<GRUB rescue prompt> <Lubuntu> <2006 Desktop>

[prof.mecv]

Hello!

Is it possible to run <inxi -Fxs> from the GRUB rescue prompt? My computer only lands on it after turning on... it happened after I tried to create a new partition using fdisk. Now I am stuck with it and desperately needing to get my Lubuntu back on track. Thanks for any help.

 

[atanere]

Greetings Professor, and welcome to the forums! Sorry to hear your computer isn't booting. This problem happens once in awhile, and there are some resources that can help you to get your system back. Some methods are easier than others, so you just have to give them a try and see what will work. Since you mention a "2006 Desktop"... I am assuming that your computer is the older BIOS/MBR type of system, and not the newer UEFI/GPT type of system. You only have very limited commands available from the grub rescue> prompt, so inxi is not available, but the "Boot Repair" described below can collect a good summary of system details.

Easiest method: Use (or make a new) Ubuntu Live DVD or USB (or Lubuntu, just about anything Ubuntu-based). Boot your computer on that, and while in Live Mode, install and run a program called "Boot Repair." This link and this link describe using Boot Repair. The second link also gives another method further down the page that describes using the command line from the Live Mode media that you booted on.

A bit more complicated method can be done from a grub> or grub rescue> prompt without booting on a Live DVD/USB. See this link for details. If you need to go this way, read the entire article through a time or two so you can grasp what's going on in general. It gives some further details about grub rescue> situations toward the end of the article that will probably apply to you, but you also need to gather information from the steps that are given earlier in the beginning of the article.

One of these methods above should get you going again. Your Lubuntu install should still be okay, but there is a chance that you misused fdisk and could have hosed up your Linux partition. If so, you may have to reinstall Lubuntu from scratch.

Good luck!

 

[prof.mecv]

Hi @atanere and thanks for your reply.

Booting from Live DVD did not work for me, so I will go with your 2nd option. My problem with booting from DVD is that my BIOS only gives me the options to boot from floppy or hard drive, but not CD/DVD or USB drives. I hope I did not misuse fdisk, at least I made sure the sector numbering was alright...

Let me read that article with care now, and I will get back here after all is said and done...

As this is my first exchange here, let me thank you again for such clear directions. I really admire you all putting your hearts and minds in helping others learn Linux!

 

[atanere]

My problem with booting from DVD is that my BIOS only gives me the options to boot from floppy or hard drive, but not CD/DVD or USB drives.

How did you install Lubuntu then?

 

[wizardfromoz]

Now that's a good question

Hello, Luciano, is that you?

Luciano found my blog and I advocated joining our merry band of men and women here.

@prof.mecv - that article by Carla Schroder Stan (@atanere ) recommended, although dated, is quite good ... I keep a hard copy close by, because I like to "push the envelope" with Linux, running 40 on a computer at a time.

There are other options if what has been recommended doesn't get the desired results, but they mostly hinge on being able to use a USB stick or a DVD.

Maybe you can tell us the brand and model number of the desktop when you get a chance, and we can scout around.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

BTW - like the new signature Stan

 

[prof.mecv]

Hello friends,

still did not have time to work on the GRUB issue. Will report later. Hey Chris, yes it is me. Cheers!

I can only say that I think it is my issue with GRUB that made my BIOS not show other booting options.

Installed (actually downgraded from "normal" Ubuntu) few years back... don't recall exactly how, but it was not from external media for sure... directly from the Internet. Hope that answers the good question!

Have a nice week.

 

[wizardfromoz]

How did you install Lubuntu then?

The penny has dropped (kerplunk ). It goes something like this, and Luciano can pull me up if I am wrong:

1. By means unknown, Luciano has had an Ubuntu installed on this computer quite some time ago
2. Because of resource issues, or simply liking the look of Lubuntu better, he has downloaded a Lubuntu iso
3. He has done a direct install from iso, such as is described here https://www.howtogeek.com/196933/how-to-boot-linux-iso-images-directly-from-your-hard-drive/
   
4. Once he has established that it worked satisfactorily, he has done away with his original Ubuntu

No need for removable media such as USB stick or CD/DVD.

This method did not used to be able to install from a Windows environment, only from within Linux, which begs the question about how the original Ubuntu was installed, but I'll leave that up to Luciano.

Luciano, with the Carlo Schroder article, which I advocate for you to try:

Where she says

If you're in the GRUB rescue shell the commands are different, and you have to load the normal.mod andlinux.mod modules:

grub rescue> set prefix=(hd0,1)/boot/grub
grub rescue> set root=(hd0,1)
grub rescue> insmod normal
grub rescue> normal
grub rescue> insmod linux
grub rescue> linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic root=/dev/sda1
grub rescue> initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-29-generic
grub rescue> boot

Tab-completion should start working after you load both modules.

