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I have 2 HD's; 40 GB,Ch0 master with Win XP; 160 GB,Ch0 slave with Ubuntu 12.04. I used Parted Magic to repartition the 160 GB drive and I changed the jumpers to reverse the master/slave position. Now I have Win XP on the 40 GB slave drive and an empty 160 GB HD master. I partitioned the 160 GB HD as 1 GB boot; 78 GB root; 62 GB Home and 8+ GB Linux-Swap.

I used Parted Magic and Boot Repair Disk to install the MBR and Grub2; however, in searching the drive I can't find them. Atempts to install Ubuntu 14.04 using a DVD+R, I consistently get the message "missing operating system - operating system load error". Does anyone have an idea why the Ubuntu 14.04.1-i386-iso won't load?

I followed the suggestions of Virusboy and gyropyge by deleting the partitions. I also disconnected the Windows XP drive as suggested by gyropyge. The Seagate Barracuda 160GB drive was designated as unallocated. I then attempted to install Ubuntu 14.04.1 from a DVD iso I downloaded from the Ubuntu website. I set all 3 options in the BIOS to boot from CDROM. Upon restarting, after the BIOS processed, I get "missing operating system" which repeats until I shut down. I then used Parted Magic, changed the drive from "unallocated" to one large formatted partition. I got the same result: "missing operating system".

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  • abandoned question, hard to fix without OP
    – Zanna
    May 12, 2017 at 6:12

2 Answers 2

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Here's my best advice. Disconnect your windows hard drive completely during installation. You can solve the GRUB issues later, but the risk to your windows installation is highest while installing Ubuntu. (and the other way around moreso).

As for master/slave jumpers, I advise you to get in the habit of using CS (cable select) which takes advantage of the cables having address selections internal to them so that they determine which is which.

So to resume your question of why, anything, I just don't know, but I can tell you how to make things work. Make the installation with only one drive present and you probably won't have further issues. I would also advise you to let Ubuntu erase and used the entire drive, permitting it to set the partition sizes. As for the swap drive, I personally recommend the use of the "Dynamic Swap Space Manager" because it adjusts swap space as needed.

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Your install is a bit off. Wipe the drive again and just boot from DVD and do not do anything fancy till you get to the part where you get to structure your Hard drive the way you want. Leave the windows drive alone. Ubuntu doesn’t touch that unless you tell it too. Do not use the Boot Repair until it is needed, which is never needed on preinstall run. When Ubuntu loads after install and doesn't show a grub entry for Windows simply sudo apt-get upgrade grub and all should be fixed.

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  • sudo update-grub - Same thing without resorting to APT. Also works if GRUB is the newest version.
    – Kaz Wolfe
    Dec 31, 2014 at 21:39

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