Grub Bootloader and XP Problems

Hi all,

Hopefully someone can help. I installed Ubuntu linux on to a USB drive recently, to have a play with it. With Ubuntu came GRUB bootloader, to dual-boot XP Home and Ubuntu. All was fine, until I started up my PC without the USB drive plugged in. Grub crashes with an Error 5 , and start-up freezes.

The system starts up okay with the USB drive in. I assumed that I had a problem with my HDD MBR, so I booted up with an XP startup disk, and used FIXMBR. However, I think it overwrote the MBR on the USB drive. (I didn't know they had such a thing?) I really am at the limit of my knowledge here, so any help would be great. Here's what else I've tried:

Booting up with the USB drive not plugged in, using the XP startup disk to access FIXMBR. However, I have SATA drives, and even with the correct drivers installed through F6 during Windows Setup, Recovery Console reports that my PC has "no hard disk drives installed" and quits.

I have pieced together that I think (I don't even know if this is possible!) somehow the USB drive has become the "active" partition? And that it contains the MBR for my PC. Without it plugged in GRUB still loads though, so this cannot be the whole picture.

If anyone can help, I should be most grateful. All I want is to have my SATA drive as the drive that my PC boots automatically from. It has no fancy partitions, or anything like that. I have another SATA HDD for documents and music, etc.

Please help, this is driving me mad!

Thanks,

Mark

"I have pieced together that I think (I don't even know if this is possible!) somehow the USB drive has become the "active" partition? And that it contains the MBR for my PC. Without it plugged in GRUB still loads though, so this cannot be the whole picture."

In this case, with grub loading, GRUB must be on your HDD, and this is in the MBR.
The problem is, probably, that it is referencing the USB drive to get the next stage of the boot process.

I'd be looking for two pieces of info:
1. the boot.1st file content
2. the whereabouts of /boot and /boot/grub

I assume that, after the fixmbr attempt you may have re-installed ubuntu in order to have it still working.

Can you post the info (assuming that you can get it by booting ubuntu)

In reply to:

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The system starts up okay with the USB drive in.

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Is that not the solution then ?

In the USA you'd market this 'problem' as a secure PC system protected by USB fob!

Well, Ubuntu will no longer load. The fixmbr broke that. XP is fine, however.



Mark

Windows doesn't like other operating systems and whenever it can erases all mention of them. When I used to dual boot Windows/Linux I always installed Windows first because it screws up the boot sector.

Ubuntu is still there, but there is nothing in your boot sector pointing to it.

Booting from a Linux CD may allow you to correct the fault, but may require more experience than you currently have.

there are some utilities with names like supergrub that could probably resolve it, sounds like the MBR boots it to the USB which needs redirecting to the HDD.