broken grub loader
 

Hi, I am fairly new to Linux and have messed up my current install. I use a ThinkPad T60p with a second hard drive in the Ultra bay. I boot to this drive using the F12 boot option, where I am presented with the grub loader. I initially ran Windows 7 on this drive, then installed Ubuntu CE 9.04 and all was fine. Then I tried installing Kubuntu 9.04 as well. This was the beginning of my current problems. I could never get past the sign in screen on Kubuntu, so I gave up trying, but was unsure how to safely uninstall it. I was still able to use both other OS’s so I did for a while until I tried to upgrade Ubuntu to 9.10 through the System Update.
My grub loader didn’t show the updated kernels, W7 wouldn’t load or repair, and Ubuntu worked but had no sound. I tried to fix which kernels were loading by moving grub folders, and now Ubuntu won’t load either. Can you help me, or should I just reformat and start over?

I haven't used any of the *ubuntus very much, but I believe that you can boot from the CD. If that's correct, then do so.

It might also be informative to see your /etc/fstab.

Then open a terminal and run fdisk -l and show the output here. You should have 4 partitions: win7, kunbutu, ubuntu, and swap. Indicate which of the Linux partitions is Ubuntu and which is Kubuntu.

Then mount the partition containing Ubuntu and copy the contents of /boot/grub/menu.lst (or possibly grub.conf; I'm not certain which one Ubuntu uses) and show that here. We only need to see the menu items (they start with "title" and are useally 3 or 4 lines).

When you installed Kubuntu, did the installation run to completion without errors? Did you elect to install grub to the MBR or to the Kubuntu partition? If you chose to install grub to the MBR, change the instructions in the paragraph above to copy the menu.lst from Kubuntu instead of Ubuntu.

The priority is to get your system booting again. Then you can tackle the problem of the update kernels not showing in the grub menu.

Tell what you did - precisely and exactly. Tell us what happens (even if its "nothing"), for W7 and Ubuntu - also any error messages.

To get the info requested above, for Ubuntu you'll need "sudo fdisk -l". For the menu.lst, use this to remove all the ridiculous amount of clutter

Thanks for your replies. Sorry it has taken me so long to follow up. I have been away for the holidays. I am hoping that I can get my Ubuntu and Windows 7 both working. I don't care if I can't save the Kubuntu. (Ideally, I would like to configure the drive to work as a multi-boot system that I could easily add new distro's to.)
Here is the fstab info:
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'vol_id --uuid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=46677c95-9559-4200-bc3b-8608c003db22 / ext3 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda8 during installation
UUID=7dc60461-482d-469c-a093-26cbce0f3280 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

Here is the results for fdisk -l : _______________________________________________________________________________
sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xedaaedaa

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 13 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 14 16624 133418880 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda3 17797 19457 13335840 5 Extended
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda5 18123 19394 10213528+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 19394 19457 506488+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 17797 18101 2441817 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 18101 18123 173848+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order
____________________________________________________

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic
uuid 46677c95-9559-4200-bc3b-8608c003db22
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=46677c95-9559-4200-bc3b-8608c003db22 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 46677c95-9559-4200-bc3b-8608c003db22
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=46677c95-9559-4200-bc3b-8608c003db22 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic

title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
uuid 46677c95-9559-4200-bc3b-8608c003db22
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Windows Vista (loader)
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-16-generic (on /dev/sda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-16-generic root=UUID=568312b3-6681-4fa7-b6ee-6d483bc4d3a0 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-16-generic
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-16-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-16-generic root=UUID=568312b3-6681-4fa7-b6ee-6d483bc4d3a0 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-16-generic
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (on /dev/sda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=568312b3-6681-4fa7-b6ee-6d483bc4d3a0 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-15-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-15-generic root=UUID=568312b3-6681-4fa7-b6ee-6d483bc4d3a0 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-15-generic
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-13-generic (on /dev/sda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic root=UUID=568312b3-6681-4fa7-b6ee-6d483bc4d3a0 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-13-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic root=UUID=568312b3-6681-4fa7-b6ee-6d483bc4d3a0 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (on /dev/sda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=568312b3-6681-4fa7-b6ee-6d483bc4d3a0 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-11-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=568312b3-6681-4fa7-b6ee-6d483bc4d3a0 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic
savedefault
boot


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda5.
title Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+ (on /dev/sda5)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
savedefault
boot
I'm not sure if this is from my Ubuntu partition, but this is what I see when the grub loader comes up. Can you tell anything from these?

When you say, "I don't worry about saving Umbuntu ..." you imply that you feel that it is necessary to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It most certainly is not.

Give us a very clear explanation of what exactly happens, and what exactly goes wrong. If the problem is "I can't log in," then that, after all, has zero to do with grub!

"grub" is the boot loader, whose sole job is "to load Linux" (or any other operating system that you might in some fit of madness want to run, including ":rolleyes:".) If you are seeing a login-prompt, then grub has long-since done its appointed duty (correctly!).

Thanks, the grub loader comes up, and when I try to launch any of the kernels BELOW the Vista (W7) entry, I get a message that says "Error 15 file not found". If I try to launch any of the options ABOVE the Vista entry, I get the Kubuntu login screen, but an error that says "x-session error. unable to launch" once I have entered user name and password. Windows 7 won't start at all and using the install CD to try to fix it is not successful.