MBR issue. -_-;;
@ElaineSpencer (152)
United States
October 13, 2010 9:04pm CST
Okay, so after weeks of fighting with it, I decided to run system recovery on my eMachines E627. I partitioned the hard drive some time back, and set up dual boot for Ubuntu 10.4 64 bit and Windows 7.
I'm sure some of you know what the outcome was, since it's fairly common, but for those who don't, I will try to explain as well as I can. I could just act like a stereotypical "dumb blonde" and run around screaming about GRUB being broke, but that doesn't make too much sense.
In short, after the system was restored, GRUB worked, and I was able to boot into Windows 7. No problem. I let it install Windows Live and all that as normal, then it rebooted itself. And again. And again.
GRUB is gone. I can't boot either Ubuntu or Windows. I was warned that such would happen, but I didn't expect it to (STUPID, I know)
...Can someone help me fix my laptop please? I can't really get on ChaCha and earn my money otherwise!
2 responses
@dark_joev (3034)
• United States
14 Oct 10
Windows is very anti any other operating system and in this case what it did was get rid of the grub loader so now your harddirve is trying to find it and also not sure which OS you want to start so sit is looping over and over again restarting and restarting as it can't find GRUB. I don't dual boot but the issues seems to be Windows's new file system will write over parts of another OS'es boot setup which happens to be in this case GRUB which is needed to boot into either OS the best method I have read about is install Windows 7 get it all setup then install Ubuntu and if you can don't install Windows Live as it is a great way for script kiddies to get into your Windows File System and mess it up. Windows products in general are bad to have on your PC unless it is Office or their games.
@ElaineSpencer (152)
• United States
14 Oct 10
Well, that brings up another issue... I don't have a WIndows 7 install @_@
I have my eMachines Recovery discs, HOWEVER I need Win7 now, because a certain fiance of mine had no clue what was going on and as a result, he recommended (after talking to some friends) that I let him walk me through DELETING ALL MY PARTITIONS. The only ones that wouldn't delete were the swap space and the extended partitions that I had set up for Ubuntu in the first place.
So, now that my laptop is a paperweight, should I just reformat my hard drive? Moral of the day: Just because the 18 year old girl thinks she knows what she's doing... doesn't mean she won't break something. Bad way to end the day -_-;;
@dark_joev (3034)
• United States
14 Oct 10
PYou could just install Ubuntu on your whole machine instead of having a dual boot setup since you don't have a windows 7 cd/dvd. I am on my Dell Studio XPS and the only issue Ihad when I made the switch was my wireless card needed a driver in order to be recognized by Ubuntu so you will need to plug your laptop into an ethernet connection for a little bit to download and install the driver if that is needed don't know though because you have an eMachine. If you need Windows 7 eMachine and eMachines didn't send you the cd/dvd or if they did and you lost it they should send you another one as Dell would do it there may be a small fee but not as high as buying a it from the store.
I would suggest though using Ubuntu on your laptop as it allows you laptop to use more of its resources for actually doing the tasks you want it to do and laptops have less resources on hand than desktops in most cases. It will also extend your battery life alittle bit running Ubuntu as it isn't the resource hog Windows is.
@ElaineSpencer (152)
• United States
14 Oct 10
I was actually thinking about doing that. My issue is with Broadcom not wanting to cooperate with Ubuntu, because I can't find the drivers.
I have an XP install disc that I tried, and as soon as it loaded files, I got a BSOD. So we are trying 98, and if that doesn't work, I'm going Ubuntu.
Also, eMachines simply give you the option to make the recovery disc, but they don't send/include the OS software itself.
...When I get enough money, I'm gonna buy an ASUS.
@slotmachine1 (140)
• India
14 Oct 10
try executing this command with your linux distro cd:
# grub-install /dev/hda
@slotmachine1 (140)
• India
14 Oct 10
oh you are having ubuntu cd, i am not sure, but thats how i did it with fedora cd.
@ElaineSpencer (152)
• United States
14 Oct 10
See, I was told to run the Ubuntu disc and open terminal and do "sudo grub", but the command wasn't found. I think I may just let Ubuntu take over the HD for now. Forget Windows -_-;;
