I nuked my GRUB again

I was in the middle of updates, but then had to pass through a security setup with a "power off everything..." rule in a hurry, so I ended up pulling my battery and having all kinds of strange crap on startup. Eh, at least I know what I'm doing this time.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

/boot/grub/menu.lst

Backed up the auto-generated grub to menu-old.lst (oops, guess I rewrote the backup from last time)

Current grub is here:

default 0

timeout 60

title Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-26-generic-pae (64-bit)

uuid 97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-26-generic-pae root=UUID=97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26 ro quiet

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-26-generic-pae

title Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-26-generic-pae (64-bit recovery mode)

uuid 97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-26-generic-pae root=UUID=97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26 ro single

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-26-generic-pae

title Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-24-generic (32-bit)

uuid 97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-25-generic root=UUID=97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26 ro

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-25-generic

title Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-24-generic (32-bit recovery mode)

uuid 97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26 ro single

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-generic

title Windows 7

root (hd0,0)

savedefault

makeactive

chainloader +1

nothing is installing properly

I will deal with this in just a minute.

Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-25-generic-pae
Bus error
Bus error
rm: cannot remove `/tmp/mkinitramfs_2xhLIe/lib/modules/2.6.32-25-generic-pae/modules.*map': No such file or directory
Segmentation fault
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-25-generic-pae
dpkg: error processing initramfs-tools (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Errors were encountered while processing:
initramfs-tools
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Edit: It turns out that I'd tried to switch from kernel 2.6.32-24-generic to 2.6.32-26-generic-pae but didn't do it completely. Fixing that (yay aptitude!) fixed the problem. Also, remember to update GRUB.

Knowing that would've made cs450 a lot more pleasant. Damn.

GRUB is all better

By the way, I finally got my grub file working, with some initial help from rancorbeast. I used a Ubuntu 10.04 Server disc that I picked up at GHC. My current grub (with most of the comments edited out for ease of reading):

default 0

timeout 20

# hiddenmenu

title Ubuntu 10.04

uuid 97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-25-generic root=UUID=97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26 ro

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-25-generic

quiet

title Recovery mode (Ubuntu 10.04)

uuid 97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-25-generic root=UUID=97da0f78-1a67-4dfa-9239-70cf44363b26 ro single

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-25-generic

title Windows 7

root (hd0,0)

savedefault

makeactive

chainloader +1

----

As you can see, I'm not using a splash page, and I have Ubuntu and Windows 7 dual-booting. My grub menu is not hidden but if it were I would have a nice long 20-second delay so it wouldn't catch me by surprise on its way by.

I have a somewhat haphazardly partitioned hard drive; originally the machine (Thinkpad T400 and I love it) came with Vista. I installed Ubuntu 10.04, then did a clean install of Windows 7 over Vista. Naturally this trashed my grub menu and I had to go get it back, etc., see above. Of course what update-grub created had duplicates of everything, a link to a nonfunctional grub2 loader and a memtest, and no Windows. So I fiddled, and now it's all better. -shrug- Not complicated, but a good thing to play with.

New W7 -> go reinstall grub

I'd forgotten how long it takes to install Windows, even W7. I read a freaking book in less than the time that it took to install, goddammit. (I Shall Wear Midnight by Pratchett) But it's done now. When I have time I'll re-dl all the programs that I like to have...

For now, though, my first task is to re-enable GRUB. Dammit, Windows. I forgot that it did that. At least it's easy to undo.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/reinstall-ubuntu-grub-bootloader-after-windows-wipes-it-out/

Also, playing with run>compmgmt.msc is fun.

grub

I installed an Ubuntu partition onto my Vista machine. Now I don't see Windows as an OS option when I boot. Big loss, right? But there's some stuff that I want to do using Windows, so I'm off to do some creative grub editing.

Installed grub (previously had grub-pc, yay?) so now I can get into the grub shell.

Step one is figuring out where Windows is, i.e. which partition. Answer format: (hd0,0) Actual answer:

I wonder whether I'll have any interesting errors when I next restart.

I was looking around for a way for my friend to get into her Ubuntu partition after forgetting her password (solved it, no worries) and found this thread, which I personally find amusing and pathetic in equal measure. http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-3609.html

I'm considering installing Wine for when I can safely hose my Windows partition, but it would almost certainly make more sense to just get a virtual box going. Anyway, a problem for the future.