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#1 2010-06-30 10:38:33

archlinuxsagi
Member
Registered: 2008-09-12
Posts: 259

grub error 5[Solved]

Hi fellow Arch Linux user.

Previously my external 1 TB USB hard disk crash while installing packages. I have resolve the upgrade issue and is able to access the partition. However, I am unable to boot up my external hard disk which results in grub error 5. I am able to boot up my external hard disk before the crash.

I have tried many things except using grub-install.. it keep giving me "does not have any corresponding BIOS drive". I have never install using grub-install since I usually use grub command prompt with root and setup.

Further searching indicate I can copy my laptop MBR to the external hard disk using dd command.
However, the partition table is not the same and I try copying the MBR to another external hard disk it result in "Missing operating system".

I hope fellow ArchLinux can advise how me to make my 1TB external hard disk bootable again.

Last edited by archlinuxsagi (2010-06-30 14:43:54)

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#2 2010-06-30 11:24:24

scarletxfi
Member
From: Australia
Registered: 2010-04-19
Posts: 105

Re: grub error 5[Solved]

I'm no expert but check out this site: http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual … ge2-errors
"
5 : Partition table invalid or corrupt
This error is returned if the sanity checks on the integrity of the partition table fail. This is a bad sign.
"
This may or may not help, some people have reported it helping:
can you boot a LiveCD and rearrange the boot partition to be in the begining? also check that the disk has a bottable flag on it with
fdisk -l
to find what it's called then
fdisk /dev/whatyoufound/
a (toggle bootable flag)
1 (1st partition)
w (write the partition table)

In general Grub error 5 seems to be pretty serious, and I would say backup your /home and settings and reinstall, unless someone has a better idea...


note: I can't be responsible for ANY data loss, please take my advice as a recommendation.

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#3 2010-06-30 14:43:31

archlinuxsagi
Member
Registered: 2008-09-12
Posts: 259

Re: grub error 5[Solved]

The root cause was my partition table was not in order.. Maybe the last kernel update cause my partition not to be recognize. I have resolve this by creating a boot partition and ensure the partition table order is in series.
This is done by running fdisk in expert mode (s) and select fix (t) I think and (w) for write.
I spend 1 sleepless nite for this.. :-)

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