How can I tell what error grub has when I can't read what it's saying?

Posted by RolandiXor - The Ice Man on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by RolandiXor - The Ice Man
Published on 2012-10-06T19:54:36Z Indexed on 2012/11/28 23:15 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 203

Filed under:

grub2

Grub won't allow me to get into any systems on my HP dv7 (it runs 12.10).

As the screen is broken, I can't read what the error is. Nothing works, not even the recovery mode. It gives me some error about "cannot find" (I think) and Press any (I guess key?)

When a press a key I'm dropped back to the menu. At the moment I'm trying all the recovery options I know. However, it would be great if someone could tell me how to know what error grub is facing from a live cd or something (maybe a log file or something could help)?

NB:
I can view the filesystem from a liveCD, and I did check the filesystem - it was clean.

Related posts about grub2

How to enable boot timeout in Grub2?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm am trying to enable the boot timeout selection in grub2 on Ubuntu 9.10. I modified /etc/default/grub: GRUB_DEFAULT=0 #GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0 GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false GRUB_TIMEOUT=2 GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian` GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash quiet" GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="" and… >>> More
Windows 8 changes GRUB2 in every boot!

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've installed Win8 and Ubuntu 12.10 both UEFI style (win8 first then ubuntu). GRUB2 shows me Both Ubuntu and Win8 entries. If I boot into Ubuntu is fine. I could reboot anytime I will see GRUB2 unchanged. The story changes when I Boot into Win8. When I boot to Win8 using GRUB2 it takes me to the… >>> More
How to install Grub2 under several common scenarios

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I feel the community has long needed a clean guide on how to install Grub2 under a a few extremely common scenarios. I will accept answer as solved when it has one section per scenario and assumes nothing other than what is specified. Please add to the existing answer, wiki style, keeping to the original… >>> More
Make bootable iso with grub chainloading

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
My parents' pc has windows 7's boot manager installed at MBR and grub2 is installed on /dev/sda2 (booting linux on /dev/sda2). I want to make a bootable cd so that when booted from it just chainloads into the boot manager on the second partition. I assume using grub rather than grub2 for this will… >>> More
So HERE'S how you get into grub2 if there's no boot menu in Ubuntu Lucid 10.04

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
<b>Click:</b> "I installed Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid from a daily build yet couldn't boot into my fresh new desktop because I needed to add nomodeset to the grub2 boot line and didn't know how to do that because there was no boot screen visible." >>> More

Developer IT