How to update/reinstall grub boot loader

Way-01:-

(This how to is written for Ubuntu but should work on other systems. The only thing to take note of, when you see "sudo" that will mean to you that the following command should be entered at a root terminal.)

Boot into the live Ubuntu cd. This can be the live installer cd or the older live session Ubuntu cds.

When you get to the desktop open a terminal and enter. (I am going to give you the commands and then I will explain them later)

Code:

sudo grub

This will get you a "grub>" prompt (i.e. the grub shell). At grub>. enter these commands

Code:

find /boot/grub/stage1

This will return a location. If you have more than one, select the installation that you want to provide the grub files.
Next, THIS IS IMPORTANT, whatever was returned for the find command use it in the next line (you are still at grub>. when you enter the next 3 commands)

Code:

root (hd?,?)

Again use the value from the find command i.e. if find returned (hd0,1) then you would enter root (hd0,1)

Next enter the command to install grub to the mbr

Code:

setup (hd0)

Finally exit the grub shell

Code:

quit

That is it. Grub will be installed to the mbr.
When you reboot, you will have the grub menu at startup.

Now the explanation.
Sudo grub gets you the grub shell.
Find /boot/grub/stage1 has grub locate the file stage1. What this does is tell us where grub's files are. Only a small part of grub is located on the mbr, the rest of grub is in your boot folder. Grub needs those files to run the setup. So you find the files and then you tell grub where to locate the files it will need for setup.
So root (hd?,?) tells grub it's files are on that partition.
Finally setup (hd0) tells grub to setup on hd0. When you give grub the parameter hd0 with no following value for a partition, grub will use the mbr. hd0 is the grub label for the first drive's mbr.
Quit will exit you from the grub shell.
==============================

Way 2:

When the busted system is in a single ext3 root partition (say, /dev/sda5)...

mkdir /mnt/temp
mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/temp
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/temp /dev/sda

When the busted system has separate ext3 boot and root partitions (say, /dev/sda5 and /dev/sda6)...

mkdir -p /mnt/temp/boot
mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/temp
mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/temp/boot
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/temp /dev/sda

When the busted system has a separate ext3 boot partition (say, /dev/sda5), and the root partition is a logical volume (say, /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 according to lvdisplay)...

mkdir -p /mnt/temp/boot
vgchange -a y
lvdisplay
mount /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 /mnt/temp
mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/temp/boot
grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/temp /dev/sda

If grub-install fails with a read error or the boot loader still doesn't work, always try the GRUB shell (and vice versa). They both accomplish the same thing, but different things occur in the background. It's not necessary to mount partitions when using the GRUB shell commands in the LiveCD. Change x & y in the example to the busted system's boot partition...

/sbin/grub
grub> root (hdx,y)
grub> setup (hd0)
grub>quit

Restart & all are done.