Rescue from Grub Rescue

[sushie]

[* Admin Edit: Welcome to the forums, sushie! Note that I've moved all your posts about this and any related replies to a common thread since duplicate threads/posts are not allowed on the forums.]


Hey Tangent,

Did you find solution to your problem. I am having the exact same problem at the moment with the exception being that I have instead of your Windows7.

I really need to get this problem fixed. I have a Paper Presentation next week and all My documents are in there.

Can you please help if possible?

Anybody else who has an answer please feel free to respond.

hello community, I have ran into this same "grub rescue>" issue. My situation is as follows:

About a month ago, I installed Ubuntu 10.4 on my machine, been dual booting since then (ubuntu/windows 7).

Ubuntu requested that I installed some updates. Following the updates i was asked to restart the system.

Following my restart, on boot up, the system hangs right after the Board manufacturer page and displays:

"error: no such device - "a long Hex string"
"grub rescue>"

I tried creating a live usb (but my pc apparantly isnt able to boot from a usb key)
ive also tried creating a live cd, but im not able to assign anything as "primary master" in the bios.

As a result, the live cd doesnt get read on reboot, and the system just goes into the "grub rescue>" prompt.

Im not sure what else to try here, or maybe more specifically, how to get my bios to recognise the cd.

[yancek]

Sushie:

You will probably be better off to start your own thread as people will see the first date on this thread and move one.

Are you saying this problem occured after you did some updates?
You have Ubuntu and windows ??
You cannot boot either?
Do you have a Linux Live CD or USB of any kind?
If not, do you have access to another computer you can use to get one?

[sushie]

Thank U for replying yancek.

Here's the thing:

I have Ubuntu and Widows XP on 2 partitions ....

Ubuntu asked me to install some updates as they were available. I didn't see any harm in it so I installed them.
Then, it asked Me to reboot the system. I was tired so I just switched it off. I guess rebooting should be same as Switching off a system n then starting it later. Isn't it??

Anyways, the next Time I started the system I got a message right after the initial page displaying board manufacturer saying :

error: no such device - "a long Hex string"
grub rescue>

I searched about this problem on Ubuntu Forums. Their solution is a set of commands that you can see on this link :
help. ubuntu. com / community / Grub2 #Resolving %20a n%20 %22
Unrecognized %20Device%20String%22%20%28Error%2011%29

(delete the spaces. I am not yet allowed to post the URLs)

Although none of those commands are recognized by the system. Except the "ls" ans the "set" command. All other commands give an error saying : "Unknown Command "

I cant boot Windows either. I don't see a way how.

This is where I am struck now.

and Yes, I have access to an other PC(It doesn't have CD drive).
Although No CD. And USB wont boot.

[sushie]

About a month ago, I installed Ubuntu 10.4 on my machine, been dual booting since then (ubuntu/windows XP).

Ubuntu requested that I install some updates. Which I did and following the updates i was asked to restart the system.

Following my restart, on boot up, the system hangs right after the Board manufacturer page and displays:

"error: no such device - "a long Hex string"
"grub rescue>"

At this stage I tried different commands that were listed on Ubuntu Forum but I only the commands "ls" and "set" are recognized. All the commands show an "Unknown Command" error.

It is really urgent for Me to boot the system.

Does anybody have a solution?

[Manko10]

Hi,
Try this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...rescue_console
After booting your Linux manually via rescue shell you should check your settings in your grub.cfg and probably regenerate it with grub-mkconfig.

[yancek]

Ubuntu asked me to install some updates as they were available. I didn't see any harm in it so I installed them.

Sometimes there is harm in it. Sometimes the installation/configuration is not complete until after a re-boot. The same is true with some operating system installations. Security updates are good to do any time. Other updates, unless something is working or you want a program or feature, there isn't any need to update. You may have downloaded a new kernel which could be the problem.

The hex string you refer to may be a UUID although I don't know why that would change with updates?

Is this the link you referred to: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

Command line and Rescue mode about half way down the page? What happened when you ran the ls command for root? ls (hd0,1)/ You need a space after the ls before the (hd0,1). I don't know which partition you have root on, Grub2 count partitions from one (1). I haven't used Grub2 so I doubt I'll be of any help.

[Manko10]

The hex string you refer to may be a UUID although I don't know why that would change with updates?

It could since partition UUIDs are not static and may be changed with tools such as tune2fs.
By the way I've never understood why Ubuntu uses UUIDs and not labels, but anyway.

[glene77is]

Here's the thing:

I have Ubuntu and Widows XP on 2 partitions ....

. . . I just switched it off. . . .

. . . I cant boot Windows either. I don't see a way how.

This is where I am struck now.

Sushie,

You should be sleeping with a Live-CD under your pillow !!!
It is your immediate hope and restoration method.
If I were there, I would hand you one.

Even if you could boot into Windows, there would be no help there,
as MS does not recognize a Linux format.

Since you cannot boot into Linux,
you need to let the system BIOS boot from a CD.
That would be your next step.

So, Call around town, see which computer tech shop has a Linux guy there.
He should be able to download the ISO and burn a Live-CD (Ubunutu) for you.
He will charge you for his services,
but remember this, you will not make this mistake again and he will always be a friend.

glene77is, Memphis, TN.

[Mudgen]

Thank U for replying yancek.
Then, it asked Me to reboot the system. I was tired so I just switched it off. I guess rebooting should be same as Switching off a system n then starting it later. Isn't it??

Did you shut down the system using shutdown command (or the gui selection for Shutdown), or just power it off? With ext3 and ext4 filesystems, most of the time you'll get away with powering off while the OS is running, but it's not a good thing to do, particularly immediately after an update. That could be a big factor in your problems.

There has to be a way to get it to boot a CD, which would let you hack your way out of this. If you desperately need access to data on the drive, you could try pulling it and dropping into a SATA/USB dock connected to another computer.

Good luck!

[scutiform]

When I had the same problem, I used SuperGrub to fix the grub menu problem. Do a search for the Supergrub web site and download it. It's good for fixing most of the Grub loading problems