Grub Help.

[phonic-otg]

After reading the other "grub" entries from the post installation forum for 13.04 (RR) I'm requesting help to sort it.

I decided to give 13.04 a go and had a 8Gb usb drive with the live CD installed on it, to install on a 500Gb external drive.
The install went well and fairly fast. I rebooted (changed boot from usb sandisk(8gb) to usb samsung(500gb), waited and got grub rescue prompt...

error: file '/boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found.
grub rescue>_

Not knowing what to do I consulted here after resetting to boot from the live CD again.
I read some, then realised I may completely break grub if I don't set the pointers right so took advice to install boot-repair (after adding the repo's for it) Followed the instructions and "It" reset the MBR on sda2 and sde1 and installed the latest 12.04-kernel(51) too (I was surprised) .

Went to reboot to the 500gb drive and I got a grub screen...

Ubuntu, with Linux 3.2.0-51-generic
Ubuntu, with Linux 3.2.0-51-generic (recovery mode)
Previous Linux versions
Kubuntu GNU/Linux --class kubntu --classgnu-linux --class gnu --cl
Kubuntu GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.8.0-19-generic'  --class kubntu --cla
Kubuntu GNU/Linux, with Linux 3.8.0-19-generic (recovery mode)' --c

versions (49 or 48) were in the "Previous Linux versions" part of grub screen

Trying to boot from any of the lower 3 "Kubuntu GNU/Linux" selections of above gave

error: you need to load a kernel first
press any key to continue

which returns one to the grub menu.

Keeping in mind that I'd booted into grub from the 500gb drive I tried loading the 12.04 kernel with success it opened it from its internal 320gb Hitachi drive. So I retried to run boot-repair but it wsn't installed on the 12.04 install so I added it installed it and re-ran it when I said I wanted to fix sde MBR it said I had to do it from 13.04 install (I assumed Lived CD) so I rebooted to live usb and ran boot-repair with the sde drive "only" selected and followed its prompts, then rebooted to the 500gb drive with same errors as first install.

error: file '/boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found.
grub rescue>_

When I boot from the 320gb drive with 12.04 it also has the same grub screen as above (I am aware I told boot-repair the first time to do that)

I'd like to set the external 500gb drive with 13.04 as the only OS choice for that grub when the bios is set to boot from that drive whilst the internal 360gb drive with 12.04 loaded only sees 12.04 as the option. Is that possible?

Some pointers would be very much appreciated

[phonic-otg]

Ok so I decided to try rEFInd 0.7.1 via .deb file from source forge. I installed with the deb installer went to the /usr/share/refind-0.7.1/ in terminal to begin the

./install.sh

The .deb installer gave cryptic half viewable info on the install but the terminal install gave a more comprehensive report, I had tried twice, as you will see.

phonic@Nova-Fractal:/usr/share/refind-0.7.1$ ./install.sh
Not running as root; attempting to elevate privileges via sudo....
[sudo] password for phonic: 
Installing rEFInd on Linux....
EspFilesystem is ''
//boot/efi doesn't seem to be on a VFAT filesystem. The ESP must be
mounted at //boot or //boot/efi and it must be VFAT! Aborting!
This script must be run as root (or using sudo). Exiting!

phonic@Nova-Fractal:/usr/share/refind-0.7.1$ sudo ./install.sh
Installing rEFInd on Linux....
EspFilesystem is ''
//boot/efi doesn't seem to be on a VFAT filesystem. The ESP must be
mounted at //boot or //boot/efi and it must be VFAT! Aborting!

phonic@Nova-Fractal:/usr/share/refind-0.7.1$ efibootmgr -v
The program 'efibootmgr' is currently not installed.  You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install efibootmgr

phonic@Nova-Fractal:/usr/share/refind-0.7.1$ sudo apt-get install efibootmgr
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-3.2.0-39-generic realpath linux-headers-3.2.0-39 linux-headers-3.2.0-48
  bogl-bterm linux-headers-3.2.0-48-generic
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  efibootmgr
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 38.2 kB of archives.
After this operation, 131 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 [url]http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] precise/main efibootmgr amd64 0.5.4-2ubuntu1 [38.2 kB]
Fetched 38.2 kB in 0s (97.1 kB/s)   
Selecting previously unselected package efibootmgr.
(Reading database ... 474672 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking efibootmgr (from .../efibootmgr_0.5.4-2ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up refind (0.7.1-1) ...
Fatal: Couldn't open either sysfs or procfs directories for accessing EFI variables.
Try 'modprobe efivars' as root.
Installing rEFInd on Linux....
EspFilesystem is ''
//boot/efi doesn't seem to be on a VFAT filesystem. The ESP must be
mounted at //boot or //boot/efi and it must be VFAT! Aborting!
dpkg: error processing refind (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Setting up efibootmgr (0.5.4-2ubuntu1) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 refind
W: Duplicate sources.list entry [url]http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] precise/restricted amd64 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/au.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_restricted_binary-amd64_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry [url]http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] precise/restricted i386 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/au.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise_restricted_binary-i386_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry [url]http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] precise-updates/restricted amd64 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/au.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-updates_restricted_binary-amd64_Packages)
W: Duplicate sources.list entry [url]http://au.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/[/url] precise-updates/restricted i386 Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/au.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_precise-updates_restricted_binary-i386_Packages)
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
phonic@Nova-Fractal:/usr/share/refind-0.7.1$

