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

And sorry for my ADD (its getting worse with age),

... aahh yer but a pup, Stan & I have got 10 years on you :p

Morning Stan, Morning Luciano.

And I have a Ph. D. in ADD/ADHD, so I know what it is like.

You get the sleep you need, when you need it, and we'll have some more ideas for you.

We get a couple of new Dell laptops for Elaine and me tomorrow, so provided I don't get a hernia getting around Windows 10 to put a Linux on for her that has her beloved Solitaire on it, I can score her laptop to play with, it is close enough to your HP for me to load a Lubuntu 32-bit on and blow it up in a way that will land me at Grub Rescue, and I'll see what's what & who's who.

Cheers

Wiz
Anyhow, thoughts of opening windows are lurking in mind and I hope it is not a sign of weakness
... windows, aren't they those things you open to get fresh air when the airconditioning breaks down? Linux is my breath of fresh air.
 


I am between work and much-needed sleep... so not much time (and not thinking exceptionally clearly at this point). Thanks for the latest results.... they do show without any doubt that your Linux files (or most of them) are on (hd0,1). The other partition (hd0,5) is likely your SWAP partition. But I'm starting to get very worried about /boot.

In many attempts, you have tried but not been able to show the contents of /boot. Let's try one more time, but this is just a slight variation on how you were trying to do it... show us the output from:
Code:
grub rescue> ls (hd0,1)/boot

I was re-reading back in the thread and how this problem started with you using fdisk to try to create a new partition. And I'm wondering about the "missing partitions"... (hd0,2) and (hd0,3) and (hd0,4)... these do not show up in any of your screenshots. My fear right now is that /boot may have been in it's own partition, and that it may now be erased. I hope that I'm wrong about that... and I hope that the output from above will show us something instead of "attempt to read/write outside of partition."
 
Ditto on what Stan has said ... you been reading my mind again, Stan - which one of us is The Wizard?:rolleyes:

Wiz
 
20180712_211718.jpg


Good news! The HP desktop booted from DVD with Lubuntu ISO!

However, it was not installed just yet, but I decided to launch GPARTED and am attaching
the screenshot. The partition I was trying to create with "fdisk" for LFS is showing there as
"unallocated".


Do you think my partitions can be fixed from here? Or should I go ahead and reinstall Lubuntu
and recover my files from the backup? Eagerly waiting for your advice. Thank you!
 
Hi Luciano, it looks promising to an extent, and it is good for you to get experience with GParted.

With the two windows on screen, first the Terminal output:

I'm surprised that that syntax works, but it does, haven't seen (or AT LEAST NOTICED, LOL) "man sudo root" before. It is usually just man sudo and the output is the same.

"Failed to get canonical path of 'aufs' "

... was to be expected. You are trying to do the same on the Live medium as you do on your computer, but the two are not identical.

aufs is a part of the Live DVD/USB only and is not on the full install on your computer.

We'll deal with that more a little later.

On the GParted pane - beside your /dev/sda1 (which is basically another way of describing the (hd0,1) you have encountered previously), there is an exclamation mark.

This means that GParted has encountered a problem, could be fatal, could be non-fatal.

/dev/sda1 we can call your target partition, it is where we want Lubuntu to be installed (it is no longer there), so we have to check that that is OK before we install.

Where the exclamation mark is, right-click and choose "information" from the context menu that appears and report to us what it says.

I am off to check a couple of things on Elaine's computer and be back soon.

Given you have the use of the Live medium, if that /dev/sda1 works out OK, you can install there.

Cheers

Chris
 
Hi guys. I think that I would take the opportunity now to fix any BIOS issues, like the RAID setting. I'm still confused why your BIOS also does not show an option for CD/DVD booting (yet it boots on DVD's)... perhaps this is another "issue" with BIOS.

Personally, I would boot the computer and go into the BIOS setup utility... and then I would "Load default values" to reset all the BIOS parameters all at once. This "Load default values" option is usually on the last screen before exiting BIOS. It may have slightly different wording. After making that selection, you would have to "Save and exit" the BIOS utility. Then I'd reboot and go back into the BIOS setup again to check each page of the settings... confirming the RAID is changed back to SATA (or IDE) and confirming the Boot Order (making CD-ROM first if it is not showing as an option). If there is a USB boot option, I would also put it before the hard drive, so that you could boot either DVD or USB.

