Boot-Repair

hd0 read error, prompt grub rescue

Asked by Chris Hirtes

Have received the above message after routine boot up of 11.10 version. Don't know anything about commands and am vitrually operating system illiterate.. Have a Ubuntu 11.10 CD which I initially used to install operating system as a single boot . Message sent on Net Book. Could anybody help me?

Also interested in changing to a dual boot system with Windows XP. However, boot up is my urgent problem and can pose a separate question when PC up and running.

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YannUbuntu (yannubuntu) said : 		#1

hello Chris
please run Boot-Repair, click the "Recommened repair" button, and indicate the URL that will appear.
Reboot the pc, and tell what you observe.

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Chris Hirtes (hirtes) said : 		#2

Hello Yan,

Thanks for response.

Tried to run from Terminal "Boot repair" and "Run Boot-repair" and, as expected, got error messages. Then booted up with Ubuntu 11.10 CD using "try installation" but could not find programme using dash.

Goggled "Boot-repair" and choose first result "Boot-Repair- Community Ubuntu Documentation". Followed "install boot-repair in Ubuntu and ended up with update option -selected yes and received message "Updating.." which continued for over an hour before I exited.

Used dash again and found "Boot repair" - "Scanning systems .." message came up. Still running after 20 minutes.

I must have done something wrong - I am very much a novice. Any ideas?

Chris

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YannUbuntu (yannubuntu) said : 		#3

ok, let's do it simple:
1) download the ISO of Boot-Repair-Disk : https://sourceforge.net/projects/boot-repair-cd/files/
2) burn it onto a CD
3) boot your computer on it.
4) You see this black screen: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=11181195&postcount=1
5) choose "32bits session"
6) Boot-Repair will automatically start
7) It will ask you if you want to update the software --> answer "NO"
8) the main window will appear
9) click the "Recommended Repair" button
10) Write the URL (something like http://paste.ubuntu.com/ XXXXXXXX ) that will appear in the final window.
11) Reboot the PC, and check if it's better
12) if you still have problems, please tell me the URL that you wrote on your paper.

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Chris Hirtes (hirtes) said : 		#4
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YannUbuntu (yannubuntu) said : 		#5

?

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Chris Hirtes (hirtes) said : 		#6

Sorry my e-mail, not replicated, read :

"Thanks for this. Have followed instructions but no improvement. URL was http://paste.ubuntu.com/1228294.

I think I need a new hard drive?

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YannUbuntu (yannubuntu) said : 		#7

Your partition table or Ubuntu partition is damaged.
If i were you, i would:
1) make a bit-to-bit copy of the disk to another disk via ddrescue
2) try to fix the partition table via TestDisk.
3) If still not good, try to recover documents via TestDisk, then format the disk and reinstall Ubuntu

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