Need Big help

[shrimply]

Hey again, I've got a truly awesome one for you. I seriously doubt you've ever had such a big **** up on here, especially not one caused by complete user incompetence. And sorry if this is in the wrong place but a bit of everything is messed up.

 

Basically I was messing about with a ubuntu live CD, and had the bright idea of installing it on a USB drive. So I partitioned the flash drive as it asked and started the install, all through it the indicator light was flashing and my hard drive wasn't making a sound so I nievlly presumed everything was fine.

 

Then I went to restart my computer and thought I'd completely lost everything, it just wouldn't boot, I get a Grub error 21 or something similar. So after a while I put in the vista CD and attempted various repair options, but nothing worked. Then I restarted it with the USB in and it works,lol.

 

I get a choice of operating systems to boot from and if I choose Vista all my stuff is still there( thank goodness) .

 

So basically without the USB stick my laptop is useless, not being technical minded I have no idea what has changed to make this happen and I know it was complete idiocy on my part, but if you could possibly help me I would be as ever very grateful.

[Seth]

Hi Shrimply.

 

This is for XP, but should be similar for Vista:

 

Right click "My Computer" and choose Properties>Advanced. Go into "Startup and Recovery" and select Vista as the default operating system.

[RandyL]

I just checked my Vista and it looks the same.

[shrimply]

Thanks, Seth. I think its a bit more messed up than that, Vista is set as the default OS and doesn't appear to detect that there is a second installed.

 

I'm just a bit worried about changing anything at the minute, as obviously I'm happier in the position I'm in now where I've still got everything.

[Seth]

Thanks Randy. Time to make the change:).

 

Shrimply,

 

What happens when you start it up without the usb stick?

[shrimply]

When I start it with the USB stick it works as you'd expect any hard drive to load if it had two operating systems, I get a choice of Several Ubuntu options and a Vista option, If I don't choose anything Ubuntu loads up, both operating systems load and work fine.

 

sorry, misread your question, When I try to load up with out the Stick I get a Grub Error 21, I think, something like that and nothing else.

Edited June 1, 2008 by shrimply

[Seth]

Sounds like the bios (motherboard program) is set to boot from the USB device first.

 

Pull the usb stick and go into the bios (setup) and change the first device to cd and the second to hard drive (hd). Be sure to save the changes before exiting.

[shrimply]

Sorry no, not that either, It was set to load from the USB first, but that was one of the first things I changed, Now the SATA hard drive is first and then the CD drive and then the Flash drive.

[shrimply]

Just adding the exact messages I get, without the USB Stick I get,

 

Grub Loading stage1.5.

Grub Loading, please wait

Error 21

 

If the USB drive is in I get the first two Grub lines then it takes me to the OS options

 

Curse my stupidity, I don't even want to use Ubuntu really just wanted to check it out at a faster speed than off the live CD.

[RandyL]

21 : Selected disk does not exist

This error is returned if the device part of a device- or full file name refers to a disk or BIOS device that is not present or not recognized by the BIOS in the system.

 

What repairs did you try? Did you try fixmbr?

[Guest Wolfeymole]

When I start it with the USB stick it works as you'd expect any hard drive to load if it had two operating systems, I get a choice of Several Ubuntu options and a Vista option, If I don't choose anything Ubuntu loads up, both operating systems load and work fine.

 

sorry, misread your question, When I try to load up with out the Stick I get a Grub Error 21, I think, something like that and nothing else.

 

Well I don't what you have managed to do here Shrimps mate but to me it looks like you have both Ubuntu and Vista on the stick.

Is it a stick or an external hard drive?

I hate the terms for these things, pen drive, flash drive, usb stick etc.

 

Completely remove this stick/drive or what ever the hell it is and any linux cdroms that may be lurking.

 

Go into the bios and change the first boot order to the hard drive that in theory should contain Vista and tell us what happens.

 

Make sure you Save the settings before exiting the bios.

 

 

 

This is the ONLY thing you should be seeing in your Start Up and Recovery section.

[Dalo Harkin]

Sorry no, not that either, It was set to load from the USB first, but that was one of the first things I changed, Now the SATA hard drive is first and then the CD drive and then the Flash drive.

 

Under these settings in the BIOS there should be an option saying 'boot other device' go in and DISABLE it - try again ;)

[shrimply]

Hey, I'll just go through and answer the questions,

 

RandyL, All I did was insert the vista CD( without the USB stick in) and ask it to go back to a restore point, which it was happy to do, and sure enough once I tried booting with the USB stick in vista had been restored to a day or so ago. I also scanned for start-up errors for which it found none.

