How to safely use grub rescue> in Fedora 16? System does not boot anymore
When i boot my PC, i get this in my Fedora 16 distro. I have tried as following but none allowing me to boot anymore. Any help please? I am blocked completely.
Grub loading. Welcome to GRUB! error: file not found. Entering rescue mode. grub rescue> grub rescue> ls (hd0) (hd0,gpt3) (hd0,gpt2) (hd0,gpt1) grub rescue> ls (hd0,gpt2)/ ./ ../ lost+found/ memtest86+-4.20 grub2/ System.map-3.1.0-0.rc3.git0.0.fc16.i686 config 3.1.0.0.rc3.git0.0.fc16.i686 grub/ vmlinuz-3.1.0.0.rc3.git0.0.fc16.i686 elf-memtest86+-4.20 initramfs-3.1.0.0.rc3.git0.0.fc16.i686.img initramfs-3.1.0.0.rc4.git0.0.fc16.i686.img System.mpa-3.1.0.0.rc3.git0.0.fc16.i686 config-3.1.0.0.rc3.git0.0.fc16.i686 vmlinuz-3.1.0.0.rc3.git0.0.fc16.i686 grub rescue> set prefix=(hd0,gpt2)/boot/grub grub rescue> set root=(hd0,gpt2) grub rescue>insmod normal error unknown filesystem. or sometimes "error: file not found." grub rescue>normal unknown command normal @billc.cn: it was working, only not not working after changing the spinify theme to another theme. Not filesystem damage i am sure.
In this case I guess you just need to somehow boot into linux and reinstall Grub. I don’t use Fedora, but maybe there’s a rescue mode on the installation CD that can fix the boot loader?
5 Answers 5
I followed comment #26 instructions, a little different with LVM because you have to do a:
vgchange -ay to detect your LVM.
- type «ls» to view partitions. Mine listed things like: (hd0) (hd0,msdos6) (hd0,msdos5), etc
- then type, say: «ls (hd0,msdos5)/» across all your partitions until you find a directory listing that contains your linux /boot directory
- Once you find the partition, set the prefix like so: «set prefix=(hd0,msdos5)/boot/grub»
- then enter: «set root=(hd0,msdos5)»
- do «insmod normal»
- do «insmod linux»
- do a «ls /boot» to find out the name of the latest «vmlinuz-2.6.38-14» and the «initrd.img-2.6.38-14-generic» or whatever it ends up being
- in my case, I did a «linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-14-generic root=/dev/sda5 ro», which was the latest vmlinuz version number in my directory listing
- set the initrd with the same version as above. In my case, it is «initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-14-generic»
- type «boot»
Your system should hopefully boot into linux at this point. You booted into linux, but these changes are not permanent. To make them permanent, go into the command prompt and enter the following command: «sudo grub-install /dev/sda»
(«sda» being the disk that contains your Master Boot Record and your linux partition are).
Before wasting time with fsck , you could try getting the commands right:
set prefix=(hd0,gpt2)/boot/grub That is not the pathname, as the output of the immediately preceding command showed. The pathname is either (hd0,gpt2)/grub or (hd0,gpt2)/grub2 , since those are the directories that actually exist on your volume. (Which of the two, you’ll have to work out for yourself.) Indeed, since you’ve set root to that volume the prefix could be simply:
When the tool says that it cannot find the file that you’ve named, try believing the error message and correcting the name.
For multiple boots using grub2, some people may be making the same mistake I did when installing or updating Fedora 19 on a drive different than the drive that Windows is installed on. I’ll admit that I’m guilty of not following the basic rule when updating software: “RTFM”. I’m sure everybody knows what that stands for.
In my case, I replaced Fedora 16 on two computers – one that also has Windows 7 and the other that has Windows 8. In both cases, I failed, during the installation process, to include the device where the bootloader was to be put (for me, this is /dev/sda in both computers, where Windows is stored on).
When you come to the “Installation Destination” dialog, you need to specify the device that Windows is stored as well as the device where Fedora 19 is to go if it is different than the Windows device. In my case, it’s /dev/sdb on both computers, where Fedora 16 resides, which will be replaced with Fedora 19. After you select the devices, you need to click “Full disk summary and bootloader …” at the bottom of the dialog just to make sure that the correct device is selected for the bootloader (dev/sda in my case).
You then need to do custom partitioning if you want to delete the old linux partitions and replace them with partitions for Fedora 19.
Thread: grub rescue help!
First Cup of Ubuntu 
grub rescue help!
Hi everyone!
So I have a pretty serious problem with my laptop and I hope someone can help!
It’s a dual boot system with windows 10 and Ubuntu 14.04 lts, at least I think Ubuntu is still on there. I started the dual boot with installing 12.04 lts which went fine. When I finished the upgrade to 14.04 however, the system needed to restart, which it wouldn’t do.It also refused to shut down so I shut it off manually. It didn’t like this because when I started it again it said ‘error: file not found, grub rescue:’.
I came across other people with a similar problem however my situation seems to be a bit different because I am not able to boot from a CD or USB. All I have is grub rescue. Adding to that, it seems certain commands just don’t work.
I think I successfully set the prefix and root to the extent that when I enter the command ‘set’ it says:
prefix=(hd0,msdos5)/boot/grub
root=hd0,msdos5
However,when I try the next command ‘linux’ it says ‘unknown command’. When I try ‘insmod normal’ and ‘insmod linux’ it says ‘file not found’
I also tried some other commands, with the following results:
‘ ls/’: ./ ../ lost+found/ etc/ media/ bin/ boot/ dev/ home/ lib/ mnt/opt/ proc/root/ run/ sbin/ vmlinuz srv/ sys/ tmp/ usr/ var/initrd.img cdrom/ initrd.img.old vmlinuz.old
‘ ls’: (hd0) (hd0,msdos6) (hd0,msdos5) (hd0,msdos3) (hd0,msdos2)(hd0,msdos1)
Again,I hope someone can help! I have the feeling that it is ‘simply’ a matter of setting the correct path(s), but so far I have been unsuccessful.
I tried the commands with the USB stick connected and changed the prefix and root but this was unsuccessful as well.
I’d really like to set the paths and be able to enter both systems again.Does anyone have any suggestions?
Error on boot: unknown command ‘gfxmode’. Pressing any key continues
It takes about 5 secs to boot after that. Pretty slow compared to 11.10, I think. Anyway, my Ubuntu is 12.04 and it just updated today and changed the grub with grubcustomizer. Anyway, I don’t want any gfx interface or resolution on the grub customizer, but it keeps giving that error even if it isn’t marked in grub customizer. I found some help here, in this question: Error: unknown command ‘gfxmode’. Pressing any key continues I found the line it mentions in the 00_header . But Set is found in front of the gfx there, so that isn’t actually the problem. This is my /etc/default/grub:
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update # /boot/grub/grub.cfg. # For full documentation of the options in this file, see: # info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration' GRUB_DEFAULT="saved" #GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT="0" GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET="true" GRUB_TIMEOUT="10" GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`" GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="" # Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs # This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains # the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD . ) #GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef" # Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only) #GRUB_TERMINAL="console" # The resolution used on graphical terminal # note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE # you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo' #GRUB_GFXMODE="1024x768x24" # Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux #GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID="true" # Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries #GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true" # Uncomment to get a beep at grub start #GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1" GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true"