Linux Which Linux Distro Sor Shis System Setup/Installation And General Help

Guys big big problem...

to get rid of that ubuntu administrator problem i tried to re install it... and also along with that i was gonna delete the mandriva partition which wasnt booting..

but now after restart... there is no boot menu at all nothing... it gives me this error....

"No such partition found...

GRUB RESCUE> [ a console opens here ]"

and then nothing... what do i do now ????????? :(
 
arre i had created 5 different partitions..

/home , swap and / for linuxmint, mandriva, ubuntu... so when i re installed ubuntu... i deleted the last two.. mandriva and ubuntu partitions and created a new one just for ubuntu.. and after i finished installing, it asked for restart...

now when i restarted... nothing happened,... i just got this error...

"error: no such partition

GRUB RESCUE >.............................. [command prompt like thing] "

i even tried sudo update here but it did not recognise..

now im booting from my back up win xp hdd..
 
are you changing any other options like grub installation location (bootloader options) during installation? because it should automatically detect your partitions (including windows 7) and present it in the boot menu. if you have various partitions make sure the "root" one is actually pointing to "/" selected as the "mount point" then see...
 
^^^ i tried that from the live cd...

For every distro installation the bootloader got automatically installed.. in the /dev/sda.

The last of my instllation was in sda9... whose bootloader was set to install in the above manner..

Then i removed sda8 and sda9[mandriva and ubuntu] and just tried to reinstall ubuntu on sda 8.

Since that instllation i have been getting that 'no such partition error'..

I kid u not.... i tried so many commands... i wasted continuous 12 hours trying to solve this... and knew what the error was... i could not solve it any how..

at the boot screen i got the grub rescue command prompt...

grub rescue>.....

where when i typed 'set' command i showed that the root partition was hd0,9 which i had deleted....

I tried so many commands... i wrote around 10 pages in a book with just commands to trouble shoot this problem.. googled so many sites.... felt like smashing my pc with a BAT... :@

i even formatted the entire linux partitions except for my win ntfs c drive... then i even tried to restore windows loader... it still did not work... :@

finally I formatted the entire... 250 gb HDD... in the hope i could clear the MBR... n thankfully it worked.. but i lost all my OS data, updates n stuff... :(

NOw im again on just windows 7 only on c drive 80gb and 2 free 70 -80 gb drives...

So now when i install linux the home will be sda4, swap sda5 and the / drives sda 6 , 7 onwards....

Should i install the grub bootloader at the time of installation ??? is it by default installed in the MBR ??

IS there any particular partition i should install it in sda4,5,6,7 etc ??

And also the only live desktop that worked on my pc was linuxmint......Those that did not work - -> ubuntu,fedora[did not install also] and mandriva [ no live desktop and did not even run after installation].

What am i doing wrong ???????????????????????????????

Please help me out yaar.. :(
 
If you are getting that GRUB error (especially root hd0,9 which you deleted) means you DID NOT REINSTALL IT , did you?!

HoliC said:
Should i install the grub bootloader at the time of installation ??? is it by default installed in the MBR ??
Click to expand...

yes. yes. yes.

HoliC said:
IS there any particular partition i should install it in sda4,5,6,7 etc ??
Click to expand...

no. no. no. let it go to /dev/sda and not /dev/sdaX

good luck!
 
^^^^arre thats only my doubt....

Actually I did install it via live cd... i think i used this command - ' sudo apt-get grub install' or something similar to this...

when i tried that command with 'root directory' and commands similar to this i got the error ' this device is not mounted on /dev ' where i am quite sure i mounted all of them... plus various other errors..

And what about the distros... ??? i downloaded all them from their home site... but only linuxmint live desktop is working... ubuntu - no live desktop but it installs... mandriva - no live desktop, installs but does not run[should i ditch it ?? ] and fedora - no live desktop, and gives error in between installation that iso image is not found and takes around 5 -10 mins for every step to load...

