windows 7(missing BOOTMGR erorr)

phaze said:

Where you state ubuntu i think that is in the same partition as Windows vista, but all of those are correct. I am not sure if i deleted the Ubuntu Partition on Accident, so i might just install the new Ubuntu.

Thinking back on my older pc i dual booted and windows xp, windows xp would always overlap my boot menu to Ubuntu, but it always fixed it when i reinstalled Ubuntu.
I do like the Grub Boot menu, so lets use that. I was thinking the samething when you said a boot loader on each drive as backup, but can i still have all the OSes on each boot menu.

I downloaded that Partition Wizard from that link on how to "slove Dual Boot problem" because i thought we would need that next. Is there away i can check to see if ubuntu is still installed. If it is the windows boot menu is hiding it.

Great, this is not very hard to do, I just wanted to make sure of your preferences.

Windows Drive Management Utility does not recognize the ext3 file format used by Ubuntu so it will not show up there. But unless you did remove it, it is still there where Windows says it is unallocated.

Here is what I suggest to you to do: First, shutdown your computer and move the SATA hard drive cables, plug the 500GB hard drive where the 320GB is now, and the 320GB where the 500GB is now. Master and Slave were necessary for IDE hard drives that shared one (wide) connector cable, but SATA only uses one cable (and connection) for each hard drive so there is no Master or Slave with SATA. Doing this will put the 100MB boot partition first in your hard drive order in the bios and will make it easier to setup the Windows bootmgr, later.

Next, boot to your Ubuntu install CD. You can use the Live CD and GParted to look at the 320GB hard drive partitions to see if Ubuntu is still there.

Attachment 58359

Then you will need to reboot, and this time select to boot to a hard drive and select Ubuntu. This should put you in your Ubuntu partition where we can reinstall Grub and use it as the boot menu. I need to know what version you installed before giving you the "terminal" commands. For an idea of what you will be doing, please have a look at the "Restore Grub" link at the bottom of my post. This is for Ubuntu 9.10, which uses Grub2 and is different from earlier versions. If you want Ubuntu 9.10, you can just download the install CD from Ubuntu and install it in place of your current Ubuntu (if you do not need to save anything there) and Grub2 will install automatically.

Let me know?

Well ... it is getting late for me ... I am an old man who needs his sleep! Because you updated your last post instead of making a new one, I was not aware of your progress. Sorry.

From the Live CD, after you see the Ubuntu desktop: open GParted and you will see your Ubuntu partitions. While you are there, right click on the Vista partition and remove the "Active" flag (Make inactive). Then, you can boot to your 7 Install DVD and run the "Startup Repair" as many as three times, rebooting in between, to restore your Windows Boot manager to the 100MB boot partition.

Attachment 58390

To reinstall Grub from the version 9.04, you should be able to follow the link here: Fixed Windows - But Now Grub is Gone?

EXCEPT the "terminal" commands for Grub (NOT Grub2) would be:
sudo grub
setup (hd1)

(INSTEAD OF sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda)

That should install Grub to the MBR of your 320GB hard drive (Vista and Ubuntu).

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ight=Grub+9.04

Finally, when you set your 500GB hard drive as first in boot order in the BIOS, you will use the Windows Boot manager. When you set your 320GB hard drive as the first in boot order in the BIOS, you will use the Grub Boot manager. And you can just use the "F12" to select one or the other at any time.

I look forward to hearing of your progress tomorrow. Have a good night!

Cheers!
Robert

iseeuu said:

Well ... it is getting late for me ... I am an old man who needs his sleep! Because you updated your last post instead of making a new one, I was not aware of your progress. Sorry.

From the Live CD, after you see the Ubuntu desktop: open GParted and you will see your Ubuntu partitions. While you are there, right click on the Vista partition and remove the "Active" flag (Make inactive). Then, you can boot to your 7 Install DVD and run the "Startup Repair" as many as three times, rebooting in between, to restore your Windows Boot manager to the 100MB boot partition.

Attachment 58390

To reinstall Grub from the version 9.04, you should be able to follow the link here: Fixed Windows - But Now Grub is Gone?

EXCEPT the "terminal" commands for Grub (NOT Grub2) would be:
sudo grub
setup (hd1)

(INSTEAD OF sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda)

That should install Grub to the MBR of your 320GB hard drive (Vista and Ubuntu).

How to install Grub from a live Ubuntu cd. - Ubuntu Forums

Finally, when you set your 500GB hard drive as first in boot order in the BIOS, you will use the Windows Boot manager. When you set your 320GB hard drive as the first in boot order in the BIOS, you will use the Grub Boot manager. And you can just use the "F12" to select one or the other at any time.

I look forward to hearing of your progress tomorrow. Have a good night!

Cheers!
Robert

Thank you for the Awesome Replys and support here! When i have time tonight between my studies for college i will do some of step listed here. In ubuntu last night did have Gparted open, so i know what your talking about.

All let you know how the progress goes as i do the steps. Also i have question.. Say i want to reformat my windows 7 or Vista about every month or two because it like to keep my computer clean and running fast as they can. Do have to go through these steps every time i reformat my hard drive or reinstall windows. The steps i am talking about is reinstalling the BOOT MGR menu if its lost because windows likes to install over the old one.
This will be manly on my windows 7 operating system because that is the one i use mostly.

phaze said:

Also i have question.. Say i want to reformat my windows 7 or Vista about every month or two because it like to keep my computer clean. Do have to go through these steps everytime i reformat my hard drive. The steps i am talking about is reinstalling the BOOT MGR menu if its lost because windows like to install over the old one.
This will be manly on my windows 7 operating system because that is the one i use mostly.

