error: no such device

[willnaylor]

Hi guys,

I know this is a fairly common problem, but I am new to Linux so bear with me!

I have two separate hard disks, one with Windows XP and one running the latest Ubuntu (10.04?)

I would like to run a dual boot system, choosing between Windows and Ubuntu at startup, but when I boot the system goes straight to Ubuntu.

If I disconnect the hard drive running Ubuntu and start the computer, I receive, 'error: no such device: 31054cac-2646-4b48-9a45-264469af89cl. grub rescue>' And Windows refuses to boot.

I can see the Windows hard drive from the setup menu and Ubuntu can access the data on it.

When I execute sudo fdisk -l in Terminal I get the following result:

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000debc1

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 29650 238161920 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 29651 30402 6034433 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 29651 30402 6034432 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xfb81a097

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 19456 156280288+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

An thoughts please? Something to do with the UUID?

Very grateful for any assistance

[yancek]

Something to do with the UUID?

Your fdisk output shows xp on sdb1 partition. Open a terminal in Ubuntu and run the command "blkid" (without quotes). You may need to prefix it with sudo: sudo blkid. This should give you the UUID for your partitions and you can compare the blkid output for sdb1 to the one in your error message.

When you boot the system with both drives attached, do you see the Grub menu with entries for Ubuntu and xp?

If I disconnect the hard drive running Ubuntu and start the computer, I receive, 'error: no such device: 31054cac-2646-4b48-9a45-264469af89cl. grub rescue>' And Windows refuses to boot.

At what point in the boot process do you get this message? After selecting windows from the menu?

Having windows on a second drive usually complicates things and you may need to map drives. windows bootloaders usually expect to be on the first drive.

I'm not really familiar with Grub2 but you should be able to find info on updating Grub2 here or by googling.