[ubuntu-users] Double Trouble with GRUB

[Andrew Farris]

First off, I'm going to warn you... a lot of people aren't going to be
happy with you posting picture-attachments to this mailing list.
text-based command outputs like you included would have been all that
was necessary, though I understand you're intentions and applaud the
effort. now...

On Mon, 2009-08-24 at 16:21 -0600, Ted Hilts wrote:
[snip]
> I don't want to mess Ubuntu up because most of the time it boots up to 
> "/" (root system) and does not complain.  When it does not boot up 
> properly it seems to be trying to boot on "hda".  Ubuntu seems to be 
> booting from the "fstab" file definitions and not from GRUB.  I cannot 
> figure any other explanation as there do not seem to be any references 
> in GRUB.which reference "sd" hard drives..

Quick lesson: Grub defines hard drives differently from the linux kernel
does. this differnece is normal, though maybe confusing to someone who
hasnt seen it before.  The conversion goes something like this:
    In Grub:    In Ubuntu:
    (hd0,0)     sda1
    (hd0,1)     sda2
    (hd1,0)     sdb1
    (hd3,7)     sdd6
    etc...      etc...

Also, fstab (aka the file located at "/etc/fstab") is the file that
holds the configuration for any partitions that are to be
mounted/auto-mounted under Linux. This ls also fully normal, and also
somewhat complicated to someone who has never messed with it before.
I'll leave the specifics of how/why these work they way they do as an
'exercise to the reader', should it be necessary.  Basically though, if
fstab is attempting to handle things when you get your error, then Grub
is done working, and probably isn't your problem.

Other than that... Your specific problem was a little hard to interpret,
so I'm not sure how to proceed.  As far as I understood, you are/were
having an issue with ubuntu occasionally failing to boot up. is that
correct?

can you give any more details of the nature of this failure, such as the
exact text of any error messages on-screen, what you did prior to the
boot failure, etc?  thanks!

[snip]
> Sorry for all the detail but I think it is necessary if someone wants to 
> help me on this problem.

Dont worry. Generally, detail is good. I personally kind of prefer
people who give a lot of details, as opposed to people who post a
question, supply no info, then make getting that info harder than
pulling teeth, as they expect you to psychically know it already.

[snip]
> 
> ted at Ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/fstab
> # /etc/fstab: static file system information.
> #
> # <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
> proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
> # /dev/sda3
> UUID=c8f92b8f-2f46-4500-929b-ccf369500593 /               ext3    
> defaults,errors=remount-ro 0       1
> # /dev/sda1
> UUID=2ED6-1123  /media/sda1     vfat    defaults,utf8,umask=007,gid=46 
> 0       1
> # /dev/sda2
> UUID=58BCBB80BCBB56EA /media/sda2     ntfs    defaults,umask=007,gid=46 

[snipo]

> #UUID=581CE03A1CE01532 /media/sdc1     ext3    
> defaults,errors=remount-ro 0       1
> /dev/sdg1  /media/sdc1     ext3    defaults,errors=remount-ro 0         1

[snip]

> ted at Ubuntu:~$ cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

[snip]

> title           Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-24-rt
> root            (hd0,2)
> kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-24-rt 
> root=UUID=c8f92b8f-2f46-4500-929b-ccf369500593 ro quiet splash
> initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-24-rt
> quiet
> 
> title           Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-24-rt (recovery mode)
> root            (hd0,2)
> kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-24-rt 
> root=UUID=c8f92b8f-2f46-4500-929b-ccf369500593 ro single
> initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-24-rt

[snip]

> # This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
> # on /dev/sda1
> title           Windows NT/2000/XP
> root            (hd0,0)
> savedefault
> makeactive
> chainloader     +1
> 
> 
> # This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
> # on /dev/sda2
> title           Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
> root            (hd0,1)
> savedefault
> makeactive
> chainloader     +1

I snipped all but the most important parts from your extensive output so
others may have the benefit of more concise data, but from what I can
see in the important parts of your fstab, and your menu.lst file, all
the partitions look right, and Grub also appears to be set up properly,
so I doubt the issue is there (though I've been wrong before, and could
be again). Please post back with the error messages/description of the
boot failure you are experiencing (as requested above) and we'll be able
to make some more progress on this.


-- 
Andrew
_____________________________
Beware of a dark-haired man with a loud tie.