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OK, so I know this is stupid, but I have a problem. A while back I installed Ubuntu, and had it dual boot w/WinDoze. I decided I didn't like it ...
  1. 02-09-2010 #1
    desperatenovice
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    GRUB Error 17

    OK, so I know this is stupid, but I have a problem. A while back I installed Ubuntu, and had it dual boot w/WinDoze. I decided I didn't like it (it ran really slowly on my computer), and couldn't figure out a way to delete it. So I...drum roll please...wiped the partition it was on. Now I'm getting "GRUB error 17" because Grub can't find anything to boot off of. Under ordinary circumstances I would reset my MBR w/my WinDoze CD. But my CD drive is broken. I also can't boot from USB. So my only option is to do something from a floppy. Could somebody PLEASE help me? I'm a complete Linux novice, and have no idea what to do.

    P.S. I got this little distro called BG Rescue Linux that I thought might help, but can't figure out what to do w/it. Can it help me?
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  2. 02-09-2010 #2
    oz
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    Welcome to the forums!

    To clear the MBR (master boot record) only, leaving partition tables alone, go to a terminal and run the following command:

    Code:
    sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=446 count=1
    If your rescue distribution doesn't use sudo, you can remove that part of the command. You should get a short message about records in and records out, indicating that the MBR has been cleared.

    I'm not sure how you might be able to restore the Windows bootloader with such a limited means of booting your system, but that would be a question better posted on a Windows forum since it has nothing at all to do with Linux once GRUB is removed from the MBR. Keep in mind that you can pick up a CD drive or even a DVD drive pretty cheaply these days.

    Good luck with it, and let us know how it goes.
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  3. 02-09-2010 #3
    oz
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    Thinking more on the Windows issue, you used to be able to restore the Windows bootloader with a floppy drive if I remember correctly. At least I think that was the case with Win95/98 (it's been too long ), don't know about modern versions of Windows, though.
    oz

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  4. 02-09-2010 #4
    rcgreen
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    The Windows 98se boot floppy has a command
    fdisk/mbr to restore the bootloader.
    This may or may not boot later versions of Windows.

    Bootdisk.Com - Free Windows Bootdisks, Free DOS boot disk
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  5. 02-13-2010 #5
    desperatenovice
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    Quote Originally Posted by desperatenovice View Post
    OK, so I know this is stupid, but I have a problem. A while back I installed Ubuntu, and had it dual boot w/WinDoze. I decided I didn't like it (it ran really slowly on my computer), and couldn't figure out a way to delete it. So I...drum roll please...wiped the partition it was on. Now I'm getting "GRUB error 17" because Grub can't find anything to boot off of. Under ordinary circumstances I would reset my MBR w/my WinDoze CD. But my CD drive is broken. I also can't boot from USB. So my only option is to do something from a floppy. Could somebody PLEASE help me? I'm a complete Linux novice, and have no idea what to do.

    P.S. I got this little distro called BG Rescue Linux that I thought might help, but can't figure out what to do w/it. Can it help me?
    Thanks to all who answered my question. What I ended up doing was getting Super GRUB Disk from another computer and running that. It gives you the option to remove GRUB from your MBR, or you can boot into WinDoze w/it and then edit your boot file from there. And it has a nice little GUI, so it's pretty easy for a novice like me to use.
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  6. 02-14-2010 #6
    devils casper
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    SuperGRUB is really nice and one of the must have tool. I prefer its USB version instead of CD.

    It available in PartedMagic LiveCD and I would suggest you to check PartedMagic. It has lot of other rescue tools.
    It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
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