Hello!

I just finished creating a non-persistence Mint-XFCE 9 full install on a 8gig flash drive and while it works amazingly, my XP PC now won't boot-up without the flash drive engaged. All the screen says when I do F12 for normal XP boot is "error: no such device. grub rescue> "
There was no alert or heads-up or opt-out on the Mint installer CD that Grub would alter the boot system of my PC to boot Mint on my flash drive. I truly appreciate any hints to fix this, even though some responses from other Linux forums say "it's a Windows problem."

I want to stay in the Mint universe and really anxious to learn without running ragged all over linx blogs and Google! Thanks for any assist!

Jim in NYC

Use the Windows CD to do a Repair.

http://www.techspot.com/community/to...-windows.8356/

Oops, almost forgot to tell you how to install Mint to your flash drive.

DO NOT use the Mint Live CD to install Mint to the flash drive, or you WILL have this problem again. Download this program and use it to install the Mint Live CD ISO on to your flash drive.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

The behavior you describe is the expected behavior if you installed the Mint Grub bootloader to the master boot record of the primary drive. This is default behavior on most system. It is default behavior on windows and the difference is that with windows, you will not be notified nor will you be asked and given the option. Your Mint installation CD had the option, you either ignored it or didn't know what to look for. I haven't specifically installed Mint 9 but, earlier and later versions have an option in the window (New versions name the window Installation, I think older ones used Allocate Drive Space) at the bottom which says Device for Bootloader installation. Here you can select the mbr of any drive detected or any partition detected.

It would have been a good idea to read through a few tutorials before installing as their are numerous tutorials for installation of various versions of Mint including some with images of pretty much each step.

If you didn't see that option, it might be because you selected the install alongside windows option or some other option which gave you no control over the install. It's always best to select a Manual, Advanced or in newer versions of Mint the Something Else option.

You need to reinstall the windows bootloader to the mbr of your internal drive which you should be able to do using your xp installation CD and selecting a repair option. If you don't have the CD or it doesn't have that option (I've never used xp so...?) you should be able to download an xp boot CD and use it to make the repair. Two links below explaining the process if you have the xp cd:

http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/fix-mbr-xp-vista/
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/483/x...overy_console/

1 members found this post helpful.

Before doing any of that if would pay to install grub to the MBR of the USB. Could be done later from the Mint liveCD, but easiest from the running system I find.
Once that reboots o.k., fixmbr from XP recovery centre (as I'm sure the links also show).

I omitted that I have no XP CD, though I do have a full XP HD backup created by Macrium and a Mint-9 and Mint-Debian live CD if that will help. I am a newbie just playing it by ear via Linux maven suggestions and surprised I even got this far with a nicely working full install Mint flash drive -- and a XP PC that now I dare not turn off or nor be without the flash drive to boot back to XP again!

Any help or tips would be MUCH appreciated!

Jim in NYC

Alas, too late -- and you're right -- why I'm in this predicament!

This is what I'm afraid of with this Dell 2400. It was given to me when the owner bought one of those whiz-bang, all-the-bells-& whistles, laptops. At the time he could not find the repair disk, so I can't repair the mbr if it get screwed up. I'm not trying to install MINT, I'm trying Xbuntu 10.4 to start learning Linux and as I become more proficient, I'll move up to a distro that has a lot of the digital Ham Radio programs to run with my Icom 706 Mark II-G transciever.

The 2400 only has 256k of RAM, so I'll have to get some more RAM and bring it up to 2 gigs of P-2700 (?) which should run any program I'd tackle.

I believe this hard drive in the Dell is a 'split' drive, one side has 90 megs, the other 30 megs to give it a total of 120 megs. Once I get everything changed over (Excel Spreadsheet) to a comperable Linux program, I'll delete WINBLOW$ and go straight Linux.

I need all the help I can get, so I may be a regular in here, ;-)

Thanks for LQ^QKing,
Regards,

Buck/KA5LQJ

Actually I was wrong. Someone else here pointed out that you can easily reinstall Grub to the USB. I've never installed Mint, so I made the mistake of assuming this wasn't possible. Either way we mentioned though is a valid path to take.

Since you mentioned you do not have your Windows XP disc, the only thing I can think of is that you can probably still install EasyBCD. This can be your new bootloader for Windows.

http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

Okay, I found a Macrium "emergency" boot disk that was created long ago along with back-up disks and it did boot then, but when I just tried to on my machine I still got the "Grub Rescue" alert but it seemed like it was struggling to do that. How can I use this boot disk to fix my machine's boot up problem? I also got EasyBCD as recommended but not really sure how to use it, not without the advise of people in the know here.

Thanks for any assist!

Jim in NYC

Don't bother with the EasyBCD. Nice product, but no use on XP.

You will need to alter the BIOS boot order to get something else to boot first.

Is XP no longer supported?

I think you will have to use a XP install CD and reset the boot loader using the CD. The rest of the OS is still there and I also think that at this point you haven't lost anything yet. So just find a install XP Cd and Google the steps to reset you boot loader.

If you dont have a XP install CD borrow one from a fried or take the computer to a computer repair place it will cost you $$.

Good luck to you.

Oh happy days!!
People, talk about customer service!

I e-mailed Macrium just to ask whether some the procedures mentioned on these forums could make use of my Macrium XP backup emergency boot disk and they said "Sure! It can replace and repair MBR and lots more things and there're all kinds of free PC disk repair goodies there that many are clueless about! So I just did the two button MBR fix thing and whammo, good as new! A free PC disk repair disk right under my nose that I only thought was good for bad full backup days! I'm sold on Macrium as a company now!

I REALLY appreciate the aid you have offered me and it was definitely a learning experience that will get me out of a jam one day! Now the only thing Macrium CAN'T help me with is fixing Grub so I can boot up my Mint flash because now it won't run anymore even though I never touched it!

(irony of ironies, my flash Mint works FAR faster and crisper on my 512meg RAM system than XP, whether it's Libre Office or Firefox and Thunderbird or Gimp or just maneuvering around! I miss getting to Mint already!)

You guys are great! I wish the top Linux honchos had people like you on their publicity team!

Jim in NYC

Dont give up on your flashdrive installation of Linux Mint. Format the drive and try again using the suggested method on this link

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/using-u...ive-usb-linux/

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

Good luck to you!