PC Haunted?

[overthehill]

My problem started out with grub. Then things got worse. It got so I couldn't get either XP or Ubuntu to load on drive 1. And now the same thing with drive 2, Vista.
When I couldn't use drive 1, I disconnected it. When I attempted to run Vista I received this message; error: no such device: 29aaf56a-de2c-49d5-989a-3895d75313b9. grub rescue> So even though the drive with Ubuntu is disconnected I'm still getting a grub message. Thinking that it was stuck in memory I removed the battery and let it sit for 10 mins. or so. Then I attempted to reload Vista and no way it just stalled. I don't have a Win XP disk so I tried a recovery disk but no way, still getting that message. btw, absolutely no way either that I can get into Safe Mode. I tapped every key on the keyboard until they started screaming at me and still no Safe Mode. I can get into the BIOS ,into a Boot Agent screen and a One Time Boot Menu and that's it. So, as you can see, I sure need and would surely appreciate some help. overthehill

[Geek-9pm]

No, it is not Haunted. Computers follow this concept.
GIGO
Grub, XP and Vista handle the boot process each it its own way. Errors made in the sequence are not reversible. Unless you have made forensic backups.
Error messages, in some cases, are meaningful to software developers. But they can also be of little value when things go wrong.
Here is the recommended sequence.

1. Format a drive with a utility the puts the drive in the so-called  'MSDOS' definition of hard drive structure. We are not talking about format per se, but a definition of a drive type. (References upon request.)

2 .Net install XP the normal way, leaving free space for other OS. Next in stall a good Linux bistro, the normal way.

At this point you want to have backups of your installs on external media. Unless you don't care.

3. Install Vista in the  normal way. You are now at the point of no return. Whether or not you can reverse the process is not guaranteed. Do not assume anything.

The fact that some people have no trouble does not prove the process is non-destructive. If the Vista install failed, expect to start all over again. From step 1 and ignore people who tell you it did not happen to them.

In a two drive system, Vista wants to control the boot method of the hard drive that really does the boot. Even if Vista is installed on the second drive.  The BIOS will only identify one hard drive as the boot drive after the boot process has started. There is a workaround, but I don't want to recommend it. You already have have enough trouble.

This rule also will apply to GRUB, but you can force this to be otherwise by how you do the install. But if two drives are in the system GRUB will want to be on the accrual boot drive. And yes, there is a workaround, but let's not go there.
A year old post on another forum:
http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-71752-install-vista-or-xp-after-installing-linux-os
Note well the answer was not a simple as one would like.
I do hope this is of some help. Don't give up.

[overthehill]

No, it is not Haunted. 
Note well the answer was not a simple as one would like.
I do hope this is of some help. Don't give up.

Hi Geek ,sorry that I couldn't get back sooner to thank you but I'm quite sure that it's haunted alright And you're sure right when you say that the answer was not simple. Anyway, you did help and as informative as your message was, it was actually the the link that you provided did that. I was getting a little desperate.  Until then, nothing seemed to work , and I'm especially disappointed in "disk imaging". I had previously (just last week) imaged the disks with both Easeus and Macrium Reflect( I was told successfully) but when it came time for recovery a file was missing? I've kinda lost faith in that system now. So, figured I had no other choice but to start over.
But even after wiping,formatting,re wiping and reformatting there was still remnants of the grub remaining on both disks. Finally, I read that I could load Vista from an upgrade disk. Even then I had a terrible time getting the Vista disk recognized, ( I don't know how many times I booted and rebooted) before it the Vista disk was recognized. I kept receiving a message relating to grub. Told you it's haunted .
Anyway, I'm currently downloading Windows Updates (100+) and so far anyway, Vista appears to be running OK. Next, I'm going to borrow a XP disk from a neighbor and see if I can get that running on my other HDD. Then I'll see what other kind of trouble I can get into.

Thanks again, overthehill