8.04 installed with wubi under Xp; no longer boots up

Is grldr the grub-loader for Windows?

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide

Hope you can find the answer from here!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide#Cannot%20boot%20into%20Ubuntu

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide#How%20can%20I%20access%20my%20Wubi%20install%20and%20repair%20my%20install%20if%20it%20won%27t%20boot?

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide#How%20do%20I%20migrate%20to%20a%20real%20partition,%20and/or%20get%20rid%20of%20Windows%20entirely?

Tom,
I looked at the reference material in your first reply.
I had already been there and tried those things and they did not help.
I looked at your second replay and there may be something in the second link that I may be able to use.
I will try that the first thing Wednesday morning and let you know.
Thanks for your halp.
-Jim

Tom,
Well, I fired up my Live Ubuntu 8.04 CD.
I mounted the drives.
I ran "fschk" and... it reported clean.
As I suspected, this is definitely a MSWindows related problem...
Thanks for the links and suggestions.
-Jim

This seems to be a case of a curropted GRUB Loader. To Reinstall the GRUB, follow the following steps :-

Boot the system from the Ubuntu Live CD and select "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer".

Next, open the Terminal and enter the GRUB configuration mode by typing "sudo grub: without the quotes and enter the following commands sequentially :
- root (hd0,0)
- setup (hd0)
- quit
- exit

Reboot the system. You'll get the GRUB bootloader but XP won't be an option - we need to add this to the boot options.

Boot into Ubuntu and open up another Terminal session. Then, type in sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Scroll down to the bottom of the file and type in the following text strings:

title Windows XP
root (hd0,1)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Save the file and reboot. When the GRUB loader launches hit ESC for the boot menu. Windows XP is the last option - select it and XP will load.

If you want to make the GRUB menu always available, boot back into Ubuntu and edit the MENU.LST file. Find the hiddenmenu text string and change it to #hiddenmenu.

To increase the menu timeout, change the default timeout 3 to something more appropriate.

Just want to make sure you understand that my Ubuntu installation is via. WUBI under windows.
GRUB is not the first line loader.

I was just starting to "back out" MS Windows XP Updates to see if that would fix the problem.

Is it possibe to install Ubuntu properly?
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromCD
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot
and then somehow use that to access the files, data and settings in Wubi? I don't think it's likely but i haven't read those guides i gave very well and so i'm not sure.

If possible it would be great to get Wubi migrated onto its own partition.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Tom
Thanks and yes it would be good to get Ubuntu installed properly.
The problem is that I have some software installed and running on that version of Ubuntu that I have been unable to get running under the latest version of Ubuntu installed on another PC!
It is a complex application using C, C++, F77 and F90 modules that are integrated with BLAS, LAPACK and other 3rd party utilities...
Took a while to get working on the old system...
Haven't found the "magic formula" with the latest Ubuntu yet...
Jim

So we're not just looking for a way of accessing the data and backing that up - although that's got to be done anyway. We also need to force-boot into Wubi, in order to then migrate it. As i understand it there are ways of using your cache to build a "Personalised Repository on Cd" which has got to be worth trying. i haven't a clue how to do this. It's worth asking a new question because i think searching in the "Solved" Answers forum is going to be tough for this question.

Ok, i've another mad idea that probably wont work. I've not tried it before but it sounds like your likely to either know if this a total non-starter or be able to pull it off if there's any hope of it. Only try this at your own risk or don''t try it at all please! How about doing a 'frugal' install of "Wolvix" or "Puppy" or something else that does an install inside Windows and see if you can access/boot Ubuntu using one of them?
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=wolvix

I have a feeling they use very different systems within Windows and there's also the possibility of wiping out your current Wubi. What do you think? Worth the risk or a non-starter?

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Tom,
Thanks for your suggestions.
I will look into them.

You are correct, I am looking for a way to "force a boot into my existing wubi/ubuntu installation.

I was able to boot a live 8.05 cd.
I was then able to "mount" the "virtual boot" disk from my wubi/ubuntu installation.
I then ran "fschk" and it showed the system to be clean!
I can see all of the files, I just cannot force my PC to into the wubi/ubuntu.

I believe that I can access any and all existing files and write them to a USB thumb drive.
I am just not able to do any more development in that old system, unless I can boot into it.

I think I know the answer to the following question...
However,...
Could I copy all of the virtual disks and other files created on an X86 platform on Xp, using wubi to another X86 PC running Xp and expect them to work?

I know it is wishful thinking, but I am running out of options...

-Jim

Wow, i like the sound of that but haven't a clue if it's possible. First thing is to back up as much as possible. Now there are a couple of plans on the table it might be a good plan to re-post somthing into other forums too as we don't seem to be getting many responses in this one. I think it's still a couple of hours early before certain people get online and into the forums, even though many of the Answers Team are European or from elsewhere.

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

I hope we get some good answers soon.
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Well...
I used Tom's suggestion found at the link:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide#How%20can%20I%20access%20my%20Wubi%20install%20and%20repair%20my%20install%20if%20it%20won%27t%20boot?

After I booted from the LiveCD and mounted the virtual disks...
I was able to retrieve all of the data files.
There were a few files that I was not able to copy...not sure why...
I sent them to a USB Thumb drive.
I was also able to "cd" into the virtual disks and run executables from those directories,
which created new data on those virtual disks.

However, if I modified one or more of the source files, and tried to do a "make",
I might be in trouble, if the paths in the various "makefile"s and
Make.inc files were absolute and not relative...

Unless someone can suggest a way to force a boot into wubi/ubuntu
from the normal MSWindows Xp boot, I do not know what else I could do.

However, what I have been able to do using the LiveCD is a lot!

I will be signing off in about an hour after this post...
I'll check back tomorrow to see if there are any better suggestion.

Thanks,
-Jim

The best thing i can think of that you do is dual boot or give one up.

I have tried asking in DistroWatch Readers Comments but they seem to be more interested in other topics right now. I'll pester them again later

Good luck again :)

Hi :)

Have you been able to test the new Ubuntu 10.04 before it gets officially released?
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/testing/lucid/beta1
Trying it as a LiveCd or as an extra dual/multi-boot would be ideal. Developers and everyone are keen to try to iron out any problems before 10.04 gets officially released so you might find faster & more effective answers to your bug reports which would make 10.04 work better on your system for you

Thanks and regards from
Tom :)