So still no access to boot external HD or a successful install of rEFInd 0.7.1

[phonic-otg]

This part is especially confusing

//boot/efi doesn't seem to be on a VFAT filesystem. The ESP must be
mounted at //boot or //boot/efi and it must be VFAT! Aborting!

I thought VFAT was a windows partition format.

[SteveRiley]

rEFInd only works on UEFI-based machines, and the disks must be GPT, not MBR.

What's the output of these commands:

sudo modprobe -v efivars

ls -al /boot

cat /etc/fstab

cat /proc/mounts

[phonic-otg]

Thanks

sudo modprobe -v efivars

Returned a new prompt.

[b][U]ls -al /boot[/U][/b]
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root    12288 Aug  2 17:33 .
drwxr-xr-x 27 root root     4096 Jul 29 21:25 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   795365 Jun  7 06:24 abi-3.2.0-48-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   795365 Jun 19 04:20 abi-3.2.0-49-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   795365 Jul 25 06:59 abi-3.2.0-51-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   140622 Jun  7 06:24 config-3.2.0-48-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   140622 Jun 19 04:20 config-3.2.0-49-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   140629 Jul 25 06:59 config-3.2.0-51-generic
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     4096 Aug  2 17:33 efi
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    12288 Aug  2 13:15 grub
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    12288 Jul 29 21:29 grub.bak
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 21788836 Jun 14 10:33 initrd.img-3.2.0-48-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 21791472 Jul  5 12:36 initrd.img-3.2.0-49-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 21796124 Aug  2 09:42 initrd.img-3.2.0-51-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   176764 Nov 27  2011 memtest86+.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   178944 Nov 27  2011 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
-rw-------  1 root root  2893287 Jun  7 06:24 System.map-3.2.0-48-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  2893287 Jun 19 04:20 System.map-3.2.0-49-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  2893555 Jul 25 06:59 System.map-3.2.0-51-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  4978416 Jun  7 06:24 vmlinuz-3.2.0-48-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  4978416 Jun 19 04:20 vmlinuz-3.2.0-49-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  4978960 Jul 25 06:59 vmlinuz-3.2.0-51-generic

[b][U]cat /etc/fstab[/U][/b]
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=35ad894e-f912-4e50-bb24-7822ee37cb48 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=afcdef81-7df5-44a5-9ff9-01268200f7ad none            swap    sw              0       0

[b][U]cat /proc/mounts[/U][/b]
rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime 0 0
udev /dev devtmpfs rw,relatime,size=2012088k,nr_inodes=503022,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000 0 0
tmpfs /run tmpfs rw,nosuid,relatime,size=809836k,mode=755 0 0
/dev/disk/by-uuid/35ad894e-f912-4e50-bb24-7822ee37cb48 / ext4 rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
none /sys/fs/fuse/connections fusectl rw,relatime 0 0
none /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,relatime 0 0
none /sys/kernel/security securityfs rw,relatime 0 0
none /run/lock tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=5120k 0 0
none /run/shm tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime 0 0
binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/Photonic-Array ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/Media-Nova ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_xattr,acl,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/sdc1 /media/SOL fuseblk rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0,default_permissions,allow_other,blksize=4096 0 0
/dev/sr0 /media/Armada iso9660 ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8,mode=0400,dmode=0500 0 0
/dev/sdd1 /media/b4b34ba6-5a47-4e05-823e-ec097c6907c0 ext4 rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered 0 0

when my 8gb drive is out sdd is my 500gb drive not as sde in the previous post.

Oh well if refind-0.7.1 can't be installed back to grub it'll be, thanks again.

[SteveRiley]

OK, you do have a UEFI machine. But your EFI system partition isn't mounted -- this is why the rEFInd installer is complaining.

Please connect the external drive. Then boot your PC from the internal drive. Show the output of

lsblk

Also... when copy-pasting console output into a forum post, please surround it with [CODE] and [/CODE] tags rather than [QUOTE] tags. This preserves indentation and column formatting, often important when trying to parse the text.

