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I'm trying to fix a friend's computer. He uses Win7 and ubuntu 14.04 dual boot and ran "secure boot", which seems to have caused major damage: afterwards, GRUB wouldn't show up and the computer booted directly to windows. We tried to reinstall GRUB without success.

Here's what happens:

  1. I tried using boot-repair in a LiveSession without success (as nothing changed). I paste the output below.
  2. I tried to check hard drives using Gparted, but it gets stuck when searching for disks.
  3. I then tried to reinstall GRUB in terminal (following this guide: http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-repair-restore-reinstall-grub-2-with-a-ubuntu-live-cd), but "sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt" wouldn't work as I have to specify the file format, and neither option (ext3, -ext4, -auto) seems to work
  4. Finally, the attempt to save the files accessing the ext4 partition from within windows (with ext2read and other programs) also failed, so it seems to me the whole partition is corrupt.

Now here's the output from boot-repair: http://paste.ubuntu.com/8229032

Any ideas? Thanks in advance

eskararriba
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3 Answers3

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I think you are trying to fix the wrong issue.

You can get a bootable Ubuntu with Secure Boot enabled even if it is not detected (caused by non-standard UEFI firmware behavior) or you somehow lost the EFI binaries on the EFI system partition.

Have a look at: How to use the Linux Foundation's PreLoader?

Sadly almost no one cares about getting Secure Boot to work properly. If boot-repair fails it has to be an evil Microsoft, the reptilians or some other conspiracy.

Community
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LiveWireBT
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Well, you can try a few tools if you have spare discs around(not sure if live usb's would work). I've had issues with this many times, make sure your BIOS is also set to boot from the right place (some more advanced ones will even let you choose the OS.) Also make sure you're NOT using UEFI if possible. It causes more issues with live CDs and Linux than I think it adds features. Linux also works better with Legacy when possible(I found that out the hard way). Some tools that you can try are

Gparted Magic Live CD: A free Open Source (I think) version of Parted Magic. Also useful for partition related issues, recovery stuff, diagnostics (hardware and software) and a few other things.

Hiren's Boot CD: Lot of features in this. A lot of what the above contains, but more variety. I'd still recommend getting both for future use if you have the spare discs. Note:Look hard for the download link, it's there, it just sorta looks like an add for whatever stupid reason they decided to do that...

Ultimate Boot CD: Can't remember what's on here, but it's mainly for recovery and boot issues. I know it's useful though.

Then there's the one most likely to fix your issues out of the ones shown.

Super Grub Disk 2 and Rescatux. The Super Grub Disk is basically a Live CD of Grub on steroids, and Rescatux is extremely helpful for Grub issues, and even some Winderp$ repairs. Note:I can't seem to find where it says the two are bundled together, or any download links for them bundled together, but the copy I have does have them both. Do a bit of searching and you'll probably find the bundle. It's a REALLY good pair.

I might have a few more ideas if those fail. Hope it helps.

Bugattikid2012
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I had this same problem ; found this trying to find the solution - leaving the solution that finally worked for me in case someone else has my problem -

In your case, since gParted is freezing - could mean your HD finally gave up -

IN MY CASE - it was a BIOS update - and the BIOS reset the boot HDD boot priorities to favor Windows -

So a quick BIOS reconfiguration fixed the problem -

rm-vanda
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