Grub... ?!

[noddy]

Hi,

Whenever I start my PC, I get greeted with a message after the POST screen, in the standard DOS-type text, simply saying "GRUB" (or "GRUB GRUB"). From here, the PC becomes unresponsive, and I can only turn it off. I believe this is linked to the Grub Boot Loader I once had installed on my secondary hard drive which was installed in a different PC. However, it has only been rearing its head over the last couple of days.

I have tried the "bootrec" command from the Vista disc with the /fixmbr, /fixboot and /rebuildbcd commands. However, this has not provided me with a permanent fix. The /rebuildbcd and /scanos arguments return a message saying it found no compatible Vista installations. Vista will start with no problems, however, provided the Vista install disc is in the DVD drive. I don't need to "press any key to boot from the DVD", just having it in the drive is perfectly sufficient.

Just recently I've been having some troubles with my hard drive failing, which may or may not be related. (The first paragraph of the first post is probably the most relevant): http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/158637-vista-wont-start.html

Note that I have also done a full system scan using NOD32, which found no problems.

I am completely confused about this problem; I'm even more confused, though, about how the problem arose in the first place.

Any help would be fantastic!

Thanks,
- Noddy

 

[xguntherc]

Yes GRUB errors are related to your System or the BIOS not reading from the HDD.. It's a HD related error.. I don't really kno a lot in this area, but that could very well be ur problem.. I'd try and get a external Hd and move over anything important from that dying HD.. if you have anything important.. other than that, hopefully some others can help you.. SCSI RAID is very helpful with HD's.. give it a lil bit, I'm sure he or someone else will see this thread and shed some more light on it..

Good Luck!

 

[sidney1st]

Ahah, Your bios still looking for grub.
Try to change the hdd order in your bios and it should be fine.

 

[johngalt]

Sid beat me to it but that is the answer - you're trying to boot from that old HD that used to have grub installed - but when you used the repair tools on the Vista disc it went just fine because *that* HD didn't need repairs - it just needs to be set as the boot drive.

 

[noddy]

BIOS boot order is as follows: "CD - HDD - Removable". There is no option to set which hard drive to boot from first. The Vista drive is set as the primary master and the old Linux drive is set as the slave, so surely it should look at the Vista drive first?

I agree that it could be result of HDD failure, hence the previous error I had a week ago now, but I'm not sure that that explains why I get the problem if, and ONLY if, I don't have the Vista disc in the DVD drive (especially seeing as I'm not even booting from the disc; having it present seems to be doing it!).

If it's not disk failure, or some BIOS setting, is there a way I can wipe the MBR from all my other hard drives (or just wipe all of them and rebuild the MBR on the Vista drive only)?

Thanks for the help,

- Noddy