Friends,
I am building a system dual boot win 7 32b and ubuntu 14.04 64b.
This is a dell t7500 . It has the following hard drives
the C boot drive is a 1 TB drive on the lsi raid controller .ntfs
the d drive are 2 - 2 tb drives raid 0 as 3.6 tb . ntfs
the f drive is a 3 tb single drive on a diffrent sata part of the mother board.
At this point windows 7 ultimate 32bit is installed and it boots.
( i *think it is mbr ... can it be anything else?? )

I used gparted to partition the c drive in half.
I thought it unusual that it was seen as sdf ... ( what the f? )

the ubuntu install was unremarkable at first.
I picked : "install along side of windows 7"
and it proceeded as expected - and then
" cannot install grub on sda ...a fatal error..."
I was presented with options
( I may not be recalling eXactly )
1-install somewhere else ( and a dropdown was offred)
2-install without a grub loader - and take care of it later..
3- something scary

I am wondering what would be the best thing to do at this point.

I *did pick ( as i recall ) : sdf(windows)
it finished and upon reBoot I did not see the ususal purple screen of Ubuntu or windows. It goes right into windows.
then i opened win disk mnger and dlten the 2 linux partitions.
~ 4 gb swap and the rest / .

and i try again.
i picked ( as i recall ) :sdf
....and I had to leave before it finished...so i do not at this time know WHat that resulted in.

This matter is a first for me.
any suggestions welcomed.
how did this happen?
how to resolve - meaning having a happy dual boot win7 & ubuntu 14.4 ?

thanks

js

Fire up a linux livecD, go here, download and run the script and post the output.

You can install a bootloader to any disk on the system- it will only boot if the BIOS sees that drive as bootable. Should be easy enough to fix - chroot into the installed system and rerun update-grub (if Ubuntu).

i tried this

I ran the script on my known good machine ( laptop with no problems : dual boots win 7 & ubutu )

and I tried it again on my Problem machine


Note I dlted lines 361 to 380 about the mawk as awk... i could not update my mawk
basically i was just *trying to get it to work

i hope this helps -- thank you


results.txt 10.24.2016 4:30p


so is my situation salvagable?

can i do something like configure a grub boot loader??

here is the results , thanks again

Boot Info Script 0.74 [06 February 2016]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

=> Windows 7/8/2012 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.
=> Windows 7/8/2012 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdf.
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdg.
=> Windows 2000/XP/2003 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdh.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista: NTFS
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sda1 has
1565562879 sectors, but according to the info from
fdisk, it has 5860530175 sectors.
Operating System:
Boot files:

sdf1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows 7/2008: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD

sdf2: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows 7/2008: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files: /Windows/System32/winload.exe

sdf3: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdf5: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS
Boot files: /etc/fstab

sdf6: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sdg1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''

sdg2: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows 7/2008: NTFS
Boot sector info: According to the info in the boot sector, sdg2 has
3516657663 sectors, but according to the info from
fdisk, it has 7811624959 sectors.
Operating System:
Boot files:

sdh1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows 7/2008: NTFS
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Mounting failed: mount: unknown filesystem type ''
Mount is denied because the NTFS volume is already exclusively opened.
The volume may be already mounted, or another software may use it which
could be identified for example by the help of the 'fuser' command.
Mount is denied because the NTFS volume is already exclusively opened.
The volume may be already mounted, or another software may use it which
could be identified for example by the help of the 'fuser' command.

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sda: 2.7 TiB, 3000592982016 bytes, 5860533168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 1 4,294,967,295 4,294,967,295 ee GPT


GUID Partition Table detected.

Partition Attrs Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors System
/dev/sda1 2,048 5,860,532,223 5,860,530,176 Data partition (Windows/Linux)

Attributes: R=Required, N=No Block IO, B=Legacy BIOS Bootable, +=More bits set

Drive: sdf _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sdf: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdf1 * 2,048 206,847 204,800 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sdf2 206,848 976,865,279 976,658,432 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS
/dev/sdf3 976,867,326 1,953,523,711 976,656,386 5 Extended
/dev/sdf5 976,867,328 1,945,141,247 968,273,920 83 Linux
/dev/sdf6 1,945,143,296 1,953,523,711 8,380,416 82 Linux swap / Solaris


Drive: sdg _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sdg: 3.7 TiB, 3999688294400 bytes, 7811891200 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdg1 1 4,294,967,295 4,294,967,295 ee GPT


GUID Partition Table detected.

Partition Attrs Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors System
/dev/sdg1 34 262,177 262,144 Microsoft Reserved Partition (Windows)
/dev/sdg2 264,192 7,811,889,151 7,811,624,960 Data partition (Windows/Linux)

Attributes: R=Required, N=No Block IO, B=Legacy BIOS Bootable, +=More bits set

Drive: sdh _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sdh: 14.8 GiB, 15854469120 bytes, 30965760 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sdh1 8,064 30,965,759 30,957,696 7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS


"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 3D5EDC595BF03182 ntfs data_3
/dev/sdf1 0A483A094839F3D3 ntfs System Reserved
/dev/sdf2 BC2A42362A41EE48 ntfs
/dev/sdf5 efe4166b-1ca0-4407-9f38-70ed4a29d3d4 ext4
/dev/sdf6 8b1b950e-f991-49ab-a41e-24373894ab75 swap
/dev/sdg1
/dev/sdg2 66D67A04D679D531 ntfs r0capture
/dev/sdh1 8AE8D43FE8D42AE9 ntfs j2016
/dev/sr0 2016-07-19-21-27-51-00 iso9660 Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS amd64

