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If "grub> find /sbin/init" found only "(hd0,5)" it does look like something is wrong.
When you mount /dev/sda8, do you see a file named "init" in the sbin directory there?
By default grub is usually installed in the MBR for both Debian and Ubuntu. When doing several multi-boot installs I have installed in the root partition and chain loaded sometimes. It makes it easier when I am trying out several distros one after the other in one partition. But that is not what you are doing.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, one wonders what happened to your Ubuntu install. Do you still have the Ubuntu install disk? I think you can boot it and there is something about fixing it in one of the options. When you go through that, it looks like it is doing a new install, but you there is a place where you can fix grub. That would install a new grub for Ubuntu and should pick up the Debian install as well.
Tried with the original Ubuntu dvd, but it wanted to install from new, and wipe out all data. Thought I might just get it started. But seems something is badly wonky.
There should be 3 different kernels listed for Ubuntu in your Grub list of choices. Did you try each of them?
I ask because of the error message about "invalid or unsupported executable format" The Grub manual says: "This error is returned if the kernel image being loaded is not recognized as Multiboot or one of the supported native formats (Linux zImage or bzImage, FreeBSD, or NetBSD)." I'm wondering if one of the earlier kernels will work.
Before I re-installed Debian, I could boot into Ubuntu or Debian. After lots of probs with Debian, I did a re-install of the new version 5 via net install.
Since then, Ubuntu won't/can't start. Not even with Super Grub, cool as it sounds!
Any tips before I put the install in motion??
I backed up my home onto Debian. If that gets lost, I will be f*****!
I backed up my home onto Debian. If that gets lost, I will be f*****!
Be very sure that you do not let the installer partition, but instead that you choose the same partition as before for your install of Ubuntu. I think that is called the Manual partitioning as opposed to the automatic way. That way you will not overwrite your data on Debian.
At least you know that you can boot into Debian with the Super Grub disk after Ubuntu writes over the MBR.
I believe you might be experiencing the same problem I had some time ago:
My Debian GRUB wouldn't boot Ubuntu... it turned out that this was because they slightly changed their implementation of ext3 to an inode size of 256 in Ubuntu 8.10 and while they changed their GRUB as well, Debian obviously did not.
I "solved" that by loading Ubuntu's GRUB into the MBR (from the grub shell) and using that GRUB version since.
Ah well, I am not even sure what an inode is. In the end, I re-installed Ubuntu. Now everything works fine!
There was a problem: if I only installed the system files, leaving my personal stuff untouched, I had no keyboard, it would not work. So I had to do format /dev/sda8, then install, then everything worked!
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