Dual Boot: Skips Grub 2 (LM13 - Cinn Ed. x64 + Win7)

[CoyoteScofflaw]

Hey Minties,

This n00b is stuck. I've been digging deep in the forums and tutorials around the web and haven't found a solution that seemed relevant or that I could understand, so I need to get some Hooked on Phonics for Linux here.

My issue is this:

My laptop got jacked by a tweaker a month ago. I bought a new laptop (Acer Aspire 5560-7402) preloaded with Win7.

I installed LM13 Cinnamon (x64), and it installed successfully, but it won't boot. I don't see a loading screen at all. It just boots straight into Win7. I installed EasyBCD, but it hasn't helped. The GRUB 2 entry doesn't do anything.

It's got a recovery partition on the first partition. Don't know if that's the issue. I think it may have an EFI instead of a BIOS, but I'm not sure.

Here is my EasyBCD report. There are a total of 3 entries listed in the bootloader.

*****************************************************************************************

Default: Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)
Timeout: 14 seconds
EasyBCD Boot Device: C:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #2
Name: Linux Mint 13 - Maya (GRUB)
BCD ID: {a2b1cf85-c4d9-11e1-8d00-fa8addf25e3d}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\nst_linux.mbr

Entry #3
Name: Linux Mint 13 - Maya (GRUB2)
BCD ID: {a2b1cf86-c4d9-11e1-8d00-fa8addf25e3d}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \NST\AutoNeoGrub0.mbr

************************************************************************************

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Coyote

[CoyoteScofflaw]

Oh, and an addendum before I get referred to another post. I tried RescuTux, SuperGRUB2 and Boot-Repair but had no luck.

[HughT]

hi CoyoteScofflaw, you could try re-installing the bootloader to the master boot record of your hard drive. It's very easy to do and uses the installation CD, DVD or USB from which you installed Mint. Just use that medium to go to a 'live' session, ie the 'try before you install' session. First you need to discover which partition Mint occupies. From the BCD report it looks like it's on the second partition, but I wouldn't trust that. Second, you need to mount that partition. Third you'll install grub. And finally you need to update grub to include Windows 7.
So, go to the menu and open a terminal. Type and enter

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sudo blkid

you should see an output similar to:

/dev/sda1: LABEL="Windows 7" UUID="1768094-cb98-4267-90a4-ec7eadc6587b" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="Mint Linux 13" UUID="a2b1cf85-c4d9-11e1-8d00-fa8addf25e3d" TYPE="ext4"

Check the partition for Mint, in this example it's sda2 - notice that the UUID corresponds.

Next, mount that partition

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sudo mount /dev/sdXY /mnt

replace X and Y with the appropriate drive and partition for Mint boot. In my example it's sda2, but put in yours.
To install grub

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sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdX

note - there's a gap between =/mnt and /dev, and no partition number after sdX. In my example sdX would of course be sda.
Exit the terminal by typing and entering

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exit

re-boot into Mint then

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sudo update-grub

Next time you boot your pc you should have the option to choose Windows or Mint. If this is un-clear, please post back. Hope it helps, regards

[YannMint]

Hello
What was the URL given by Boot-Repair?