external hd + grub error 17

[whitethorn]

Hi,

Pretty much I want to play around with a bunch of different distros, so I decided I'd take my 250 gig external HD, add a couple partitions and then install a couple and see which one I like. At the moment I have ubuntu installed on my internal HD.

Grub error 17 when I try to boot from the HD. I used an usb stick and unetbootin to install Sabayon and Ubuntu (soon to add Fedora 11). Unfortunately, I can't boot into any of them. I've spent a couple hours googling and trying out different things, but I haven't gotten any further.

Here's the output from fdisk -l

I have /dev/sda and sdb set up as a Raid 0 (in bios), which for some reason doesn't really show up properly here. Creating a partition at the end of my internal hds isn't an option (at least I don't think so). The last partition is a truecrypt volume, which I don't think I can shrink without losing all the data. Sdc is where I need help getting grub to work.

Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 5 will be corrected by w(rite)

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xbcfe2675

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 31875 256032768 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 31876 42073 81915435 5 Extended
/dev/sda3 42074 243202 1615565824 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sdc: 250.0 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xda57e1ec

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 17653 141796352 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdc2 17654 30401 102398310 5 Extended
/dev/sdc5 17654 19565 15358108+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdc6 19566 21477 15358108+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdc7 21478 23389 15358108+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdc8 23390 25301 15358108+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdc9 25302 30401 40965718+ 83 Linux

[jmadero]

did you install a linux distro on the external hard drive last? If so then your default grub is now on the external hard drive, meaning that it has to be on and plugged in for you to get a grub menu at all. I'd suggest fixing it with super grub disk

[vickey_20]

I tried doing the same thing . I have ubuntu on my internal HD , Installed RHEL 5 on an external HDD but did get an entry in the grub file of ubuntu but it didn't start pointing out some kind of error. So what I did is before starting the computer I plug the external HDD and change the boot order and selected boot form external HDD. It worked fine for me now RHEL starts form external HDD. Try it ! it might work out for you too