========================= "ls -l /dev/disk/by-id" output: ======================

total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 ata-TOSHIBA_HDWD110_46OLDK0NS -> ../../sdf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 ata-TOSHIBA_HDWD110_46OLDK0NS-part1 -> ../../sdf1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 ata-TOSHIBA_HDWD110_46OLDK0NS-part2 -> ../../sdf2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 ata-TOSHIBA_HDWD110_46OLDK0NS-part3 -> ../../sdf3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 ata-TOSHIBA_HDWD110_46OLDK0NS-part5 -> ../../sdf5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 ata-TOSHIBA_HDWD110_46OLDK0NS-part6 -> ../../sdf6
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 ata-TSSTcorp_DVD+_-RW_TS-H653G_R4576GFSB0927700 -> ../../sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 ata-WDC_WD30EZRX-00SPEB0_WD-WCC4E0SEJH6T -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 ata-WDC_WD30EZRX-00SPEB0_WD-WCC4E0SEJH6T-part1 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 scsi-3600508e0000000008adae8d3343a970c -> ../../sdg
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 scsi-3600508e0000000008adae8d3343a970c-part1 -> ../../sdg1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 scsi-3600508e0000000008adae8d3343a970c-part2 -> ../../sdg2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:03 usb-__07015CC2093EAA65-0:0 -> ../../sdh
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:03 usb-__07015CC2093EAA65-0:0-part1 -> ../../sdh1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 usb-Generic-_Compact_Flash_20060413092100000-0:0 -> ../../sdb
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 usb-Generic-_MS_MS-Pro_HG_20060413092100000-0:3 -> ../../sde
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 usb-Generic-_SD_MMC_20060413092100000-0:2 -> ../../sdd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 usb-Generic-_SM_xD-Picture_20060413092100000-0:1 -> ../../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x5000039fe9c85dc9 -> ../../sdf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x5000039fe9c85dc9-part1 -> ../../sdf1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x5000039fe9c85dc9-part2 -> ../../sdf2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x5000039fe9c85dc9-part3 -> ../../sdf3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x5000039fe9c85dc9-part5 -> ../../sdf5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x5000039fe9c85dc9-part6 -> ../../sdf6
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x50014ee2b6de96ca -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x50014ee2b6de96ca-part1 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x600508e0000000008adae8d3343a970c -> ../../sdg
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x600508e0000000008adae8d3343a970c-part1 -> ../../sdg1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Oct 24 20:02 wwn-0x600508e0000000008adae8d3343a970c-part2 -> ../../sdg2

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device Mount_Point Type Options


=============================== sdf5/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' 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>
# / was on /dev/sdf5 during installation
UUID=efe4166b-1ca0-4407-9f38-70ed4a29d3d4 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sdf6 during installation
UUID=8b1b950e-f991-49ab-a41e-24373894ab75 none swap sw 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

========= Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive: =========

sdb sdc sdd sde

=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================

./bootinfoscript2: line 686: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 3175: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 3175: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 3175: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 3175: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: { print $0; exit}: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: { print $0; exit}: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: { print $0; exit}: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: { print $0; exit}: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2481: -F: command not found
Unknown filefrag output format
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: { print $0; exit}: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: { print $0; exit}: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: -F: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 2825: { print $0; exit}: command not found
./bootinfoscript2: line 3665: -F: command not found

not sure if this helps

but here is the output of a lsblk

juts try the ubuntu install --AGAIN, but 1st remove the 3tb drive seen as sda

will the sdf ... be seen as sda???

I dlt the 2 linux partitions from current sdf

and here is lsblk

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 2.7T 0 disk
└─sda1 8:1 0 2.7T 0 part
sdf 8:80 0 931.5G 0 disk
├─sdf1 8:81 0 100M 0 part
├─sdf2 8:82 0 465.7G 0 part
├─sdf3 8:83 0 1K 0 part
├─sdf5 8:85 0 461.7G 0 part
└─sdf6 8:86 0 4G 0 part [SWAP]
sdg 8:96 0 3.7T 0 disk
├─sdg1 8:97 0 128M 0 part
└─sdg2 8:98 0 3.7T 0 part
sr0 11:0 1 1.4G 0 rom /cdrom
loop0 7:0 0 1.4G 1 loop /rofs

------------------------

thanks again

any wisdom is welcomed

again my goal

is a happy dual; boot
win 7 ultrimate 32b

&
ubuntu 14.04 64 bit

and hopefully with the "standard" purple grub -- pick the os boot loader

cheers

jS

Dunno - nothing obvious there; would really need to play around on the box.
Were it me, I'd start by checking boot priority in the BIOS - make sure that SATA drive is boot eligible, and first in order.
If all else failed, I'd take all the other drives out and get Ubuntu working, then plug everything back in and sort out whatever mess that caused.

welllll,

I have solved my problem.
I moved the drive being seen as sdf to the sata bus where it was seen as sda

I dltd the linux partitions ( / & swap ) so i had only the win part and unallocated.
redid the ubuntu install ....now boot loader is writen to sda OK.
I move the drive from sata ( where it was sda ) to the lsi raid controller ( where it is sdf )

and all is well.

hooRay