I am using USB for all of them..

Ok One big question..

Right now im using a freshly installed Win 7... which im going to back up via BAckup and restore option of win7.

does this option also backup... the MBR with win 7 bootloader.. so that when i restore it i dont have to worry about a similar problem.. ??

OR should i just back up the MBR with win 7... and should a similar problem arise again.. i can restore this MBR and install a new grub via live cd..

what to do ??

TIA
 
oh maybe new isos are hard to burn to USB and causing issues.... what were the ISO names and how did you put them on USB sticks?

if you have a CD writer just write a disc... ubuntu image file should be under 700 MB and named something like "ubuntu-10.04-desktop-amd64.iso" (if you have 2gb ram and want to run 32bit then the file name would have i386.iso instead of amd64.iso).

boot off the cd and ensure you dont prevent grub from being installed to /dev/sda ...

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

See this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling from LiveCD
 
Holic : Answer me one thing ? Whats the point of installing and removing so many linux flavor. You want to learn linux, get the basics right stick with one desktop for now be it Ubuntu, Mandriva or whatever you like.

2. The thing you did was stupid. When you delete a partition, you delete grub files as well which stays in the / of the system until and unless you specify a separate /boot. Now it doesn't matter whether grub core files stays in the /dev/sda or anywhere. Once the files are gone you are done with it. Reinstallation of grub and pointing the system to it can only solve it. If you had understand the concept reinstallation of grub shouldn't have hurt that much.

But reinstallation and formating again and again will take you nowhere. If you want to stay away with the grub hassle for now. I suggest you install grub legacy instead of using grub2.

Stick with Ubuntu or whatever works for now and move to some DIY distro later once you get the niggles sorted.
 
@vishalrao - these are the files that i have

LinuxMint-9-Gnome-DVD-i386 - Universal-USB-Installer..

mandriva-linux-free-2010-spring-i586 - unetbootin-windows-471

ubuntu-10.04.1-desktop-i386 - universal usb installer

Fedora-13-i386-DVD - fedora live usb creator.

@darkstar -

That was exactly my point...

The reason i wanted to install a few flavors was that so i could quickly select the linux which i like the most and then continue learning the command line and other linux stuff with that particular linux..

This is because i read people take upto 1 -2 years to fix on one linux distro.. i wanted to slect one and continue with that.. thats it..

And because i was total linux noob i had no idea about what grub was.. installing/reinstalling was too much at that point..

I have to admit it was stupid though..

Now ill just want to install ubuntu and Linuxmint... and if possible fedora.

Just one question... ill install ubuntu... and then i wont install the grub for linux mint..

and then update grub in ubuntu.. this can de done ?? right ???

TIA
 
HoliC said:
Just one question... ill install ubuntu... and then i wont install the grub for linux mint..

and then update grub in ubuntu.. this can de done ?? right ???
Click to expand...

right, and the way to update grub is not "sudo apt-get grub install" :D - its just "sudo update-grub"
 
Err I cant understand why you are up for "installing" different flavors of Linux at the same time. If you had already downloaded CD/DVD of different distros then your best bet is to try it out as Live CD. And yes, Live CD is strictly for one time trial. The experience is much sluggish than an installed one. Once you are comfortable with your distro then install "only that" one, i.e. dual-boot it with Windows 7.
 
vishalrao said:
right, and the way to update grub is not "sudo apt-get grub install" :D - its just "sudo update-grub"
Click to expand...
:P i have learnt that much by now..

Ok now got another question...

Now when i installed ubuntu.. my OS HDD was shown as /sda ... i have 3 hdd's in total..

but when i tried to install linux mint the same was /sdb... so i cancelled the installation... i was afraid i might screw up the grub again..

As for live desktop.. unbuntu live desktop isnt starting at all.. only linuxmint.. thats why im installing them..

and now ill download and try fedora live desktop cd... previously i dnlded the dvd..

