GRUB is impossible to uninstall!

saz · 2009-02-21 00:23:36

Hi guys,

I ha ve to install windows vista. So I got a nice 180Gb NTFS partition setup for it (/dev/sdb1). But when I'm installing Vista the computer reboots (its normal for it to that) but instead of continue with the installation, it boots into grub! The same thing happen when installing windows XP! So I can't install no windows! (I know that's great, but there's a new game coming on 25th and I wanted to play!)

So I decided to uninstall GRUB. I've tried everything out there and nothing works for me! Here is a list of all the things I tried:

- pacman -R grub
- fixmbr (using windows XP cd)
- fixboot (using windows xp cd)
- Bootrec.exe /FixMbr (using windows vista cd)
- dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sdb bs=446 count=1
- Fix MBR with Super GRUB Disk

None of the above worked. What did work however was this

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=446 count=1

when I rebooted after that I got nothing but a blank screen, so I thought that I had got it, but when vista reboots during installation instead of continuing installation I got the same blank screen....

so I chrooted into arch grub-install'ed and here I am asking for your help....

hope you can help me...

Last edited by saz (2009-02-21 01:30:01)

perbh · 2009-02-21 04:43:32

try swapping your disks ... seeing you have removed grub anyway

Otherwise - your computer will always try to boot from the primary disk - which is where you had grub
If you want to reinstall grub, then add the following to menu.lst:

title windows vista
rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1

- or -
you can swap the disks in grub thus:
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)

- but you have allready removed grub ... yup, I would just swap disks so that sdb becomes sda and vice versa

fukawi2 · 2009-02-21 20:39:12

perbh solution sounds about right... By the sound of it you're replacing Arch with Windows (as opposed to dual booting)?

btw, after your dd command above, did you re-create the partition table in fdisk / cfdisk / gparted etc?

mrunion · 2009-02-21 23:25:35

If you want GRUB gone, the only way I recall doing it easily was to boot a Windows disk and go into the recovery console. Then youtype something like "fixmbr" or something. That fixes the MBR on the drive. you then install Windows and start missing Linux...

Xyne · 2009-02-21 23:40:24

mrunion wrote:

If you want GRUB gone, the only way I recall doing it easily was to boot a Windows disk and go into the recovery console. Then youtype something like "fixmbr" or something. That fixes the MBR on the drive. you then install Windows and start missing Linux...

saz wrote:

So I decided to uninstall GRUB. I've tried everything out there and nothing works for me! Here is a list of all the things I tried:
- pacman -R grub
- fixmbr (using windows XP cd)
- fixboot (using windows xp cd)
- Bootrec.exe /FixMbr (using windows vista cd)
- dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sdb bs=446 count=1
- Fix MBR with Super GRUB Disk

lilsirecho · 2009-02-21 23:54:36

Perhaps the bs=446...s/b bs=512 ?????

MajorTom · 2009-02-22 16:08:23

lilsirecho wrote:

Perhaps the bs=446...s/b bs=512 ?????

Don't. This would overwrite the partition table.

Windows' fdisk should be able to write MBR. If I remember right, there's a hidden switch fdisk /mbr
The last time I used it was from a Windows 98 boot floppy though.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-02-21 00:23:36

GRUB is impossible to uninstall!

#2 2009-02-21 04:43:32

Re: GRUB is impossible to uninstall!

#3 2009-02-21 20:39:12

Re: GRUB is impossible to uninstall!

#4 2009-02-21 23:25:35

Re: GRUB is impossible to uninstall!

#5 2009-02-21 23:40:24

Re: GRUB is impossible to uninstall!

#6 2009-02-21 23:54:36

Re: GRUB is impossible to uninstall!

#7 2009-02-22 16:08:23

Re: GRUB is impossible to uninstall!

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