grub update - opens separate box [SOLVED VIA RE-INSTALL]

Questions about Grub, the liveCD and the installer
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cretsiah
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grub update - opens separate box [SOLVED VIA RE-INSTALL]

Post by cretsiah »

so i have had a running system of LMDE 5 quite happy for months

but now

grub has lost the plot on my MBR only boot system...

boot repair was able to revert boot to the 2 windows installs (windows 7 and windows 10 version 2004 ) and happily boot, however it COULD NOT repair the linux boot entry..

so now im looking to have to re-install grub + root and add unformatted /home to get back my linux mint system (which has been my main for ages )..

the only thing i can gather is that the newer grub does not like MBR boot as it says to " make sure to add grub to my main boot drive "

under boot repair it comes up with several errors but they appear to mainly show up for the NTFS partitions related to my windows installs...
Last edited by LockBot on Fri Apr 28, 2023 10:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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deepakdeshp
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Re: grub update - opens seperate box

Post by deepakdeshp »

You can re install grub booting from a live USB.
https://www.fosslinux.com/4477/how-to-r ... -drive.htm
If I have helped you solve a problem, please add [SOLVED] to your first post title, it helps other users looking for help.
Regards,
Deepak

Mint 21.1 Cinnamon 64 bit with AMD A6 / 8GB
Mint 21.1 Cinnamon AMD Ryzen3500U/8gb
cretsiah
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Re: grub update - opens seperate box

Post by cretsiah »

deepakdeshp wrote: Sat Oct 29, 2022 12:37 am You can re install grub booting from a live USB.
https://www.fosslinux.com/4477/how-to-r ... -drive.htm
i was using a live usb in order to use the " boot repair " option.... of which none of the settings available fixed it... - at least not where the mint install was concerned.

i believe grub has changed from grub 2 to grub-pc during the installed system's updates.... and i believe this is where the mess occurred.... because i didnt unselect it before allowing updates.
deepakdeshp
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Re: grub update - opens seperate box

Post by deepakdeshp »

Reinstall the grub on the system drive and test.
If I have helped you solve a problem, please add [SOLVED] to your first post title, it helps other users looking for help.
Regards,
Deepak

Mint 21.1 Cinnamon 64 bit with AMD A6 / 8GB
Mint 21.1 Cinnamon AMD Ryzen3500U/8gb
cretsiah
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Re: grub update - opens seperate box

Post by cretsiah »

deepakdeshp wrote: Sat Oct 29, 2022 7:37 am Reinstall the grub on the system drive and test.
I REALLY REALLY dont think re-installing grub is going to help this time.

i have been busy and finally got a chance to try re-looking into this issue...

and i dont know how or why an update would cause this
Screenshot from 2022-10-30 14-13-11.png
but that 2.2TB partition from what i can gather has been totally destroyed..... it was my /Home partition - it used to be - partition type: Linux, contents: ext4

the update also managed to make a mess of the second 1TB drive by putting /esp and boot flags on it .... i used gparted to remove those flags and hopefully they will now be re-available for my 2 windows installs that that drive was meant to be accessible by....

I am going to assume due to the utter mess of my 4TB drive that i will have to re-install everything from scratch ????

please confirm before i do

if so this means re-installing almost 2TB worth of games an d hoping i can find all my passwords for everything ( ye gads )
deepakdeshp
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Re: grub update - opens separate box

Post by deepakdeshp »

There is no harm in reinstall of grub, nothing else is disturbed.
There is a paid tool to backup only programs, aptik . You should be able to backup your programs using it. I have not used it so can't vouch for it.
If I have helped you solve a problem, please add [SOLVED] to your first post title, it helps other users looking for help.
Regards,
Deepak

Mint 21.1 Cinnamon 64 bit with AMD A6 / 8GB
Mint 21.1 Cinnamon AMD Ryzen3500U/8gb
deepakdeshp
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Re: grub update - opens separate box

Post by deepakdeshp »

