Boot Repair Question

[PenguinHatchling]

I have been playing around with linux and running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS off of a live USB drive. Before, when I turned on my system, it would go to the purple screen and then ask me if I wanted to use Windows 7 or Ubuntu.

The other day, in Ubuntu, I was updating all applications and maybe the OS as well. It told me that I had to reboot to finish. Now, with the USB drive plugged in, the computer goes straight into Windows and never asks me if I want to use Ubuntu. I'm currently downloading a live CD that includes boot repair.

My question: what are the chances that bootrepair will do something to mess up my Windows install? From what I read, bootrepair defaults to installing the Grubs onto every disk. Shouldn't I only need it on the USB drive? I've had enough problems with this sort of thing before that I don't know if I trust bootrepair to not screw up my Windows system disk or my data disks.

[yancek]

You need to clarify what you were doing. If you were using a Live CD on a flash drive it is a read-only system and can't be updated/upgraded. Did you use it to install Ubuntu to your hard drive? Did you have it set up with a persistence option? At the very least you will need to post more info on your drives/partitions as well. Use the fdisk -l command to do that or go to the site below and run the bootinfoscript. You will need to use a Linux system but it isn't clear if you are able to boot Linux:

Boot Info Script | Free System Administration software downloads at SourceForge.net

[PenguinHatchling]

You need to clarify what you were doing. If you were using a Live CD on a flash drive it is a read-only system and can't be updated/upgraded. Did you use it to install Ubuntu to your hard drive? Did you have it set up with a persistence option? At the very least you will need to post more info on your drives/partitions as well. Use the fdisk -l command to do that or go to the site below and run the bootinfoscript. You will need to use a Linux system but it isn't clear if you are able to boot Linux:

Thanks for the feedback. When I was running Ubuntu before, I was doing it from a live USB that COULD be written to (not read only). I have no idea what a "persistence option" is so I can't tell you about that.

I have a bunch of hard drives, but they are all in "fakeraid" arrays and I was never able to access their data while in Ubuntu, which is why I always ran it off a live USB.

Other than that, I can't get into linux right now until I have time to burn a new live CD. I will report back with the fdisk -l results when I do. Maybe this is enough info to provide some clues though?

[PenguinHatchling]

Below is the result of fdisk -l.

sda: 64GB SSD (Windows cache drive)

sdb & c: 320 GB hard drives in fakeRAID 0 - This is my Windows system disk

sdd & e: 2 TB hard drives in fakeRAID 1 - contains all my data

sdf: 16 GB USB drive that used to work for using Ubuntu until the update broke it

sdg: 1 GB USB drive that I only used to save the fdisk -l report (I usually don't use it)


Disk /dev/sda: 64.0 GB, 64023257088 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7783 cylinders, total 125045424 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000


Disk /dev/sdb: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0b995d22

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 2048 206847 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sdb2 206848 1250271231 625032192 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdc: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x8c531fb7

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 63 625121279 312560608+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sdd: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x34875eaf

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 2048 3907018751 1953508352 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/sde: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x34875eaf

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sde1 2048 3907018751 1953508352 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo: 640.1 GB, 640141230080 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77826 cylinders, total 1250275840 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 131072 bytes / 262144 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0b995d22

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo1 * 2048 206847 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo2 206848 1250271231 625032192 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/mapper/isw_cjagiajeg_Data: 2000.4 GB, 2000395833344 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243200 cylinders, total 3907023112 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x34875eaf

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/mapper/isw_cjagiajeg_Data1 2048 3907018751 1953508352 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

Disk /dev/mapper/isw_cjagiajeg_Data1: 2000.4 GB, 2000392552448 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243200 cylinders, total 3907016704 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6e697373

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/mapper/isw_cjagiajeg_Data1p1 ? 1936269394 3772285809 918008208 4f QNX4.x 3rd part
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/mapper/isw_cjagiajeg_Data1p2 ? 1917848077 2462285169 272218546+ 73 Unknown
Partition 2 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/mapper/isw_cjagiajeg_Data1p3 ? 1818575915 2362751050 272087568 2b Unknown
Partition 3 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/mapper/isw_cjagiajeg_Data1p4 ? 2844524554 2844579527 27487 61 SpeedStor
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo1: 104 MB, 104857600 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12 cylinders, total 204800 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 131072 bytes / 262144 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6e697373

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo1p1 ? 1936269394 3772285809 918008208 4f QNX4.x 3rd part
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo1p2 ? 1917848077 2462285169 272218546+ 73 Unknown
Partition 2 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo1p3 ? 1818575915 2362751050 272087568 2b Unknown
Partition 3 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo1p4 ? 2844524554 2844579527 27487 61 SpeedStor
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo2: 640.0 GB, 640032964608 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77812 cylinders, total 1250064384 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 131072 bytes / 262144 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x6e697373

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo2p1 ? 1936269394 3772285809 918008208 4f QNX4.x 3rd part
Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo2p2 ? 1917848077 2462285169 272218546+ 73 Unknown
Partition 2 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo2p3 ? 1818575915 2362751050 272087568 2b Unknown
Partition 3 does not start on physical sector boundary.
/dev/mapper/isw_eajfeeecii_Bobo2p4 ? 2844524554 2844579527 27487 61 SpeedStor
Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/sdf: 15.8 GB, 15812526080 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 15080 cylinders, total 30883840 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00048b2a

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdf1 * 2048 14407679 7202816 83 Linux
/dev/sdf2 14409726 30881791 8236033 5 Extended
/dev/sdf5 14409728 30881791 8236032 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdg: 1024 MB, 1024966656 bytes
32 heads, 63 sectors/track, 993 cylinders, total 2001888 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd86205c0

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdg1 245 1999871 999813+ 6 FAT16