And now is it possible to import settings from my installed ubuntu.. to any other distro i install ??

i mean data like bookmarks, apps, drivers ??? or do i have to install them with each distro.. ??

TIA.

Edit - Also suggest a download manager/acc with firefox for uubuntu..

right now im using IDM[inetrnet download manger with windows..] plzz suggest something similar to this.. thnks..
 
HoliC said:
As for live desktop.. unbuntu live desktop isnt starting at all..

....

Edit - Also suggest a download manager/acc with firefox for uubuntu..
Click to expand...
Are you sure it is "not starting at all" ? Latest Ubuntu live CDs, they just show a blank screen with a little symbol at the bottom for some time, then the live desktop (or installer) starts up slowly. Try pressing any key during that time and see if a boot menu comes up?

For download manager I use FileZilla sometimes - nothing as FF addon.

Not sure about why mint is showing sdb instead of sda.
 
yup its not starting at all..... when i press a key.. a command type page comes up where it shows whats loading but the end it gives an error... not sure why...

Now plzz tell me why this is happening,,


Now during installation the boot up screen was like this..

After installation its like very big and almost occupies the entire screen.. how do i get it back..

I think its the problem with gfx,, altho i have installed the current drivers.. from the driver software..

My screen resolution is 1440x900.

Im also getting a little flickering video playback... yesterday i even got blue colored video..

Im also having sound problems... when no audio/video is playing, the speakers... continuously give out this hissssssssss sound... which is really irritating..
and its an ubuntu problem only coz the hisss sound goes when i mute the speakers.. and they work properly in windows..
 
HoliC said:
yup its not starting at all..... when i press a key.. a command type page comes up where it shows whats loading but the end it gives an error... not sure why...

Now plzz tell me why this is happening,,
Click to expand...
the livecd it takes some time to load be patient !
HoliC said:
Im also having sound problems... when no audio/video is playing, the speakers... continuously give out this hissssssssss sound... which is really irritating..
and its an ubuntu problem only coz the hisss sound goes when i mute the speakers.. and they work properly in windows..
Click to expand...

do you have any USB ddevices plugged in ?
if so the hiss sound might be because of that!
 
Yondaime said:
the livecd it takes some time to load be patient !
do you have any USB drives plugged in ?
if so the hiss sound might be because of that!
Click to expand...
No i waited for around like 15 minutes.. with those five dots going on and on... still nothing happened...

and that image was for my second question...
And i do not have any usb drives in..

And now i got that another problem...

I lost all my administrative rights... :@
not able to do anything literally nothing... cant mount drives[not authorised error]
i cant restart... when i restart it just logs off... i have to press the power button..
cant change any system settings... when i click nothing happens..

Why is ubuntu sucking so much... when linux mint ran so perfectly fine..
Plzzz help me out here... dont want to format again n again.. :(
 
as for the administrative rights you can edit the sudoers file and add your username to it !

Ubuntu doesnt suck --- believe me !

I am on Arch linux now and I regret the transition from Ubuntu to Arch :P but I am happy I am learning something :P

by default when you install you should have admin rights !!!

did you like by mistake delete yourself and then did a adduser " " ???
 
No i did not add any user.. :(
All that happened was i got a powercut... when i was using ubuntu..
Since linux mint was running so awesomely... technically ubuntu should not suck.. but god knows what happened..
Now i solved a few problems by googling..

1 -big and ugly Ubuntu boot screen

How to Fix the Big and Ugly Plymouth Logo in Ubuntu 10.04 - Softpedia big thanks to the author..

But the weird part here is during installation ubuntu recognised and displayed my 1440x900 resolution.. and after installation it got screwed..

2- and HDD automount problem..

How To Auto-mount Your NTFS Partition In Ubuntu - Make Tech Easier again a big thanks to this author.... phew..

But im yet to check the restart problem and system admin rights.. problem.. will update later..
 
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