dual boot
 

I have been running winxp and ubuntu 10.04 for a year or so and when I start my computer, it used to have only 3 or4 choices, now it has 8-10 choices. A lot of them are different versions of recovery mode. What do these mean and is there any way to have just the choice of a couple...winxp or ubuntu. Also can the default be changed?

Need to do research on editing grub.... you can remove what you feel u don't need lists of the older links were caused from updating versions of ubuntu... if no answer here go to irc for imediate help

The mass of entries is caused by old kernels. When you get a new kernel via the update function then old kernels aren't removed. Remove the old kernels you don't need anymore with your package-manager and run

How do I remove old kernels safely, and which ones do I need to keep?

Do a search for linux-image in Synaptic, and the kernels should show up. They have version numbers, like 2.6.32-28, 2.6.32.29, and so on. Important is the last number, newer kernels have higher numbers. Keep the newest kernel, delete the others. If you get a new kernel when updating, try it for some time, before removing the old, so that you have a backup-kernel in case of failure.

Looks like I messed up again....I removed them and now get an error message at start up, but after a few seconds it loads and starts. I checked all updates and no broken packages in synaptic manager...any suggestions, or is a re-load needed?

Which error message do you get?

it is grub 1.98

mounting none on dev failed no such device it shoulb be grub 2. something???

also ch root, I think, can't see it all, then
cannot execute/etc/apparmour/intramfs-no such file or directory

Is it fixabl...can anyone help? I am real good at reloading, but would like to fix this if possible.

That is Grub2. Grub 1.97 and 1.98 are both referred to as Grub2.
So are you able to successfully boot and use your machine after getting the error you posted?

Yes...it will start and seems ok...thought there might be something I could do to fix...it used to start in 15 seconds to being on the net...love the speed.

I don't want to say it, but here goes......is there a restore to a previous date in linux to undo my stupidity?

Sorry no one could help.....I will have to revert to the dark side..quess I'm to old to learn.

Bye for now....back to windoze

You give up to fast.
To your problem: Removing old kernels shouldn't harm your system in any way. Did you remove more than the kernels?

I think I removed only the kernals....marked the green boxes in synaptic for the lower numbers and marked for removal and applied.

Hello. If you have removed some old kernels, and can still boot into Linux, did you then run this:


Updating your grub should show a nice list of the various kernels and other OS'es if any on your hard drive.

Hi...I upgraded to 10.10 and solved the start issue, Thanks to all who helped. Garth

I told u should read on grub to make sure u didn't delete important files...... everything in linux is not quick fix... what u would have learned would have been valuable...... might have figured out you can do more then just install ubuntu again.... next time internet for install dual boot with windows and go terminal and type man grub... what if u would have forgotten to tell us something important and wiped out your windows partition....

I sure hope forbid sake u made windows backup dice....

Later...

May I ask how he should have wiped out his Windows installation with removing kernels via his package-manager?
This was not a grub issue at all, it was a package management problem.