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I just installed Ubuntu 11.10 from a Live CD.

When I restart it, it immediately boots Ubuntu without loading a boot menu for me to choose either Ubuntu, or my previously installed Windows 7 OS.

Here is the output of the Boot Info Script.

I really don't know what to do right now, as I'm sort of new to the Linux environment.

2 Answers 2

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Try to show the Grub menu

Hold down the Shift key as the computer attempts to boot to display the GRUB 2 menu. In certain circumstances, if holding the Shift key method does not display the menu pressing the Esc key repeatedly may display the menu.


If that doesn't work, then using Boot Repair to reinstall and fix Grub.

Boot Repair

Repair the bootloader

To restore the Grub bootloader, follow these steps.

Open a terminal, and run the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair
boot-repair

After a few seconds, Boot Repair's main window will open.

Click on Recommended repair.

You're done!

Reboot to test everything out.

If everything went well, you should be up and running by now.


Glossary

Bootloader: a piece of code that runs before any operating system is running. A bootloader is used to boot other operating systems. Each operating system usually has its own bootloader.

GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader): a bootloader package developed to support multiple operating systems and allow the user to select among them during boot-up. It is Ubuntu's default bootloader.

Command, command line: the traditional Unix environment , where you type commands to tell the computer what to do.

Terminal: an application that allows you to access the command line. Open it by hitting its keyboard shortcut, Ctrl Alt T

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I have encountered a similar problem previously, a blank screen after bios until the Ubuntu login screen appeared, using an older LCD monitor. The monitor displayed "frequency out of range".
Grub was installed and working, but not being displayed.

You can test to see if this is the case by tapping the "down arrow" key for at least 15 seconds after the bios screen and then pressing "enter".
If Windows loads then grub is working fine, but not being displayed.

This can be resolved by using the 'out-of-range' option in the advanced section of boot repair or editing grub manually.

According to lines 346 to 348 of the boot info script grub should be displayed.

#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10

So using the command gksu gedit /etc/default/grub and uncommenting / removing the #hash from what appears as line 364 in the boot info script as #GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480 should work.
After saving the changes you will need to run sudo update-grub

Have a look at the answers to this question for instructions on using both methods.

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  • yep tried this one and it made boot menu appear but when i chose win 7 loader, it won't boot it, it just stays on a blank screen with a cursor blinking....
    – lemoncodes
    Aug 31, 2012 at 22:43
  • Glad to hear it worked and you can now see grub. Next I would recommend running boot repair using the "recommended repair" option, and hopefully you will be able to load windows when you reboot. Sep 1, 2012 at 7:34

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