I installed Ubuntu having one IDE HDD and I didnt' make any partitions. Bootloader couldn't install, and I continued without installing it. After this, I plugged in a sec HDD SATA.
To install grub I followed what Saikee suggested:

sudo su
mkdir /mnt/sda1
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
mount --bind /dev /mnt/sda1/dev
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/sda1 /dev/sda

Installation was a success. Thanks Saikee!

BUT after I did this:
set root=(hd1,1)
configfile /boot/grub/grub.cfg
boot

(and of course changed BIOS to boot from Hard disk) I get the following:

GNU GRUB version 1.98-1ubuntu7
Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported... etc.(info)
and "grub>"
if I type boot I get no loaded kernel.
is there a solution from here?
Thanks.

Did you install Ubuntu (which version, 10.04?) to a computer with no other operating system on it? And what was the messagee when the bootloader couldn't install? to the master boot record? to to root partition? If the bootloader could not install, how were you planning to boot?

Don't get the part about the second hard drive, what was on it?

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi yancek.
I installed Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on a computer without other OS. When I installed it I had only one Hard disk of 41Gb. The message was simple "cannot install bootloader on selected device I had 2 options: to quit installation of Ubuntu or to proceed without installing the bootloader ("! you can install bootloader manually"). I don't know the difference between MBR and partition, but I had the option to choose the partitions, and since I didn't create any, I left the default choice since none of the 2 choices (dev/sda nor dev/sda1)were ok to load. Basically the bootloader didn't want to install. (I tried 2 times before this reinstallation when I made 2 partitions but even then it didn't work, so I decided this time not to have partitions). I was planing to boot from LIVE CD and install grub manually. Now, I looked around and found how to install it using those 5 commands. And since after this my PC was able to start without live cd, I assumed those 5 commands were good for me. BUT the next message comes up regarding the Grub version.
The 2nd HD I added before I ran the 5 commands to install Grub.(i hope I remember correctly). The 2nd HD was empty, just received it from Seagate as a warranty exchange. Thanks.

at the grub prompt type in the following lines to be able to boot into you ubuntu installation
To boot I think you have to hit the "b" key but not sure. Then do updates and then reinstall grub. In order to boot on a computer with only ubuntu installed will need to install grub to MBR

1 members found this post helpful.

Just had this issue when helping my brother install Ubuntu. Not sure why it happens, seems to happen consistently on certain hardware because it happened to him even after a reinstall. Anyway, here's the way to fix it. Make sure after you use the commands to get booted that you do a sudo update-grub to fix the problem.

Linkage

1 members found this post helpful.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU.

I followed dudeman41465's link and it worked perfect on Asus P5N SL, nVidia graphics and intel.

Thanks man. keep on posting. Cheers.

BIG mistake ! I unfortunately remove "some" softwares on my OpenSuse10 (preinstalled on my laptop, without cd driver). Then I have only the Grub shell that appears and tu use to solve the problem... tried to boot kernel, but said that it "must be loaded before boot". I must get my important datas back on my hd before "restore to factory settings" (the last option). Any solution ?

You should start a new thread to give this problem the most exposure.

To try and answer your question though I would use a live cd to save my data.

I know this is a little late but next time consider backing up all important data before removing anything. Too many things can happen but usually will not if it is backed up

ok thanks Larry