Removing Grub Loader---Begging for help.

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Please help. I am feeling extremely stupid as I can’t seem to find the help I need.

I have a Windows 7 OS installed as my main OS, it installed on its own HDD with 3 other data storage drives.

On my 5th drive I installed a copy of OpenSUSE 11.02 to see if I like it. I have decided I don’t wish to keep it so I reformatted the drive while in Win7. Of course on restart I got the Grub 1.5 Error 22. All my HDD’s are seperate and there are no partitions.

I have had to reinstall OpenSUSE just to get my PC to boot.

All I want to is remove OpenSUSE from my computer without losing my Win 7 install.

My Win 7 install disc fails to recognise my Win 7 so I can not get the recovery command prompt/repair options.

Can someone explain in say 5 simple steps to get back my original MBR so I can boot straight to Windows as I can’t seem to find a guide that actually explains what to do. Either by doing it in OpenSUSE 11.02 or Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

Many many thanks.

2

hi,

do you have a live cd of any *nix. If not then boot from windows install disk by changing boot order in bios. on getting in windows go to command line from start–run and give command “fixmbr”. If this doesnt work then your partition table is corrupt and the only way to fix it will be live cd.

3

I have the openSUSE 11.02 Install disc. I have my Windows installation disc but it wont let me get to the repair menu.

I also have the latest Ultimate boot CD, and a CD with the latest Super Grub on it.

4

can you boot in opensuse

if you can, do fdisk -l and post results

install a package ‘testdisk’

after install get in zypper and type su, password and ‘testdisk’

hit create, it will find your windows partitions, when satisfied just hit write and it will recover the stuff for you. later you will need windows install disk

Your ultimate boot cd has testdisk in it. just boot from there and post fdisk -l here

5

Heres the results of my fdisk -l. The 300Gb is the Win 7 Install, the 60Gb is the Linux. All the other 3 are Data or games drives.

linux-6sny:~ # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x72f667f0

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 121602 976759808 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x72f667f1

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 121602 976759808 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdc: 300.1 GB, 300090728448 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 36483 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xbe69deb9

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 13 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdc2 13 36484 292951040 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdd: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x72f667f2

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdd1 * 1 121602 976759808 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sde: 60.0 GB, 60022480896 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7297 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xe02ae02a

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sde1 1 262 2104483+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sde2 263 2873 20972857+ 83 Linux
/dev/sde3 2874 7297 35535780 83 Linux

6

you will need to restore the partitions first with testdisk

when you post terminal outputs use # in order to put that in code format, it is easy to browse through.

7

I am starting to get the feeling i will be better simply reinstalling Windows from scratch? Will doing that kill this problem? It will be quicker and easier for me?

8

Well just try testdisk, it wont waste your time. Just remember you can fix anything with Linux or Unix but about nothing with windows. May be you will have a change of heart and keep suse or any linux. This will save all your data and sure save time with setting up of windows post install.

9

Hi,
rpmmatt <rpmmatt@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> writes:

> I am starting to get the feeling i will be better simply reinstalling
> Windows from scratch? Will doing that kill this problem? It will be
> quicker and easier for me?

If you reinstall Windows you will have to restore Grub afterwards as the
Windows bootloader will overwrite it.

I would say, unless you have another reason to reinstall Windows, it’ll
be quicker and easier to just fix the Grub menu.

Regards,
Barry.

10

I don’t to fix the grub menu, I want to get rid of it so I can boot to windows and not have Opensuse installed at all.

11

Do

  1. ‘sudo grub’
  2. ‘find /boot/grub/stage1’
  3. the above step will give a number like hd0, 5 or something depending upon where the grub is
  4. root (hd0,…) replace … with the number from step 2
  5. setup (hd0)
  6. quit

now reboot and you will have your machine bootable. this will work if your partition tables are intact. if your partitions are deleted then you can bring them back to life with testdisk.

This wont take any more than 10 mins if you stay calm.

12

Well use testdisk to start with and restore your partitions. All your stuff is already there, you just need to look for it and retrieve it. i am not sure if data is of any importance to you. if it is then we can fix it and if not then you can format your hdd and reinstall windows.

13

Sorry, I didn’t notice you wanted to remove openSUSE altogether

14

I still don’t think I am making myself clear here.

I can boot to Linux fine. Everything works except that which never worked form when I first put it on.

Windows, also boots fine, but only from the Grub menu. Everything in windows plays and works as is stored where it should be.

I want to know, how can I remove OpenSuse. I want to remove the HDD from my machine and use it for something else. I want to know how I can then boot back to Windows instead of getting the 1.5 Grub loader error 22.

If this is not possible, I will simple back up anything that needs keeping to one of my other drives then reinstall Windows from scratch. It takes me less than an hour to have Win 7 back up and running as I want it.

I am not a Linux basher, I wanted to give it a go, but find it frustrating to search the web for a fix for the simplest things. i might try again in the future but right now all I want is the easiest way to boot straight windows with no trace of Linux on my system.

15

I am assume win7 is on here:

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x72f667f0

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 121602 976759808 7 HPFS/NTFS

If win7 DVD doesn’t see this you have problems, or you don’t know what you are doing.
Did you go to the command prompt rather than auto repair?
Try pulling the power on all but the win7 HD and try again.

16

Your first quote you said, you reformatted the drive.

17

OK, the WIN 7 DVD can see the drive, but I doesnt let me access the repair functions for some reason. (This Disc may or may not be a genuine copycough**cough)

I can get to the installer OK, and my discs are there. I never keep anything on my OS HDD as I am always switching/reinstalling different versions of Windows. If I reinstall windows will this overwrite the Grub boot loader and just give me a normal boot to windows?

18

I reinstalled Linux again as it was the only way I could boot to windows.

Nothing is wrong with my system, I just want rid of Linux for now.

Sorry if I confused you.:shame:

19

Hi
If you post the output from;


sudo /sbin/fdisk -l

It should only be a matter of setting the boot flag on the drive with
windows on it (And configure the BIOS to boot from the drive).

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.32.12-0.7-default
up 3 days 21:02, 2 users, load average: 0.06, 0.03, 0.00
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - Driver Version: 256.35

20

Right, you have tools in ultimate boot cd, try installing GAG and then uninstall it. It will ask you consent for reinstalling windows mbr, just say yes and you are done. Later use ultimate stuff and format the ext4 to anything.