Grub Rescue

seekermeister

seekermeister

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When I attempt to boot to the drive containing Kubuntu 13.04, I get a black screen that only says Error: No such partition, Grub Rescue>. I attempted to boot from the disc that I installed Kubuntu with, but for some reason, only got the same black screen message.

The partitions are still visible in Windows Disk Management, so unless I do a clean installation, it appears that the only option for rescuing the current installation is by DOS commands. I have never dealt with that before, and have no idea of how to do it...does anyone?
 
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It's not DOS commands you want but the Linux "equivalent". If you are unfamiliar with the Linux command line environment you will soon be in danger of creating more problems than you solve. Fortunately the bits you need have been posted in many places for this specific problem and you will find a well written guide here:

http://itsfoss.com/solve-error-partition-grub-rescue-ubuntu-linux/
 
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Solution
Thanks, I think that it pointed out a fatal flaw to me repairing the installation...it requires a live CD of the OS to do it. That has a couple of problems...I don't think that the installation disc that I have is a live CD, being at end of the month, I'm bumping the limit on my ISP's data usage limit, and I'm not even downloading any videos for a few more days.

I would probably just re-install the OS from scratch, because I don't have any valuable data in it, but since it wouldn't boot to the installation CD for a repair, I don't know that it would do so for an installation either. I don't know what is going on with booting from the installation CD, I'm thinking that it may be the drive itself that is creating the problem. I have several other drives that I can try it with. I imagine that I can get one to work, because the installation CD worked, and it is clean and undamaged.
 
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How old??? That would be a very difficult question to answer, because I built it myself in stages. However, I imagine that your question regards the age of the motherboard, more than anything else. It hasn't been too long since I bought it, but I think that it had already been discontinued then. Whether it can boot from a USB drive is something that I have yet to attempt. How big of a USB drive is required to put a live CD image (or should I say, live USB image)on it?
 
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No UEFI, but I just tested booting to an USB drive, and it did appear on the boot menu. Does that require a different kind of download than with the Live CD? Do you have to "burn" it to the USB, or simply place a file on it?
 
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I Googled my last question, and found this:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

I guess I should have done that in the first place, rather than asking another question. I guess it would work the same with Kubuntu as with Ubuntu...yes? From what I read, it uses the same file as used to burn the CD, so I wouldn't have to download it again, which would mean not having to wait a few days. My understanding was that the ISO is simply placed on the USB drive, rather than burning it to it...true?
 
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Yes, but you may need a tool to adapt the iso image to boot on your computer so it can read it.
a nice utility to do it with (if you can use windows somehow) is unetbootin, it would allow the USB image to work like a live CD.
 
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Again, I posted before reading all the way through. Actually I still haven't, only scanned it to the end, but I did see mention of the utility you speak of. Somehow, it seems that even the simplest things look more complex than they are, because there are so many ifs, ands and buts.
 
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They can be if you dont know what you are doing.
But once you know how its actually very simple.
Just be patient and learn, its not that hard really.
 
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Another question that I probably should just read up on, but being lazy, I will ask you. I get the impression that the flash drive used for this needs to be one dedicated for this purpose, rather than just crowding the ISO and utility into one containing a lot of other files, and though it seemed to agree that 4GB was big enough, it continued in saying that an 8GB would be better. Currently, I have 3 flash drives...1 4GB U3 Sandisk, and a couple of regular 16GB drives as well. I'm not too fond of the idea of doing a clean sweep in any of these, but I do have a Corsair 32GB 3.0 drive ordered, that just shipped yesterday, which would eliminate the problem with cleaning the older drives. Yet, the question remains, for it to be able to use it repeatedly for this purpose, would that mean that I would lose the functionality of the unused space on the drive, or could I simply create a partition on it for this, and another for everything else?
 
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No a 4GB should be satisfactory. if you are willing to wipe the 4 gig stick it should do the job.
The only time I say a 8 or above stick would be nice is if you wanted to create a persistant drive and just run linux solely on the USB drive
 
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That is what I was thinking about, because my experience with Linux distros has been that something usually goes haywire at intervals, and it seems a good idea to just have a drive ready, rather than having to go back and do the same thing over.

If I understood, this procedure involves reformatting the drive, wiping it clean of whatever is on it, but after the USB live system is set on it, could you use the additional space for other purposes, or would it somehow interfere with the live function?
 
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No once you commit the drive to the installer you cant do too much with it.
Adding files could interfere with the operation of the installer
 
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I was afraid you would say that. Obviously then, I don't want to use my new drive for this, that would be a waste. The 4GB drive is also out, since I do want a persistent setup. That leaves one of the 16GB drives, which I will have to think about whether to sacrifice one.

I'm guessing that the reformatting is done by the utility, rather than via Windows or some other method, and that utility doesn't offer the option of creating multiple partitions...it's either all or nothing.
 
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Yeah if you want persistence and be able to store more then a few files then 16GB is good to have.
And yes reformatting is done by the utility, it will auto format so your computer can load and read it after editing the bios to boot the USB first (keep in mind to do this otherwise your computer will automatically boot into the first drive.)

The when you are ready you could set up a dual boot with windows once you get used to things.
Also suggestion, after installing Kubuntu if you wanted to do so please up it as soon as possible as 13.04 will be out of support three months from now.
 
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