i'm trying to install Ubuntu.
I don't know if it is important, but i'm trying to install it on external HDD.

In the end i have external bootable HDD which only displays:

error: file not found

grub recovery>

From the beginning:

• I've downloaded ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso


• I've used LiLi USB Creator (LinuxLive) to create bootable pendrive from that image


• I've bootet from it, it works


• I've clicked "Try ubuntu", it works too.

I've used GParted to look over drivers (disks)

My primary embedded disk is seen as /dev/sda

My attached external disk as /dev/sdb

My PenDrive as /dev/sdc

• I've created partitions on /dev/sdb




• Fist partition for system (over 200GiB)



• Second was there already (it's xsf, and i don't want to touch it :P)



• Third is extended partition, with 1 locital partiton (10GiB) for swap




• I've started installation



• i've choose "somethin else" in ... i belive secound screeb


• then is selected /dev/sdb as boot disk


• for first partiton of /dev/sdb i set i want ext3 file system, i've check "formattin" checkbox, and mount path set to "/"


• firs logical partiton set as swap partition

After installation finished, i restarted my computer.
When i boot from my primary disc it's work ok, my previous operating system - vista - works ok.
When i set my BIOS to boot from my external disc, i only get that message:

error: file not found

grub recovery>

• I've try to reinstall it, but didn't help...

In desperation, i've try to read a bit about that "grub recovery>" command-line and experiment a bit...
I'm not sure if this has had any point, or if it give you some information (notice, that i don't know what i'm doing :P )

when i've type command:

insmod (hd1,1)/boot/grub/linux.mod

i've get message:

unknown filesystem

the same with:

insmod (hd1,msdos1)/boot/grub/linux.mod

the same with:

insmod ext3

but i get no message after command:

insmod ext2

...

notice that i really don't know what this command exactly do,
but than i thought that maybe if i reinstall ubuntu with ext2 filesystem, it will work.
I've done that, but symptoms are the same.

I've go back to that Live version of ubuntu, filesystem and basics directories seems to be present on /dev/sdb1 ... i'm completely unfamiliar with GRUB. I'm also don't know which wersion of GRUB it is, i hope there is only one version on ubuntu-12.04-desktop-i386.iso

Any help? Thax

======================= edit 17.06.2012 22:05 =========================

This is RESULTS.txt from bootinfoscript

sda is my in-build HDD

sdb is external HDD (disk-destination for Ubuntu)

sdc is PenDrive with Live Ubuntu

                  Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]





============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================



 => Windows is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda.

 => Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks at sector 1 of 

    the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks 

    for (,msdos1)/boot/grub on this drive.

 => Syslinux MBR (4.04 and higher) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdc.



sda1: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:       vfat

    Boot sector type:  Windows 7: FAT32

    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.

    Operating System:  

    Boot files:        /bootmgr /boot/bcd



sda2: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:       ntfs

    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS

    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.

    Operating System:  Windows Vista

    Boot files:        /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe



sda3: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:       Extended Partition

    Boot sector type:  -

    Boot sector info: 



sda5: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:       ntfs

    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7: NTFS

    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sda5 starts 

                       at sector 63.

    Operating System:  

    Boot files:        



sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:       ext2

    Boot sector type:  -

    Boot sector info: 

    Operating System:  Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img



sdb3: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:       xfs

    Boot sector type:  -

    Boot sector info: 

    Mounting failed:   mount: /dev/sdb3: can't read superblock



sdb4: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:       Extended Partition

    Boot sector type:  -

    Boot sector info: 



sdb5: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:       swap

    Boot sector type:  -

    Boot sector info: 



sdc1: __________________________________________________________________________



    File system:       vfat

    Boot sector type:  SYSLINUX 4.04 2011-04-18

    Boot sector info:  Syslinux looks at sector 3250552 of /dev/sdc1 for its 

                       second stage. SYSLINUX is installed in the  directory. 

                       The integrity check of the ADV area failed. No errors 

                       found in the Boot Parameter Block.

