Grub problem on the boot

Question

I have to write following code each time I start my PC.

set root=(hd0,8)
set prefix=(hd0,8)/boot/grub
insmod normal
normal

Can anyone tell a littel what this commands do and what is Grub? Also, how to start pc without this?

Answer 1

did you by change have another distro on your box that you've since deleted?

the commands you type in tell grub to use hd0 (first hdd read by bios) & 8th partition. grub consists of many parts; part 1 is the MBR or first 512 byte sector of HDD that is really a pointer to next part. this pointer on your machine is likely pointing to an old /boot partition you've wiped/reused. it can only point to one place and commonly is the last OS you installed. when your system is running, the easiest fix is to have your system re-install grub on your hdd (or in the correct places)

How can I reinstall GRUB Bootloader on MBR after installing Kubuntu?

to learn more about grub - I'd suggest the manual/doco firstly, but if web sites are more your thing try a search engine or

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/grub-2.html

IF you have only a single OS you can boot without grub; but its still useful if things go wrong, for example if an update or change (we make) causes kernel.panic on boot; we can tell grub to boot an older kernel, or change the params/options we made to get it to boot (eg. tell it to boot only in maintenance/recovery mode). grub is worth having unless you're sure you'll never have problems.