Grub beta issue with Kernal update/upgrade

[Goh Lip]

On Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:57:07 +0800, <mdovell at comcast.net> wrote:

> Recently there was a kernal upgrade/update. I can boot my pc and get an  
> option of windows or ubuntu. If I select ubuntu it puts it into a some  
> beta grub...I get the command line but I'm not sure what to do now. I  
> can reboot by typing reboot but that's about it. Is there a way to boot  
> into a safe mode from the prompt?
> I think this is a grub error rather than the OS itself. I don't like  
> these betas of grub they tend not to work for me..:-(

Hope you know what kernel you've upgraded to. If you're on Karmic 9.10,
most likely you've got 2.6.31-16 or 2.6.31-15; Do the following...

At the grub command line (after you've selected ubuntu), type
search -f /boot/grub/grub.cfg

you will see the partition where your ubuntu is , in (hd0,x)

Then type and press enter after each line

set root=(hd0,x)
linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic root=/dev/sdax ro   quiet splash
initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic
boot


Note: "x" above as in (hd0,x) and sdax are real numbers, where "x" is  
obtained from your search query.
      If kernel is 2.6.31-15, amend as appropriate.


Another note: after boot up to ubuntu, you must do the following at  
terminal

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

to update and correct your grub config files.

Regards,
Goh Lip