Grub won't (re)install properly

[marcadler]

I've searched all over but only found replies that apply to situations where someone wants a dual partition. I do not want that.

I installed 13 on a Cretaceous-era Dell Dimension 4550 with two HDDs that had Windows XP on it. I initially selected the "help with installation" option because I was trying to install via USB (which failed). I got a CD and did a clean (100% wipe) install of 13. However, the little partition-selector-boot-loader thingy that the initial "help with installation" thing created has made it impossible to boot without the CD.

I even reinstalled from within the new 13 (which boots fine from the CD), and the same problem persists. I tried mounting /dev/sda1 and installing grub etc. etc. ad nauseum (I've been at this for the past two hours).

I can't understand why a completely clean install results in this. Shouldn't it totally wipe out any record of what came before?

Thanks in advance.

[kc1di]

Hi marcadler and welcome to Mint,

Sounds like the bootloader is not being installed in the MBR for some reason.
here's what I would try first go to this page and down load and run boot-repair it should fix it.
if it does not then there is a log that is created that can be of help in figuring out what is going on.
here's the page for Boot-repair it has instructions on how you use it.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

[HughT]

hi marcadler, yes, it looks like the bootloader is installed at the wrong location, try from a live CD or USB

Code: Select all

sudo mount /dev/sdXY /mnt

replace X and Y with the appropriate drive and partition for Mint boot.

Code: Select all

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

note - there's a gap between =/mnt and /dev, and no partition number after sdX, regards

[marcadler]

kc1di: Thanks, and I'll try that.

HughT: That's what I tried. It didn't work. I used Gparted and fdisk to identify the correct part etc., but nothing worked.

[Flemur]

Check out where the installer is trying to put the bootloader/MBR when you're at disk selecting/formating step; it's in a little text box where it's easy to miss: when I installed from USB it defaulted to writing it to the USB drive I was installing from, rather than the HD I was installing to. FWIW, if you have two HDs it'd probably be a good idea to physically disconnect the one you're not installing to, then reconnect it after the OS is installed.

[marcadler]

Flemur - I hadn't thought about that.

I'll try that next, but either way it didn't work, and here's the pasted text.

http://paste.ubuntu.com/1221514/

Can anyone make sense of that?

I really appreciate all the help everyone has given me so far.

[oobetimer]

You can boot Mint via XP´s bootloader also.
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... in#p595336

Basically grub should re-install using command sudo grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdx instead of sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdx