Ubuntu 9.10 - Won't make a boot disk

[KC2UGV]

Just for you 'ize:



I would have mentioned PHP, but I see you at least "dabble" in that already. FWIW, I don't think PHP is inherently insecure either

[n2ize]

The success or practicality of Lisp in today's world is largely dependent upon who uses it. I would say those that acclimate to Lisp because they think it's cool should never use Lisp. I would go so far as to say Lisp should almost never be used in today's world. It is far too dangerous in the hands of most. There are only a select few who can use Lisp in a way that makes sense. I am one of those few/

[W1GUH]

The whole world should switch over to Ada. Great error checking! Unbelievablly strong typing! Totally verbose coding! Totally inefficient image size and execution speed! Simple mistakes create copious verbiage in the error dump!

[W1GUH]

Tried again, with limited success...

I tried the command line procedure I'd found, but the very first step, fdisk, gronked. fdisk couldn't open any of the USB disks. Scratch that idea...

Then I booted Ubuntu from the CD with the "Try Ubuntu without changing your computer" option. It came up OK (took a while). When it came up I again tried System->Administration->Make Boot Disk.

Voila! It finally put something in the <source> window (forget the official name), it had the drive I wanted to put it on in the lower window, so I hit the create button and all was wonderful. Worked just fine.

There was a quirk...the progress bar was only at something like 4% when I got the Success! screen. Nice surprise, I guess.

So I booted from the USB drive, and it came up just fine.

BUT.....even though the CD was Ubuntu 9.10, what I got from the newly-created boot disk was 9.04.

Oops! Yep, I believe I never burned a 9.10 disk...that was a direct download. So I guess I'm home free? Maybe I can just upgrade the new USB disk to 9.10. I guess. Maybe. The 9.10 I see on the desktop identifying the CD DOESN'T mean that's what's on the disk. I guess. Maybe.

:-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-? :-?

And there's a funny thing. The creator gui looked for .iso files, and I'm pretty sure that's what I burned to the CD, but when I look at the CD from Ubuntu, I don't get see an .iso file, I see a bunch of files and folders.

Guessing that Ubuntu automatically expands the .iso file? Must be...that's what I installed from in the first place.

Whatever...think I'll go buy "Linux for Dummies". There is SO MUCH stuff between the lines in anything I try to do with Linux, or maybe it's just Ubuntu (like what I've gone through with this project) that any supposedly "little" thing turns into a major research project into what the freak is happening. But I'll persist as time and patience allow!

[W1GUH]

Grrrrrrr.....grrrrrrrr......grrrrrrrrrrrr



So....the way I got it to boot from the USB drive was used the "Try Ubuntu without changing my computer" option, which worked as it should...but it's not what I wanted to do.

What I wound up doing is installing Ubuntu from the CD onto the USB drive. To do that I had to go into the Advanced stuff to specify the drive...otherwise it would have put it on the internal drive.

That worked just fine, got the "Successful Installation Screen". Yea!!!! And restarted the computer.

GRONKGRONKGRONKGRONK

I told it to boot from the USB drive. The drive was read briefly, and then...

Nothing Nada Zilch F-all

WTF?

So I restard yet AGAIN and told it to boot from the internal drive, where Ubuntu has been running from.

GRUBBY!!!!!!!!!! I wanna type all the swear words I know....

Now I get Grub error 21 or 22. Tried it 3-4 times. No luck.

A quick search turned up a bunch of hits about this....

Hi Ho - Hi Ho, off the google and yet another web search.....



One thing I'm VERY GLAD of....and take this as a recommendation....

With all these problems, I'm so glad that I'm doing linux with a new internal drive, and Windows (Boo!) is safely tucked away from the reach of malignant Ubuntu bugs.

OK....off to find out WTF to do. Maybe I'm stuck with always swapping the HD to go between linux and windows, or maybe it's time to try another brand of linux. Or maybe the grubby error is easy to fix.

Rantrantrantrantrant!

[KC2UGV]

1)Download ISO of Ubunutu
2)Insert Burned CD Rom of ISO into CD-ROM drive
3)Boot from CD ROM
4)Install Ubuntu to USB drive (Device names vary)
5)Install Grub to USB drive's boot record

After that, if you want to boot to Ubuntu, plug in USB drive, and select the option to boot from it.

I have to admit I was having problems trying to figure out why you were just installing the live CD image to the Hard drive... It's why you have to keep selecting "Don't modify computer" option. The USB drive just had a copy of the ISO there.

[W1GUH]

1)Download ISO of Ubunutu
2)Insert Burned CD Rom of ISO into CD-ROM drive
3)Boot from CD ROM
4)Install Ubuntu to USB drive (Device names vary)
5)Install Grub to USB drive's boot record

After that, if you want to boot to Ubuntu, plug in USB drive, and select the option to boot from it.

I have to admit I was having problems trying to figure out why you were just installing the live CD image to the Hard drive... It's why you have to keep selecting "Don't modify computer" option. The USB drive just had a copy of the ISO there.

Did all but step 5 as outlined in my latest rant :-? . Now wonder I've got gubbie problems.

The error happens when I try to boot from the internal drive. When I try to boot from the USB drive with the newly installed Ubuntu nothing comes up on the screen. The GUI for installing implied that step 5 wasn't needed, nor was it needed when I originally installed to the internal drive.

A web search turned up someone else to whom this happened. In her case she also managed to wipe out Windows.

Found something called Super Grub that's my next move. It claims to be a super tool to repair grubs. Quien Sabe?

Swapping drive, yet again!

[W1GUH]

Ok, grub is fixed, well, sorta....

I went to Super Grub http://www.supergrubdisk.org/ and made a super grub boot CD. Now, when I boot from that CD, Ubuntu 9.10 comes up just fine, and all's well with it. But it won't boot by itself....I gotta boot it using the super grub CD. Somehow I gotta make the magic it performs permanent. Well, this isn't a big hassle, so this could be the way it can stay.

Now...on to seeing if this helps the external USB.

A few more googles in my future, it would appear. :roll:

[KC2UGV]

Remove the hard drive from the system that is internal and try to boot from the USB drive. It's sounding almost like you installed to the wrong drive.

[W1GUH]

Well, that's the way it's going to remain....booting from the internal disk using the super grub disk. I've searched around for getting a grub file on the external USB drive and, if the information was there it was buried amongst a bunch of linux stuff that I couldn't make heads nor tails of, and anyway, I've been at this for 5 hours now and I'm burnt out.

The external drive looks for all the world like a good linux system disk. Got an MBR, it's got a whole and intact filesystem...just guess it's missing a grub file? Dunno....