ubuntu won't boot

Ni85

Member
Hey everybody.
I have an ASUS laptop with vista installed on it, and i wanted to install ubuntu as well.
I did exactly what the tutorial said--> Ubuntu - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

but i can't boot into ubuntu.. vista boots properly, but when I select ubuntu this appears on my screen:

GRUB4DOS 0.4.3 2007-06-14 , Memory: 639K / 2046M, CodeEnd: 0x3EF2C
[Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible completions of a device/filename. ]

grub>


why isn't it booting? is there anybody that could help me?

Thanks in advance
 
do i have to write the " --set-root " part too, or should i write there something else?
...i'm sorry i'm totally new to these things!
typing it in fully as you wrote it there it says

Error 17: File not found

But it sounds more like i'm not getting it right...

thanks for your help
 
Nope, that's what I was wanting to find out - if the file exists or not.

It sounds like Ubuntu did not install GRUB correctly - did you use the version of the guide currently up there right now? Or the one from last week?
 
i was using the current version, but i'm not sure i got it right. i didn't install grub at all, but now i see on this tutorial that i should only tell it to not write it on the MBR.

Linux - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

i'll do it again from scratch and change that setting. are you sure one step isn't missing in the ubuntu tutorial? at the point it says to click on the advanced button it doesn't explain what to do before go with the installing.
anyway i have 2 windows partitions, one i guess for recovery, and the second one with the OS, then a swap partition (the third) and the root one for ubuntu. being everything on the same HD, to install grub correctly i should go for (hd0,4), right? i'm trying again right now, i'll post the result.

thanks
 
ok, it worked!
i had to do it a couple of times cause i counted the partition wrong... i should have started counting from 0 instead of 1.
thanks again!
 
Sorry to say, but the Gutsy tutorial here doesn't really help, nor does any other tutorial on the EasyBCD website. I am pretty sure you left out some important steps, some "advanced" stuff re. the placement of Grub etc. (somewhere in step 3 I guess). I have, so far, found no helpful dual boot tutorials anywhere: I always end up deleting my Windows MBR, and have to restore it using Hiren's boot CD. Grub ends up placed God knows where anywhere on my other 6 HDDs, never where I want it to, most of the times atop my Vista MBR.

I've been reading the forums, and it looks like Ubuntu/Gutsy was not designed to handle both SATA and IDE drives! Gosh, I'm surprised it was designed to use HDDs at all and not punchcards! After all it's only 1982, right? :??

This confirms my belief that Ubuntu/Gutsy, despite being released two months ago, has been designed to work with run of the mill 1990s PCs, having at most one HDD, nothing fancy. It is definitely 1993 technology. Once you, God forbid, mix in a SATA drive, everything goes haywire, and the installation complicated exponentially--if it works at all. This means you've already crossed into "advanced installation topics" territory! Whou would've thought that, now that SSDs are becoming mmainstream! Perhaps Ubuntu developers will decide to assimilate SATA drives sometime in the future; by the looks of it, this'll happen once SATA is obsolete.

What I may end up doing is to strip my PC of all HDDs except for the one SATA Raptor I wanted Ubuntu on--I wish I could do that via BIOS, although it looks like I'll have to actually open up the PC and disconnect them. It is then that your tutorial might work.
 
I run SATA drives and Ubuntu works just fine along with the Tutorials for how to add Ubuntu to EasyBCD works just fine as well. So i dont understand what your situation is.

So you say they dont install to SATA yet that is ALL i have in my system and i have Ubuntu working. Strange how you say they dont work yet i get them to work...
 
It depends not on the drive but on the controller.

Ubuntu does have issues with multi-controller setups, but then again, so does XP.

Anyway, here's the thing: the Ubuntu dual-boot guide takes that into consideration. It really does :smile:

If you follow the guide as it is written, GRUB will be installed to the MBR - that is correct. But your mistake is in using Hiren's Boot CD to get it back. According to the guide, you're supposed to use GRUB to boot into Windows Vista, then use EasyBCD to both add Ubuntu to the Vista bootloader and rewrite the Vista bootloader to the MBR.

The only problem is if you cannot get into Vista from the Ubuntu bootloader - that is indeed a serious problem.

There is a bug in Ubuntu Gutsy setup that will not write GRUB to the correct location via advanced steps. The recommended and ideal way of doing a Linux-Vista dual-boot is to install GRUB to the bootsector of the Ubuntu partition, then get EasyBCD to add a link to that bootsector to the Vista bootloader.

