[SOLVED] Triple boot mess

sematico · 06-14-2015, 10:03 PM

Hello.
So... Here is what happened:

I had a Linux Mint 17 64 bits dual booting with Kali linux 64 bits. Everything working perfectly.
Decided to be stupid and do a triple boot with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bits. Being in a hurry didn't help.

Went into GParted 0.19.1-4-i486 and resized my Linux Mint partition from 400 gbs to 300 gbs (Kali with 280gbs was untouched and there was only like 35gbs used in the Mint partition).
Created a ntfs partition with the new unallocated 100 gbs partition. "Did this before" I said, decided to be stupid again and not check everthing and see if I did everything the right way.
Got off GParted, booted the computer now with Windows CD.
Installed Windows 7 on the ntfs 100 gbs partition, worked fine.
Rebooted the computer, computer would not load boot menu and would load windows right away, like it was the only thing on the computer.

Went into gparted to see what was up... And then my partitions looked like this:
sda1 - ext 4 - 300 gbs (35gbs used) // which is most likely my linux mint partition
sda2 - ntfs - 100gbs // most likely my windows partition
sda3 - extended - 280gbs
(inside the sda3)
unallocated - 280gbs (--- used) // shouldn't kali linux be here? :x
sda5 - linux-swap - 15gbs (0 used)

So, did I just lose everything I had on my kali linux? It was quite a big deal what I had there and couldn't afford to lose everthing.

Then, out of desperate, I uninstalled windows 7 and resized my Linux Mint partition back to 400gbs. Now, everytime I boot the computer it shows "NO ACTIVE PARTITION FOUND".

So now, my partitions look like this:
sda1 - ext 4 - 400 gbs (35gbs used)
sda3 - extended - 280gbs
(inside the sda3)
unallocated - 280gbs (--- used)
sda5 - linux-swap - 15gbs (0 used)

So, what I am asking is:
1. How can I solve the "NO ACTIVE PARTITION FOUND" error?
2. Why isn't boot menu showing up? Can I at least boot my Linux mint? Or is that lost?
3. Did I lose everything on my Kali Linux? If I did, is there ANY way to recover? Since I think its partition wasn't overwritten by anything.

Thank you very much, and sorry for making you guys help me fix the consequences of my own stupidity.

syg00 · 06-14-2015, 10:16 PM

Windoze always overwrites the MBR, so you lose access to Linux. Simply a matter of booting a liveCD and chroot into one of the systems and fix things up.

so:
1: Your BIOS is crap and needs the boot flag on a (any) primary partition. It was on the Win7 partition before you deleted it...
2: The Win7 boot-loader is still in the MBR - but you deleted the code when you zapped the Win7 partition.
3: Go get a Linux liveCD booted and go here and run the script and post the RESULTS.txt so we can at least see what bits remain where. Then we can advise further

John VV · 06-14-2015, 10:17 PM

i am assuming you used an ENCRYPTED partition for Kali
-- as per most guides

if so you can not resize that

reinstall
and install in this order
win7 ( first drive, first partition and the Windows bootloader on the MBR !!! of the FIRST drive )
mint ( using a /boot partition )
kali

sematico · 06-14-2015, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John VV

i am assuming you used an ENCRYPTED partition for Kali
-- as per most guides

if so you can not resize that

reinstall
and install in this order
win7 ( first drive, first partition and the Windows bootloader on the MBR !!! of the FIRST drive )
mint ( using a /boot partition )
kali

Ohh alright, makes sense. Didn't know it would also hid on GParted Haha

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

Windoze always overwrites the MBR, so you lose access to Linux. Simply a matter of booting a liveCD and chroot into one of the systems and fix things up.

so:
1: Your BIOS is crap and needs the boot flag on a (any) primary partition. It was on the Win7 partition before you deleted it...
2: The Win7 boot-loader is still in the MBR - but you deleted the code when you zapped the Win7 partition.
3: Go get a Linux liveCD booted and go here and run the script and post the RESULTS.txt so we can at least see what bits remain where. Then we can advise further

Ohh wow!
Ok, here is what I got!

