Grub "error 17" ever since i plugged in my new sata drive.

[coldpizza721]

Ever since i plugged in my new sata hard drive i have been locked out of grub. I get something like this...

Grub loading stage 1.5.

Grub loading, please wait ...
Error 17
_

I have spent many hours trying to fix this but cant seem to get it working. Could someone please help me. Also im farily new to linux so I would appreciate it if you could be as specific as possible.

Here is what i got

ubuntu*ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4863 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xaf33af33

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        4862    39053983+   7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6ea5d11f

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1       60801   488384001    7  HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdc: 30.7 GB, 30750031872 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3738 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000d7ce5

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1               1        3579    28748286   83  Linux
/dev/sdc2            3580        3738     1277167+   5  Extended
/dev/sdc5            3580        3738     1277136   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdd: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0005411e

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdd1               1        6527    52428096    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdd2            6528       10443    31455270   83  Linux
/dev/sdd3           10444       14359    31455270   83  Linux
/dev/sdd4           14360      121601   861421365    7  HPFS/NTFS

bios boots to sda which has windows on it
sdb is just a data drive
sdc is my xubuntu
and sdd is the new sata drive

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
 (hd2,0)

i think my problem is that grub needs to be in hd0 but i dont know how to change that

Note: my system was working perfectly up untill i plugged in the sata and turned that on in my bios. I think that this grub error is specifically caused by a new sata drive and think that it would be working right now if the drive i added wasnt sata

[vickey_20]

have you changed the position of HDD before attached to the computer

[Jonathan183]

You should have two options:-
Option 1 install grub to MBR of sda using

sudo grub
root (hd2,0)
setup (hd0)
quit

Reboot and see if that fixes things ... if you get Linux to boot from the hard drive and Windows will not then post the output of

cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

Option 2 swap boot order so you boot from the drive with linux on, before you do this type

sudo grub
root (hd2,0)
setup (hd2)
quit

Once you do this boot Linux from the hard drive and repost the output of

sudo fdisk -l

Of the two options ... I recommend option 2

[coldpizza721]

You should have two options:-
Option 1 install grub to MBR of sda using

sudo grub
root (hd2,0)
setup (hd0)
quit

Reboot and see if that fixes things ... if you get Linux to boot from the hard drive and Windows will not then post the output of

cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

Option 2 swap boot order so you boot from the drive with linux on, before you do this type

sudo grub
root (hd2,0)
setup (hd2)
quit

Once you do this boot Linux from the hard drive and repost the output of

sudo fdisk -l

Of the two options ... I recommend option 2

after using option one i did the find command and it wasnt on hd0

grub> root (hd2,0)
grub> setup (hd0)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... y
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"...  16 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 d (hd0) (hd0)1+16 p (hd2,0)/boot/grub/stage
2 /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
(hd2,0)

so i went to option two,restarted my computer, but same still getting same error

[coldpizza721]

o wait...i think i forgot to do something from option 2...how do you swap the boot order? from the bios...Im not able to change it from sda

[Jonathan183]

Grub has two parts ... one part that sits in the MBR and the other part which has config information. When you enter the search command you are searching for the second part (location does not move). When you install grub to the MBR you must let it know where stage 1.5 or stage 2 part of grub is located.

From the output you have given you have installed grub to the MBR of the first hard drive (hd0) - based on fdisk output this is a 40GB drive with an ntfs partition only. Try selecting that as the boot device ... do you get a grub menu?

[coldpizza721]

Grub has two parts ... one part that sits in the MBR and the other part which has config information. When you enter the search command you are searching for the second part (location does not move). When you install grub to the MBR you must let it know where stage 1.5 or stage 2 part of grub is located.

From the output you have given you have installed grub to the MBR of the first hard drive (hd0) - based on fdisk output this is a 40GB drive with an ntfs partition only. Try selecting that as the boot device ... do you get a grub menu?

no i dont get to the menu

[yancek]

Did you do both of jonathan183's options? You should do one or the other not both. If you did option one, your Grub stage1 file should be in the mbr of the first disk and if you have the first disk set as first in boot priority it should boot.

If you did both options, it won't work. If you did option two last and haven't changed anything, set the 30GB drive first in boot priority and try booting.

after using option one i did the find command and it wasnt on hd0

It won't show (hd0), it will only show the root or boot partition it is in such as (hd2,0).

[coldpizza721]

ughh... i did 1 then 2 then i thnk i triend one again lol. What should i do?

[Jonathan183]

You can try just option 2. I also suggest you try disconnecting or disabling all drives except the Linux drive and check it will boot correctly.