There is no harm in reinstall of grub, nothing else is disturbed.
There is a paid tool to backup only programs, aptik . You should be able to backup your programs using it. I have not used it so can't vouch for it.
If I have helped you solve a problem, please add [SOLVED] to your first post title, it helps other users looking for help.
Regards,
Deepak

Mint 21.1 Cinnamon 64 bit with AMD A6 / 8GB
Mint 21.1 Cinnamon AMD Ryzen3500U/8gb
deepakdeshp
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Re: grub update - opens separate box

Post by deepakdeshp »

Post output of

Code: Select all

 sudo parted -l
in code tags.
If I have helped you solve a problem, please add [SOLVED] to your first post title, it helps other users looking for help.
Regards,
Deepak

Mint 21.1 Cinnamon 64 bit with AMD A6 / 8GB
Mint 21.1 Cinnamon AMD Ryzen3500U/8gb
cretsiah
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Re: grub update - opens separate box

Post by cretsiah »

here is the result of that command
The

Code: Select all

Model: Verbatim STORE N GO (scsi)
is a multiboot usb ..... using live LMDE 5 to give you the result of the command

Code: Select all

Model: ATA ADATA SU800 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 512GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  106GB  106GB   primary  ntfs         boot
 2      106GB   191GB  85.4GB  primary  ntfs
 3      191GB   352GB  161GB   primary  ext4


Model: ATA WDC WD10EADS-00L (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  1000GB  1000GB  ntfs               legacy_boot, msftdata


Model: Verbatim STORE N GO (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 125GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  125GB  125GB   primary               boot
 2      125GB   125GB  33.6MB  primary  fat16        esp


Model: ATA TOSHIBA MQ01ABD1 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdd: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  1000GB  1000GB  ntfs               msftdata


Model: Seagate Expansion Desk (scsi)
Disk /dev/sde: 4001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  2199GB  2199GB  primary  ext4
- you will notice the seagate is now msdos ( and in the pic it says fat 16 ) ..
- the Toshiba drive did have " boot flags " boot and esp on it .. i removed those flags and now that drive is working as expected

the ADATA drive number 3 was my ROOT
the Seagate drive number 1 was my /HOME
cretsiah
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Re: grub update - opens separate box

Post by cretsiah »

Im pretty sure the seagate was originally in a GPT ex4 configuration....

so after some more thoughts about it ive decided that it will probably be quicker and easier to completely re-install, seeing as i want to fix that up now,
deepakdeshp
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Re: grub update - opens separate box

Post by deepakdeshp »

Gpt to MS-DOS will not happen unless you change the partition type. msdos will work too if number of partition size isn't a constraint.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... fKRDKyjjGJ
If I have helped you solve a problem, please add [SOLVED] to your first post title, it helps other users looking for help.
Regards,
Deepak

Mint 21.1 Cinnamon 64 bit with AMD A6 / 8GB
Mint 21.1 Cinnamon AMD Ryzen3500U/8gb
cretsiah
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Re: grub update - opens separate box

Post by cretsiah »

deepakdeshp wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 12:31 am Gpt to MS-DOS will not happen unless you change the partition type. msdos will work too if number of partition size isn't a constraint.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... fKRDKyjjGJ
i know how that is supposed to work.....

however the grub-PC update did make changes to the system it shouldnt have.
- Grub / grub 2 /grub-pc shouldnt be adding "boot" and "esp" flags to NTFS drives but it did.
- the seperate grub updater wizard asks you where to install grub and gives you a selection of all your drives BUT wont except the MBR drive.*
- from what i can gather the new grub is looking for a fake / emulated MBR /boot entry that does not exist on my system. hence why it wont/ doesnt appear to accept the sda (adata drive) for installing grub.
- this motherboard PRE_dates CSM module in BIOS (aka there is no CSM on this motherboard, zip, nada )but it does have MBR and UEFI capability

my system was setup with an MBR boot drive ( not emulated ) and GPT drives for storage and /home...



I have now attempted to rectify this issue by re-installing the whole Linux Mint system ( games pending ) as well as blocking/ ignoring future updates of grub packages in the update manager.
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