grub error 18

[Christopher Chan]

Clay Weber wrote:
> On Sunday 20 September 2009 08:16:35 pm Christopher Chan wrote:
>   
>> Goh Lip wrote:
>>     
>>> Chan Chung Hang Christopher wrote:
>>>       
>>>>> I take it that you now have no problem booting after the
>>>>> root...setup... from the livecd.
>>>>>           
>>>> Yup.
>>>>
>>>>         
>>>>> Grub legacy have precisely some problems not only with LBA cylinder but
>>>>> also with newer bios. Instead of trying to fix your grub, I suggest you
>>>>> convert your grub legacy to grub2. After all, karmic will default to
>>>>> grub2. sudo apt-get install grub-pc
>>>>>           
>>>> the weird grub file somehow gives me the impression that grub2 is
>>>> installed? What grub does the LiveCD for Jaunty use?
>>>>         
>>> Livecd? I don't know without popping in the livecd. you can check by
>>> going to /boot/grub/  and see if there is menu.lst or grub.cfg, maybe
>>> both. But it doesn't really matter, right? Livecd grub is always quite
>>> empty, just to start up the cd. The more important point is your
>>> installed jaunty partition. If you have meaningful entries in grub.cfg,
>>> then it is installed. There should also be meaningful entries in
>>> menu.lst whether grub2 is installed or not.
>>>
>>> If you have installed grub2, you can always reinstall if you did not
>>> follow up on the instructions where it wasn't installed to mbr giving
>>> rise to your problem. If it wasn't installed, okay, install it.
>>>       
>> Let me make it CRYSTAL CLEAR. Jaunty booted up fine after the first
>> installation. However, after updating the packages to whatever latest
>> versions available, it apparently keeps messing up grub whenever it is
>> shutdown or rebooted. I have done nothing at all with grub or grub2
>> manually. I have not had a chance to check yet but I get the impression
>> my problems stem from grub2 since I see comments and other stuff besides
>> menu entries in the grub configuration file.
>>
>> At this moment, it would seem that the LiveCD probably installs grub but
>> the updates snuck in grub2. When I next get my hands on that box, I will
>> verify what package(s) of grub are installed. Now if someone can tell me
>> what script messes around with grub/grub2 during shutdown, I will
>> happily file a bug report since I have no other Jaunty installation
>> lying around.
>>
>>     
>
> Jaunty installs grub 1 by default, you would have to explicitly install the 
> package grub-pc yourself in order to get grub2, so grub2 is not an issue here. 
> Even with updates.
>
> have you tried repairing grub after finally getting jaunty booted via the 
> livecd?
>   
Yes, which is why I am getting very cross now. After booting into the 
LiveCD, I run konsole, sudo -i, grub, root(hd0,0), setup(hd0), quit, 
reboot. The installed Jaunty boots up just fine. After a shutdown...I am 
ready to get a sledgehammer and smash something up. Something is messing 
around with grub during shutdown.

> Can  you boot into safe mode, where there is an option to repair grub?
>
> The grub error 18 is saying that the partition you are trying to boot from is 
> in a portion of  your drive that your system's *bios* doesn't support/can't 
> see. But as you were able to boot before, this is definitely clouding the the 
> problem's causes. Perhaps the partition table has become corrupted?
>
>   


The thing is though that I had no problems after initial installation. I 
did not have to deal with 'grub error 18' until after I updated the 
packages.