Q. After windows XP installation I lost my Grub boot loader and now when I try to run grub-install command to restore Grub in master boot record. But I am getting an error that read as follows:
/dev/sda does not have any corresponding BIOS drive
How do I fix this problem?
A. grub-install is use to install GRUB on your drive. If you are getting error try to recheck device map.
Type the command as follows:
# grub-install --recheck /dev/sdaWhere,
- --recheck: Probe a device map even if it already exists
- /dev/sda : Replace /dev/sda with your actual device name.
Above command should fix the problem.
See also
Featured Articles:
- 20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know
- 20 Linux Server Hardening Security Tips
- My 10 UNIX Command Line Mistakes
- Linux: 20 Iptables Examples For New SysAdmins
- 25 PHP Security Best Practices For Sys Admins
- The Novice Guide To Buying A Linux Laptop
- 10 Greatest Open Source Software Of 2009
- Top 5 Email Client For Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows Users
- Top 20 OpenSSH Server Best Security Practices
- Top 10 Open Source Web-Based Project Management Software
- Top 5 Linux Video Editor Software
Facebook it - Tweet it - Print it -
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
the answer is slightly wrong – you should use “–recheck” rather than “-recheck”
thats two dashes you should use (on my monitor it looks like one)
Huffers
Dam html .. sorry for trouble I just put code tag around command.
Appreciate your post.
This is AWESOME HELP, THANK YOU.
I am a newbie to Linux, have put it off for about two years.
Spent three days with trying to reconfigure GRUB, internet search require EXTREMELY focussed searches to find articles like this. SAD, but true. Alls I could do is REINSTALL the ENTIRE LINUX OS, EACH TIME MY GRUB went bad. What an idiotic approach, to a simple problem.
ClEAR IT ALL OUT in 3 steps:
1) fdisk /mbr
Glad to know you liked our solution.
Appreciate your post.
Thank You for Your help!
Thanks for the info! saved me a bunch of time :)
thank you for this, it helped me solve my problem with this error. Im bookmarking this page :D
I have the same problem but when I do grub-install –recheck /dev/hda I get:
The file /boot/grub/stage1 not read correctly
I removed the file and I get the same error
Make sure you are using correct device name.
another thanks for here…
hmmm…
i tried this and i still get
/dev/sda1 does not have any corresponing BIOS drive
not too sure what to do other than reinstalling debian…
Cheers, this one had me scratching my head for some time
THANKS a lot. This simple option is the end of many days of discouragement !
If you are using devfs you will have no files under /dev in a rescue environment so this why you are getting this message:
/dev/sda1 does not have any corresponing BIOS drive
You may check if this is your case by mounting your root filesystem and issuing
ls /devyou will have no files here
or
cat /etc/fstaband you will see devfs there :)
As an workaround you may create temporarily devices with mknod
Check
Cheers,
C.
Yeah… this helped me too, thanks!
PS: weird when google is better than official docu on this…
Very nice. I had this problem because I was trying to use a Gentoo live CD to recover a Ubuntu install (after reinstalling Vista (blech)). Gentoo mapped the drives in a different order and made it so my real HD didn’t correspond to a BIOS drive.
Thanks a lot…. It works fine…..
THANKS A LOT!
hi dear
I check your tutorial i found that –recheck is correct.thanks for your kind of help.
hi dear
sorry I have typed wrong.I check your tutorial i found that –recheck is correct.thanks for your kind of help.
Thanks it was a nice tip, it let me continue my work
Cheers
I had exactly the same problem. I found this topic after entering the error message in the search field. But when I run grub-install with “–recheck” parameter, another error appeared: “Buffer I/O error on device fd0, logical block 0″. I managed to solve the problem myself. This did the trick for me:
sudo grub-install –no-floppy –recheck /dev/sda
Thanks for the solution!
Still problems for me:
[code]
grub-install --recheck /dev/sda
Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.
Unknown partition table signature
Could not find device for /boot: Not found or not a block device.
[/code]
Same here:
Could not find device for /boot: Not found or not a block device.
The problem is simple. I already have a working system which is a Debian Squeeze. I need to restore it to another computer (same specification) after restore — I got this error.
I’m sure there’s a better way or another way of solving this. Below is what solved mine:
1. Use Parted Magic on the restored computer.
2. Run the Super Grub 2 once Parted Magic has booted.
3. Choose the one with the (……mbr…. something) option
4. The above will give you a choice to run a system choose it to run.
5. This opens up my Debian Desktop install and I am able to use it normally.
6. Now open a terminal and run as root to run the command
#grub-install –recheck /dev/sda
7. reboot
Number 6 will install the right grub — and you have your restore/clone computer.
thanks for nice info
I’m getting this error:
“Error 6: Mismatched or corrupt version of stage1/stage2″
I’ve been researching google on this for HOURS now, just about ready to pull my hair out. Suggestions?
Thanks for this solution.