once systemrescuecd is booted at the command line prompt
mkdir /ubuntu
mount /dev/sda1 /ubuntu //sda1 = wherever your base installation is
chroot /ubuntu /bin/bash
ls //shows you your lovely old files
grub //interactive
root (hd0,0) //set the GRUB's root device(4) to the partition containing the boot directory
grub-install /boot?
using a live cd with grub to restore your grub mbr linux
after grub is installed... http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub.html
tar -xzvf grub-0.5.96.1.tar.gz cd grub-0.5.96.1 ./configure make make install
This should create the executables: grub, grub-install and mbchk; install support files in /usr/local/share/grub/i386-pc/, and install the GNU information manual and man pages.
FOR BATCH GRUB where you already know everything you want to do: grub-install /dev/hda unfortunately this only returns: /dev/cloop does not have any corisponding BIOS drive
FOR INTERACTIVE GRUB
when you type grub at the command prompt (execute the executable) you enter the grub prompt, type help for help
grub> root (fd0) grub> setup (fd0) grub> quit
(or hd0 or sd0 etc.)
weirdly the errors above might be because:
mount -t ext3 -o rw /dev/hda1 /mnt/hd chroot /mnt