    Operating System:  

    Boot files:        /syslinux/syslinux.cfg /ldlinux.sys



============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================



Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________



Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes

16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 310101 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes



Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System



/dev/sda1               2,048    20,482,047    20,480,000  1c Hidden W95 FAT32 (LBA)

/dev/sda2    *     20,482,048   176,771,071   156,289,024   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS

/dev/sda3         176,771,072   312,580,095   135,809,024   f W95 Extended (LBA)

/dev/sda5         176,773,120   312,580,095   135,806,976   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS





Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________



Disk /dev/sdb: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders, total 1250263728 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes



Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System



/dev/sdb1    *          2,048   574,773,569   574,771,522  83 Linux

/dev/sdb3         574,773,570 1,208,315,584   633,542,015   7 NTFS / exFAT / HPFS

/dev/sdb4       1,208,317,950 1,229,289,471    20,971,522   f W95 Extended (LBA)

/dev/sdb5       1,208,317,952 1,229,289,471    20,971,520  82 Linux swap / Solaris





Drive: sdc _____________________________________________________________________



Disk /dev/sdc: 1971 MB, 1971322880 bytes

129 heads, 40 sectors/track, 746 cylinders, total 3850240 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes



Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System



/dev/sdc1    *             40     3,850,239     3,850,200   6 FAT16





"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________



Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL



/dev/loop0                                              squashfs   

/dev/loop1       7aa47a24-93a0-d54f-a03c-495cf2ee0927   ext2       

/dev/sda1        3C98-AC5D                              vfat       RECOVERY

/dev/sda2        94CA2D3CCA2D1BCC                       ntfs       VistaOS

/dev/sda5        A2F09F72F09F4B83                       ntfs       DATA

/dev/sdb1        a4befd4a-f91f-4f09-9d5f-a44991ed6a2e   ext2       

/dev/sdb3        973a36d7-5828-4291-b455-db286cd69668   xfs        

/dev/sdb5        9ce43dea-fd93-4343-969d-1243397724bd   swap       

/dev/sdc1        7232-C522                              vfat       GOODDRIVE



================================ Mount points: =================================



Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options



/dev/loop0       /rofs                    squashfs   (ro,noatime)

/dev/sdc1        /cdrom                   vfat       (rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)





=========================== sdb1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#

# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE

#

# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates

# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub

#



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then

  set have_grubenv=true

  load_env

fi

set default="0"

if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then

  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"

  save_env saved_entry

  set prev_saved_entry=

  save_env prev_saved_entry

  set boot_once=true

fi



function savedefault {

  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then

    saved_entry="${chosen}"

    save_env saved_entry

  fi

}



function recordfail {

  set recordfail=1

  if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi

}



function load_video {

  insmod vbe

  insmod vga

  insmod video_bochs

  insmod video_cirrus

}



insmod part_msdos

insmod ext2

set root='(hd1,msdos1)'

search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a4befd4a-f91f-4f09-9d5f-a44991ed6a2e

if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then

  set gfxmode=auto

  load_video

  insmod gfxterm

  insmod part_msdos

  insmod ext2

  set root='(hd1,msdos1)'

  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a4befd4a-f91f-4f09-9d5f-a44991ed6a2e

  set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale

  set lang=pl_PL

  insmod gettext

fi

terminal_output gfxterm

if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then

  set timeout=-1

else

  set timeout=10

fi

### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

set menu_color_normal=white/black

set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray

if background_color 44,0,30; then

  clear

fi

### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

function gfxmode {

    set gfxpayload="$1"

    if [ "$1" = "keep" ]; then

        set vt_handoff=vt.handoff=7

    else

        set vt_handoff=

    fi

}

if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then

  if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then

    if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then

      if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then

        set linux_gfx_mode=keep

      else

        set linux_gfx_mode=text

      fi

    else

      set linux_gfx_mode=text

    fi

  else

    set linux_gfx_mode=keep

  fi

else

  set linux_gfx_mode=text

fi

export linux_gfx_mode

if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi

menuentry 'Ubuntu, za pomocą systemu Linux 3.2.0-23-generic-pae' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {

    recordfail

    gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode

    insmod gzio

    insmod part_msdos

    insmod ext2

    set root='(hd1,msdos1)'

    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a4befd4a-f91f-4f09-9d5f-a44991ed6a2e

    linux   /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic-pae root=/dev/sdb1 ro   quiet splash $vt_handoff

    initrd  /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic-pae

}

menuentry 'Ubuntu, za pomocą systemu Linux 3.2.0-23-generic-pae (tryb ratunkowy)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {

    recordfail

    insmod gzio

    insmod part_msdos

    insmod ext2

    set root='(hd1,msdos1)'

    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a4befd4a-f91f-4f09-9d5f-a44991ed6a2e

    echo    'Wczytywanie systemu Linux 3.2.0-23-generic-pae...'

    linux   /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic-pae root=/dev/sdb1 ro recovery nomodeset 

    echo    'Wczytywanie początkowego dysku RAM...'

    initrd  /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic-pae

}

### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {

    insmod part_msdos

    insmod ext2

    set root='(hd1,msdos1)'

