first, and the first as the second, so Windows thinks it's booting from the first drive. "root" and "rootnoverify" are just redundant here, not sure why I have them both in there. Probably just for good measure. Typically with Windows, you want "rootnoverify". The "makeactive" is not always necessary, but sometimes helps to avoid quirks. "chainloader +1" is always used for Windows or DOS (AFAIK) partitions, because they are self-booting. the chainloader option is also used at times to boot a second bootloader (yeah, some people actually do that).

title FreeDOS Beta-9
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
chainloader +1

#this one is pretty simple, I think self-explanatory. Just pointing to the correct partition and telling it how to boot.



Now, if you still want to know more, here are the examples and minimal instructions that were in my menu.lst by default (should be in Ubuntu too):


# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 5

# Pretty colours
color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specifiv kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
# kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery mode) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

 

[RWIndiana]

BTW, when you are at the GRUB bootloader screen, you can edit the options simply by pressing 'e', and this way you can test different configurations. To save the changes, though, you need to edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst within Linux.

 

[Adcadet]

Thanks, RW. I'll give it a shot tonight when I'm home.