Grub not working

[Goh Lip]

On 05/05/2011 12:10 AM, dave boland wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have installed Ubuntu 11.04 twice to get Grub to work, but all I get
> is a blank screen (no graphics or text), then it boots to Ubuntu Logon
> screen.  I really need to get this to work because it is a dual boot
> machine (Ubuntu&  Windows ME -- until 12/30/11).
>
> Here is what I have/Know -- hope it helps.
>
> Partitions as per GParted:
> * dev/sda1;   fat32;     WINDOWS
> * dev/sda2;   Extended
> *   dev/sda5; fat32;     SHARED
> *   dev/sda6; fat32;     BACKUPS
> *   dev/sda7; linux-swap;
> *   dev/sda8; ext4;      /
> *   dev/sda9; ext4;      /home
>
> The version of Grub is:
> grub --version
> grub (GNU GRUB 0.97)
>
> Thanks,
> Dave

Dave, please recheck, er, next time you boot into 11.04, at terminal
grub-install -v
It should be version 1.99, not 0.97.

If you are very sure you are using grub-legacy and not grub2, do not 
follow what I will be suggesting below, get back to us.

Boot using livecd of 11.04, then at terminal of livecd,
sudo mount /dev/sda8 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda

Then modify the following part in /dev/sda8/boot/grub/grub.cfg   as 
follows....

*from*

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos8)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
   set gfxmode=auto
   load_video
   insmod gfxterm
fi


*to*

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos8)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
   set gfxmode=640x480
   load_video
   insmod gfxterm
fi

*Reboot into Ubuntu 11.04 (dev/sda8)*

Then uncomment the following line in /etc/default grub
from
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
to
GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

Then at terminal,
sudo update-grub

Make sure Windows entry is there, if not, at terminal,
sudo grub-install /dev/sda

Regards - Goh Lip

ps: could someone else vet the above?
     I use a "fixed grub" to boot all my OS and do not play with graphics
     splash or other fancy eye-stuff. (heck, I do not even use compiz)