Grub Loading ........ error 17

[alexham36]

I am running Win10 and PCLinuxOS-Minime and the same HD and I cannot boot up either OS since last night. I am getting error message "Grub Loading ..... error 17 and there it stops. There is nothing physically wrong with the drive because I can read all the files from Puppy-Slacko running on an USB. I also have Win10 on another HD (SSD) and that can access Win10 files on the other HD where I have Win10 and Linux. There is nothing on Linux Live CD about repairing the Grub. My gut feeling is that re-installing PCLinuxOS-Minime from live CD on existing partitions would probably solve the problem, but gut feeling is not science, so is there a better way to recover from this position, please.

Many thanks,

Alex

[vikingken]

In their quest for world domination, Microsoft have probably set up something to prevent Windows 10 running on a computer with another OS installed. I had Classic Shell installed on Windows 10, to make it almost useable. Although I had Updates turned off in Services, somehow it not only updated, it removed Classic Shell. If MS wont allow me to run my own computer, I will stop using their useless product. On my main computers, I am still using Windows 7 and will continue to do so until MS stop me.

[mikkh]

Repair grub option should be on the live CD it's titled 'redo MBR'

In the menu go to 'more applications' then 'configuration' you should see redo MBR there

[alexham36]

Thank you Mikkh. I tried that and I am still getting error 17, so it did not work. Puppy cannot even read the partitions where Linux-Minime is. GParted could not show the partitions and there was an error message "Libparted Bug found". Finally, I tried to re-install Linux-Minime from Live-CD and could not do even that. The message from Drax was that there was no room for installation. I even tried to format the patitions where Linux is and Puppy could not do it. This must be a case for unplugging the HD and giving it a flying lesson.

I'd be interested to hear your views on this.

Thanks again,

Alex

[mikkh]

You could try this

www.unixmen.com/fixing-a-few-common-grub-errors-broken-bootloader-and-error-1715/

[vikingken]

If you have got an old XP installation disk, that will let you delete just about anything. Then you can format the free space with anything you like.

[alexham36]

Thanks again Mikkh and Vikingken, but I am still unable to boot that drive despite several attempts. I think that I do not know enough about Linux to attempt a complicated Console solution and the syntax suggested in the solutions is not completely recognized by my system. For instance "sudo" is not recognized and neither are the brackets (). However, there is an agreement on the websites that this problem is caused by Win10 updates, so it clearly is not a good idea to run a Linux OS on the same HD with Windows 10.

If there is a way to overwrite MBR (without the Win 10 running) I would do it to "disable" Linux and restore Win10. I would then use either format the Linux partitions or just leave them and install Linux-Minime onto the HD where I have WinXP. It will never be updated, so it might work. Does that sound like a plan and is it possible? I simply don't know.

Regards,
Alex

[vikingken]

You dont have to install XP, the disk will show Windows installations and unknown installations. You can delete whatever you like, or the whole lot. Then take the disk out and reboot.

If you put the Windows 10 disk in, you could try to do a boot repair. Whether or not that will work, I've no idea. Thats if you only delete the Linux and leave the Windows of course.

[alexham36]

Thank you Vikingken. I have managed to format the partitions where the Linux was from another Win10 OS installed on SSD. So, I now have a HD with Win10 that I cannot boot and 100GB of empty space. That Win 10 was an automatic update from Win7, so I don't have a CD for it. The other Win10 (on SSD that works perfectly) was installed from an USB, which I still have. I tried to restore from a mirror image I created after updating to Win10, but that did not work.

I am tempted to leave things as they are and save myself more hassle, but one thing that I have learned is never to run Linux on a windows partition again!

[vikingken]

I have normally ran Linux on a separate computer from my Windows machines, on the few times I have run Linux. I have run Linux on the same computer a long time ago, but it was on a different hard drive from the XP. I have not run Linux, since Windows progressed beyond XP and cant give any advice. I am not a fan of Windows 10 and I will be running Linux, unless MS come up with a proper working OS. I will continue to use Windows 7, as long as MS allow me to do so.

[mikkh]

Re-reading your first post - your gut feeling was right, well partly right anyway. Linux get's updated far more often than Windows, so if you're going to try a fresh install, get a recent version

I'm currently using this www.pclinuxos.com/get-pclinuxos/mate/

But if you want to stick to 'minime go here

pclosusers.com/communityiso/KDEandMiniMe/

Don't be afraid of running Linux on the same drive as Windows, I've been doing it for over a decade with literally hundreds of installs

Now you've got the partition empty, a new install should work and you may get your Windows back - assuming the boot sector isn't corrupted/faulty and was what caused the problem in the first place

[alexham36]

I tried re-installing the copy of Minime that I already had, just to test it, but that gave me only Minime and not Windows. So, I used the installation disc of WinXP to format the partitions, as Vikingken suggested and then used Win7 Repair Disc to restore the image that I created prior to updating to Win10. Surprisingly, it worked and I now have Win7 running again. I now wish I created a backup image after the update. I the attachment is the "picture" of that HD from Disk Manager in Win10 running on another HD. Is it safe to remove the empty space at the front of that HD, or will doing that wreck everything again?

Many thanks again,

Alex

[alexham36]

Guys, I am in real trouble now. The HD where WinXP is is disabled. Whichever drive I select to boot up Bootup Manager screen appears and it gives me only 2 options - Win10 or Win7 and nothing else. How can I stop this Bootup Manager appearing? All my emails and addresses are in Thunderbird Profiles, which are in WinXP! This is a real disaster and I am getting very tired. Please help!

Alex

[mikkh]

How many drives you got in there? My single drive reports as Disk 0, so following that logic you have 4?

The 100 MB (free space) partition was part of a Windows 7/8/10 install where the bootloader and other system files are kept - on it's own that drive wouldn't boot

The drive below has the 100 MB partition intact and the partition after marked as C, so that's what you booted off and the boot information for Disk 2 is on the Disk 3 100 MB partition.

When multi booting like this, the oldest version of Windows MUST be installed first to be picked up by the newer version - or at least be present when installing the newest one.

Seems to me that the boot info for XP was on disk 2 and didn't get transferred to 3? Or got deleted before Windows 10 was installed?

XP doesn't appear to be on the two visible drives, so I would start by removing disk 2 and 3 and see what boot options you get from the remaining drive(s) If there are two more (as appears) try each singly and one should boot allowing you to retrieve the missing data

[alexham36]

You are right as regards the drives. I have 5 and that was probably part of the problem. I did what you suggested. I unplugged all HDs except the one where WinXP was, but still could not boot. Then I used the original installation CD and tried to use the "repair" facility. I can now boot WinXP, but some features cannot be used - missing DLL files - which does not matter, because I am not going to run WinXP. I unplugged the drive where Win7 is and connected another in its place where I have PCLinuxOS-KDE. The Bootup Manager does not come up, so I am back to where I was before. I hold down F8 during bootup and that brings up the drives and boot options. They all work. I lost all the old emails and I had to re-configure the email settings, but I managed to salvage the addresses. Win10 could not use old address book, but interestingly, Linux picked it up immediately WinXP drive became available. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I have changed Thunderbird.ini to pick up addresses and old emails from a Thunderbird.default file on WinXP, so that I could use them whichever OS I happened to be in. That is why when WinXP crashed, email applications in other OSs also crashed and that was indeed a disaster.

Thank you for your help. Absolutely invaluable.
Alex