Can't find Ubuntu 12.04 on boot menu

Question

So I installed Ubuntu 12.04 alongside Windows XP on my netbook via a usb (since it doesn't have a DVD/CD drive).

At the end of the installation, I got an error saying the bootloader couldn't be installed, but I selected the hard drive and everything seemed ok.

However, whenever I turn on the computer, it goes straight to Windows XP. And when I go to the OS selection screen during startup, Ubuntu is not there.

I heard that you can fix this problem through booting up Ubuntu again with the flash drive. However, when I boot through the flash drive, it gives me the options of trying without installing, installing, etc.

I really have no idea where to go from here, can anyone please help out? Thanks!

Solution

I had the same experience as the OP with two main differences:
1) Desktop machine with two physical HDDs.
2) Windows XP was installed on the first HDD.

Instead of messing with the boot loader, all I had to do was change the order of the drives listed in the BIOS so that #1 was the HDD with Ubuntu installed, and #2 was the WinXP drive.

After doing so I was presented with the linux version of the boot selector, and could choose Ubuntu or WinXP as I had originally desired.

I'm not sure if this will apply to the original question, but it may be useful for others.

Comments

[Mitch]

When you turn on your netbook, press down shift, and keep it pressed down as soon as the BIOS screen comes up. Will that bring up the Grub menu?

[N0va]

Nope, no Grub menu there.

[N0va]

Just want to make sure, so I boot Ubuntu from the flash drive (selecting trying it without install) and typing these two lines into terminal?: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update -AND- sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repair

[N0va]

I tried this, but it unfortunately did not work. I did the installation via terminal, but typing "boot-repair" to launch it via terminal brings the message "command not found"

[GermaineJason]

what was the output of the apt commands?

[irrational John]

@Mike I tried to outline the steps for installing & running boot-repair in this answer. Perhaps it will help? Note: That answer describes how to use boot-repair to collect a BootInfo summary and post it to paste.ubuntu.com. This is what I would suggest you do first. But whatever way you go, please post the URL to the pastebin boot-repair creates. You must (1) be connected to the Internet and (2) allow boot-repair to install the pastebinit utility in order to create a pastebin we can use to provide further help.