The BIOS defaults should usually work in any setup, but you still want to review each page and the settings that it contains. For example, sometimes there is a choice between onboard video and a PCI video card that is added to the system.... you need to know if you have an added video card, or you might have to plug your monitor into a different port on the back of the desktop.

After making any BIOS changes, then I think I'd use Gparted to delete all of the partitions you see on your hard drive... so that the only thing remaining is unallocated space. At that point, then I'd let Lubuntu do a full installation and use the entire disk to setup however it wants to do things. Resetting the BIOS and resetting the hard drive to empty space should hopefully allow a full clean install without any hiccups. (Famous last words! :D)

Wizard might prefer to guide you differently, though, and it's always good to consider his advice. Hope you have a fully functional system again soon!

Cheers
 
I'm still confused why your BIOS also does not show an option for CD/DVD booting (yet it boots on DVD's)... perhaps this is another "issue" with BIOS.

It just happened that this time around it showed the options to boot from CD and DVD. Not sure how that happens (beginning to think this HP is playing devil with me). Same thing when I mentioned SATA, and just right after it showed me that screen with IDE. But, considering the fact you have not saw my handsome face personally, I understand we have a trust issue here. I will just have to live with that.

Wizard might prefer to guide you differently, though, and it's always good to consider his advice. Hope you have a fully functional system again soon!

Lets wait for Chris then, as he probably has more important things to deal with (he mentioned about helping his wife with some chores). But I am hoping you both converge to a common ground before I jump into the next step. In the meantime, I will watch some TV and play with the dogs.

Thanks and have a great weekend!


Cheers
 
Nope, we're all good :). Thanks for the GParted shot. So we've established that /dev/sda1 is a little bodgy, and in that event, I would go 100% with Stan's methodology.

Cheers

Wiz

But while reading your mind... you won't believe the stuff I saw in there!!!!!

Best not go there, Stan ... There Be Dragons :eek:o_O
 
It just happened that this time around it showed the options to boot from CD and DVD. Not sure how that happens (beginning to think this HP is playing devil with me). Same thing when I mentioned SATA, and just right after it showed me that screen with IDE. But, considering the fact you have not saw my handsome face personally, I understand we have a trust issue here. I will just have to live with that.

No worries. Sometimes the computers behave erratically, sometimes it's us. Either way, reloading the default values in BIOS may help to correct any errors that have crept in over time. And then a careful review of the BIOS settings to try to understand them and be sure they are providing the proper values that you desire, or that your system requires. Ask if you have any questions about any BIOS settings and we can probably help.

If you aren't too familiar with Gparted, here are a couple of hints. You need to click on the partition you want to work with so it is highlighted, then go to the Partition menu at the top and usually "unmount" the partition before you can work on it. This is true with swap too, but it uses a different term. When all the changes have been selected, you have to"apply changes" with the checkmark icon up near the top, below the menu options. Your changes will not be kept if you skip this step.

So, to erase your entire hard drive with Gparted, it should go something like this:

1. Click on swap partition to highlight. Click on Partition menu, and select SWAPOFF. Then click on swap partition again, click on the Partition menu again, and choose Delete this time.

2. Click on the extended partition to highlight next. It may or may not be mounted. Click on the Partition menu and unmount if that option is available (do not choose mount if that is the option). With the extended partition unmounted, then again use the Partition menu to Delete.

3. Click on the /dev/sda1 partition to highlight it now. Click on the Partition menu, as before, and choose unmount if it is available (but don't choose mount). With this partition unmounted, you can finally click the Partition menu and Delete. That should now show the entire drive as unallocated space.

4. Click the checkmark icon near the top, on the right end of the line of icons to apply all of the changes made above.

5. Boot your Lubuntu DVD and do a full installation (use "entire disk"). It will set the proper swap space again and format the partitions automatically. I think Wizard and I both would recommend that you do not choose any encryption or LVM... you should see options for these during the install but they are not very good options for beginners.

Hope all goes well and gets back to normal soon. Let us know if we seem to have missed anything or if other questions come up.

Cheers
 

Members online


Top