[phonic-otg]

Steve I feel very numb and sick.

After disconnecting the usb500gb drive I went and installed 13.04 on a 16gb usb-drive with success but with a dire consiquence. When rebooting to the 16gb drive after install of muon updates, I was rebooting the 13.04 on 16gb drive but I was slow with F8 and my bios sent me to the 320gb drive which displayed Missing operating system. I freaked and rebooted to the 16gb drive, dolphin no longer displayed the drive partition lables I could not find my 12.04 home, and the structure of sda was wrong.

I don't know what's happened I had never intended to install to the internal drive so hadn't yet backed up my home folder from 12.04 I hope I can recover (oh feeling not well now) please there is a way?

[oshunluvr]

Boot to your thumb drive and open a terminal. Type:

sudo fdisk -l

and report the results.

[phonic-otg]

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000605cf

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048      499711      248832   83  Linux
/dev/sda2          501758   625141759   312320001    5  Extended
/dev/sda5          501760   625141759   312320000   8e  Linux LVM

Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0002f740

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          63  3907024064  1953512001   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Disk /dev/sdc: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0007f359

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *          63  3907024064  1953512001    b  W95 FAT32

Disk /dev/mapper/kubuntu--vg-root: 315.5 GB, 315503935488 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38357 cylinders, total 616218624 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/mapper/kubuntu--vg-root doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/mapper/kubuntu--vg-swap_1: 4290 MB, 4290772992 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 521 cylinders, total 8380416 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/mapper/kubuntu--vg-swap_1 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sde: 8004 MB, 8004304896 bytes
35 heads, 21 sectors/track, 21269 cylinders, total 15633408 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00098029

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sde1   *          32    15633407     7816688    b  W95 FAT32

[phonic-otg]

looks like I'll need a forensic HDD recovery service as I cannot loose that data. I checked it out it's going to cost between $275 & $600.

Oh well this is my lesson then to ALWAYS physically remove the internal hard drives before messing with ANY type of installation that can break a partition.

Now neither 13.04 usb installs (live usb and 16gb usb proper-install and upgraded) are displaying correctly. I had put the Nvidia driver in 16gb via Jockey. Then the DPI went super tiny (on both yet I had done nothing to the live USB-must be residual settings in the Nvidia card itself) I tried to fix it with the xorg.conf but there is not one, so I cant fix their DPI that way. If I can't read the displays then they are both useless to me. Except to use reconq, which seems to work ok, but also has tiny font buttons & text, there is not much else I can do. Upgraging 13.04 on 16gb made it worse.

[Snowhog]

Don't be hasty, and definitely, don't do anything to the HDD! Let SteveRiley chime in (again). The guy's rather extraordinary, IMHO. Give him a chance to see if he can help you here.

[phonic-otg]

I was about to remove the 320gb Drive for the forensic guys. I'll wait a little to see If I can reverse the situation. I will have to remove it tomorrow though.

[oshunluvr]

You still have a partition table, so that's good news. I can't speak to LVM though, I've never used it.

[phonic-otg]

I think the 13.04 install to the 16gb-usb (at the time sdd) must of copied to sda & sdaX formatting for the 13.04 install as the 12.04 partition and Music partition is not there and the file structure in sda is missing the "Username" home folder whilst the partitions lost their names/lables.

Also here seems to indicate I can recover. Feeling slightly better now. I will hold off till I hear back from someone much more experienced as snowhog suggested and thanks oshunluvr for the words of hope, as I can not afford the forensic guys. I'd definitely donate more to the forum if I don't have to go to them.

The link above suggests gddrescue ( I'm assuming the "g" stands for gnome) the KDE version KDiskRescue a gnu/ddrescue frontend seems promising has anyone used it here @ kubuntuforums?

Oh lordy is it not my weekend or what. I've just discovered that my back-up drive is completely dead won't even power-up so I'm left to attempt recovery as my only happy option. I have started a new thread for the recovery of 12.04 here.

[SteveRiley]

Your output of fdisk -l, along with the outputs in your post #5, tell me that while your machine is UEFI capable, none of your operating systems have been installed in UEFI mode. Therefore, I'm curious why you decided to try rEFInd, then? I should have realized that it would have not worked for you upon reading your first post, since the error you quoted is from GRUB-PC.

Oh lordy is it not my weekend or what. I've just discovered that my back-up drive is completely dead won't even power-up so I'm left to attempt recovery as my only happy option. I have started a new thread for the recovery of 12.04 here.

I'm not sure what to make of this. Do you want to stop trying to fix the problem? Unless you have actually written something onto or wiped the drives, there's a chance we can recreate partition tables to return proper functionality.