Hello All, I have been trying to install Ubuntu 8.10 and I am currently typing this using the live CD. I have Windows XP already installed ( but now I can't boot to it because of, well, this error. )with one internal HD and 2 external USB HD's

Basically, whenever my computer boots up it goes to a black screen that states "loading grub...Error 21" and then freezes. The
only way out is to Ctrl+alt+delete to restart. I cannot boot either Linux or XP. The only way for me to do anything is to boot from the Ubuntu CD, which is what I have done now. I unfortunately do not have an XP boot CD.

I have tried changing the boot order to no avail. Also, my bios does not have an option in it to make any changes to Master/slave relationships.

I have been looking around the internet for ways to fix this and I have found Grub error 21 being fixed by a multitude of ways. All of them either did not work for me, or the solution were far to ridden with linux terms I am not yet familiar enough with to understand.


One thing I did find was a script for providing some info that should help those of you who understand it to help me figure out what I need to do. boot_info_script27.sh

Here are the results:

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

=> Grub0.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on boot drive #3 in
partition #5 for /boot/grub/stage2 and /boot/grub/menu.lst.
=> No boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows XP
Boot files/dirs: /boot.ini /ntldr /NTDETECT.COM

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: vfat
Boot sector type: Windows XP: Fat32
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sdc1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows XP
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

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

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x3c9e3c9d

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 12,305,790 156,296,384 143,990,595 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 63 12,305,789 12,305,727 b W95 FAT32


Drive: sdc ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdc: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xa4b57300

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdc1 63 976,768,064 976,768,002 7 HPFS/NTFS


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

/dev/sda1: UUID="44BC7723BC770F24" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda2: UUID="8C13-DAE3" TYPE="vfat"
/dev/sdc1: UUID="64148EEC148EC092" LABEL="ALPHA MEH" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"

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

/proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
tmpfs on /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/volatile type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/volatile type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
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)
rootfs on / type rootfs (rw)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
/dev/scd0 on /cdrom type iso9660 (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop0 on /rofs type squashfs (ro,noatime)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/ubuntu/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=ubuntu)
/dev/sdc1 on /media/ALPHA MEH type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096)
/dev/sda1 on /media/disk type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096)


================================ sda1/boot.ini: ================================

[boot loader]

timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

That RESULTS.txt file should have more data in it - is that all of it ?.
Does your BIOS support USB booting ?.

Thats all that the results.txt came with... I tried it again and it was no different.

And yes, my BIOS does have an option to boot from USB. I have already tried it with the external HD's attached and it had no effect. I am not sure if it actually works.

That says to me you are not even seeing that other USB disk. Must have at some point though, because of thisUsed to be that you could get ms-sys from the Ubuntu repos so you could fix a Windoze MBR; even from the liveCD. That has been pulled because of license concerns.
Knoppix used to have something similar (mbrfix), and grubsuperdisk probably will as well.
If you can get hold of a mates XP or W2k CD, boot that, and get into recovery console. Then run fixmbr - that will get you back into XP at least.

OK, I managed to get windows back, but now I am having a new problem. It seems the installer at step 4 won't notice any drives...is it even possible to create a partition on an external HD using its free space without harming the space already taken up ?

You're making what should be reasonably easy(installing Ubuntu), into an absolute nightmare. Is there some reason you just don't want to install like 99% of the rest of us? Back up your data to the external drives, partition the internal drive, install Linux on the internal drive, and all will be fine.

I've never really understood people trying to install to an external device.. maybe I'm just weird.

IGF

My internal HD is on its last legs, and it will be a while before I can get a new one due to the model. My plan is to have ubuntu on an external drive and boot to USB for a while.

Off Topic:

I am trying to do this for a good reason:

I have 2 PC's and a laptop at home and a work laptop.
I also need to do maintenance for my parents, my in-laws, my sister, my neighbors etc etc.

My dream is to have a "portable PC" (similar to portable apps) which will run on any hardware through my USB stick. I can then have all my files, my utils, my bookmarks with me at all times.

A 16GB USB Stick for 20 Euros should suffice...

Dutch

I don't see that wanting/needing to install to USB external media is unreasonable. The problem is that the GUI installers don't necessarily allow for "unusual" cases.
Because of this I haven't used the Ububtu "normal" install disk for years - I prefer the "alternate" disk in that it gives better control of install options. You might want to try that. May still not give you the flexibility to pick which MBR you want to install to - can't remember. When in doubt I always install into the boot sector of a partition (either / or /boot), then fix it later.

I found this guide, but I believe its for 7.x

http://ubuntukids.org/blog/?p=69

Anyone know if its still possible to manually redirect where Grub points to like this on 8.10 ?