[Bug 934614] [NEW] reinstall of precise breaks grub with invalid arch independent ELF magic

[Alan Bell]

Public bug reported:

I did an over the top install of precise without formatting the drive to
preserve the home partition. I can now not boot the computer and can't
reinstall grub.

ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ mkdir target
ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 target
ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ ls target/
bin    etc             lib         lost+found  proc  selinux  usr
boot   home            lib32       media       root  srv      var
cdrom  initrd.img      lib64       mnt         run   sys      vmlinuz
dev    initrd.img.old  libnss3.so  opt         sbin  tmp
ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -o bind /proc target/proc
ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -o bind /dev target/dev
ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -o bind /sys target/sys
ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ sudo chroot target
root at ubuntu:/# grub-install /dev/sda
Installation finished. No error reported.
root at ubuntu:/# exit
ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ 

reboot, same error, grub rescue prompt with invalid arch independent ELF
format.

The computer was installed as 64bit 11.10, upgraded to 12.04 and updated
frequently. I broke unity a bit and decided to try the full reinstall
process from a live USB. The computer is a core i3 laptop, with a 320GB
drive, default partitioning /dev/sda1 is big and all the data /dev/sda5
is swap. Installing precise 64bit from daily live CD image.

** Affects: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/934614

Title:
  reinstall of precise breaks grub with invalid arch independent ELF
  magic

Status in “ubiquity” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I did an over the top install of precise without formatting the drive
  to preserve the home partition. I can now not boot the computer and
  can't reinstall grub.

  ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ mkdir target
  ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 target
  ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ ls target/
  bin    etc             lib         lost+found  proc  selinux  usr
  boot   home            lib32       media       root  srv      var
  cdrom  initrd.img      lib64       mnt         run   sys      vmlinuz
  dev    initrd.img.old  libnss3.so  opt         sbin  tmp
  ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -o bind /proc target/proc
  ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -o bind /dev target/dev
  ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ sudo mount -o bind /sys target/sys
  ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ sudo chroot target
  root at ubuntu:/# grub-install /dev/sda
  Installation finished. No error reported.
  root at ubuntu:/# exit
  ubuntu at ubuntu:~$ 

  reboot, same error, grub rescue prompt with invalid arch independent
  ELF format.

  The computer was installed as 64bit 11.10, upgraded to 12.04 and
  updated frequently. I broke unity a bit and decided to try the full
  reinstall process from a live USB. The computer is a core i3 laptop,
  with a 320GB drive, default partitioning /dev/sda1 is big and all the
  data /dev/sda5 is swap. Installing precise 64bit from daily live CD
  image.

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