Unfortunately, those steps do not work for Gutsy; so the only other option is to write GRUB to the MBR and then recover the MBR later.
 
So you say they dont install to SATA yet that is ALL i have in my system and i have Ubuntu working.
An IDE SATA mix is the explosive combination: gets Gutsy all fumbled up. Anyway, all Gutsy sees on my PC are SCSI drives (I have 4 IDE HDDs on a Promise card, and 3 SATA in a hotswap cage): go figure!


Addendum:


According to the guide, you're supposed to use GRUB to boot into Windows Vista, then use EasyBCD to both add Ubuntu to the Vista bootloader and rewrite the Vista bootloader to the MBR.
Step 4 of the "Ubuntu side of things" says that I'm supposed to reboot and I should "wind up in ... Vista," which I didn't. Upon reboot I got a Grub error 17, or something similar.
The only problem is if you cannot get into Vista from the Ubuntu bootloader - that is indeed a serious problem.
Yes, it is. Grub error 17--see above.
The recommended and ideal way of doing a Linux-Vista dual-boot is to install GRUB to the bootsector of the Ubuntu partition
Myeah, that's the big problem. How do I do that? Anyway, the only way I managed to get that done was to simply strip my PC of all HDDs except the one I was going to install Ubuntu on. That wasn't easy, as I had to open it up and disconnect the IDE drives. (On second thoughts, I could've just disconnected the IDE HDDs' power supply, but that would have still required opening up the PC.) Fortunately, I have a hot swap cage for the SATA drives, and that was easier.
then get EasyBCD to add a link to that bootsector to the Vista bootloader.
Yes, that's what I am going to do. So far, I can boot into Vista, alright. Will put EasyBCD to work later today and report back. Thanks for the replies.
 
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An IDE SATA mix is the explosive combination: gets Gutsy all fumbled up. Anyway, all Gutsy sees on my PC are SCSI drives (I have 4 IDE HDDs on a Promise card, and 3 SATA in a hotswap cage): go figure!

Well yes having a combination of IDE and SATA would mess up any Linux Distro. This is because the open source people have not devised a way to backward engineer the Windows way of workign with these 2 different sets of drivers/methods to work with a system.

So yes Linux is limited in this fashion. Along with no support for 5.1 Audio Systems, Multi Monirot support beyond 2 monitors, Sound cards, onboard video drivers just to name a few. WiFi is another limitation. that is the price we pay for going over to open source. They have to create all this stuff from scratch for every piece of hardware out there while keeping the bugs fixed and updating the software.

So yes there is quite a few limitations to be overcome. But honestly you get what you paid for. Since Linux is free you really shouldnt complain that they lack the kind of stuf Windows does. I for one think they have done a great job trying to make Linux more for the common user and get away from the constant use of Terminal for everything.:wink:
 
Will put EasyBCD to work later today and report back. Thanks for the replies.
Well, now Ubuntu wouldn't boot. Looks like the relevant excerpt is "root (hd0,0) Filesystem type is ntfs, partition type 0x7," and, of course, Error #17 (file not found). EasyBCD did its job, but now Grub is obviously pointing to the wrong HDD. At least I am pretty sure it's been installed on the Ubuntu HDD. It looks like I won't be able to get to the bottom of this w/o doing some advanced Grub tweaking etc. Boy, and I wanted something simple!:??
 
Well, (hd0,0) is being reported as NTFS - try "find /boot/grub/menu.lst" and see if that gives you the right number for the Ubuntu partition.
 
Well, (hd0,0) is being reported as NTFS - try "find /boot/grub/menu.lst" and see if that gives you the right number for the Ubuntu partition.
Managed to boot in Ubuntu by rearranging the boot order in BIOS. Found the device.map (?) file in the Grub folder, where hd0 was reported as sda and changed to sdc, which is the Ubuntu HDD denomination according to the partition manager. Rebooted the system, changed the BIOS boot sequence back to normal, EasyBCD menu came up as usual, chose the Ubuntu entry. Same issue: Error 17. No workie.

Beginning to feel helpless.

Otherwise, I like Ubuntu, as I did manage quite easily to get my dual monitor setup working, saw my Bluetooth dongle, it's fast etc. Hate to give it up.
 
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