A Digital Age Deserves A Digital Leader

How to reinstall GRUB

How to reinstall GRUB

Postby Grav!ty » Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:55 am

I reformatted and reinstalled Windows XP and of course that rewrote the MBR so I lost GRUB and the ability to boot into Ubuntu. I've already installed a lot of stuff in Ubuntu 9.04 so I don't want to have to reinstall it and start again from scratch. Also I was in process of figuring how to get a xconfig file created so that I could save my desktop screen resolution for my nVidia GPU and I'm loathe to start that all over again too.

Is there a way I can reinstall GRUB so that I can boot to Ubuntu? I think I can change the grub loader to include the Vista boot loader and restore access to the other operating systems by using the info HERE, but I guess I at least need to just get grub reinstalled first.
Image

"The great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are." - Niccolo Machiavelli
PROfessional Member
User avatar
Posts: 15790
Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2004 5:22 am
Real Name: Graham

Re: How to reinstall GRUB

Postby imnuts » Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:16 am

I know that you have Ubuntu, but the guide from Gentoo on installing GRUB should still work for you.
Image
PRO SUPREME
User avatar
Posts: 7457
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 5:19 am
Location: Boothwyn, Pennsylvania
Real Name: Mark

Re: How to reinstall GRUB

Postby gries818 » Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:56 pm

This post contains some useful information as well: http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-24113.html
Image

Mac OS 10.6.7 - Personal
Ubuntu Server 11.04 - Server
Software Development
User avatar
Posts: 3991
Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 6:28 pm

Re: How to reinstall GRUB

Postby Grav!ty » Tue Jun 09, 2009 2:50 am

Seems to me there's a total mish mash of methods to use to reinstall GRUB. One would think there's at least ONE straight forward no bull way of doing this :-? Everything I tried failed and I had to repeatedly run a Windows 7 startup repair to get booting to anything again. Eventually I reformatted and reinstalled Ubuntu from scratch!

Here's one guide that needs writing. There can't be that much of a mystery to this stuff. There's always a first boot HDD on which GRUB is usually installed and it should be a piece of cake to modify the GRUB loader once it's installed, to point to the correct drive/partition to boot to Ubuntu and to be able to add additional OS's. Until things like this are clearly and simply written about and working guides produced for those who are not fully familiar with Linux, there's no hope that Linux will be more widely adopted. It really needs to be "demystified".
Image

"The great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are." - Niccolo Machiavelli
PROfessional Member
User avatar
Posts: 15790
Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2004 5:22 am
Real Name: Graham

Re: How to reinstall GRUB

Postby gries818 » Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:48 am

Grav!ty wrote:Seems to me there's a total mish mash of methods to use to reinstall GRUB. One would think there's at least ONE straight forward no bull way of doing this :-? Everything I tried failed and I had to repeatedly run a Windows 7 startup repair to get booting to anything again. Eventually I reformatted and reinstalled Ubuntu from scratch!

Here's one guide that needs writing. There can't be that much of a mystery to this stuff. There's always a first boot HDD on which GRUB is usually installed and it should be a piece of cake to modify the GRUB loader once it's installed, to point to the correct drive/partition to boot to Ubuntu and to be able to add additional OS's. Until things like this are clearly and simply written about and working guides produced for those who are not fully familiar with Linux, there's no hope that Linux will be more widely adopted. It really needs to be "demystified".


I agree ^*^
Image

Mac OS 10.6.7 - Personal
Ubuntu Server 11.04 - Server
Software Development
User avatar
Posts: 3991
Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 6:28 pm

Re: How to reinstall GRUB

Postby Grav!ty » Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:54 am

LMAO that was quite a rant, but more directed at my own inability to get the thing right I guess :lol:
Image

"The great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are." - Niccolo Machiavelli
PROfessional Member
User avatar
Posts: 15790
Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2004 5:22 am
Real Name: Graham

Re: How to reinstall GRUB

Postby gries818 » Tue Jun 09, 2009 3:57 am

Grav!ty wrote:LMAO that was quite a rant, but more directed at my own inability to get the thing right I guess :lol:


I think it is safe to say that the bootloader element of Linux hasn't been improved much over the last five or six years in direct contrast to the rest of the OS. I remember when LiveCDs seemed cutting edge and all installers were text-based, DOS-like interfaces. How far we have come. :lol:
Image

Mac OS 10.6.7 - Personal
Ubuntu Server 11.04 - Server
Software Development
User avatar
Posts: 3991
Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 6:28 pm

Return to Other Operating Systems

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests