Can't access Windows. Weird, weird grub issue.

MightyHard · 12-31-2008, 02:44 PM

,

I wanted to have gfx-grub, so therefore I followed these instructions (which are currently the up-to-date ones. The first message isn't up-to date):

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=208855&page=66

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryukent

..
sudo grub

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
(hdx,y) # this will be the output
grub> root (hdx,y)
grub> setup (hdx)

Obviously you need to change the X and Ys.

sudo grub-install /dev/sdaX

This was very important. Didn't work without it. Note the X is not the same number as the x or y in the previous section as grub uses different numbers. You need to look up the correct hard disk to use. It should be the one are booting to.
...

So I did all the other things, but at that part I accidentally selected Windows C: partition at
sudo grub: grub> root
and sudo grub-install /dev/sda!

So how do I undo the changes?

- currently I can't boot to Windows (Vista)

ps. I need to fix this as quick as possible:
Thanks forehand for the helpers! Thank you really much!

MightyHard · 12-31-2008, 03:11 PM

Bump! Anyone

?

I did this:

Code:

cd ~/Desktop && wget 'http://home.comcast.net/~ubuntu_grub/boot_info_script.txt' && sudo bash boot_info_script.txt

Code:

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

 => Grub is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive in 
    partition #3 for its boot files.

sda1: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       
    Boot sector type:  Grub
    Mounting failed:
mount: you must specify the filesystem type

sda2: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       
    Boot sector type:  Grub
    Mounting failed:
mount: you must specify the filesystem type

sda3: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext3
    Boot sector type:  No Boot Loader
    Boot sector info:  
    Operating System:  Ubuntu 8.10
    Boot files/dirs:   /boot/grub/menu.lst /etc/fstab /boot /boot/grub

sda4: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition

sda5: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext3
    Boot sector type:  No Boot Loader
    Boot sector info:  
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   

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

Drive sda: _____________________________________________________________________

fdisk -lu /dev/sda:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3ffb046e

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1              63   181984319    90992128+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2   *   299162430   312576704     6707137+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3       181984320   221247179    19631430   83  Linux
/dev/sda4       221247180   299162429    38957625    5  Extended
/dev/sda5       221247243   299162429    38957593+  83  Linux

Partition table entries are not in disk order

sfdisk -V /dev/sda:

/dev/sda: OK

blkid -c /dev/null: ____________________________________________________________

/dev/sda3: UUID="dcfa8068-b3a8-4645-bfcf-cc8dcffedac8" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="16a57d37-35a7-41b6-bf8f-bc376b65311e" TYPE="ext3" 

=============================== "mount" output: ===============================

/dev/sda3 on / type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
/proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
varrun on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
varlock on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,mode=1777)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
lrm on /lib/modules/2.6.27-9-generic/volatile type tmpfs (rw,mode=755)
/dev/sda5 on /home type ext3 (rw,relatime)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/linuxpro/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=linuxpro)

=========================== sda3/boot/grub/menu.lst: ===========================

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
.................
................
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-11-generic
root		(hd0,2)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-11-generic root=UUID=dcfa8068-b3a8-4645-bfcf-cc8dcffedac8 ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-11-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-11-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,2)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-11-generic root=UUID=dcfa8068-b3a8-4645-bfcf-cc8dcffedac8 ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-11-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-9-generic
root		(hd0,2)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-9-generic root=UUID=dcfa8068-b3a8-4645-bfcf-cc8dcffedac8 ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-9-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-9-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,2)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-9-generic root=UUID=dcfa8068-b3a8-4645-bfcf-cc8dcffedac8 ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-9-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
root		(hd0,2)
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/Longhorn (loader)
root		(hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda2
title		Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader)
root		(hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1


=============================== sda3/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# /dev/sda3
UUID=dcfa8068-b3a8-4645-bfcf-cc8dcffedac8 /               ext3    relatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /dev/sda5
UUID=16a57d37-35a7-41b6-bf8f-bc376b65311e /home           ext3    relatime        0       2
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0

================================== sda3/boot: ==================================

total 24640
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 2008-12-29 10:26 .
drwxr-xr-x 20 root root    4096 2008-12-29 19:27 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  508385 2008-12-19 19:57 abi-2.6.27-11-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  507665 2008-11-21 01:46 abi-2.6.27-9-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   91358 2008-12-19 19:57 config-2.6.27-11-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   91364 2008-11-21 01:46 config-2.6.27-9-generic
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 2008-12-31 21:50 grub
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 8621630 2008-12-24 18:09 initrd.img-2.6.27-11-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 8619552 2008-12-15 14:31 initrd.img-2.6.27-9-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  124152 2008-09-11 23:11 memtest86+.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1031799 2008-12-19 19:57 System.map-2.6.27-11-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1029585 2008-11-21 01:46 System.map-2.6.27-9-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    1074 2008-12-19 19:58 vmcoreinfo-2.6.27-11-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    1073 2008-11-21 01:48 vmcoreinfo-2.6.27-9-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 2248912 2008-12-19 19:57 vmlinuz-2.6.27-11-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 2244304 2008-11-21 01:46 vmlinuz-2.6.27-9-generic

=============================== sda3/boot/grub: ===============================

total 252
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root   4096 2008-12-31 21:50 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root   4096 2008-12-29 10:26 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    197 2008-12-31 21:35 default
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     15 2008-10-04 23:10 device.map
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   8108 2008-12-31 21:35 e2fs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7856 2008-12-31 21:35 fat_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     16 2008-12-31 21:35 installed-version
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   8712 2008-12-31 21:35 jfs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   5012 2008-10-04 18:30 menu (copy).lst
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   5117 2008-12-31 21:50 menu.lst
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   5143 2008-12-31 21:50 menu.lst~
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   5259 2008-12-31 21:25 menu.lst.backup
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   5259 2008-12-31 21:20 menu.lst.backup~
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   7352 2008-12-31 21:35 minix_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   9756 2008-12-31 21:35 reiserfs_stage1_5
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root   4096 2008-11-13 14:04 splashimages
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    512 2008-12-31 21:35 stage1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 121460 2008-12-31 21:35 stage2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   9556 2008-12-31 21:35 xfs_stage1_5

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

/dev/sda1: unknown volume type
/dev/sda2: unknown volume type

mostlyharmless · 12-31-2008, 04:35 PM

To undo your damage to /dev/sda you'll need to reinstall the Windows boot sector. Don't know about Vista, but with XP, you put in the install CD, get to the "rescue" part and use fixmbr. You didn't by any chance save the bootsector first with dd?