Recently my CPU stopped working so I got it fixed and the moment I turned it on it shows a black window stating-
GNU GRUB version 2.02 Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists possible device or file completions. grub>
I don’t have any idea how to fix this as I’m new to linux.
I read a few articles related to that But the thing is I’ve no idea that after doing this I’ll have my data the way it is … or if I’ll lose all the data .
Can anyone tell me a safe way to fix this issue without formatting or without deleting the data on hard disk …or at least a way to save my data … like getting it’s backup or something??
Please.
As for the backup: the easiest way I think is to boot a live system from a pendrive.
Mount the internal drive, attach an external drive, mount it, then copy the data you want to backup.
As for making the system bootable, I think an easy way would be to reinstall GRUB.
But wait, tell the story, what happened when your system broke.
How did it brake?
Did you install something? Did you experiment with something?
If it just broke on its own, I’d check the HDD SMART attributes, just to be sure…
Hi @A_N_I_M_E ,
What you are getting is a grub command prompt.
That happens when grub can not find its configuration files, or if it can find grub.cfg but it is faulty.
You can boot by hand from that grub> prompt , but it is complicated and would be difficult for anyone but a grub expert.
The important question is why cant grub find its configuration file?. It is stored in Linux in /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
There is no way that replacing the CPU could remove grub.cfg. This suggests that there may be something wrong with the disk , as suggested by @kovacslt .
So, you should first attend to saving all your files with a backup.
The simplest way is to use Clonezilla booted from a dvd or usb drive and let it backup the whole disk device to an image on an external disk.
If you dont have clonezilla on a cd or usb drive, get someone to make you one
No nothing like that … what actually happened was my niece pushed the CPU down .
when I tried to turn it on nothing worked.
And in the end I got to know that the main port was broken and also the cabinet got cracked , so I just got a new cabinet . Just that .
When I turned it on - it just shows GNU Grub error.
So we are talking about a desktop computer, that fell off from the top of the desk?
While it was running, it was switched on? IF there’s a (or there are more) HDD in that computer, and that (or those) were spinning, while crashing into the floor, multiple things could have happen.
The most innocent is that a cable were detached by the shock, either a data cable or a power cable. Anyway, that disk disappeared from your system, and IF you have more HDD’s, that could cause the symptom. Say, you have GRUB on HDD1, and your system was on HDD2, which is now detached, GRUB cant find the kernel to boot…
However, this scenario is the least probable, I’m afraid…
HDD’s, especially while spinning, likely don’t survive such a crash-landing.
The head of a HDD is flying above the plate, which has the magnetic surface to store the data, The head doesn’t touch the plate. When the HDD is switched off, it parks the head beside the plate. When such a crash landing occurs, it produces a shock, there can vibrations arise, so that the head touches (and scratches) the plate. If that happened, the best you can do is to save the data you are still able to save. And then replace the drive. My #1 priority would be to save all data which is still accessible.
So backup as much as you can as soon as you can!
Then we might help diagnose further what’s behind the problem.
I’m not sure, but… what is the “main port”?
Or you wrote this by “hearing” and you were really told “the mainboard was broken”?
If your computer was switched off while crashing into the floor, and cabinet and mainboard was replaced, that tells me just BIOS settings may be incorrect.
(Still, backing up data is not a bad idea…)
If that worked , the disk is probably OK
So back to the grub> prompt
That is a catch22 situation… grub cant find its config file so you dont get a grub menu to boot from, and you cant fix the grub config file because you cant boot into Linux.
What you need to do is either
learn how to use the commands needed to boot at the grub> command line, or
use a Super Grub2 Disk to boot into the Linux that is on your disk
Then when you are in your own Linux, all you need is update-grub
then reboot, and the grub boot menu should come up.
On the Windows and Mint multiboot question, what do you have now?
Are Windows and Mint both on your disk?
I’ve been using only Linux Mint for a year .
I wanted to get windows too … I’ve been thinking about it for sometime now … but this grub error happened all of a sudden.
So I think I should do it now since I’ve copied all of my important data . So what to do now ?
Can I delete linux mint completely then first install windows and then linux ??
I found this on the web and that’s the way I have always done it.
“Linux Mint (and most Linux distributions) detects other operating systems and builds a menu from which you can choose which system to boot. For this reason, if you want to dual-boot or multi-boot with Windows, it is easier and recommended to install Windows first, before you install Linux Mint.”
Yes you can.
Just use gparted from a cd or a usb drive, delete all the partitions, make a new partition table, and make the partitions you need including formatting them to ext4 for linux and ntfs for windows.
The installs will be much easier if you have already formatted the partitions.
Follow what @easyt50 said. .
There are probably some itsfoss documents detailing all the steps in setting up a multiboot computer.
