Strange Grub Error Message on dual boot Dell laptop

[NoOp]

On 04/23/2010 09:21 PM, J wrote:
...
> 
> You're right...  and to get this back on track for the OP, Vista and
> Win7 are "close enough" but in this case, I think it's more likely
> that he's got a Dell, and Dell's pre-loaded backup software is known
> to overwrite the areas that grub2 uses to store some of its data...
> 
> So for the OP, Tab, check that Dell pre-loaded software.  If you do
> indeed have the same backup/recovery software that I had (and I
> believe they throw on everything they sell), that is most likely
> what's causing your grub issues, as that software writes some data
> overtop of grub every time it starts (which means every time you boot
> Windows).
> 
> And again, sorry NoOp, I really should have been a bit nicer about it.
> 
> Cheers,
> Jeff
> 

Apologies from me as well :-)

I went looking on launchpad (found the bug you'd commented on 551721):
<https://launchpad.net/+search?field.text=Dell+backup+software&field.actions.search=Search>

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/551721
Seems relevant.
[Jeff's comments on this one]

However, you might want to have a look at this one as well:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/482757
[Grub loading. The symbol ' ' not found. Aborted. Press any key...]

Also:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/debian/+source/grub2/+bug/441941
[grub fails after running Windows]
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/496435
[upgrades of the grub-pc package can overwrite wrong MBR]

Might be worth exploring installing grub2 to it's own partition (see the
previous threads on this w/Goh Lip et al). That way you can keep the
various backup/restore utilities that are provided with the laptop(s)
WinXYZ setups.

The 'BURG' that some of the bugs suggest (no clue if it works - never
heard of it before) is:
http://code.google.com/p/burg/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Burg
http://www.unixmen.com/linux-tutorials/572-burg-advanced-menu-for-grub2