Boot loader mess
One thing I really dislike on Ubuntu/Desktop Linux. Each time I reinstall something, e.g. Windows7 (because Vista/32 was to buggy and cannot really work with 8gb of RAM and I need something to start C&C Generals you know). Anyway each time, the boot loader gets shot. Ok; thats Windows fault. But how do I easyly repair that? The web is full of easy-to-hardrange installation tutorials; but why not a simple button "repair my fuxxing boot loader" on the CD?. Now, when you use the wrong disc (a Ubuntu 9.10 disc instead of 9.04 - wrong labeled) it installs - without any message or something - grub2. Naturally incompatible with grub1 installed by all Ubuntu all the versions before. The first sign that something went wrong is a Grub minimal bash like shell telling you something.
So, for fast remembering; how to reinstall grub:
# boot from any recent OS CD, start terminal, get root # exchange /dev/sdb1 through the partition you installed you root ubuntu system # /dev/sda should be standard as target partition for grub mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/bla mount -o bind /dev /mnt/bla/dev mount -o bind /proc /mnt/bla/proc cd /mnt/bla chroot ./ grub-install /dev/sda