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After solving this problem I managed to get myself into truble again out of nothing by trying to change the display of the dual boot option page in Boot Customizer.

I have changed the background, the fonts size (I have increased them) and font style (I have chosen UnDotum). But Boot Customizer gave me an error (I mean a message that the application was closed unexpectedly or smth). I have restarted BootCustomizer and the settings were there. When I rebooted, instead of the normal boot options list, just the background image that I had selected and nothing else.

I used Boot Repair to repair grub, it says it did it successfully, but I still get the background image when I try to boot.

Any ideas?

(Could it be the matter that I chose UnDotum font style? That was installed in Lubuntu - but how could it be accessible in displaying boot options?)

The contents of etc/default/grub are:

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

I have tried to modify etc/default/grub: GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0 to 10 GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true to false and GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" to ""

but it doesn't help

Also, using Shift doesn't make the list visible.

I am looking for something like a command that would reset grub options to default.

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1 Answer 1

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The detailed instructions for resetting GRUB is here. Read this carefully and proceed with caution.

The basic steps are as follows:

  1. chroot as before and copy resolv.conf (may be needed to connect to the internet).

    sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt && sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev && sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc && sudo mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys && sudo mount --bind /dev/pts /mnt/dev/pts && sudo chroot /mnt

    sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/resolv.conf

  2. Confirm Internet connection. Without it GRUB cannot be reinstalled and you will have a unbootable system.

    sudo apt-get update

  3. Purge grub. This will remove GRUB and the config files.

    sudo apt-get purge grub grub-pc grub-common

  4. Install GRUB again.

    sudo apt-get install grub-common grub-pc

    1. Reinstall the grub packages.

Here is what will happen:

  • You will be given the opportunity to add extra kernel options to the kernel line. If you don't know, you probably don't need them ; TAB to highlight "OK" and press ENTER.
  • Read the installation notes. TAB to "OK" to continue.
  • When presented with the device option, use the UP/DN keys to select the correct drive (sdX).
  • Make sure the installation drive /dev/sdX has an asterisk (*) (or a red spot like in the image below) next to it. If it doesn't, highlight it by Up Arrow or Down Arrow and press the Space Bar to select it (= Just highlighting it with the up/down arrows is not enough to select it, you have to add that asterisk/dot - depending on the type of terminal - by pressing Space Bar.)

enter image description here

  • Do not select a partition ( example: [ ] /dev/sda5 , etc).

  • TAB to "OK" and press ENTER. When it has finishing the installation, you should have Grub 2 installed.

Hope this helps.

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  • i uninstalled and during install i am asked whre to install grub. butthe only options are:GRUB install devices: [ ] /dev/sda (80026 MB; FUJITSU_MHT2080AH_PL) and [ ] /dev/sdb (2004 MB; USB_DISK) - as an usb is connected. if i select ok it says: :You chose not to install GRUB to any devices etc" (im in live cd)
    – user47206
    Sep 10, 2012 at 15:00
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    See expanded answer. You should choose /dev/sda.
    – user68186
    Sep 10, 2012 at 15:08
  • is it ok that the only devices listed there were two: the cd rom and an usb drive?
    – user47206
    Sep 10, 2012 at 15:21
  • Sorry, I didn't realize the only devices were the CD rom and the USB drive. Are you sure the /dev/sda is the CD ROM? It is 80GB in size.
    – user68186
    Sep 10, 2012 at 15:24
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    Select /dev/sda. Not /dev/sda5. GRUB should be installed in the MBR (Master Boot Record) of the disk drive and not inside any of the partitions of the disk.
    – user68186
    Sep 10, 2012 at 15:34

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