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OK, here's my machine & setup: I'm using a Lenovo Ideacentre K410. It came preloaded with Win7 Home in 64-bit. I installed a terrabyte drive in UEFI mode, then installed Xubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr on it. I've been using it 99% of my time, but maintained the Win7 install on the BIOS/MBR 500Gb drive. Since installing Linux, the Grub NEVER gave me a choice of whether to boot into Linux or Windows, as it always defaulted to Xubuntu and disregarded windows. I soon discovered that if I unplug the comm cable from the Terrabyte drive, and then boot the pc, it boots directly into Windows. But I then can't access files on the Linux drive without turning the machine off. With both cables plugged in, it always boots into Xubuntu. This is how I've been utilizing this machine, until now.

I recently tried "fixing" the Grub using "Boot-Repair-Disk" iso installed on a thumb drive. After following it's instructions as given, which involved deleting the Grub and then installing an updated version of the Grub, it said the installation was successful and that I could reboot the pc. Upon rebooting, I get the following error:

error: file'/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found.
Entering rescue mode...
grub rescue>_

NOW what do I do? Obviously the Grub FAILED to load and is broken somehow. I'm thinking that maybe I could repair the Grub with the original install disc I used when I installed Xubuntu.(?)

The Boot-Repair-Disk info file is here http://paste.ubuntu.com/23162262/

It says

Grub2 (v2.00) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks for (,msdos1)/grub.

Now I'm confused as, all this time I thought the terrabyte drive was in UEFI mode, but THIS program says it's using an MBR & a version of msDOS. WTH?

I see a set of instructions to restore Grub here: Grub not working after Windows 8.1 update on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

I'll try them, and post the results later on this thread.

UPDATE: After I tried to update Grub with the command line in a terminal

sudo update-grub

I got the following:

Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-69-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-69-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-65-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-65-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-58-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-58-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-56-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-56-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-51-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-51-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-49-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-49-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.19.0-47-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.19.0-47-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-96-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-96-generic
done

for some reason, Grub is NOT detecting my other hard drive and Windows.

