# GRUB hard disk error



## chkdsk (Mar 30, 2005)

Hi Everyone,

Have also posted this in the Win 98 sub-forum:

I have a dual-boot Win 98 (primary HDD) / Mandrake Linux (secondary HDD) system. Yesterday when I loaded the system I got an error message: GRUB Hard disk error. I believe BIOS is booting the primary first, and this is where the problem lies. When I installed linux on secondary it must have installed GRUB over the MBR on the primary. Everything worked fine in the past, I just don't know why there is suddenly a problem now :4-dontkno . I have removed the primary HDD and tested it on another computer only to get the same error message.

Can anyone suggest a way to fix this problem? :sad: 

Thanks,

chkdsk


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## LoneWolf071 (Nov 10, 2004)

GRUB is a *****... That being said, the problem is in one of 2 places. Either in the GRUB info(Located in /boot/grub)---check there first if you can get there... or it lies in your MBR(Master Boot Record), in which case you should get a copy of BootIt... It's a O/S that fits on a Floppy and it will allow you to modify your MBR, which you should be careful, this could mess up your entire computer, but you should set it to boot from from the primary partition. the problem most likely lies in your GRUB configurations, so either REinstall GRUB by reinstalling linux, or try to get into LINUX and post the /boot/grub/grub.conf file on here and i can help.


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## Skie (Mar 15, 2003)

Genrally, GRUB or any other boot manager will be installed on the MBR of the primary HD. Either the MBR has become corrupted, or perhaps your secondary HD has become corrupted or maybe even just the /boot/grub/grub.conf file is corrupted. You may want to see if you can reinstall GRUB and see if this will fix your problem.


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## chkdsk (Mar 30, 2005)

Hi LoneWolf071 and Skie,

Thank you both very much for your replies and advice. I will try to reinstall GRUB and see if this fixes the problem.

chkdsk


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## chkdsk (Mar 30, 2005)

... just one more thing..

I have downloaded GRUB 0.93, but am not sure how to proceed.

My win and linux partitions are on separate drives. :sayyes: The bios is set up so that the win drive boots first, so I am assuming grub is installed on the MBR of this drive... am I wrong? :sad: 

Is there a way to install GRUB through a bootable floppy at start up? If not, and if it is on the linux drive, looks like I have to boot this and install on this...

chkdsk


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## LoneWolf071 (Nov 10, 2004)

GRUB data is stored on the /bot/grub folder in linux, so you would have to place/ overwrite it there... The MBR reads from there, but becareful, you could F-things up


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## chkdsk (Mar 30, 2005)

Hi LoneWolf071,

Thanks for the information. I'll look in this folder and re-install GRUB. 



> but becareful, you could F-things up


... don't worry, things are pretty much already at that stage - got nothing to lose I guess... except all hope of having a working system with the problem drive... ah well... I guess I could re-install linux.... aaaarrrggghhhhh!!! All those drivers I spent hrs looking for and installing!!! All to waste... :dead: 

Thanks again for the advice, hopefully all will go well...

chkdsk


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