That means that once you start typing in "vmlinuz" you can press Tab. If there is only one choice, it will autocomplete. Likely there will be more than one, so you type in more and tab. The ones with the highest numbers at the end are the ones you boot from, in my case on this Linux Mint

initrd.img-4.13.0-39-generic  vmlinuz-4.13.0-39-generic
initrd.img-4.13.0-41-generic  vmlinuz-4.13.0-41-generic
initrd.img-4.13.0-43-generic  vmlinuz-4.13.0-43-generic
initrd.img-4.13.0-45-generic  vmlinuz-4.13.0-45-generic

... so the 45's are what I am booting from currently.

If you want to be cautious, you could go with the subseries before, in my case the 43's. The machine can boot from them, and it avoids any recurrence of an update having caused your computer indigestion.

When you get into the system and run "update-grub", the status quo will be resumed.

Fire away with any questions. (I take it you have access to a Windows machine for contacting us).

Cheers

Wizard

 

[atanere]

I can only say that I think it is my issue with GRUB that made my BIOS not show other booting options.

I don't think GRUB can change BIOS settings. And I cannot imagine your BIOS only permits floppy or hard drive booting, and not CD. Computers have been booting CD's since at least Windows 98 era. But I have been wrong many times before, so perhaps this is another example.

Could it be that CD/DVD booting is just "disabled" in BIOS instead?

Cheers

 

[wizardfromoz]

I don't think GRUB can change BIOS settings

No, it can't.

And I cannot imagine your BIOS only permits floppy or hard drive booting, and not CD.

Unlikely, but Luciano, consider the following screenshots, from my wife Elaine's old Compaq Presario C300, where I have just installed a 4th Linux (MX-17 32-bit) on it.

and

and finally,

.


So you can see that different manufacturers for the older computers gave different names to terms we now standardise.

The Compaq doesn't even have a floppy drive. but supports having a USB floppy drive attached.

Her BIOS are by Phoenix, mine on the Toshiba Satellite are "Insyde" - in all likelihood, your Manufacturer's BIOS allows for alternative booting order, both one-off and permanent.

See what you can find for us, and we'll see where we go.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[prof.mecv]

Hello Friends,

Glad screenshots can be placed. I followed the directions on Carla Schroder's article but still not successful.

Please see some of my screenshots in order here. These were done a time before when I was searching various forums. Before coming here. Hope it can shed some light. I did not make screenshots from the steps on the article, but if need be I can do that too.

Still pressed on time as school is wrapping up this week. Will have more time to look into this issue midweek next week. I also recorded a 20 MB video of the booting process that shows an initial screen before landing on the grub rescue> prompt.

The Google Drive link is

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8brCdp-5nZ-NlhzTGJRUFBVb2FSNVo4V3lLQ3dLdnk4d0Fv

Thanks guys for all you do. Did I tell you that all this happened because I am trying to install LFS?

Yes, got stuck right on the first part...

No, it can't.



Unlikely, but Luciano, consider the following screenshots, from my wife Elaine's old Compaq Presario C300, where I have just installed a 4th Linux (MX-17 32-bit) on it.

and

and finally,

.


So you can see that different manufacturers for the older computers gave different names to terms we now standardise.

The Compaq doesn't even have a floppy drive. but supports having a USB floppy drive attached.

Her BIOS are by Phoenix, mine on the Toshiba Satellite are "Insyde" - in all likelihood, your Manufacturer's BIOS allows for alternative booting order, both one-off and permanent.

See what you can find for us, and we'll see where we go.

Cheers

Wizard

 

[prof.mecv]

Oops. I think the boot menu screenshot was deleted by accident. Here it is

 

[atanere]

Hi Professor! Good that you aren't desperate for a quick solution.... there may be many issues that need to be addressed.

I'll start with your last screenshot first. (Thanks, by the way! A picture is worth a thousand words! ) Do you know why you have the hard drive in RAID mode? If yes, and it was intentional... okay, fine. But it is not common for most users and it may complicate restoring the boot process. As you stated, it shows no option for DVD booting... but perhaps it would if you had picked SATA or IDE instead of RAID. It is extremely unusual to see a Boot Menu like yours that does not provide CD or DVD options.

About the "Carla method" for restoring booting. Following your screenshots... you did not follow her descriptions. In them, even she acknowledges that your computer still may not boot... but I have used those descriptions successfully before. It is imperative that you follow detailed Linux instructions like these exactly. So, for now, I will only point out your first mistake...

This command was good:

grub rescue> ls  
# Gave you this response below
(hd0) (hd0,msdos5) (hd0,msdos1) (fd0)

It was the next step that you erred:

grub rescue> ls (hd0)/boot
# You neglected to enter a partition number to determine where your boot files are at, according to Carla's directions.
grub rescue> (hd0,1)/  # is what you should have entered to search partition 1, and if it failed, then this below:
grub rescue> (hd0,5)/  # and note that this is just "/" and not "/boot"

Picky, picky! But it's not me... it's Linux!

I won't go any further for now. With this realization, you might revisit Carla's article and follow along more closely to see if you can find success on your own. But if not, those screen shots sure help to pinpoint whether it is a simple typo, or if perhaps this method just will not work after all. It is still worth trying right now.

