When I try to boot Ubuntu I get the message...

root (hd-1,-1)

Error 11: Unrecognized device string, or you omitted.....




I can run the live cd of course but I would like to start installing and learning hands on more!!!! Please help.

Hi:

Welcome to Linux Questions!

I can only help you if you want to install to you HDD.
Your LIVE CD will do most of the work for you and the installer and partition manager is fairly reasonable to work with.
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installing
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Installing Ubuntu to your Solid State Drive (a little more complex) and I am still in the process of learning that technique. I don't want to instruct you on what I don't know yet-

Looks like it's an error message from grub or grub2. Try to remove the "-" in the config file (menu.lst with grub). The correct syntax is (hdX,Y). The first value (hdX) says which hard drive to use, and the second value (Y) is the partition.

In grub (hd0,0) means the first partition on the first disk.
In grub2 (hd0,1) means the first partition on the first disk.

So there's no hard drive or partition -1.

root (hdX,Y) in fact points to the /boot parition as far as I know, but don't nail me down on it.

Btw., it shouldn't matter if it's an SSD or HDD.

OP does not tell us on which drive he is installing and where he installed GRUB.
Also he did not tell us with drive is the first HD during in the boot time

1 members found this post helpful.

cyberpatrol:
So; GRUB is complaining because a partition does not exist?

I wonder if he changed his BIO's because if he set them to boot to usb that would explain:
Device as in the "SSD"....Right?


ronlau9:

I'm thinking that he installed GRUB to the "SSD" !?

Right. As I explained, grub is complaining about "root (hd-1,-1)". And there are no hard drives -1 and no partitions -1, on no system. In grub the hard drives (internal as well as external, incl. HDDs, SSDs and USB sticks) are counted from 0 and the partitions are counted from 0, and not from -1. In grub2 the hard drives are counted from 0 and the partitions are counted from 1.

That is:
For grub:
/dev/sda1 -> (hd0,0)
/dev/sda2 -> (hd0,1)
/dev/sdb1 -> (hd1,0)
/dev/sdb2 -> (hd1,1)
etc.

For grub2:
/dev/sda1 -> (hd0,1)
/dev/sda2 -> (hd0,2)
/dev/sdb1 -> (hd1,1)
/dev/sdb2 -> (hd1,2)
etc.

What's BIO's? I guess you mean BIOS. Where did he say, that he changed his BIOS and how?

An SSD is not a USB stick. Nevertheless it doesn't matter if the drive is an HDD, an SSD or a USB stick, particularly not to grub. In the grub configuration you just have to set the correct device.

And regarding the BIOS settings, an SSD is the same as an HDD, there are just no spinning disks in it. Both are usually internal disks, but can also be external.

To be able to boot from an external HDD, an external SSD or a USB stick you have to change the boot order in the BIOS, so that the computer tries to first boot from the USB port instead of the internal HDD or SSD. That doesn't have anything to do with grub.


He seems to have installed grub to the correct drive, otherwise grub wouldn't have been started, wouldn't try to boot and wouldn't give this error message. At least there is a grub installed in the correct drive, maybe a different one as the one Ubuntu has installed and configured. That could be another reason for the original issue.

Btw., the OP didn't give any details about the drives (how many, to which ports they are connected) etc. But the error message is sufficient to see that grub, at least the one that is loaded at boot time, is badly configured.

For more detailed help the OP needs to give some more details about his drives, to which drive he installed Ubuntu and other systems, if he has a multiboot system, and about his grub configuration.

Didn't know that. Thanks for explaining; appreciate it-

Yes; I meant BIOS. (typing error)

I didn't know that GRUB could even be installed; much less configured w/o first installing a journaling file system first.
Learning from this thread.

Hopefully OP will elaborate on his drives and GRUB configuration.

SenjuRoy:

Kindly give me, cyberpatrol and runlau9 more information.

What are the details/type of SSD your have is it an external drive?
Also what brand/model so I can look it up to help you.
Is your internal HDD brand new; did you just install it? How many GB?
Is there another OS on this computer?
Is this computer a Hewett Packard? Compaq? Toshiba? Dell? Lenovo? Desktop or laptop; 32bit or 64bit architecture?

Details are important for us to help you and diagnose problems.

Details are important, but not those details. The brand of the HDD and SSD, or the computer is totally unimportant.

What's important are the specifications of the drives. If SenjuRoy needs more help, those details are needed:
How many internal drives are there and to which ports are they connected. That is, which drive is on /dev/sda, which on /dev/sdb, etc.
Then the partition schemes of the drives could help, and to know which OSs are installed on which drive and partition.
If he wants to boot from an external drive the specs of this drive are necessary, too.
Important could also be if it's an MBR or a GPT partition, and if the main board has a BIOS or a UEFI.
That's all for now.

But this information is only necessary, if he still hasn't solved his issue. And he didn't ask for more help yet.