error: hd0 cannot get C/H/S values. grub rescue>

[ChrisPy]

What does this mean? I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 something, and everytime I boot my laptop this comes up. It will actually start up sometimes, but yesterday nothing was working. My touchpad was not working, no programs would open, and my wireless airport wouldn't connect. On the occasion that it would start and I try to pick Windows to boot, an error message would say that there's something wrong with my hard disk. I've looked online and everything I find says to use the disc I originally used when I installed Ubuntu, but I never had one. I downloaded from the site. I need some input. Please.

 

[arochester]

At the most basic level it means that your Hard Drive cannot find Cylinder, Head and Sector information.
http://www.easeus.com/resource/cylinder-head-sector.htm

After that it becomes a bit more difficult to say where the problem lies. Different answers seem to be (1) The little BIOS battery on the motherboard might be dead/dying (2) The BIOS itself (You did not say e.g. What your Laptop MAKE and MODEL is and how much RAM you have) or (3) Grub (4) The Hard Drive (Do you know what it is?) (5) Other (?)

...Also we don't know that VERSION of Windows you have...

You might need to work through some of these yourself.

With a LiveCD you can replace Grub or, at worst, copy off essential personal stuff. How are you online at the moment?

Do you have a Windows disk? You might be better to save Windows first and fix the MBR (Master Boot Record)· https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/grub

This is not a simple problem at the moment. There are several possible solutions. No guarantee can be given just now.

 

[ChrisPy]

@arochester

I have a Gateway (Nela0 I guess)with Windows 7, an AMD processor, and 500 GB hard drive...RAM, I'm not entirely sure, maybe 2 GB

 

[arochester]

I would probably begin by accessing the BIOS. They normally give "today's" date. Does it show "today's" date or an older date? If it shows an older date then the little BIOS battery has probably gone, because the computer has lost it's ability to remember information. If it shows an older date change it to "today's" date, reboot. Does it keep or lose today's date?

Somehow, you need to get a LiveCD one either a bootable CD or bootable USB stick, which can read both Linux and Windows (AND KEEP IT in case of any future difficulty!). (With a LiveCD I could get online using a computer that had not Hard Disk whatsoever...)

You should BACKUP any of your personal information to an external Hard Drive using the LiveCD. Make sure the external Hard Drive is formatted to a format that can be read by both Windows and Linux e.g. FAT32. Just copy across the information.

Do you have the means to reinstall Windows 7 if necessary? An Install Disk? A Recovery Partition?