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hienz1
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  • If the Windows 7 was MBR then you'd have to install Ubuntu the same way. Grub can't work for dual-boot if the OSes are installed differently. Using Boot Repair in this cases makes thing worse. –  Sep 11 '16 at 04:02
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    Windows is installed in UEFI-mode, Ubuntu is installed in legacy-mode. It looks like Boot-repai repaired successfully, but there is one thing, Boot-repair can not do for you: it can not change the settings in UEFI-BIOS. You have to do that manually. Enter your BIOS and make your BIOS boot on sdb1/EFI/ubuntu/shimx64.efi file. Please take a look at the last seven lines of your boot-info-summary. – mook765 Sep 11 '16 at 04:41
  • Well, I tried the fix to restore the Grub. That didn't work very well, as the "Try Linux" mode kept returning errors like "command not found", and "no input files", and "unable to locate package..." BUT, I tried using the "Boot-Repair-Disk" thumb drive again, and instead used the steps described in the Grub fix "Grub not working after windows 8.1 update on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS", starting with "in boot repair select ADVANCE OPTIONS. It presented a new set of instructions I didn't see the last time I tried. It gave me selections to re-install Grub in the /sda, and NOT install the EFI in a sep. part. – hienz1 Sep 11 '16 at 05:48
  • *continuing - NOT install the EFI in a separate partition, like it was doing. I think that selection UNCHECKED allowed the EFI to be installed in /sda, along with Grub. As of now, I'm typing this comment with Linux. So, yeah, that fix worked... sort of. Now upon BOOTing I see the Grub menu, BUT with ONLY Ubuntu & Options as selections. There doesn't seem to be a Windows selection in the Grub. – hienz1 Sep 11 '16 at 05:53
  • If you want to reinstall Grub back to the MBR of sda you have to run Boot-repair in legacy-mode. Grub in MBR should be legacy-version of Grub. Grub has been installed on MBR of sda before. With Grub-legacy you have to enter BIOS every time you want to change OS. No need to unplug Ubuntu-drive when you want to run Windows, just enter UEFI-BIOS and choose where you want to boot from... – mook765 Sep 11 '16 at 06:02
  • We cross-posted. You can not boot to uefi from Grub installed on MBR. This is legacy version of Grub. But you can choose OS from BIOS, no need to unplug Ubuntu-drive. On most laptops it is the F12-key, hit during start-up and choose what to boot – mook765 Sep 11 '16 at 06:13
  • the new paste bin file is here - http://paste.ubuntu.com/23162885/ – hienz1 Sep 11 '16 at 06:27
  • Looks like first one. If you don't use Windows a lot, you can leave everything as is. You can choose what to boot from UEFI-BIOS. You don't need to unplug the Ubuntu-drive to boot Windows. How to enter UEFI-BIOS refer to manual of laptop. On most laptop the F12-key will bring you to boot-menu, you can choose there which drive to boot. – mook765 Sep 11 '16 at 06:41
  • @mook765 I tried doing that, on my machine you press F12 during Boot to bring up the hard drive menu, select which one to boot from. BUT, if the Windows drive is selected, it first shows the "Starting Windows" screen for a few seconds, then defaults back to Unbuntu, or NOW it goes to the Grub menu, then to Ubuntu. – hienz1 Sep 11 '16 at 09:35
  • pressing F2 during Boot brings up the BIOS, but mine doesn't have anything anywhere to allow me to select what file to Boot from. The latest date on the BIOS is from 2012. – hienz1 Sep 11 '16 at 09:40
  • yeah, I see you don't have a laptop, your computer is desktop-pc. try F2-key or Del-key or check out in the manual of your hardware which key to press. When you start the computer it will beep once, then screen comes up and you can see mostly on the lower edge of the screen which key to press to enter BIOS. – mook765 Sep 11 '16 at 11:47

1 Answers1

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The following is the answer for this issue.

I tried using the "Boot-Repair-Disk" thumb drive again, and instead used the steps described in the Grub fix Grub not working after Windows 8.1 update on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . So in boot repair select ADVANCE OPTIONS. It presented a new set of instructions I didn't see the last time I tried. It gave me selections to re-install Grub in the /sda, and NOT install the EFI in a separate partition, like it was doing. I think that selection UNCHECKED allowed the EFI to be installed in /sda, along with Grub. Upon BOOTing I see the Grub menu, BUT with ONLY Ubuntu & Options as selections. There doesn't seem to be a Windows selection in the Grub.

On my machine you press F12 during Boot to bring up the hard drive menu, select which one to boot from. BUT, if the Windows drive is selected, it first showed the "Starting Windows" screen for a few seconds, then defaulted to the Grub menu, then to Ubuntu.

Since monkeying around with this issue, other errors cropped up with Apt, dbus, etc (search my past posts to see what I mean), which necessitated me having to backup all data, then wipe the drive clean, and do a fresh install of Xubuntu 16.04.1 LTS to correct all these issues. Currently, I have to use rEFInd Boot Manager http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html on a disc to boot into Xubuntu, which shows a Grub menu that does show Ubuntu, Options, and a Windows boot loader - seemingly solving this issue. After boot, I can remove the disc and replace it with anything, and Xubuntu works great.

So, Back in this Saddle again.

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hienz1
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    Better to have manually partitioned sda as gpt including an ESP - efi system partition and installed Ubuntu in UEFI mode from the start. Both systems dual boot only if both installed in same boot mode, both BIOS or both UEFI. http://askubuntu.com/questions/743095/how-to-prepare-a-disk-on-an-efi-based-pc-for-ubuntu and: http://askubuntu.com/questions/353683/uefi-partitioning-for-dummies – oldfred Sep 20 '16 at 03:46