 

Wolfey, Yeah I really did bad huh, Vista is definitely on the original 80gb hard Drive, its a 4GB Attache flash drive that has know got Ubuntu installed on it. When I boot from the hard drive that's when I get the Grub error. And that's exactly what I see when I go into start-up and recovery.

 

Dalo Harkin, will do.

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Shrimply

 

Did you actually remove that 4GB thing and start up?

[shrimply]

Yeah, i have done several times and all i get is the Error 21,

 

I've actually got an external hard drive on the way, so I'm hoping that once I get that and back up my stuff then I'll be able to do something, even if its a fresh install.

[Flair4it]

You need to rebuild your Boot sector when installing on the flash drive it needed to make an imprint of your actual HD so it would load the grub is just a boot loader.

 

This website will tell you how to do it

How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows Vista

 

good Luck

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Maybe I'm missing something here but how did Vista on C: get affected by installing Ubuntu to the 4gb stick?

I profess not to know everything.

[shrimply]

Don't ask me Wolfey, I'm just the idiot that managed it,lol.

 

The boot sectot seems to make sense, is it likely to do any damage to the OS or anything else if I carry out those instructions?

 

I had considered, shrinking my C: partition slightly then copying the memory stick on the the hard drive ( using Ubuntu) but I have no idea if that would work, and it wouldn't fix the problem as such just mean I didn't have to use the USB stick

 

Oh and Wolfey for future information which term would you prefer I used when talking about a USB flash drive.

Edited June 2, 2008 by shrimply

[Flair4it]

imagine;

 

you have two hard drives in your computer

 

with two operating systems installed.

 

Disk one has Vista

 

Disk two has UBUNTU

 

now

 

Vista was installed first to disk one. couple of months later you say fook it ill install Ubuntu on my other Disk

 

Now because Windows Vista was allready pre-loaded

there is a file on that disc that makes vista boot. (couple of acctully)

we have to re-write this file so Ubuntu will Load and thus having a dual boot system.

 

So even thoe Ubuntu is on a Completely seperate disc its using a resource on the first disk to generate the GRUB (LINUX BOOT LOADER)

 

because he was using a flash drive when its not attached its only loading the initial loader and not geting as far to the "second disk"

thus generating his error.

 

Now because this was a linux install it uses completly different architecture to XP or Vista it is why you cannot find a trace of it when in the operating system.

 

"Might see files but wont be able to open them"

 

The instructions in my previous post should successfully build you a new Boot sector and loader which will remove the linux boot sector.

Edited June 2, 2008 by Flair4it

[Flair4it]

Not if you do it correctly

 

ignore anything to do with deleting partitons formatting drive etc that will loose data.

 

it might kill the OS if done incorrectly , but should leave data in tact

 

 

You do relise as well you can just do a clean install of Vista and just set it that it installs to a different location that should load vista no problems and you can manually delete the old windows data

 

P.S if you do the install you gotta sniff through your HD to get your data back dont expect it to be in the one location.

update

[Guest Wolfeymole]

I see now Flair thanks for the info mate. :)

I have only ever tried linux twice, once as a live cd and the other as a standalone install.

[Flair4it]

no bother just trying to help :P

[shrimply]

Ok, i'm back and it appears no better off,

 

I tried the /FixMbr and got

 

/FixMbr is not recognized as an internal or external command,openable program or batch file.

 

Maybe I should try /Fixboot but was worried that might damage something. Think I'm being daft though.

 

Are you suggesting that I install Vista for a second time on the same hard drive?

Edited June 2, 2008 by shrimply

[Flair4it]

THE Worst thing you can do is Loose information dont be afraid to test things

 

 

You are trying to repair the following

 

Master Boot Record "fixmbr"

 

Bootsecter "fixboot"

 

Dont be afraid to do extactly on that page you wont do any damage.

 

If worst comes to worst and you crash the system you can just put the HD into some one elses machine as a secondary.

 

Personally my self instead of trying to repair the boot sector

 

i would just install Vista again that would rebuild the boot sector

 

there is an option in vista to leave your data in tact.

 

If you have spare PC if you want you can give me your MSN and I will help guide you screen by screen

 

All I know is if you go to install windows vista again

it will move the old installation to folders like old_windows and Old_program files

 

I have done this with XP to Vista but I have not tryed Vista to Vista but I presume it near enough the same :) has to be like

[shrimply]

Well, I owe you a big Thankyou, I managed to use the /FixMbr properly and it fixed the problem, glad it was a simple fix in the end, I really do wonder why I do these things.

 

Its a shame that Ubuntu won't install solely on the USB drive but I guess I'll wait until I get another computer( an old one) before I attempt to fiddle with it again.

 

Also I am so glad I made the vista CD, I can't believe the companies don't ship the disk with systems, its invaluable to morrons like me.

 

Thanks again everyone for all the help.