1

After following the steps in this post How can I prevent Windows from overwriting GRUB when using a dual-boot machine - Unix & Linux, I'm now presented with the "GNU Grub version 2.02" black screen upon attempted boot.

I have tried this: GNU GRUB Version 2.02 beta 2-9 while booting from USB, this: How to Fix - GNU GRUB version 2.02 error Ubuntu - Minimal BASH Like Line Editing is Supported - YouTube, and boot-repair.

Boot-repair gives me "Please close all your package managers (Software Center, Update Manager, Synaptic, ...). Then try again." message when nothing is opened. Here is the bis: http://paste.ubuntu.com/p/t8yhwRnpW9/.

I'm completely at a loss for what else to try and I need to be able to boot into Ubuntu to work (no chance to reinstall).

Kulfy
  • 17,696
dyarbrough
  • 111
  • It looks like sdc has an UEFI install of Windows and sdb has a BIOS install of Ubuntu. Your sda is just a NTFS data drive? You cannot mix UEFI and BIOS, if you want to boot from grub. You can boot only from UEFI boot menu and may have to turn on/off UEFI/legacy boot mode, though most now recognize which way you are trying to boot. UEFI & BIOS are not compatible and once you start in one mode you cannot switch, or grub only boots other installs in same boot mode. Re-install Ubuntu in UEFI boot mode and use gpt partitioning. – oldfred Jun 03 '19 at 18:46
  • sda is an external drive (not sure why). Windows is installed on sdc. Ubuntu is installed on a partition of sdb (sdb3) and the remainder of the drive is used as storage space for windows. I can't reinstall Ubuntu as I've been using it for a while and it has all of my work / customizations. Before I attempted to fix the boot menu I would just select the correct drive at boot, which was a minor annoyance. If I could go back to this I would be fine, I just need to be able to boot into Ubuntu. – dyarbrough Jun 03 '19 at 19:01
  • Are you running boot-repair from a bootable USB? – Fabby Jun 03 '19 at 19:48
  • Reboot live installer in BIOS mode and add Boot-Repair. Only use Advanced mode, not any auto fixes that Boot-Repair suggests. And choose Ubuntu install partition and only MBR of that same drive. Plugging in an external drive often changes drive order. Best to leave that unplugged while fixing. – oldfred Jun 03 '19 at 20:21
  • You've mixed up your disk format types where you have Windows on sdc drive as a GPT disk and Ubuntu on sdb disk as an MBR running in UEFI mode. It's been said many times not to mix the 2 types as it leads to grub issues. Best thing is to convert the sdb disk to a GPT format, but you will lose all data on that disk when you do so. – Paul Benson Jun 03 '19 at 21:53
  • @oldfred this did it, thank you! I did not realize using boot-repair in UEFI live-usb would not work. – dyarbrough Jun 04 '19 at 02:45
  • You can convert a MBR drive to gpt & vice-versa. But have to reinstall grub and with gpt need a bios_grub partition for grub to correctly install in BIOS boot mode or an ESP - efi system partition for UEFI boot. I started converting drives to gpt in 2010 and all drives now are gpt. Most also are now UEFI boot. Converting to or from GPT - must have good backups. http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/mbr2gpt.html & GPT Advantages (older 2010 but still valid) see post#2 by srs5694: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1457901 – oldfred Jun 04 '19 at 03:39

0 Answers0