The quick answer is no. As long as you keep the 100MB "System Reserved" partition, do not delete it, and it stays "Active", You can reinstall 7 and not alter the boot menu in any way.

However, Windows 7 does a very good job of keeping itself clean, all in the background where you do not even see it doing so. There is not really a need to reinstall, however if you choose to do so you can without affecting your current boot menu.

We wait to hear of your progress ...

Cheers!

iseeuu said:

phaze said:

Also i have question.. Say i want to reformat my windows 7 or Vista about every month or two because it like to keep my computer clean. Do have to go through these steps everytime i reformat my hard drive. The steps i am talking about is reinstalling the BOOT MGR menu if its lost because windows like to install over the old one.
This will be manly on my windows 7 operating system because that is the one i use mostly.

The quick answer is no. As long as you keep the 100MB "System Reserved" partition, do not delete it, and it stays "Active", You can reinstall 7 and not alter the boot menu in any way.

However, Windows 7 does a very good job of keeping itself clean, all in the background where you do not even see it doing so. There is not really a need to reinstall, however if you choose to do so you can without affecting your current boot menu.

We wait to hear of your progress ...

Cheers!

OK well i reinstall windows 7 to test it out and now my windows boot manger is lost? Windows 7 installed over it, so when i restart my pc it just boots windows 7 , and windows vista is hidden. Also tonight i have time to mess with Ubuntu if you want to help out. I thank you for all your help so far !

I will start with the ubuntu steps you posted above, but lets figure out the reason this happens. I have always wanted to know how to fix this problem. Its been a on going issue ever since i learned about computers!

phaze said:

OK well i reinstall windows 7 to test it out and now my windows boot manger is lost? Windows 7 installed over it, so when i restart my pc it just boots windows 7 , and windows vista is hidden. Also tonight i have time to mess with Ubuntu if you want to help out. I thank you for all your help so far !

I will start with the ubuntu steps you posted above, but lets figure out the reason this happens. I have always wanted to know how to fix this problem. Its been a on going issue ever since i learned about computers!

Sure, OK. I need more detail to figure out what happened?

iseeuu said:

phaze said:

OK well i reinstall windows 7 to test it out and now my windows boot manger is lost? Windows 7 installed over it, so when i restart my pc it just boots windows 7 , and windows vista is hidden. Also tonight i have time to mess with Ubuntu if you want to help out. I thank you for all your help so far !

I will start with the ubuntu steps you posted above, but lets figure out the reason this happens. I have always wanted to know how to fix this problem. Its been a on going issue ever since i learned about computers!

Sure, OK. I need more detail to figure out what happened?

why kind of details do you need. I just reformatted the hard drive windows 7 was on and installed it again, and the boot menu was lost. I did nothing to the system reserved partition.

phaze said:

iseeuu said:

phaze said:

OK well i reinstall windows 7 to test it out and now my windows boot manger is lost? Windows 7 installed over it, so when i restart my pc it just boots windows 7 , and windows vista is hidden. Also tonight i have time to mess with Ubuntu if you want to help out. I thank you for all your help so far !

I will start with the ubuntu steps you posted above, but lets figure out the reason this happens. I have always wanted to know how to fix this problem. Its been a on going issue ever since i learned about computers!

Sure, OK. I need more detail to figure out what happened?

why kind of details do you need. I just reformatted the hard drive windows 7 was on and installed it again, and the boot menu was lost. I did nothing to the system reserved partition.

I see. Sorry, but I am having difficulty understanding what you are describing. You see, if you "reformatted the hard drive windows 7 was on" that would mean you deleted the system reserved partition? So in order to do "nothing to the system reserved partition", you would only need to delete the Windows 7 Partition, and install 7 in the empty space. I really want to understand, and so want to be very clear about what was done.

When I installed Windows 7 on one of my test computers, it found my Vista and XP partitions and added them automatically to the boot menu, so again, I am confused about your 7 installation and no boot menu. Has your drive map changed? What partitions are now marked "Active"? Your 500GB drive should be "drive 0" and the 320GB hard drive should be "drive 1". Is that what the drive map shows? Do I need to see a snap shot of it now?

I am most happy to help if I can ...

Attachment 58795

In the red where i highlighted the partition that is the system reserve partition on the 500gb drive. I didn't delete it when i reformatted the drive because its a separate partition i saw that on the Windows 7 partition editor before you install windows 7.

Here are the steps i did:
First put the cd in and let it boot from the cd. Then i when through the install windows inside the windows 7 install. When i saw the windows that you can see all the partition on your computer, and edit, reformat, delete them. I simply selected my 500gb hard drive and reformatted. Before i ddid this I made sure i did not delete the "system reserve partition that the boot menu uses". When the drive was done reformatting which took 2 mins or less i made sure the "system reserve partition on that 500gb drive was not harm or messed with before installing". Then i went through with the install process, and later the boot menu was lost!

Notice: in the picture the system reserve partition is still Active?
Why?