error 15 File not found

[Luiz Alberto Medaets]

Binary package hint: grub

I have Windows OS on IDE 1 master and I want to install Gutsy on IDE 1 Slave.
To boot from one HD or the other I change the BIOS settings.
To install Gutsy on my computer, for safety, the first thing I did was to replace my HD on IDE 1 master (Windows OS) with an old and damage HD. BIOS recognized one HD IDE 1 master and one HD on IDE 1 slave.
I booted with the live CD and choose to install on IDE 1 slave (hdb) - partition 1 of IDE 1 slave as Ext3 and partition 5 of IDE 1 slave as Swap and I changed the boot loader (advanced tab) to hd1.

After installation it began a boot (yeeeeesss), but I was presented with Error 15: File not found. Hitting Esc on boot brings Grub options, and witch ever I choose the answer was Error 15: File not found.

I booted with the live CD and everything was where it should. So, witch file was missing?

After some research on internet I found some documentation on Grub (boot loader) that was very helpful.

- First was to find how Gutsy was looking my Hd's.

Using terminal:

sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x057b3228

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/hda1 * 1 9729 78148161 b W95 FAT32
  (hda1 means HD master, partition 1)

Disk /dev/hdb: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00075cf8

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/hdb1 * 1 4678 37576003+ 83 Linux
  (hdb1 means HD slave, partition 1)

/dev/hdb2 4679 4865 1502077+ 5 Extended

/dev/hdb5 4679 4865 1502046 82 Linux swap / Solaris

- Second was to find where Grub was installed

sudo grub (to enter the grub program)

To find where Grub was installed

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

 (hd1,0)

 (hd1,0 is = hdb1 and means HD slave, partition 1)

grub>quit (to quit he grub program)

- Third was to find how was grub instructing to boot (file grub menu file /boot/grub/menu.lst
)

Using terminal:

 gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

 ( opens the file /boot/grub/menu.lst
 in gedit)

* at the very end you find the grub boot menu

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic

root (hd1,0)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=9593f956-5cd8-4c9c-bb6d-6b049ae6ab98 ro quiet splash

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

quiet

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)

root (hd1,0)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=9593f956-5cd8-4c9c-bb6d-6b049ae6ab98 ro single

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic

title Ubuntu 7.10, memtest86+

root (hd1,0)

kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin

quiet

Resuming:

- Linux is installed on /dev/hdb1 (HD slave, partition 1)

- /boot/grub/stage1 is on (hd1,0) * (hd1,0 is = hdb1 and means HD slave, partition 1)

- Grub menu point's to root on (hd1,0) * (hd1,0 is = hdb1 and means HD slave, partition 1)

At this point you have the classic “Everything is all right but nothing works”

At this point I was almost giving up when I remembered that all Grub menus options gave the same Error 15: File not found and that on /boot/grub/menu.lst hd1,0 were common on the three options.
So I tried to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and replace (hd1,0) by (hd0,0) and for my surprise, it worked. Remember that (hd0,0) is my Windows HD.

I would appreciate if someone could explain what is going on.

Ubuntu is a great Linux OS, but to be used by ordinary users, for those who never typed a command line, it will take a long, long way.

Hope my experience can help someone.

[Albert Damen (albrt)]

This issue is caused by the way you boot Ubuntu. When you select to boot from your second hard disk in the bios, the drive numbers for the first and second had disk are swapped. So while your Ubuntu hard disk is hd1 during installation, it becomes hd0 when you boot from that disk.
You could prevent this problem by installing grub on your first (windows) hard disk. Grub would then give you a menu to boot either Windows (on the first disk) or Ubuntu (on the second disk), and you would not need to change the boot order in the bios anymore.

If you have further questions on this issue, the support tracker https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu is probably a better place to get good answers.

[Luiz Alberto Medaets (megahertz)]

Thank you for your answer.
You are right to say that I could install grub on IDE 1 master, so the choice on witch OS I want to load will be on a higher level. But I wanted to make an Ubuntu installation completely independent from my Windows installation. With this purpose in mind I bought a new HD. And I'm not the only one. There are many people that installed Gutsy on external HD with same purpose and that reported the same problem.

I disagree with you. I still think that there is a bug.
1 - When installing Gutsy, I followed the installation wizard. And there is an option where I want to install boot loader (advanced tab) and my option was to do it on hd1 (IDE1 slave) and not in hd0 (IDE1 master, in witch I have Windows OS). So, if after a normal and clean installation it didn't boot, there is a bug.
2 – You are saying that Grub swapped the two HDs, that is, HD on IDE1 slave becomes hd0,0. If so, how do you explain that after booting Gutsy, command fdisk -l reports IDE1 mater as hda and IDE1 slave as hdb, and even Grub reports as installed in IDE1 slave (hd1,0)?

I know that Linux is made by different hands and heads, but when putted all together on a distribution package, standardization should be applied. For a newbie as I am, to find on a installation wizard two nicknames for the same drive is quite difficult to understand and it could lead to an incorrect installation. At this point of the play, Grub should be referring partition 1 of IDE1 Master as hda1 and not as hd0,0, partition 1 of IDE1 slave as hdb1 and not as hd1,0 etc, etc
Regards,
Luiz

[just68 (justinallen68)]

I have ubuntu 9 and xp on a single harddrive. Everything went well with install and I have been running for a couple weeks, learning alot through forums and just playing around with it. I do not know squat about command lines or programming or anything related.I was able to fix the wireless usb adapter problem very easily after reading a bit. I've got an Error 15 and i have read tons about it but nothing seems to
 as i try the fixes. Are the fixes the same on all linux platforms?

workubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x69205244

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 38912 312560608+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
cat: /boot/grub/menu.lst: No such file or directory

Please advise on exactly what i should do from here. Thanks in advance for any help..