[SOLVED] MBR won't load

[error-023]

I have an Dell Inspiron 1300 laptop operating Windows XP SP3 on a 40 GB hard drive and an 250GB USB Seagate External Expansion Portable Drive, partitioned into two equal sections. I downloaded and burned Ubuntu 9.10 to a CD. I booted up from the CD and installed Ubuntu on one part of the Expansion Drive. When it was completed, I shut down my laptop, unplugged the Expansion Drive and ate dinner.

Later on and came back and turned on my laptop. When I turned it on, I received this message:

GRUB loading,
error: no such disk
grub rescue>

With my external hard drive plugged in, I am able to see the full GRUB menu listing the Ubuntu install as well on the external hard drive, and the windows XP install on my internal hard drive.


Without my external drive plugged it, my laptop fails to XP. It goes straight to:

GRUB loading,
error: no such disk
grub rescue>

The part I don't understand is why it i looking for GRUB on my internal hard drive when I installed Ubuntu on an external hard drive.

Windows XP is only installed on the 40 GB hard drive, which is the internal drive. The 250GB USB Seagate External Expansion Portable Drive, partitioned into two equal sections, has Ubuntu install on one of the partitions. The other partition is blank.

When I connected the expansion drive to my laptop, GRUB starts up and I can choose from using Ubuntu or Windows. The laptop was given to me as a hand-me-down,
so I do not have a copy of Windows XP, nor can I locate a copy to repair the MBR on my laptop. Is there a way I can fix what has happened so I can normally boot Windows
without needing to plug in my expansion drive? Thank you.

Here is some additional information that I hope helps. This is what my GRUB menu looks like when the external HD is connected:

Ubuntu Linux 2.6.31-14 generic
Ubuntu Linux 2.6.31-14 generic (recovery mode)
Memory Test (memtest86+)
Memory Test (memtest86+) serial console 115200
Dell Utility Partition (on /dev /sda1)
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition ( on /dev/sda2)
Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-17-generic (on /dev/sdc1)
Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-17-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sdc1)
Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.24-26-generic (on /dev/sdc1)
Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.24-26-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sdc1)
Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.22-16-generic (on /dev/sdc1)
Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.22-16-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sdc1)
Ubuntu 9.10, (memtest86+) (on /dev/sdc1)

When I hit the e buttom for edit, this is what I have seen:

insmod ntfs
set root = (hd 0,2)
search--no-floppy--fs--uuid -set9eb812ed812c327
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1


Sometimes I see this instead:

ismod fat
set root = (hd0,1)
search--no-floppy--fs--uuid -set9eb812ed812c327
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1

[yancek]

The default behavior is to install stage1 of Grub to the master boot record of the first hard drive in BIOS boot priority. In your case, that would be the internal drive with xp on it. When installing Ubuntu, there was an Advanced tab during the bootloader installation where you could change where to install bootloader. Grub puts the stage1 file in the mbr and the rest of the bootloader files on the Linux partition (Ubuntu in your case) which is on your external drive and is why Grub can find its files and boot when the external is attached and allow you to boot windows or Ubuntu.

You can install Grub to the mbr of the external drive and have it set to first boot priority so you can boot Ubuntu when the external is plugged in. If you don't have an installation CD for xp, you should be able to download a boot disk of some type for xp to do this repair. I would just google "windows xp boot disk" to find something or borrow a disk from a friend.

[Rubberman]

I think the Windows command to do this is "fixmbr". You need to boot from a Windows install CD into recovery mode to do this I think. I'm not sure if booting normally into "safe mode" will let you write the MBR, but it might.

[rokytnji]

Ultimate Boot CD or Super Grub Disk CD will also suffice to repair Windows Bootloader when a Windows Install cd is unavailable also. Another good source for free fixmbr is
Bootdisk.Com - Free Windows Bootdisks, Free DOS boot disk

[error-023]

I downloaded the Super Grub Disk 0.9799 iso file and burned it to a cd. I rebooted my laptop and fixed the MBR. Thank you all very much for your help.