I've got Navigatrix working well on my main navigation laptop. Love it, so decided to load standby on 2011Samsung nf210. Hard drive on the Samsung had died so installed a new one. Navigatrix works when booted from memory stick or external hard drive. I've downloaded several times to internal HDD but always get "operating system not found". BIOS 04MY shows HDD and I've put it first on the boot priority list. When booted from external source all the files can be seen on the internal hard drive. I tried a win7 disk and that cannot be loaded.

I'm guessing it's the GRUB bootloader.

When this error happens, during the install, the USB will register as /dev/sda and the internal drive will assigned /dev/sdb something.

The bootloader is installed to point to the necessary bits on /dev/sdb (because that is where it is).

BUT, but when you re-boot to the installation, the internal hard drive (with the goodies) is /dev/sda, because the drive is with the right assignment.

However, the GRUB bootloader tells the machine to look for the boot information on /dev/sdb...but it isn't there because machines are stupid.

For the longest time I've searched for the magic formula that usually ended in tears on scribbled notes as another dead end had been uncovered.

The best way I have learned to fix this problem is to download this package

http://wadda.org/dropbag/grub-customizer_2.5.7.1-0ubuntu1~ppa1l_i386.deb

This is an old version, but uncomplicated version. Install it on the USB. Find it under Menu> System Tools when finished.

Run it.

Read the directions and walk though the wizard. Think through your options. If your internal drive has multiple partitions it is helpful to know which partition is which for your root.

The wizard is pretty good, you can poke around.

Then you install to the MBR, which should be /dev/sda

Reboot without the LiveCD.

Good Luck.

right thanks for the info in your reply. I think I understand the instructions and I'll give it a go. I am definitely out of my depth technically here but can't see I can do any harm.
let you know how it goes.
thanks again for the response
oldangler

This is why I like this no tears method.

The hardest part is knowing where the root (/) part of your filesystem is located. You would need to know this anyway, but the wizard in the grub-customiser will tell you if you picked the right partition.

Give it a go. While it's possible to stuff it up, the machine doesn't boot on a fresh install so the worst case scenario is a similar outcome to the status quo.

Reboot without LiveCD