GRUB RESCUE prompt

[kansasnoob]

I did have to correct the --,s in my original post, sorry about that. It's good to go now!

If you tried it before I corrected it and now it says "already mounted" then run:

sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev && sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc && sudo chroot /mnt

And continue with:

grub-install /dev/sda

exit

sudo umount /mnt/dev && sudo umount /mnt/proc && sudo umount /mnt

Sorry for the typos

[unclesamslair]

BTW we're not trying to install to:

/dev/sda5

It's:

grub-install /dev/sda

Just copy-n-paste!

thanks a lot! system is booting up perfectly but now it doesn't show a takbar on bootup.

I popped up a terminal and installed tree to show me the filesystem. All my files are still there I then ran synaptic and tried to see if any packages were missing but I don't know much so now I'm stuck with another problem.

[kansasnoob]

I don't know how to restore the taskbar (aka: panel) in Xubuntu.

I'd start a new thread in the beginners:

http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=326

Or desktop environments:

http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=329

[kansasnoob]

A quick Google search showed this:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5516495_rest...r-xubuntu.html

And this:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/XubuntuPanels

[endlessracingz]

I have a very similar problem to everyone except for the fact that I am using ubuntu 9.10 server.

I have attempted to try many of the fixes as posted above but I cannot for the life of me get ubuntu to boot even from a live CD. I cannot boot from the ubuntu server CD or an alternate that I also acquired.

Could someone more knowledge help. I am a complete beginner. I've used windows for most of my life and the past 5 years have been using a MAC and now I'm moving towards linux.

Thanks for anything you can do!

[endlessracingz]

Totally forgot to write my details.

So being so new to ubuntu I had planned to make a home server using ubuntu server.

I have an old P4 system with a 3GB RAM, two 120GB HD's that are SATA. I want to have them as a Raid 0. The system will not be a dual boot system. So from my understanding my system uses fakeRaid but because I will not use it as a dual boot I will just use ubuntu's softRaid.

I followed the following instructions: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...n/SoftwareRAID

So to paraphrase when prompted by the install CD as to activate the raid devices I opt to "No" and setup the partitions manually.

I partitioned each drive (which are exactly the same) into (the numbers are rough) :

100 MB
3 GB
117 GB

Then configuring the softRaid I combined:
100 MB (200 MB total) partitions which which I set as my /boot
3 GB (6GB total) partitions which I set as my swap area
117 GB (234 GB total) partitions to my root or "/"

I proceed with the install and everything seems to go well. After rebooting the system I get prompted with:

GRUB loading.
error: biodisk read error
error: no such disk
grub rescue>

It is my understanding that, and I quote from the above link.

The key is that GRUB can't be installed on the RAID device. However, the individual raw partitions that make up the RAID device look just like ordinary non-RAIDed partitions to GRUB. So you need to unmount the RAID device and install grub manually.

However, in the above link it states that I should have a grub> prompt and not the grub rescue> prompt.

I haven't been able to boot to a working system to my knowledge, most likely I just don't know how to do this.

So I THOUGHT I found the answer at the following:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=408461

Essentially the /boot for Grub2 cannot be a Raid0 array. Essentially I would have the /boot be on a single drive in 1 partition. There are ways according to the above link to mirror the /boot onto each drive however I personally do not need to do such.

So here I am sitting at:

HD1:
500 MB ext4 /boot
3 GB raid
117 GB raid

HD2:
500 MB ext "do not use"
3 GB raid
117 GB raid

Raid0 configured:
6 GB swap
234 GB ext4 root or "/"

and now I get the following when booting:

GRUB loading.
error: file not found
grub rescue>

[endlessracingz]

After playing with my above stated issue for hours I have found an answer.

Since I have fakeRaid I still had my two hard drives configured in an Raid array in the BIOS and this was causing all the issues. After deleting the array and setting the drives to non-raid in the BIOS, ubuntu started right up.

[DeeLeung]

First, the standard disclaimer that I am very new to Linux and Ubuntu.

I have been running 9.10 for a couple of weeks on a partition installed with the startup disc. The original system was Windows7 RC, which I kept around in a dual-boot, again prepared via the Ubuntu disc.

The problem: after I abandoned Windows, I decided that, "Ok, the bootloader is probably on a separate partition, so I can just wipe the Windows partition," and promptly did so by deleting it and changing to ext4 (and i don't think i set it bootable).

After a reboot, I got the Grub Rescue prompt, which all I could get out of it was "ls" returning me "hd0".

I re-started using the CD, and can see the Linux partition, but since I don't own the folders there anymore (and they are encrypted, i believe), I can't pull anything useful off.

--
Ideally, I would like to fix the boot situation, skipping dual-boot entirely, going straight into my erstwhile working installation of Ubuntu.

Possibly just as decent would be to at least access my data, back it up, and do a fresh install (and even better, but i doubt it's possible, just copy over the whole directory structure and have everything working on a whole, unpartitioned drive).


While I would like to understand the workings of Grub and how to rescue it, I will be more than happy to settle for the above-mentioned latter option.

I really appreciate the patient and thorough tone of the messages in this thread and hope you guys can help me with an equal amount of patience.

Thanks very, very much in advance.

[DeeLeung]

Anybody out there? Can someone please say if this situation is salvageable?

[sameer.walgude]

Try this at grub rescue> prompt....

grub rescue> set prefix=(hd0,x)/boot/grub
grub rescue> insmod (hd0,x)/boot/grub/normal.mod
rescue:grub> normal


If still fails...boot up live cd...

at terminal...
sudo grub-setup -d /media/{kubuntu9.10partition}/boot/grub /dev/sda

substitute /media/{kubuntu9.10partition} with actual partition

If you get error message,(mapping fails), do this..

sudo grub-setup -d /media/{kubuntu9.10partition}/boot/grub -m
/media/{kubuntu9.10partition}/boot/grub/device.map /dev/sda

All the best!

Thanks & Regards
Sameer J Walgude
sameer.walgude@aol.in
+91 98191 15533