I installed Ubuntu on my external USB hard-drive and it works absolutely great. Only problem is, i'm on a laptop and I don't want to lug my external around everywhere.

Obviously, when my external is shut down or unplugged, I get an "error 21" message from GRUB.

Is there a way to get my laptop (running windows XP normally) to boot up XP when my external isn't present?

If not, what is the easiest way to get rid of GRUB so that I can just do a clean Ubuntu install to my laptop's main drive?

"If not, what the easiest way to get rid of GRUB so that I can just do a clean Ubuntu install to my laptop's main drive?"

Just do a clean ubuntu install and grub will take care of itself.

Here is my suggestion.

If your laptop has a floppy drive then put Grub on the floppy. Restore XP's MBR so that no floppy XP boots up itself, with floppy Ubuntu boots from an external hard disk.

If you haven't got a floppy drive. Restore XP's MBR so that XP boots itself. Resize XP to get a primary fat32 partition say 1Gb. Install Grub to that partition. make it bootable so that XP's MBR boots it up and you can choose either XP or external hard disk Ubuntu.

To restore XP's MBR Task B1 or B2 of the last link of my signature refers.

To put Grub in a fat32 partition see Section C of the second link of my signature.

The grub is strong with Saikee. Listen to his advice.

Awesome guys, thanks much.

I will have a look over at all this info and hopefully it'll turn out well.