grub> set pager=1

There must be no spaces on either side of the equals sign. Now let's do a little exploring. Type ls to list all partitions that GRUB sees:

grub> ls
(hd0) (hd0,msdos2) (hd0,msdos1)

What's all this msdos stuff? That means this system has the old-style MS-DOS partition table, rather than the shiny new Globally Unique Identifiers partition table (GPT). (See Using the New GUID Partition Table in Linux (Goodbye Ancient MBR). If you're running GPT it will say (hd0,gpt1). Now let's snoop. Use the ls command to see what files are on your system:

grub> ls (hd0,1)/
lost+found/ bin/ boot/ cdrom/ dev/ etc/ home/  lib/
lib64/ media/ mnt/ opt/ proc/ root/ run/ sbin/
srv/ sys/ tmp/ usr/ var/ vmlinuz vmlinuz.old
initrd.img initrd.img.old

Hurrah, we have found the root filesystem. You can omit the msdos and gpt labels. If you leave off the slash it will print information about the partition. You can read any file on the system with the cat command:

grub> cat (hd0,1)/etc/issue
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS \n \l

Reading /etc/issue could be useful on a multi-boot system for identifying your various Linuxes.

Booting From grub>

This is how to set the boot files and boot the system from the grub> prompt. We know from running the ls command that there is a Linux root filesystem on (hd0,1), and you can keep searching until you verify where /boot/grub is. Then run these commands, using your own root partition, kernel, and initrd image:

grub> set root=(hd0,1)
grub> linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic root=/dev/sda1
grub> initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-29-generic
grub> boot

The first line sets the partition that the root filesystem is on. The second line tells GRUB the location of the kernel you want to use. Start typing /boot/vmli, and then use tab-completion to fill in the rest. Type root=/dev/sdX to set the location of the root filesystem. Yes, this seems redundant, but if you leave this out you'll get a kernel panic. How do you know the correct partition? hd0,1 = /dev/sda1. hd1,1 = /dev/sdb1. hd3,2 = /dev/sdd2. I think you can extrapolate the rest.

The third line sets the initrd file, which must be the same version number as the kernel.

The fourth line boots your system.

On some Linux systems the current kernels and initrds are symlinked into the top level of the root filesystem:

$ ls -l /
vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic
initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-29-generic

So you could boot from grub> like this:

grub> set root=(hd0,1)
grub> linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda1
grub> initrd /initrd.img
grub> boot

Booting From grub-rescue>

If you're in the GRUB rescue shell the commands are different, and you have to load the normal.mod andlinux.mod modules:

grub rescue> set prefix=(hd0,1)/boot/grub
grub rescue> set root=(hd0,1)
grub rescue> insmod normal
grub rescue> normal
grub rescue> insmod linux
grub rescue> linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic root=/dev/sda1
grub rescue> initrd /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-29-generic
grub rescue> boot

Tab-completion should start working after you load both modules.

Making Permanent Repairs

When you have successfully booted your system, run these commands to fix GRUB permanently:

# update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found background: /usr/share/images/grub/Apollo_17_The_Last_Moon_Shot_Edit1.tga
Found background image: /usr/share/images/grub/Apollo_17_The_Last_Moon_Shot_Edit1.tga
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-29-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-27-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-27-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-24-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.elf
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
done

# grub-install /dev/sda
Installing for i386-pc platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.

When you run grub-install remember you're installing it to the boot sector of your hard drive and not to a partition, so do not use a partition number like /dev/sda1.