GRUB Error 17

[white_hound]

Hi, everyone !
I use dual boot system with SuSE 10.0 and Windows XP.
One day the SuSE became enormously slow (almost an halt), so I pressed the reset button. After re-boot I got a GRUB Error 17 on a black screen.
If I boot a LiveCD Linux, Windows partitions are accessible, while the Linux partition cannot even be mounted.
Does anyone know how this could be repaired ?
Thanks in advance !

[devils casper]

If I boot a LiveCD Linux, Windows partitions are accessible, while the Linux partition cannot even be mounted.

Which command did you execute to mount SuSe Partitions in LiveCD?

Boot up from SuSe Installation CD/DVD and select Installation form Options List. Select Update in next list. Click on next, next, next..... Installer will re-install GRUB.
In case it doesn't work, boot up from LiveCD and execute fdisk -l command post output here. Post the command that you executed to mount SuSe Partitions.

[white_hound]

Hi !
I meant to mount SuSE partition with
mount -t auto /dev/sda7 /mnt/sda7/
or mount -t reiserfs /dev/sda7 /mnt/sda7/
both of them give the same result:

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda7,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

I have tried dmesg | tail, that's what I got:

ata1: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
ata1: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }
ata1: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
ata1: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }
ata1: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
ata1: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }
SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x8000002
sda: Current: sense key=0x3
ASC=0x11 ASCQ=0x4
end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 317124757

As for fdisk -l, it gave the following output:

Disk /dev/sda: 164.6 GB, 164696555520 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 20023 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 4961 39849201 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 4962 20022 120977482+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 4962 15063 81144283+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6 15064 15318 2048256 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 15319 20022 37784848+ 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 33 MB, 33030144 bytes
2 heads, 32 sectors/track, 1008 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 64 * 512 = 32768 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 1007 32208 4 FAT16 <32M

That's it, thank you.

[devils casper]

It looks like your Hard Disk has a few bad blocks or gone bad.
What about /dev/sda1? Is it mounted?
Execute this

fsck /dev/sda7

Post exact error message here, if any.

[white_hound]

I'm starting to suspect unrecoverable damage ...
I managed to boot from SuSE installation DVD, as you suggested, and ... it couldn't find any existing partition at all.
As for /dev/sda1, it is mounted. It's the Windows NTFS partition on the same Harddrive, and it looks absolutely lifelike.

fsck /dev/sda7:

.......
.......
bread: Cannot read the block (6912): (Input/output error).
Warning... fsck.reiserfs for device /dev/sda7 exited with signal 6.

Thank you again !

[devils casper]

You can fix this partition with HardDisk Utility provided by your Hard Disk Manufacturer Or UBCD.

[vengeance]

hiren's boot cd also contains some nice fixing tools @devils_casper won't fixing the partition cause some preoblems with the suse installation?

[devils casper]

won't fixing the partition cause some preoblems with the suse installation?

It could cause some problems but HD has gone bad right now. Input/ouput error isn't allowing to read or fetch data from it. /dev/sda7 has become unusable.
If we fix it, we will be able to recover data or re-install OS atleast.