Restoring the MBR on a CD-ROM less Notebook

Wed May 19 10:59:11 UTC 2010

On 05/19/2010 03:07 PM, Amichai Rotman wrote:
> Hey Tom,
>
> Thank for the great info, except there isn't any Linux on it now. I need
> to re-create Windows 7 boot loader or whatever.
>
> I started a live Ubuntu 10.04 stick and I found out the partitin I need
> to boot is /dev/sda2...
>
> Thanks!
>
> .:====================================================:.
>
> Amichai Rotman
>
> Registered Linux User#: 201192 [http://counter.li.org/]
> Registered Ubuntu User #12851 [http://ubuntucounter.geekosophical.net]
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> .:====================================================:.
>
>
> On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 07:22, Tom H <tomh0665 at gmail.com
> <mailto:tomh0665 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 3:37 PM, Amichai Rotman <amichai at iglu.org.il
>     <mailto:amichai at iglu.org.il>> wrote:
>      > My sister bought a new Asus UL20A. I managed to convince her to
>     give Ubuntu
>      > a try (it came with Windows 7 pre-installed), So i installed
>     10.04 on it.
>      > It has a single 320 Gb HDD, I was very careful not to wipe the
>     recovery
>      > partition, but I had to cut the original system partition (disk
>     C:) into 2
>      > partitions for Swap. so:
>      > It had a Disk C: (I think about 80 Gb in size) and the rest as
>     disk D: for
>      > data.
>      > I chose to manually partition the drive during the installation
>     and deleted
>      > the 80 Gb partition and created a 1024 MB for swap and the rest for /
>      > (root), the rest - i didn't touch.
>      > After installation, the last option in the GRUB menu was Windows
>     Vista
>      > (although it was actually Windows 7). I didn't give it much
>     thought...
>      > The deal was she tries Ubuntu for a week, then she decides if she
>     wants to
>      > keep it or go back to Windows 7. Regrettably - she chose the
>     latter.She has
>      > to go abroad for 3 months and she's affraid she will be stuck and
>     no one
>      > will know how to help her. She said she had nothing against Linux
>     but...
>      > I tried to launch the recovery process by pressing F9 during boot
>     - but
>      > nothing happened. I then tried to boot from
>     that mysterious option on the
>      > menu - an what da ya know ! it's the recovery process! So it went
>     about
>      > recovering - just as if I pressed F9 - and then told me
>     the recovery was
>      > done and I should click OK to shut down.
>      > And here is the part I need help with: The next time I pressed
>     the power
>      > button - it says there is an error and gives me the "grub
>     rescue>" prompt...
>      > Please help me! There is no CD ROM drive, no recovery DVD media
>     supplied (a
>      > note that came with the computer says one is not supplied with
>     this model).
>      > How do I boot from USB stick and recover the Windows 7 MBR / Boot
>     loader?!
>      > All I have is my on Ubuntu Lucid on both my Desktop and my Netbook...
>
>     At the grub rescue prompt:
>
>     Run "ls" to display your disks and partitions
>
>     Run "set" and check the values of "root" and "prefix"
>
>     If "root" and "prefix" are incorrect (if you do not know what they
>     should be, run "ls (hdX,Y)/boot" for the different values of X and Y
>     since search isn't available in rescue mode), run
>     set root=(hdX,Y)
>     set prefix=(hdX,Y)/boot/grub
>     to set them to the correct values
>
>     Run
>     insmod normal.mod
>     or, if necessary,
>     insmod /boot/grub/normal.mod
>
>     Run
>     linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.x.x root=/dev/sdXY ro
>     initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.x.x
>     boot
>     (use tab completion)
>
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>

Since most of us here are not very familiar with windows, there is a 
method of recovery using the installation cd. (fixboot/fixmbr, 
whatever), but best you check/google it out.

If you do not have the installation cd, I propose this method so you can 
boot into windows and from there, repair your mbr.

[to boot to windows]
grub rescue> set prefix=(hd0,2)/boot/grub
grub rescue> insmod (hd0,2)/boot/grub/normal.mod
rescue:grub> normal

grub> set root=(hd0,1)
grub> chainloader +1
grub> boot

[note]
I assume from your message ubuntu is in /dev/sda2
I also assume there is no separate /boot partition
I again assume windows is in /dev/sda1

ps: if you have a grub-rescue cd, just pop in the cd and do the
'grub>' thing.

[at this point, you should be in windows, else I'll give up too]

Now, at windows, open a command and do this
X:\windows\system32>bootrec /FixMbr

caveat: not sure if this will work, no reason to try it.
if this doesn't work, then download easybcd, run the .exe file and 
repair accordingly (again repeat caveat -  why not download easybcd.exe 
first?)

Hope this helps, if not, I don't think I can help you further, except 
perhaps sending you a grub rescue cd.

If you have all this cleared, then think about using a gparted cd to 
clean up the hard drive, again, carefully.

Regards - Goh Lip

-- 
Life is a sexually transmitted disease with a 100% mortality rate.