Ubuntu 18 dual boot with windows 10 fatal error

[AniketJain]

I was using ubuntu 18 with dual boot on windows 10. A few days ago suddenly GRUB command line appeared instead of giving me a choice to boot ubuntu or windows. I tried a lot of things including reintsalling ubuntu and nothing worked. I always got an error: 

My partitions were messed up and so I tried to do a clean install of windows using recovery manager. The recovery manager failed giving an error:

I checked my hard disk, both long DST and short DST failed:

I was able to reinstall windows from a bootable flash drive and it worked. Still ubuntu installation gives the same error: Unable to install grub in /dev/sda

When the installer crashes, it also gives the following error:

 It seems the hard disk has a fault, but why does windows work pretty well(except for the recovery part). I am able to use windows without any problem.

Is there any way to correctly install ubuntu without replacing the hard drive, as windows doesn't complain about the hard drive.

PS: Secure boot, fast boot and legacy boot are all disabled. I apologize for poor quality of images.

[WAWood]

@AniketJain 

I'm sorry, but HP only warranties their PCs for usage with the OS that comes preinstalled.

IF you replace that with a Linux distro, or add a Linux distro, then you assume full responsibility for maintaining that.

Your best bet for support with issues with Linux is to contact the support forum of the distro you are using.

Since you are using Ubuntu, go here: https://ubuntuforums.org/

Good Luck

[IT_WinSec · Accepted solution]

Hello @AniketJain 

Welcome to the HP Support Community!  Thank you for choosing HP !

You asked why you can use/install Windows but not Ubuntu and my short answer would be because Ubuntu is smarter.

Ubuntu is GNU/Linux based operating system and it is able to detect that there is a problem with your drive. The message that happens is a warning to save your data immediately because there is a problem with the hard disk drive. Your data is more important than the operating system itself and Ubuntu (Linux) refuses to go further and give you a false sense of security. Installing without warning would give you a false sense of security / well-being.

• Thank you for the provided diagnostics results, for the full description and for the screenshots.

• The problem looks like a hardware issue. Also, the error code you provided abovee tells me that the hard disk drive (HDD) has failed. 

• The problem may now look small and the drive might still be usable but it will eventually fail.

• Check the TKB article we have here in the Community about such issues you face now >> https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebooks-Knowledge-Base/Storage-Hard-Disk-Drive-corruption-and-replac...

• If the the PC is out of warranty, you will need to buy and replace the disk on your own. No worries, it is not expensive.

You can buy HDD or SSD from online or local tech stores, and replace it on your own or contact HP Authorized Service center for assistance.

Last part - once you replace the faulty HDD component - you will need to reinstall back your operating system

Let me know how it goes. Provide an update or feedback.

[AniketJain]

Thanks @IT_WinSec, this was of great help!

I was pretty much convinced with the idea of replacing HDD, and I only needed a nod from experts.

Regarding replacement of HDD, please confirm that any HDD of same size or larger and with same dimensions (2.5'') would work, not necessarily of same manufacturer.

A slightly off-topic question that I have in my mind, would it be a decent idea to convert this HDD to an external one by placing in a case and use it till it works well as I was looking for an external HDD as well for some support. Could this cause any trouble to a system its plugged into?

[IT_WinSec]

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@AniketJain wrote:

Thanks @IT_WinSec, this was of great help!

I was pretty much convinced with the idea of replacing HDD, and I only needed a nod from experts.

Regarding replacement of HDD, please confirm that any HDD of same size or larger and with same dimensions (2.5'') would work, not necessarily of same manufacturer.

>> Yes, any 2.5 inch HDD would work. No matter the manufacturer.

With regards to Ubuntu - no problem.
With regards to Windows - If you decide to use HP original recovery media to reinstall Windows, you will need the same size/capacity or bigger HDD - e.g. if your current HDD is with 500 GB capacity, your new one must be 500 GB or 1 TB, or bigger. If you decide to reinstall with Windows Media Creation or Windows ISO, size/capacity of the new HDD does not matter.

You may explore the SSD as an option due to better performance.

A slightly off-topic question that I have in my mind, would it be a decent idea to convert this HDD to an external one by placing in a case and use it till it works well as I was looking for an external HDD as well for some support. Could this cause any trouble to a system its plugged into?

>> You may do it but I would not recommend you use it even as an external drive.

Your current HDD is corrupted and your data stored there is and will be at risk. If there is a small corruption now... eventually, it will fail completely.

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Hi @AniketJain 

You are very welcome.

My reply is above in color.