grub loading error 18

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Jjude

grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

not sure what happened on my netbook, been using mint 7 on it since it came out. Ive had till now not one problem with it. Im still only a newby to linux, and only need an OS to surf and check mails.

netbook started fine this morning, and whilst opening hotmail from amsn, i got an error ( of which i cant recall what it said sorry) so restarted netbook, and since ive had one message as its loading saying, grub loading please wait, error 17, restarted again and get same message with error 18, should i just reinstall mint 7, theres nothing on netbook to save.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
MaddogF16

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by MaddogF16 »

Depends if you feel like trying to repair grub or not, if there's nothing major lost and you don't have any special modifications that would take awhile to redo, then a reinstall is probably the least painful move here. JMHO
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

its not letting me do that, i keep getting that message after rebooting to reinstall.
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

is there a way to fix grub?
MaddogF16

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by MaddogF16 »

Not a real netbook expert here, but how did you install (usb stick)?
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

yes
, trying to use same usb stick to reinstall, it just keeps coming up with that message. ive done F2 making sure it boots from removable drive, but its still no go. Im just lost on what to try next.
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

yes
, trying to use same usb stick to reinstall, it just keeps coming up with that message. ive done F2 making sure it boots from removable drive, but its still no go. Im just lost on what to try next.
MaddogF16

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by MaddogF16 »

Can you get into the bios setup fine, and check that things look OK there as far as bios identifing hardware.Maybe resetting the bios to default settings. Make sure it's definitely capable to boot from the usb port, maybe a bios seeting is out of wack there.

Also reflashing the bios might be in order.

Maybe a more experienced user has more or better suggestions than I've come up with.
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

as far as i can see, everything in bios looks fine. as for flashing, im not expert enough to even try.

Thanks for your suggestions so far, they are much appreciated. If id do solve this problem one way or another, Ill let you know.

Thanks again.

Jj x
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

as netbook booted up, i pressed escape and got two options, i chose to boot from flash drive, and finally got to my unetboot install... its starts to install, but i keep getting an error saying input/output error during read on / dev/sda
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

also.... the attempt to mount a file system with type ext3 in sc12 (o,0,0,) partition #1 (sda) at / failed
you may resume partitioniing from menu, i can go back ( get same result) or continue and get the prepare disk space. using entire disk space gets me to the above error message, specifying partitions confuses me.
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

with a live usb mint is it possible to remove grub? do i need grub if Im only wnating to run mint? on the netbook.
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sdb: 2008 MB, 2008023040 bytes
16 heads, 32 sectors/track, 7660 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 512 * 512 = 262144 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000ae51d

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 16 7660 1956928 b W95 FAT32


is this any help to an expert?
MaddogF16

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by MaddogF16 »

Does the live usb Mint session work, in other words can you run Mint off the usb like a live-cd? If so you should be able to run the installer and yes use grub even with one Mint install, make sure to install the bootloader to the MBR of the drive.

If you can't get a live session to work from the usb pendrive then we need to address that first.
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

Hi Maddog, yes I can run mint live from usb, Ive tried the installer, but install only gets to partition bit then no matter what i try it does round in a loop. i keep getting input/output error and im not sure if its just a small user error thats causing me the problems.
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

I dont think this is a grub problem anymore, just tried booting netbook with no usb live, an theres nothing on the hd at all. so its just trying to get the install to work.
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

does this help anyone to see what my problem is


mint@mint ~ $ sudo sfdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1962 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
read: Input/output error

sfdisk: read error on /dev/sda - cannot read sector 0
/dev/sda: unrecognized partition table type
No partitions found

Disk /dev/sdb: 1020 cylinders, 62 heads, 62 sectors/track
Warning: The partition table looks like it was made
for C/H/S=*/16/32 (instead of 1020/62/62).
For this listing I'll assume that geometry.
Units = cylinders of 262144 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from 0

Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 15+ 7659 7645- 1956928 b W95 FAT32
start: (c,h,s) expected (15,12,1) found (15,12,0)
end: (c,h,s) expected (1023,15,32) found (491,15,32)
/dev/sdb2 0 - 0 0 0 Empty
/dev/sdb3 0 - 0 0 0 Empty
/dev/sdb4 0 - 0 0 0 Empty
MaddogF16

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by MaddogF16 »

Enter into the bios at bootup and see if the bios even sees the HD first.
Jjude

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by Jjude »

yes it does from what i can tell.
MaddogF16

Re: grub loading error 18

Post by MaddogF16 »

Have you tried from the live usb running the gparted (partition manager) app and setting up the partitions in that app first then attempt the install.


System >> Admin >> Partition Editor
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