Quote:

Boot Info Script 0.61 [1 April 2012]

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

=> GAG is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Kali GNU/Linux 1.1.0
Boot files: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab
/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf /boot/grub/core.img

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

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

sda5: __________________________________________________________________________

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

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

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 750.2 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes

Partition Boot Start Sector End Sector # of Sectors Id System

/dev/sda1 2,048 845,273,087 845,271,040 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 845,275,134 1,465,147,391 619,872,258 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 1,432,033,280 1,465,147,391 33,114,112 82 Linux swap / Solaris

"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610 ext4
/dev/sda5 567a71e1-3ef7-4774-b1b1-4dddf958c1fa swap
/dev/sr0 iso9660 Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon 64-bit

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

Device Mount_Point Type Options

/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (ro,noatime)

=========================== sda1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
load_video
insmod gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en_US
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
set timeout=5
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610
insmod png
if background_image /usr/share/images/desktop-base/kali-grub.png; then
set color_normal=white/black
set color_highlight=black/white
else
set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Kali GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.18.0-kali3-amd64' --class kali --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
load_video
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610
echo 'Loading Linux 3.18.0-kali3-amd64 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.18.0-kali3-amd64 root=UUID=9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610 ro initrd=/install/initrd.gz quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.18.0-kali3-amd64
}
menuentry 'Kali GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.18.0-kali3-amd64 (recovery mode)' --class kali --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
load_video
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610
echo 'Loading Linux 3.18.0-kali3-amd64 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.18.0-kali3-amd64 root=UUID=9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610 ro single initrd=/install/initrd.gz
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.18.0-kali3-amd64
}
menuentry 'Kali GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.18.0-kali1-amd64' --class kali --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
load_video
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610
echo 'Loading Linux 3.18.0-kali1-amd64 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.18.0-kali1-amd64 root=UUID=9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610 ro initrd=/install/initrd.gz quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.18.0-kali1-amd64
}
menuentry 'Kali GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.18.0-kali1-amd64 (recovery mode)' --class kali --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
load_video
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610
echo 'Loading Linux 3.18.0-kali1-amd64 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.18.0-kali1-amd64 root=UUID=9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610 ro single initrd=/install/initrd.gz
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.18.0-kali1-amd64
}
menuentry 'Kali GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.14-kali1-amd64' --class kali --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
load_video
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610
echo 'Loading Linux 3.14-kali1-amd64 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.14-kali1-amd64 root=UUID=9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610 ro initrd=/install/initrd.gz quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.14-kali1-amd64
}
menuentry 'Kali GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.14-kali1-amd64 (recovery mode)' --class kali --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
load_video
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610
echo 'Loading Linux 3.14-kali1-amd64 ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.14-kali1-amd64 root=UUID=9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610 ro single initrd=/install/initrd.gz
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.14-kali1-amd64
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon 64-bit, 3.13.0-24-generic (/dev/sda6) (on /dev/sda6)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 721102ec-ce67-40fc-af5f-7a3d19698722
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=721102ec-ce67-40fc-af5f-7a3d19698722 ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-24-generic
}
menuentry "Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon 64-bit, 3.13.0-24-generic (/dev/sda6) -- recovery mode (on /dev/sda6)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos6)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 721102ec-ce67-40fc-af5f-7a3d19698722
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=721102ec-ce67-40fc-af5f-7a3d19698722 ro recovery nomodeset
initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-24-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sda1/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/sda1 during installation
UUID=9994ee92-e206-45a3-80db-cadddab5e610 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=567a71e1-3ef7-4774-b1b1-4dddf958c1fa none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sr0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

====================== sda1/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf: =======================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
## /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf
##
## IMPORTANT WARNING
##
## The configuration of this file is generated automatically.
## Do not edit this file manually, use: extlinux-update

default l0
prompt 1
timeout 50

display boot.txt
include linux.cfg
include memdisk.cfg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sda1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

GiB - GB File Fragment(s)

================= sda1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================

GiB - GB File Fragment(s)

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

cat: /tmp/BootInfo-byvEi4FN/Tmp_Log: No such file or directory
cat: /tmp/BootInfo-byvEi4FN/Tmp_Log: No such file or directory
No volume groups found

syg00 · 06-15-2015, 06:34 AM

There is quite a lot of output missing from that - strange.

Did you install GAG as a bootloader ?. If not it may be mis-identified. Your kali looks like it might be ok. From a liveCD, you should be able to repair grub - see this for example. Once you chroot, you are in the on-disk system. Once you fix grub, backup your kali, then go get testdisk to see if it will find the Ubuntu partition for you.

sematico · 06-16-2015, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

There is quite a lot of output missing from that - strange.

Did you install GAG as a bootloader ?. If not it may be mis-identified. Your kali looks like it might be ok. From a liveCD, you should be able to repair grub - see this for example. Once you chroot, you are in the on-disk system. Once you fix grub, backup your kali, then go get testdisk to see if it will find the Ubuntu partition for you.

Thank you very much! It worked.
Is there anyway to select your answer as the solution?
Cheers man!