Fwd: Install failure at grub installation step

Mike Sussman mmsussman at gmail.com
Sat Aug 19 01:22:02 UTC 2006


On 8/18/06, Tod Merley <todbot88 at gmail.com > wrote:
>
> On 8/18/06, Mike Sussman <mmsussman at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 8/18/06, Tod Merley < todbot88 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On 8/17/06, Mike Sussman < mmsussman at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Folks, I am frustrated trying to install kubuntu 6.06.1.  I cannot
> get
> > > >         the install to work on a laptop with an existing ubuntu
> (breezy)
> > > >         installation.  Here are the details:
> > > >



<snip>


> >  Thanks, Tod, for your thoughts, but there is more to this problem than
> just
> > the
> >  GRUB installation failure.  Let me tell you what I know:
> >  1.  As I originally described, my Ubuntu dapper installation seemed to
> go
> >  OK, but hung up at the GRUB installation step.  This installation was
> > performed
> >  using the "alternate" CD-ROM and was text-based.
> >
> >  2.  I was able to use my existing GRUB installation to boot the new
> system,
> > but
> >  the boot hung up at the "Loading hardware drivers" step, so there was
> > something
> >  wrong with the installation other than the GRUB problem.
> >
> >  3.  I tried an installation using the "live CD" installer.  This
> > installation also
> >  seemed to go OK, and it did NOT hang up at the GRUB installation
> step.  In
> >  fact, it did the GRUB installation fine, and it constructed a menu.lstfile
> > that
> >  should have worked for Ubuntu, but was completely wrong for all the
> other
> > OSs
> >  I have (Ubuntu Hoary and MS-Windows-ME).  Unfortunately, the Dapper
> system
> > as installed
> >  would not come anywhere near booting.  It died at the "Checking
> > filesystems",
> >  eventually dropping me into a shell and suggesting I run fsck.  But
> nothing
> > would
> >  run, so I gave up.
> >
> >  4.  I made a copy of my existing Hoary system to the partition that I
> tried
> >  installing Dapper to.  I was then able to boot this system without
> problem.
> >  So
> >  I know that GRUB works.
> >
> >  5.  Since I had a copy of a working system, I tried an upgrade from
> Hoary
> > to
> >  Dapper, but that didn't work, either.  Right now I am stymied.
> >
> >
>
> Hi again Mike!
>
> I believe a bit more information would help us to help you.



OK, Tod, here are my responses.  I am afraid they are incomplete,
but I can give you something.

1. The contents of /boot/grub/grub.conf (FC5 partitions) and
> /boot/grub/menu.lst (Ubuntu partitions).  Please tell the specific
> partition where each was actually found.


I have a single partition used for booting (/dev/hda2).  My original
installation was RH9 that created the file /boot/boot/grub/grub.conf,
but one of my Ubuntu installations re-installed grub and  now the
active file is /boot/grub/menu.lst.  There are many stanzas in it,
but the ones in use are:
default=4
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,1)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title parted
        root (hd0,1)
        kernel /partboot.kernel
        initrd /partroot-1.6.2.gz
title W-ME
        rootnoverify (hd0,2)
        chainloader +1
#       makeactive
title media-bay W-ME
        map (hd0) (hd1)
        map (hd1) (hd0)
        rootnoverify (hd1,0)
        chainloader +1
        makeactive
title Media-bay copy of Ubuntu
        root (hd0,1)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.10-5-386 root=/dev/hdc6 ro
        initrd /initrd.img-2.6.10-5-386
        savedefault
        boot
title Ubuntu
        root (hd0,1)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.10-5-386 root=/dev/hda6 ro resume=/dev/hda5
quiet splash
        initrd /initrd.img-2.6.10-5-386
        savedefault
        boot


2.  Output from a "parted" prompt.  Specifically "print" and so for
> each HD.  Please add annotation of what each partition is/does.


 (parted) print
Disk geometry for /dev/hda: 0.000-38154.375 megabytes
Disk label type: msdos
Minor    Start       End     Type      Filesystem  Flags
1          0.031    533.408  primary                              was for
suspend
2        596.162    800.112  primary   ext3        boot   boot partition
3        800.112   5796.892  primary   fat32                W-ME

4       5796.892  38154.375  extended              lba
6       5796.954  10793.671  logical   ext3                 Ubuntu Hoary /
7      10793.703  37158.156  logical   ext3                /home
5      37158.188  38154.375  logical   linux-swap       swap

(parted) print
Disk geometry for /dev/hdc: 0.000-19077.187 megabytes
Disk label type: msdos
Minor    Start       End     Type      Filesystem  Flags
2          0.031    274.548  primary                             unused
4        274.548    572.629  primary   ext3                 unused  was
/boot once
1        572.629   4071.159  primary   fat32       lba   W-ME

3       4071.160  14064.719  extended
5       4071.190   9067.939  logical   ext3                 unused
6       9067.970  14064.719  logical   ext3                Ubuntu Dapper /

/dev/hdc is a "removable" hard drive that I use only sometimes.


3.  From a grub prompt type "root" and then hit tab - note results and
> select a result if appropriate - then hit tab again - note results ,,,
> If you can do this from an Xterm drag over the results - do "Edit >
> Copy" and then paste into a WP or e-mail  so you can bring the results
> here.



    GNU GRUB  version 0.95  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
   completions of a device/filename. ]

grub> root
 Possible commands are: root rootnoverify

grub> root
 (fd0): Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x0

grub> rootnoverify
 (fd0): Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x0

Is this what you want?  The floppy is not installed on the system now.

Here are some more responses:
grub> root (hd0,1)
 Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
grub> find /grub/menu.lst
 (hd0,1)
 (hd1,3)

NOTE: these responses came from a running Hoary system using the
command "sudo grub".

4. Spend some time in your CMOS Setup pages finding disk related
> issues especialy related to machine location.
>
> Even the GRUB manual states that GRUB is not partiularly good at
> finding HW.  The GRUB install may seem to work but if things that
> resulted from the same do not work then it did not work.


What are you asking me to look for?  My BIOS only identifies the disks as
Primary and Secondary.  No details

5. Question, are all of the Kernel related disk drivers available at
> the ram-disk stage of the install??


This is a very good question.  How can I find out the answer?  I did the
install, and I have to assume that it put all the right stuff into the
ram-disk, don't I?  The installation system itself has the disk drivers
in its ram-disk, I know, because it was able to format /dev/hdc6 as
ext3 and /dev/hda5 as swap.  These are just IDE drives, after all.

Good Hunting!
>
> Tod
>
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