[Bug 1332295] [NEW] Grub 2.0 fails to install and then Ubuntu 14 install crashes

Daniel Schumaker dschumak at mit.edu
Thu Jun 19 19:11:12 UTC 2014


Public bug reported:

I'm using a Samsung Series 7 Chronos laptop with 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 1TB
hard disk, intel i7 processor (3rd gen), NVIDIA Optimus graphics card.
(I can give more specs if needed, but I can't look up the specific model
numbers as I fill out this report). The laptop comes with pre-installed
Windows 8, secure boot (which I disabled) and the ability to switch
between UEFI boot or CSM OS boot (or I can select both).

I have tried installing Ubuntu 14.04 (ubiquity 2.18.7 [modified:
lib/partman/automatically_partition/question]) through both flash drive
and CD on a 100 Gb partition (formatted ext4 journaling file system with
mount point at /) alongside Windows 8 with 4Gb of swap space. I have
reinstalled the OS 3 separate times after tinkering with some update
settings and with the same result every time. The installer completes
unloading most of the packages and then when it reaches the hardware
configuration step I recieve a popup window indicating GRUB 2.0 has
failed to install and that the OS will not be able to boot without it
and this is a fatal error. I have looked up simillar bugs and followed
the steps to install boot-repair and run it and it still fails to fix
GRUB. I'm not entirely sure how to fix this problem. Do I need to
allocate a separate partition on my hard drive to install GRUB. I only
designated the 100Gb partition (sda 8) as the primary install point and
the 4Gb as swap space (sda 9).

I think the problem is that the partition on which Windows and its
subsequent boot loaders are installed on are refusing to mount. The
errors I have receieved seem to indicate that aspects of Windows in
these partitions are currently running and thus mounting them is not
possible. I have no idea how this is possible when I'm starting from a
fresh boot and going directly into the install disc OS (Ubuntu 14.04). I
hypothesize that if I could prevent these sections of my hard-drive from
activating then I could install Ubuntu. In my setup menu upon startup I
de-activated everything in my boot device priority, including my hard
drive, previous install attempts for linux, and Windows boot loaders,
except for the device the disk or flash drive would boot from and it is
still indicating that the Windows partitions are still in use when I try
and mount them.

This is not my first attempt at installing Ubuntu on this machine. It
appears to be designed to prevent additional OS installation and has
been giving more problems than any other machine I have installed Ubuntu
on ever. This is not my first time using linux nor is it my first time
installing it. I've used several machines in the past, and while there
were sometimes a few complications, it has never been this bad. I'm not
an extremely experienced user, and only have an entry level amount of
experience with the command line interface, but am interested in
learning more about linux and try to incorperate linux based programs as
often as possible. I'd really like to have this on my laptop as it would
be incredibly useful for the work in my lab that I am currently involved
with.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: ubiquity 2.18.7 [modified: lib/partman/automatically_partition/question]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CasperVersion: 1.340
Date: Thu Jun 19 14:49:10 2014
InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz.efi file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash --
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=linux
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SourcePackage: grub-installer
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

** Affects: grub-installer (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug trusty ubiquity-2.18.7 ubuntu

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1332295

Title:
  Grub 2.0 fails to install and then Ubuntu 14 install crashes

Status in “grub-installer” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I'm using a Samsung Series 7 Chronos laptop with 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 1TB
  hard disk, intel i7 processor (3rd gen), NVIDIA Optimus graphics card.
  (I can give more specs if needed, but I can't look up the specific
  model numbers as I fill out this report). The laptop comes with pre-
  installed Windows 8, secure boot (which I disabled) and the ability to
  switch between UEFI boot or CSM OS boot (or I can select both).

  I have tried installing Ubuntu 14.04 (ubiquity 2.18.7 [modified:
  lib/partman/automatically_partition/question]) through both flash
  drive and CD on a 100 Gb partition (formatted ext4 journaling file
  system with mount point at /) alongside Windows 8 with 4Gb of swap
  space. I have reinstalled the OS 3 separate times after tinkering with
  some update settings and with the same result every time. The
  installer completes unloading most of the packages and then when it
  reaches the hardware configuration step I recieve a popup window
  indicating GRUB 2.0 has failed to install and that the OS will not be
  able to boot without it and this is a fatal error. I have looked up
  simillar bugs and followed the steps to install boot-repair and run it
  and it still fails to fix GRUB. I'm not entirely sure how to fix this
  problem. Do I need to allocate a separate partition on my hard drive
  to install GRUB. I only designated the 100Gb partition (sda 8) as the
  primary install point and the 4Gb as swap space (sda 9).

  I think the problem is that the partition on which Windows and its
  subsequent boot loaders are installed on are refusing to mount. The
  errors I have receieved seem to indicate that aspects of Windows in
  these partitions are currently running and thus mounting them is not
  possible. I have no idea how this is possible when I'm starting from a
  fresh boot and going directly into the install disc OS (Ubuntu 14.04).
  I hypothesize that if I could prevent these sections of my hard-drive
  from activating then I could install Ubuntu. In my setup menu upon
  startup I de-activated everything in my boot device priority,
  including my hard drive, previous install attempts for linux, and
  Windows boot loaders, except for the device the disk or flash drive
  would boot from and it is still indicating that the Windows partitions
  are still in use when I try and mount them.

  This is not my first attempt at installing Ubuntu on this machine. It
  appears to be designed to prevent additional OS installation and has
  been giving more problems than any other machine I have installed
  Ubuntu on ever. This is not my first time using linux nor is it my
  first time installing it. I've used several machines in the past, and
  while there were sometimes a few complications, it has never been this
  bad. I'm not an extremely experienced user, and only have an entry
  level amount of experience with the command line interface, but am
  interested in learning more about linux and try to incorperate linux
  based programs as often as possible. I'd really like to have this on
  my laptop as it would be incredibly useful for the work in my lab that
  I am currently involved with.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
  Package: ubiquity 2.18.7 [modified: lib/partman/automatically_partition/question]
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
  Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.340
  Date: Thu Jun 19 14:49:10 2014
  InstallCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/casper/vmlinuz.efi file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper only-ubiquity quiet splash --
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=linux
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
  SourcePackage: grub-installer
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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