    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a4befd4a-f91f-4f09-9d5f-a44991ed6a2e

    linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin

}

menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {

    insmod part_msdos

    insmod ext2

    set root='(hd1,msdos1)'

    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root a4befd4a-f91f-4f09-9d5f-a44991ed6a2e

    linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8

}

### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

menuentry "Windows Recovery Environment (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" --class windows --class os {

    insmod part_msdos

    insmod fat

    set root='(hd0,msdos1)'

    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3C98-AC5D

    drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}

    chainloader +1

}

menuentry "Windows Vista (loader) (on /dev/sda2)" --class windows --class os {

    insmod part_msdos

    insmod ntfs

    set root='(hd0,msdos2)'

    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 94CA2D3CCA2D1BCC

    chainloader +1

}

### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the

# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change

# the 'exec tail' line above.

### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###



### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

if [ -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then

  source $prefix/custom.cfg;

fi

### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



=============================== sdb1/etc/fstab: ================================



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.

#

# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a

# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices

# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).

#

# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>

proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0

# / was on /dev/sdb1 during installation

UUID=a4befd4a-f91f-4f09-9d5f-a44991ed6a2e /               ext2    errors=remount-ro 0       1

# swap was on /dev/sdb5 during installation

UUID=9ce43dea-fd93-4343-969d-1243397724bd none            swap    sw              0       0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



=================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================



           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)



               =                boot/grub/core.img                             1

               =                boot/grub/grub.cfg                             1

               =                boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic-pae           6

               =                boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic-pae              3

               =                initrd.img                                     6

               =                vmlinuz                                        3



========================= sdc1/syslinux/syslinux.cfg: ==========================



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# D-I config version 2.0

include menu.cfg

default vesamenu.c32

prompt 0

timeout 50

ui gfxboot bootlogo

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



================= sdc1: Location of files loaded by Syslinux: ==================



           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)



            ?? = ??             ldlinux.sys                                    1

            ?? = ??             syslinux/chain.c32                             1

            ?? = ??             syslinux/gfxboot.c32                           1

            ?? = ??             syslinux/syslinux.cfg                          1

            ?? = ??             syslinux/vesamenu.c32                          1



============== sdc1: Version of COM32(R) files used by Syslinux: ===============



 syslinux/chain.c32                 :  COM32R module (v4.xx)

 syslinux/gfxboot.c32               :  COM32R module (v4.xx)

 syslinux/vesamenu.c32              :  COM32R module (v4.xx)



=============================== StdErr Messages: ===============================



xz: (stdin): Compressed data is corrupt

awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in

awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in

awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in

awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in

awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in

awk: cmd. line:36: Math support is not compiled in

/home/ubuntu/Pobrane/bootinfoscript-061/bootinfoscript: line 1646: [: 2.73495e+09: integer expression expected

I have to say that script print on terminal:

Boot Info Script 0.61      [1 April 2012]





"gawk" could not be found, using "busybox awk" instead.

This may lead to unreliable results.



Identifying MBRs...

Computing Partition Table of /dev/sda...

Computing Partition Table of /dev/sdb...

Computing Partition Table of /dev/sdc...

Searching sda1 for information... 

Searching sda2 for information... 

Searching sda3 for information... 

Searching sda5 for information... 

Searching sdb1 for information... 

Searching sdb3 for information... 

Searching sdb4 for information... 

Searching sdb5 for information... 

Searching sdc1 for information... 



Finished. The results are in the file "RESULTS.txt"

located in "/home/ubuntu/Pobrane/bootinfoscript-061/".

============== edit 18.06.2012 18:38 ===============

ok, this is more or less copy of my grub recovery session:

error: file not found

grub recovery> set

prefix=(hd0,msdos1)/boot/grub

root=hd0,msdos1

grub recovery> ls

(hd0) (hd0,msdos3) (hd0,msdos1) (hd1) (hd1,msdos5) (hd1,msdos2) (hd1,msdos1)

grub recovery> ls $prefix



error: file not found

grub recovery> 

then i've used 'ls' cmd on few path, results are strange (i think):

grub recovery> ls (hd0,msdos1)/boot



grub recovery> ls (hd0,msdos1)/boot/grub



error: file not found

grub recovery> ls (hd0,msdos1)/lib



grub recovery> ls (hd0,msdos1)/bin



grub recovery> ls (hd0,msdos1)/sys

./ ../

grub recovery> ls (hd0,msdos1)/sbin



grub recovery> ls (hd0,msdos1)/usr

./ ../ local/ (and some other things)

is this normal?
i can see /boot/grub and its content when i mount this external HDD by Live Ubuntu