dual boot grub problem...need help!

[lwpack]

Greetings all. I have a vista/ubuntu dual boot. Everything had been working fine for a while when I decided to erase some unused partitions with gedit. I erased a fat32 and an ext3 partition. Both of these were data only partitions. I have another ext3 partition in which ubuntu is installed. I never touched that partition, nor did I touch the partition where vista is installed. However, now when I try to boot grub gets an error. The grub menu doesn't even come up. It says error 22. Not sure what to do. Right now I'm using a live cd. Please help.

[lwpack]

Here is my fdisk -l command, if it helps:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 6 48163+ de Dell Utility
/dev/sda2 7 1312 10485760 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3 * 1312 4499 25603305+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 4500 38913 276430455 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 4500 29995 204796588+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 * 29996 38548 68701941 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 38549 38913 2931831 82 Linux swap / Solaris
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

[devils casper]

mount / partition of Ubuntu and post the contents of /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/menu.lst ( first title block only ) files.

[lwpack]

The results of fdisk -l are posted above.

fstab file:

# /dev/sda3 (Vista Partition)
/dev/sda3 /media/vista ntfs-3g defaults,noauto,user,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0 0 0

# /dev/sda5 (NTFS Data Partition)
/dev/sda5 /media/ntfs ntfs-3g defaults,user,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0 0 0

# /dev/sda6 (Linux Root Partition)
UUID=9bbfe586-6d91-4f47-aca0-4d95e97fb60f / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1

# /dev/sda7 (Swap)
UUID=6e6f28d1-8c8b-4b8a-a416-f580bae7b368 none swap sw 0 0

Grub menu:
title 1. Windows Vista
root (hd0,2)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

title 2. Ubuntu
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/sda6 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
quiet
savedefault
boot

Thank you so much!

[devils casper]

every thing is correct. i think UUIDs have been changed. edit /etc/fstab file.

# /dev/sda3 (Vista Partition)
/dev/sda3                         /media/vista       ntfs-3g defaults,noauto,user,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0   0  0
 
# /dev/sda5 (NTFS Data Partition)
/dev/sda5                      /media/ntfs   ntfs-3g  defaults,user,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0   0 0  
 
# /dev/sda6 (Linux Root Partition)
  /dev/sda6 /           ext3  defaults,errors=remount-ro 0    1
 
# /dev/sda7  (Swap)
/dev/sda7 none          swap           sw              0      0

save file and reboot.

[lwpack]

Just tried that. Still get same exact error.

[lwpack]

Here is new fstab file:

# proc
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

# /dev/sda3 (Vista Partition)
/dev/sda3 /media/vista ntfs-3g defaults,noauto,user,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0 0 0

# /dev/sda5 (NTFS Data Partition)
/dev/sda5 /media/ntfs ntfs-3g defaults,user,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0 0 0

# /dev/sda6 (Linux Root Partition)
/dev/sda6 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1

# /dev/sda7 (Swap)
/dev/sda7 none swap sw 0 0

[devils casper]

hmm.. try to re-install GRUB.

mkdir Ubuntu
sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sda6 Ubuntu
sudo chroot Ubuntu
sudo grub-install /dev/sda

in case it doesn't work, download SuperGRUB CD .iso image from here. burn .iso image to CD and boot from it. select Re-install GRUB option from list.

[lwpack]

When I try the grub-install command it says /dev/sda not found. Should I change it to /dev/sda6?

ubuntu@ubuntu:/media$ sudo chroot ubuntu
root@ubuntu:/# sudo grub-install /dev/sda
/dev/sda: Not found or not a block device.
root@ubuntu:/#

[devils casper]

Should I change it to /dev/sda6?

No. that will install GRUB in boot sector of sda6 only. this is a problem in Ubuntu LiveCD. grub-install doesn't work most of the time.