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I have a computer with 3 hard drives on it. I have Ubuntu 12.04 on my newest and biggest hard drive and Windows XP on my 2nd hard drive and a old version of Ubuntu 7.04 on the third hard drive.

Everything was working perfectly and I was using Grub to choose between the different systems. I was using Windows XP and it automatically did some upgrades and the next time I tried to use Windows XP, it would not not boot up. So I tried using the Windows XP CD to repair it and I used a dos command like a dltmbr or something similar to it and when I tried to boot into Ubuntu 12.04 it would not boot!

I tried the the boot-repair to fix it but it said that Ubuntu 12.04 is not there and only Windows XP and Ubuntu 7.04 were the only selections. So I tried to install Ubuntu 12.04 hoping it would find it and fix grub and it could not find it either.

I installed a new version of Ubuntu 12.04 over Ubuntu 7.04 on the 3rd hard drive by mistake. It does not cause a problem and I can see my files in Windows XP and Ubuntu 12.04 on the first hard drive. When I installed Ubuntu 12.04 on the first hard drive I created a separate home partition so all of my files are safe.

I want to know how I can update grub or change something in Ubuntu 12.04 on my first hard drive so it will boot up. I believe the kernel is missing and that is why grub can't find it. I need to access Ubuntu 12.04 on my first hard drive because Firefox has all of my bookmarks and cookies and I don't want to start over again. Any help on this would be great!

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  • Try booting up to First or Last Drive containing Ubuntu by the same way you select the liveCd or Live USB Drive Boot devices from Boot menu for installation, it will boot you into Ubuntu . After that just run sudo update-grub .
    – atenz
    Jul 30, 2012 at 6:59
  • "because Firefox has all of my bookmarks and cookies" these will be in the /home partition you created and should be available from the 'new' 12.04's file manager Jul 30, 2012 at 7:11
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    Have you tried reinstalling grub from a livecd? help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/… Jul 30, 2012 at 7:14
  • yes, I tried that when I install the new version of ubuntu 12.04 on the 3rd hard drive but it did not find ubuntu 12.04 on my first hard drive. The kernal and boot info must missing.
    – user80170
    Jul 31, 2012 at 4:09
  • Please indicate your Boot-Info URL.
    – LovinBuntu
    Aug 2, 2012 at 14:01

1 Answer 1

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Yes, you can update GRUB. Boot a LiveCD, and then follow this guide: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Installing#ChRoot to chroot into your install of Ubuntu, and then run 'update-grub'.

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  • How update-grub will help, if he lost his kernel and also the boot information
    – Anwar
    Jul 30, 2012 at 7:03
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    Also, you are giving instruction for Gento linux to an Ubuntu user. They are significantly different, especially in boot/grub issue
    – Anwar
    Jul 30, 2012 at 7:04
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    Yes, Very fine. We can happily mount a partition with /dev/hda3in Ubuntu !!!
    – Anwar
    Jul 30, 2012 at 7:10
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    I edited the answer with link to ubuntu grub chroot Jul 30, 2012 at 7:30
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    Here is the end of my comment. The shell is Busybox v1 18.5. I tried the "sudo apt-get install linux-image [version] linux-headers [version] command but it said "sudo is not recognized". So it looks like I don't have a kernal and boot information. Where do I run this sudo apt-get command if Busybox does not have sudo in it? I really appreciate everybody's help!
    – user80170
    Jul 31, 2012 at 3:55

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