Ubuntu :: Fixing / Replacing The Bootloader Files?

I am having problems with either my boot list (/boot/grub/grub.cfg) or my Master Boot Record. It is possible that something else in this area is causing the problem, however.

Configuration overview:

Machine:Sony Vaio VGN-NS140E laptop
Systems: Dual-booting Vista and Ubuntu
Partitions:Vista Recovery (NTFS)
Vista OS

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Below is some information on how I believe I created this problem and an overview of steps I took while trying to fix the problem. Several days ago, I ran GParted off of an Ubuntu Natty Narwhal (11.04) LiveUSB to remove an older, broken linux partition containing either the Maverick Meerkat (10.10) or the Lucid Lynx (10.04) release.

That partition had been my original linux partition for this machine. For reference, the partition originally had Intrepid Ibex (8.10) installed. I was unable to load it properly after downgrading from Maverick Meerkat to Lucid Lynx. Maverick had some glaring functionality issues with my laptop model.I needed to remove the partition in a Live session because it was located within an extended partition alongside my currently used Ubuntu partition.

After deleting this partition and rebooting the laptop, it was either the Grub Loader menu or a grub-rescue prompt that appeared. I'm pretty sure that it was the grub-rescue prompt at this point. Unable to move forward from this prompt, I turned off the computer and re-inserted my USB drive to boot into a Live session again. Booting into a Live session worked successfully.

At this point I was able to browse the web for possible solutions. I read somewhere that I should run sudo update-grub from the terminal. After doing this and rebooting the computer, I was taken to the Grub Loader menu. Unfortunately, all of the entries I tried to boot from brought me to the grub-rescue prompt. There were 3 error lines above the prompt, but I don't remember all of them at the moment. I know that one of them did say "Error: You need to load the kernel first."

At the time, I was hoping this could be a fairly easy fix. I had the idea to simply create a new Ubuntu partition where the old one had been. I installed Natty Narwhal to a new partition within my extended partition. When I restarted my computer after the install had been completed, I did not have the results I'd expected or hoped for. The grub-rescue prompt still came up when I attempted to boot into any of the entries listed in the Grub Loader. Also, the new install I had created was not available in the list.

I tried to get information from various commands in either the grub or grub-rescue prompt. Somehow, I was able to determine the kernel name I needed and edited the boot command (the screen accessed when you press 'e' on the Grub Loader) to include it. This was no help at the time. I again restarted the computer and booted into a Live session. I re-installed Natty Narwhal on top of the install I just created, thinking that there may have been a problem with it. After restarting the computer, I was still having the same problems as with the first installation attempt. I ran another Live session.

By looking at other user's Boot Info Script RESULTS.txt files on this forum and following some links, I was able to gain a better understanding of the Grub boot command. With this information and some more experimentation in the grub-rescue prompt, I was able to determine the UUID of my Natty Narwhal partition, edit the boot command mentioned two paragraphs ago, and boot into Ubuntu with only one error. In this new Ubuntu installation, I ran sudo update-grub in the terminal. The command returned entries that matched with those I saw in GParted, but I still had the same problems and incorrect entries when I restarted the computer.

While it is possible that I could determine all of the necessary start-up boot commands to manually enter each of my bootable partitions, this is really rather inconvenient. I want to know how I can permanently fix the Grub or other necessary files so that my bootloader can take back responsibility for this task. It would also be nice to get back into my Lucid Lynx partition because Natty is a bit buggier than I'm okay with. Fixing my problems with Natty is a topic for another post, however.

Code:

Boot Info Script 0.60 from 17 May 2011
============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================
=> Grub2 (v1.99) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 1 of
the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks
for (,msdos6)/boot/grub on this drive.

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