Hi all.. I'm new to these forums and would be grateful for some help!!

I'm so-so with Linux coding, so please bear with me. Thanks!!

Here's my problem..

I had Ubuntu 12.10 on my Dell laptop, it as running fine, I hadn't used it for about two months and then there were many updates to be done on it, when I did finally turn it on. Once I restarted, it would not boot. I then downloaded and ran a 'boot-repair-disk-32bit'. The program seemed to run fine and I re-booted.. and then it was worse than before.. it says there is no operating system!!

So, I'm freaking out.. are ALL my files and pics and videos gone?? Can I retrieve them??

I decided to install a new version of Ubuntu and while doing so I see that Ubuntu 12.10 is still on my laptop.. I'm confused.. I thought there was no operating system!? And I don't want to continue with installation of the other version of Ubuntu.. I don't want to mess it up any more!!

I did a bit more research online and maybe there is a problem with my GRUB? When I'm on the GRUB menu, I hit 'e' to edit "Ubuntu, with Liunx 3.2.0-41-generic" and this is what is displayed:

setparams 'Ubuntu, with Linux 3.2.0-41-generic'

recordfail
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e7a0d40d-0e5b-4ecc-b444-4889ede32278
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-41generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash $vt_handoff

Does anybody have any ideas on what I should do next? Is there a fix to get me back to my 12.10 version of Ubuntu and my old files, etc.?? Or should I install the new version?? Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

JD

Just boot Ubuntu live cd and you should access to all of your files

Thanks, I got into Ubuntu by "Trying" it and not installing. The problem is I can get to my 500 GB volume but I can't see anything. I'm looking in the properties and it is adding up the contents.. and it says there is 443.7 GB used of the total capacity of 485.9 GB.. but when I look in folders, I see nothing!! Where is everything.. how do I access it?? Please help.. Thanks!!

We need to see your system is now configured.
From the liveCD, go here and download the file. It's a tar.gz - to untar it use "tar -xvzf ..." from within the download directory. Then run the script and post the RESULTS.txt here.

Did your update include a new kernel? If so, did the upgrade program run update-grub at the end? If not that might have resolved the problem. Can you try to see if you can see the files/directories as root using the Ubuntu Live CD. Open a konsole/terminal and type:
sudo nautilus and see if you can navigate.

For the boot problem, I would suggest you download and run the bootinfoscript from the site below which will provide more information so someone can tell you if you need to make a change in the Grub boot file. Post the output, results.txt file here.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/

Here is the results file..

Attached Files

RESULTS.txt (35.2 KB, 27 views)

I get this message when running sudo nautilus:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo nautilus

(nautilus:9987): IBUS-WARNING **: The owner of /home/ubuntu/.config/ibus/bus is not root!
Nautilus-Share-Message: Called "net usershare info" but it failed: 'net usershare' returned error 255: net usershare: cannot open usershare directory /var/lib/samba/usershares. Error No such file or directory
Please ask your system administrator to enable user sharing.

I would suggest using a friends laptop to download and burn rescueatux to a cd, then select rescueatux 32 bit or 64 bit, and follow the instructions for restore grub, so you can boot up again, then run sudo update-grub.

We obviously need more info.
The disk and filesystem seem fine - they can be read by the script.

What does this mean ? Exactly.
Is this in the BIOS POST stage ?. Do you get a grub menu ?. Do you get to select Ubuntu ?...I suspect you are looking at the liveCD, not the hard disk. I'll need to go find a Ubuntu from somewhere to have a play and post back.

Sorry for any confusion.. I was just trying to paint the whole picture. The message about no operating system came after I ran the 'boot-repair-disk-32bit' file/program from a USB and then re-booted. Unfortunately, I can't explain any more than that since I haven't seen it again.

Yes, when not using the LiveCD, I get a grub menu in the bios post stage and can choose Ubuntu.. but when I do, I get this script:

error: unknown command '['.
error: unknown command '['.
error: unknown command 'save_env'.
error: unknown command '['.
error: unknown command 'search'.
error: unknown command 'linux'.

Press any key to continue...

And then when I press enter it brings me back to the grub menu.

I hope that information helps.. and sorry again for any confusion in my description.

Thanks for your continuing help!!

Where did you get that program? Could you post a link?

That's quite an impressive collection of kernel you have, 20+?

All the commands and symbols showing in your error messages are standard in Grub2 and you should not get an error and they should all be recognized. If you look at your grub.cfg file, you will see them all. If you look at a grub.cfg file on a working machine, you will also see them all.

So that we are clear, you get the errors below after the BIOS and after you get the Grub Menu and after you select Ubuntu, correct? Where does the no operating system found message come in?

Have you tried selecting a different kernel in the manner you explained in your first post? Same result?

That's quite an impressive collection of kernel you have, 20+?
I honestly don't know much about kernels. I take it that 20 is a lot? Is it a problem to have that amount?


So that we are clear, you get the errors below after the BIOS and after you get the Grub Menu and after you select Ubuntu, correct? Where does the no operating system found message come in?
Yes, I get those errors after the BIOS, Grub menu and selecting Ubuntu.
I only saw that message once about the 'no operating system' and it was after using that 'boot-repair-disk-32bit' program.
http://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair-cd/home/Home/

Have you tried selecting a different kernel in the manner you explained in your first post? Same result?
I've tried selecting older versions of linux with a similar result. I've also tried selecting 'recovery mode' and get the same thing.

I'm not sure if this is helpful, but maybe I should mention that I had previously dropped my laptop and I had problems with the hard drive.. I was using Windows at the time. After installing a new hard drive, I couldn't install Windows of any version. But for some reason, Ubuntu worked.

Sorry for my ignorance with linux systems. I'm just desperate to get my files, photos, etc. back!!

Thanks!!

Nice sharing.Its very useful for me.

Hi again.. I'm still stuck.. I can only get into Ubuntu using a usb. Does anybody have any idea how I can fix the boot problem as explained above?? I'm itching to get back to my files and pics!! I know everything is there, but I can't figure out how to get back to it.

I took a screenshot showing that there are still files/folders/etc on my hard drive.. but how do I get to them??!!

I'll answer any questions to help get to the bottom of this.. Thanks!!

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Choose try ubuntu. How many hard drives do you have? If you have more than one, figure out which hard drive is first in your bios by label. Then open the Disks application find that label, press it, and see what sd* letter it is, and then on the terminal run sudo grub-install /dev/sda (or whatever letter it is) or grub-install /dev/sda(or whatever letter it is) if your root. It will install grub again in the mbr. Then run sudo update-grub, or update-grub if your root.