OMG! My Boot Loader Was Corrupted! I Can’t Log into My Linux System!

Sell your mobile


You like this story?

Corrupted GrubWhat will you do if your Grub Boot Loader was corrupted? The most probable answer will be “Hitting my head in my keyboard ‘n’ number of times”. Most of us think that, if our boot loader get corrupted, we are doomed! So, we re-format our systems! But, don’t you know that, sometimes we can fix a corrupted boot loader?

As I said earlier, for most of us, the answer for a corrupted boot loader is “format” (earlier, this is the answer for most of my questions! please don’t be like me!). But, there are more easier ways to solve it without committing suicide!

Why is this happening?

Most of the time, the Grub Boot Loader can get corrupted because of :

  • Installing Windows on your machine. When you install Windows, it will overwrite the Linux boot loader in the MBR, and install their own version.
  • Installing another version of Linux. Some times, the new Linux version may fail to detect the existing one.

Now, lets see how to fix this. Its really easy :

  • First, if you have another Linux distribution on your system you can log into it. If you don’t have one, you can use a Linux live CD and boot from it as shown below (Boot from the live CD, Do not install it) :

Boot from Live CD

Boot from Live CD

  • Next, open the terminal and enter the following command :

sudo update-grub

This will update your Grub settings. If you have installed Windows or another version of Linux, this command will detect them, and add them to your boot loader!… Enjoy!


Line Break

Author: Pubudu Kodikara (280 Articles)

Pubudu Kodikara is a writer at Tech Hamlet (www.techhamlet.com), a state of the art tech blog which is powered by the Earth Organization, which have a main target of educating people about the latest technology. They post latest tech news, tips on how to resolve problems, tricks and hacks to improve what you do, tutorials to learn new things and many more.

Comments
Trackbacks
Anti Malware Antivirus anti virus blog blogging Computer Security Contests E-mail Facebook Firefox freeware gmail Google Google Chrome Graphics Internet internet marketing Internet Security Linux Lucid Lynx Microsoft Microsoft Windows Mozilla Firefox Online Security Open source Operating system Search engine optimization Security social network Social Networking Software System Utilities TechHamlet Tech Hamlet TechHamlet Forums Twitter Ubuntu Utilities Web Web browser Website Web Tools Windows Windows 7 WordPress

© 2009 - 2010 Tech Hamlet (Version 7.2) Sri Lanka