Solved Lap top won't boot up error 15 GRUB4DOS red screen

[Sausage187]

I carnt get my old hp compaq 6530b to boot up.I was trying to back up my hard drive an clear some space an removed a file so tried to restore back to a early time.the restore finished an started.to reboot the lap top it stop boot up and all I've got error 15 file not found on black screen push any key to continue I press any key and it goes to a red screen that says GRUB4DOS i haven't installed GRUB4DOS myself and don't no where it come from.I did get it to boot back up once but carnt remember how I done it tried to restore again to a point before it append but it did it again an I tried doing what I did before but nothing doing stuck on red screen again can anybody tell what I can do to resolve it an what problem is I didnt use no disc to get it to reboot last time.

 

[pravinkumar]

Isn't it easier to do this:

1. Pop in the Live CD, boot from it until you reach the desktop.
2. Open a terminal window or switch to a tty.
3. Type "grub"
4. Type "root (hd0,6)", or whatever your harddisk + boot partition numbers are (my /boot is at /dev/sda7, which translates to hd0,6 for grub).
5. Type "setup (hd0)", ot whatever your harddisk nr is.
6. Quit grub by typing "quit".
7. Reboot.

I may be missing your point though, if so, please forgive me


Restore GRUB quite simple in Ubuntu, instead going through all the "gain root access" and play with shell commands, you can use the Ubuntu installation CD to restore it without going through all kinds of hassles.

Here are the steps:

1. Boot your computer up with Ubunto CD
2. Go through all the process until you reech "[!!!] Disk Partition"
3. Select Manual Partition
4. Mount your appropriate linux partions

/
/boot
swap
.....

5. DO NOT FORMAT THEM.
6. Finish the manual partition
7. Say "Yes" when it asks you to save the changes
8. It will give you errors saying that "the system couldn't install ....." after that
9. Ignore them, keep select "continue" until you get back to the Ubuntu installation menu
10. Jump to "Install Grub ...."
11. Once it is finished, just restart your computer
i hope it will helpful to you.
Good luck!.

 

[TVeblen]

If you are using a program on a CD to restore the image it is likely that program is Linux based and the GrubforDOS loader applies to the CD you are trying to boot.

If you remove the CD do you still get the same message?

 

[Sausage187]

Sorry I don't understand half of that . I haven't got any disc's live or dead I didn't install GRUB4DOS I don't even no what it is.I'm new to all this don't mean to be ignorant I'm trying to get back on windows 7 I got it to reboot when I was in this mess the first time round I carnt remember how I done it tho but I didn't use a disc when I was in GRUB4DOS page I just tried all the different commands that was on the page it was something on the lines of [ chain loader / bootmgr ] find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /wedaolu

error 15: file not found

press any key to continue...I carnt get in to the laptop when I start it up I can press escape and I get bios if I don't press it I'm taken straight to the black screen with error 15 file not found press any key I press key and end up in GRUB4DOS

 

[Sausage187]

No tveblen I'm try to boot laptop in general I've not got any disc 's I got it going and then ended getting myself back to square one

 

[TVeblen]

Just checking: you are trying to start Windows 7, right?

GrubforDos is a Linux installer. Do you have any Linux operating systems on that machine?

Have you installed any new programs on it recently?

 

[Sausage187]

Yes mate trying to get windows going I don't no we're this other stuff came from I guess it was on lap top before I got it given me

 

[Sausage187]

Sorry didn't read all of your message no I was trying to back up and clear some space on my drive's at the first time I think a windows update was loaded at some stage that day

 

[TVeblen]

Try this: start the laptop and immediately start pressing the F8 key. This should bring up the Windows Advanced Start Menu. Then select "Start Windows Normally" and see if you can get in.

 

[Sausage187]

Just tried f8 it took me straight to GRUB4DOS red page

 

[TVeblen]

I've got to go out. Let's see if anyone else has any ideas.

 

[Slartybart]

Yes mate trying to get windows going I don't no we're this other stuff came from I guess it was on lap top before I got it given me

In post# 1 you mentioned doing a backup and cleaning up the drive to reclaim disk space.

In the quoted post above, you also say that the machine was given to you.

Did you complete the backup?

What does the COA sticker on the bottom of the laptop (or in the battery compartment) tell you about the version of Windows originally on the machine. Does it say Windows 7 or Windows XP?

