# boot up problem (ubuntu(linux))



## eggybob (Oct 11, 2008)

ok to start with im not sure if this is the right section of the forums for this but i considered it was a good place to try first.

Hi i am generally new to ubuntu but have used it a while back before but this time i am haveing trouble installing it with wubi and getting it to boot up. 

ok to start with i will give you a complete background (fyi). i firstly installed linux mint on my seperate hdd and got that to work fine from a cd i burnt, after trying to install the ati drivers i had the white screen problem so i formatted the seperate hdd with linux mint on and restored the MBR useing xp repair console. since this i have tryed to install linux mint again and got errors on boot which unfortunantly i dont have at hand but are not important atm, i am now trying to install ubuntu useing wubi and i get through the installation and get asked to reboot , at the dual boot menu i have ubuntu and vista there to pick from vista works fine but when i chose ubuntu i get a blank screen breifly and then the following message pops up for 2 to 3 secounds before returning me to the boot menu:-

Booting 'vista loader'
FAT 12 BPB found with 0xEB (jmp) leading the boot sector.
Probed C/H/S = 80/2/18, Probed total sectors =2880
Starting MS-DOS ...

so basically i am a little stuck as to what the problem may be i have tryed formatting the hdd that i installed ubunutu on a couple of time and no luck the same thing each time. and i have tryed a system restore to before i tryed installing linux mint the first time and no luck.. any suggestions or even a guide to sorting this problem out would be great any links to similar threads on this problem may help me also. sorry if this problem has been referred to and sorted in a thread elsewhere.

thanks for any advice in advance.

-james


----------



## eggybob (Oct 11, 2008)

also to add.. i still have ubuntu as a boot option on boot up along with vista even though i have formated the seperate hdd i installed ubuntu too, and i have repaired useing fix mbr ('bootrec.exe /fixmbr' also) so i dont know weather i need to try and get rid of that also before tryng to install again??


----------



## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Welcome to TSF!!

OK, let me see if I get all of what you are saying. You currently have 2 hdds. One has nothing on it and is having problems being formatted. 

Next you have a second hdd. This hdd has vista on it, and had Ubuntu on it as one point. Since then you have removed Ubuntu once and then tried to reinstall it with WUBI. 

Now the problem is that you have a bootloader, presumably GRUB, and it will allow vista to start but not Ubuntu.

Here is what I would recommend. Start with this:

Go to the GParted website. From there you need to download the .iso file so that you can create a livecd. 


Go to *GParted*
Download the ISO file to your computer.

Once you have the .iso file downloaded, you will need to burn it to a cd. You can't use a regular burner to burn the livecd. You need a burner that will be able to handle and ISO file. I would recommend CDburnerXP. This is a free program that has all the functionality of Nero or any other burner. When you have the program installed you will need to burn a DATA DISK. 


Go to *CDburnerXP*
Download the program to your computer
Install CDburnerXP to your computer
After the installation, start the program and choose DATA DISK and burn the cd

Once you have all that done post back and I will continue with the next set of directions.

Cheers!


----------



## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

Are you installing Linux to a second drive?

One way to do a dual-boot that you don't hear about a lot...

Most modern BIOS'es will respond to a keystroke that stops the boot process. I don't know which one yours would be. It's easy enuf to find out. You hit the key, and get a screen asking which device you want to boot.
If you have vista on one drive, and Linux installed to the other drive (I mean the entire Linux package, bootloader and all) you can use that BIOS key to choose which drive to boot.
In Ubuntu, using a LiveCD, you have to be aware of the point during the install where you tell Ubuntu where to put the bootloader. The default is to find the C:drive and mess with the Windows MBR. The last time I checked this was on the very last page of the installation process where there was a tiny window that allowed you to change the bootloader install target. If you install Ubuntu to a second drive, the correct location would be hd1, not hd0.


----------



## eggybob (Oct 11, 2008)

no what i have is a hdd with vista and a seperate hdd which i tryed to install ubuntu onto and got the error-

Booting 'vista loader'
FAT 12 BPB found with 0xEB (jmp) leading the boot sector.
Probed C/H/S = 80/2/18, Probed total sectors =2880
Starting MS-DOS ...

i formatted the hdd i had installed ubuntu onto (the second hdd) because it had this error and i wanted to try installing again and was still left with the ubuntu option at the boot up, even after repairing the MBR via repair console. im just a bit stuck now as to how to remove the ubuntu boot option and try and get ubuntu working on my computer as id really like the chance to start useing it again


----------



## eggybob (Oct 11, 2008)

Bartender said:


> Are you installing Linux to a second drive?
> 
> One way to do a dual-boot that you don't hear about a lot...
> 
> ...


thanks for the help bartender, so you think that maybe when i chose ubuntu on the boot menu to load it isnt finding the path properly as it is on the second hdd, if i try the boot the hdd with ubuntu on first will it load?


----------



## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

eggy -
You've got one hdd running Vista and it still works, right?
I hope so. If not, pull the second hdd out and get Vista working by fixing the mbr. Hopefully that's all that's wrong.

Plug the second drive back in, toss the Ubuntu CD in, make sure you're installing it to sda2, not sd1. When you get to that last page in the installation routine, make sure to install grub to hd1. That way the entire Ubuntu install goes to the second drive. Vista is unaffected.

Do it that way if you have that BIOS option to choose the boot device. Unless the PC is ancient you should have that option. 

If you don't have that option, then install Ubuntu to sda2, but let grub install to hd0. 

I'd like to expand more, but have to go back to work! I'll check back later.


----------



## Bartender (Jun 10, 2005)

I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier - if I understand you correctly and you have two HDD's and want Vista on one and Ubuntu on the other.

You need to get some practice. Pull the Vista HDD out completely so it's not in danger. If your PC is PATA you might have to move some jumpers around on the back of the HDD (making the second HDD "master" instead of "slave"), but plug the Ubuntu HDD in where the Vista drive was.

Now start the PC with a GParted LiveCD in the optical tray or the Ubuntu install CD. If you use a GParted CD, delete all formats and format the file system to ext3. Then get out of GParted, and pop in the Ubuntu LiveCD and install Ubuntu. This eliminates any confusion. Ubuntu will see one drive, it'll install everything on that drive, and when you reboot Ubuntu will work unless there's some fundamental hardware conflict like an incompatible ATI video card.

The above will give you some practice. You'll get a feel for installing, you can play around in Ubuntu for a bit, you will be able to see that Ubuntu recognized the drive as sda1, etc.

If you have the BIOS boot option and want to use that method for dual-booting, then you can proceed with the next phase.

Put the Vista HDD back in, move the Ubuntu HDD back to where it was, try restarting and visiting both OS'es via the BIOS boot option.

Now, I'm not sure about this, but I think that there will be confusion because Ubuntu will still think it's sda1 when it's actually sda2 because you moved it. 

I think (again, not sure) that you'll have to reinstall Ubuntu again, with the Vista HDD in place, with the settings I mentioned earlier. Install Ubuntu to sda2, and make sure grub installs to hd1. sda2 (Linuxspeak) and hd1 (grubspeak) are two different ways of saying, "the second hard drive".


----------