What was also good to see as you stumbled around with the commands is that you can tell that your system is there. The folders under "/" show a complete system intact, and you also were able to show the contents of your home folder. So all is not lost! Yet! You still need to take care as you move forward. You need to understand in Carla's article that your kernel numbers (vmlinuz and initrd) are going to be different... and you need to use the "tab completion" mechanism built-in to Linux to help you enter the proper values into the commands and not just follow her examples. Good luck!

Cheers

 

[wizardfromoz]

Hi all ... what, no Lucky Luciano yet? . Kidding. On our journey from the infants bathing pool that is Windows to the big kids pool of Linux, we get to learn a whole lot about syntax and being precise, we've all been there

With that tab (auto)completion, you will be typing in (after the normal and linux modules have been loaded through use of insmod)

linux /boot/vmli

then hit Tab and it will complete, if there is more than one option it will show the options.

BUT (theres always a BUT with Wizard)

There is likely a use of "ls" here.

When you ran

ls /home

ls /home/luciano

and

ls /

... this last one in particular, we established that you are currently in the partition you are trying to get into.

So

ls /boot

... will reveal the names of those kernels ... write them down, or try the tab autocomplete.

You'll get there.

Cheers

Wiz

 

[prof.mecv]

Hey Friends, thanks for the encouraging words . I should be able to report back here at the end of the day.
Most likely with new screenshots.... stay tuned if you will.

Ah, @atanere, I have no idea why I am in RAID mode, I remember it was SATA before. I miss SATA.

 

[atanere]

If you don't need RAID, you should change this setting. It may be part of the trouble you are having.

Good luck! Looking forward to seeing you make progress!

 

[atanere]

If you don't need RAID, you should change this setting.

Well, I'm starting to second guess myself. In the long term, you should change this setting. But maybe you should just get your system booting again first to be sure you can retrieve and backup any data that you want to preserve. You may be in for a re-install down the road here anyway, and you can change it back to SATA then.

Cheers

 

[prof.mecv]

First screenshot happened once when turning computer on. It was the first time it happened this way.

Second screenshot after turning off and on again. Showing the commands suggested in Carla's article.

As modules "normal" and "linux" did not seem to load, TAB autocompletion did not work.

Just one more screenshot with commands suggested by @atanere.

Thanks guys.

 

[prof.mecv]

If you don't need RAID, you should change this setting. It may be part of the trouble you are having.

Good luck! Looking forward to seeing you make progress!

Problem is I have no idea how to change from RAID to SATA in grub rescue prompt.

 

[atanere]

First screenshot happened once when turning computer on. It was the first time it happened this way.

I don't like seeing the "BIOS ROM checksum error"... but since it's the first time you've seen it, we'll have to watch for any other BIOS issues (the RAID selection is a BIOS issue, for one... not something to change from the grub rescue prompt). Since your system still seems to have the necessary files to boot, don't try to change the RAID setting yet unless Wizard thinks it will be okay.

I do like seeing in that first screen that it was trying to boot on a CDROM. That shows promise that maybe later you will be able to get a fresh new Linux going.

I'm confused why your are getting the "error: attempt to read or write outside of partition." Your first three commands (set pager, set prefix, and set root) were all accepted without errors, so it's looking good that (hd0,1) is the one to be using. It was after insmod normal that you got the first error... but you also missed giving another command at this stage. The sequence should have been:

insmod normal
normal
insmod linux

I'm pausing here because you may need both of those insmod commands to work for the TAB completion to work, and you definitely need to enter that normal command in between them that you missed in your screenshot. Without the insmod commands executing successfully, I'm also not sure that the next command, linux /boot/vmlinux.... will work either. And if it does work, you may have to carefully type out all the stuff that follows vmlinuz for YOUR system, not for Carla's. So we will have to see what your exact vmlinuz version is.

SO, just to be sure that the "read/write outside of partition" is not because you are trying to use the wrong partition, lets do these commands, one at a time, and show us the screenshot of the output. Do not add "boot" or anything else to these commands:

grub rescue> ls (hd0,1)/  #then show us the screenshot
grub rescue> ls (hd0,5)/  #then show us the screenshot

After knowing for sure which partition we want, then we'll look inside the boot folder and see the vmlinuz and initrd version. And then we'll try to step through Carla's instructions again.... using TAB completion if it works, or entering manually if necessary.

Cheers

 

[prof.mecv]

Hi @atanere, above is the output of the commands you asked.

Also, after issuing "insmod normal" and getting the output shown in one of the screenshots above, then typing "normal" returned

"Unknown command 'normal'"

And sorry for my ADD (its getting worse with age), the computer make and model is


HP Pavillion a1550y with Pentium D inside!


@wizardfromoz had asked this earlier and I completely ignored. Believe me, it was not on purpose.

Anyhow, thoughts of opening windows are lurking in mind and I hope it is not a sign of weakness... better
start controlling my thoughts before late. Its been a long day, looking forward to Thursday. Cheers.