Grub Rescue?

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Joined: 7 Mar 2010
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12 Nov 2011, 11:31 am

Hey!
Well, I sort of managed to mess up Grub.
Im on holiday, and I have another machine with me (Thank god).
But this is what I did to break grub.
I realised that GRUB was installed on the Windows partition by accident when I had to reinstall it due to Windows overwriting the GRUB bootloader (I have a partitioning configuration).
To fix a previus issue I had I went to the System Reserve partition and renamed the boot file made by GRUB, thinking I could boot into Windows after that I thought I would reboot.
Then i looked up on reinstalling.
So I did try to reinstall, but within the OS that was on the hard drive not the live CD (as I dont have one... Convenient right?) So yeah...
Im in a pretty sticky situation.
What do I do now?
All that comes up when I boot is:
Error:file not found.
grub rescue>
Help?
PS:
Yeah... I know, should have used live CD.. But didn't have one, and out of stupidity I decided I would try it on the actual OS on the hard drive.

psytek7
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Joined: 11 Nov 2011
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12 Nov 2011, 1:49 pm

Hi Madbones,

I had the exact same issue awhile ago and got it fixed up grabbing info from this thread:
(Can't use direct U R L due to rules)
But Google for "reinstall grub"
3rd link down should be "How to install Grub from a live Ubuntu cd. - Ubuntu Forums"

I'm not sure the exact steps I took unfortunately but here was the general fix I applied:
Boot off Ubuntu boot CD to get into live mode
There is a command to change the current "active drive" I believe it was chroot
Then I reinstalled grub on the drive/partition I wanted. "grub-install /dev/sda" I believe
Then I changed the order in the BIOS so that drive booted first.

lilo was so much easier to use back in the day. :/

Madbones
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12 Nov 2011, 1:52 pm

psytek7 wrote:

Hey!
Thanks for the advice, but the issue is:
I dont have an Ubuntu ISO or any Linux ISO or anything I can store one on.
Im using Mobile Broadband so I cannot download anything too big or Il have none left.
What else can I do?

psytek7
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Joined: 11 Nov 2011
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12 Nov 2011, 2:55 pm

You might be able to download a mini CD image to boot off of. They are usually around 30-100MB in size.

At least have another computer to use!

Could always go with plan B and get outside and enjoy the fresh air if you able to

Madbones
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14 Nov 2011, 7:31 pm

psytek7 wrote:

Hey!
Well im back off holiday.
Followed the tutorial, but thats just installing onto Windows Reserve partition (wouldnt it?). Anyway, what do I do? I followed the tutorial but it gives me the same error. Tried installing it on all my other partitions.... Still nothing.

DC
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Joined: 15 Aug 2011
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14 Nov 2011, 7:42 pm

Do you have your XP install or rescue disk?

fix the mbr following these instructions

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixthepro ... airmbr.htm

if you really aren't getting on with grub to multi boot you can also boot into linux by using XP's bootloader

http://oreilly.com/pub/h/2337

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