You want Windows 7 on the machine - correct? If the machine wasn't originally Windows 7, do you have a valid license key?

If you have a good backup of your data and a valid Win7 COA or license, then the easiest and probable best thing to do is perform a clean Reinstall. Everything is well defined in the tutorial.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

If the backup wasn't completed:
Do you have much on the machine (it is old and it was given to you). I don't know how long you've had the machine or if the data on it is important to you.

You might be able to backup the data using a Linux boot, if you have a external device to store the backup.

If you do NOT have a valid Win7 license, there is nothing I can do to help you put Windows 7 on the machine.

The two key points are:
is your data safe?
and do you have a valid Win7 license (COA or Retail disc)?

 

[gregrocker]

Let's assume someone installed GRUB to boot Linux which is how that would have gotten there. If it was within the past two years then the newer GRUB should not require wiping the hard drive to avoid interfering with WIn7 repairs, but we'll have to see.

So boot into Win7 installation media or System Repair Disk to confirm that the 100mb System Reserved partition (if you have it) or C is Partition Marked Active,
then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times until Win7 starts.

If this fails boot the Partition Wizard boot disk (also a method to mark Active above) to take a camera snap of the drive map and listings, attach the picture file in Reply Box using the paper clip icon.

If you decide to skip to do the Clean Reinstall Windows 7 now it shows how to rescue your files in that tutorial, and I would add the step to wipe the hard drive before reinstall using Diskpart Clean Command from the System Recovery Options Command Line in case this is older GRUB which interferes with Win7 boot until its code is wiped.

 

[Sausage187]

We'll I've giving up going to pass it on to someone that no's a lot more than me so can I just thank everybody that gave me advice and time to help me thank you all very much I'm hoping that I will never have to trouble your good selfs again but I carnt see that happing so thanks again. I'm going to close the thread... but I will pop back to let you no the out come of this adventure that I find myself hopefully with some good news and answer thanks again

 

[gregrocker]

I just gave you steps that should resolve the problem for you as they have for many others with Grub bootloader asserting itself like it has here. Are you going to quit before trying these steps?

 

[Sausage187]

I never been that technical myself I no you have put more advice so what I'm doing is giving that advice to him. as I no he will understand it a lot better than me he as the disc and tools to hopefully solve the issue so not giving as such just delegating it ...

 

[gregrocker]

OK keep us posted and let us know if you need any more help.

 

[lehnerus2000]

I've seen something similar myself (during the past week).

I rebuilt my system last month and I re-purposed the old OS drive for data (i.e. deleted all partitions and then Quick Formatted the entire drive as NTFS).
Whilst I was playing around with another HDD, I discovered that the old OS drive still contained GRUB-Rescue, which kept popping up at inconvenient times.

 

[TVeblen]

That is interesting. So Windows could not delete/format that portion of the hard disk?
Would we need to use a Linux program to do that (Partition Wizard)?

 

[lehnerus2000]

Boot-Repair Tool

That is interesting. So Windows could not delete/format that portion of the hard disk?
Would we need to use a Linux program to do that (Partition Wizard)?

I assume that a Full Format would have deleted GRUB-Rescue, but I'm not sure and who has 3 days to spare to do that in any case.

My Linux-using friend looked up some info and he said that the code was apparently placed in the "empty" space between the MBR and the start of the first partition.

You can get a tool to remove it ("boot-repair").

Here is what you need to do:

1. Burn an Ubuntu ISO image onto a USB Drive or a DVD to make a Live USB/DVD.
2. Boot into Live mode ("Try Ubuntu" option).
3. After it boots up, press "Ctrl + Alt + T" to bring up the Terminal.
4. Put these codes ONE AFTER ANOTHER.

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

1. After doing this, open the "Dash" (Search menu). It can be accessed by "Alt + F2"
2. Search for "Boot Repair" (Although just entering Boot will give you the app).
3. Open it and select the only option (Recommended one).
4. Reboot. You will no longer get the GRUB Error after this, and will boot straight into Windows.

You can also do it with Ubuntu installed. In case you want to Uninstall ubuntu, first follow the above instructions, then after you are in Windows, install EASUS Partition Manager and delete the Ubuntu partitions (the ones that are NOT ntfs formatted)

12.04 - Grub rescue after removing Ubuntu? - Ask Ubuntu​