[xubuntu-users] xubuntu-users Digest, Vol 193, Issue 2

Wed Feb 1 22:46:25 UTC 2023

It really depends on the hardware of the laptop from which you are booting.
If you have BIOS rather than an Extensible Firmware Interface (also known
as UEFI or safe boot), the present version of GRUB does not install
correctly. For a BIOS machine with GPT partitioning, you must install a
small ~256M FAT partition with BIOS GRUB and legacy boot flags set as the
first partition, before a ~256M /boot/efi partition which is FAT16
formatting flagged boot and ESP which is needed to finish installation with
the present installer, then your swap partition and /, /home, or whatever
other distribution and personal preference ext4 or whatever partitions.
While still in the live installer or from a boot rescue, you must then open
a terminal and execute the following if your boot flash drive is /dev/sda::

$ sudo update-grub && grub-install --target=i386-pc /dev/sda

Note: For later versions, ie. Xubuntu 23.04 nightly, you may also have to
copy the i386-pc folder from a 20.04 installation.

After much research, this is how I keep up my BIOS AMD Athlon II machine.

Carl Snyder

On Wed, Feb 1, 2023 at 2:20 PM <xubuntu-users-request at lists.ubuntu.com>
wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1.  unable to install grub (Clarence Fender)
>    2. Re:  unable to install grub (François P. Rotzinger)
>    3. Re:  unable to install grub (Michele Mor)
>    4. Re:  unable to install grub (Clarence Fender)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2023 13:09:26 -0500
> From: Clarence Fender <leftystrat1 at gmail.com>
> To: Xubuntu Support and User Discussions
>         <xubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Subject: [xubuntu-users] unable to install grub
> Message-ID:
>         <CAJ9d0EyENy+7GbY3dSTe6-F79uaSmVuZuwrYUZz_uy8tpE=
> 7uQ at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Xubuntu 22.04 to laptop, USB boot (~2yrs old, linux-specific)
> "something else" disk part
> sda is where everything goes except HOME
> sdb/nvm_etc  is /HOME
>
> Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
> Executing `grub-install /dev/sda` failed
> fatal error
> --> Can't fix this, no matter what I do.
>
> Spent a long time researching: common problem going back years. Seems to
> revolve around boot, legacy vs new. I haven't touched any boot settings.
> Tried different partitions and flags. Tried using sda1 instead of sda -
> same error.
>
> sda   - all primary partitions
> 1M (appears by itself, no format)
> 500M  tried /BOOT and nothing
> 50G  ext4  /
> 16M swap
> remainder of space ext4 but not mounted
>
> sdb  ext4 /HOME
>
> Is there a different sda partitioning I need? No data on it so no worries.
> If I had hair, I'd be pulling it out.
>
> Thanks.
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2023 19:25:07 +0100
> From: François P. Rotzinger <Tm232 at netplus.ch>
> To: xubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> Subject: Re: [xubuntu-users] unable to install grub
> Message-ID: <5a986173-88c8-472e-714d-b0d4ebee14b2 at netplus.ch>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"
>
> Maybe, you should create an EFI partition. Typing "df", do you get
> something like
>
> /dev/nvme0n1p1 973952     6184    967768   1% /boot/efi
>
> (or perhaps /dev/sda1)?
>
> Good luck, François
>
> On 2/1/23 19:09, Clarence Fender wrote:
> > Xubuntu 22.04 to laptop, USB boot (~2yrs old, linux-specific)
> > "something else" disk part
> > sda is where everything goes except HOME
> > sdb/nvm_etc  is /HOME
> >
> > Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
> > Executing `grub-install /dev/sda` failed
> > fatal error
> > --> Can't fix this, no matter what I do.
> >
> > Spent a long time researching: common problem going back years. Seems
> > to revolve around boot, legacy vs new. I haven't touched any boot
> > settings. Tried different partitions and flags. Tried using sda1
> > instead of sda - same error.
> >
> > sda   - all primary partitions
> > 1M (appears by itself, no format)
> > 500M  tried /BOOT and nothing
> > 50G  ext4  /
> > 16M swap
> > remainder of space ext4 but not mounted
> >
> > sdb  ext4 /HOME
> >
> > Is there a different sda partitioning I need? No data on it so no
> worries.
> > If I had hair, I'd be pulling it out.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
> --
> François P. Rotzinger
> Chemin des Vignes 20
> CH-1373 Chavornay
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2023 19:06:19 +0000
> From: Michele Mor <m.mor.mail at gmail.com>
> To: Xubuntu Support and User Discussions
>         <xubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Subject: Re: [xubuntu-users] unable to install grub
> Message-ID:
>         <CAA3b2=gvFx93nr4Ch3HXXQWY2G=bWH5iRAWSBY=
> g4sc-kSeZLg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hi,
> Have you tried to reinstall xubuntu from a usb/dvd?
> It should set up the grub automatically.
> If your data is in a different partition, there should be no risk of
> deleting it (but always do a back up first).
>
> I have tried to repair a corrupted grub manually, but spent hours and did
> not succeed. At the end I decided to reinstall.
>
> Good luck.
> Michele
>
> On Wed, 1 Feb 2023, 18:25 François P. Rotzinger, <Tm232 at netplus.ch> wrote:
>
> > Maybe, you should create an EFI partition. Typing "df", do you get
> > something like
> >
> > /dev/nvme0n1p1    973952     6184    967768   1% /boot/efi
> >
> > (or perhaps /dev/sda1)?
> >
> > Good luck, François
> > On 2/1/23 19:09, Clarence Fender wrote:
> >
> > Xubuntu 22.04 to laptop, USB boot (~2yrs old, linux-specific)
> > "something else" disk part
> > sda is where everything goes except HOME
> > sdb/nvm_etc  is /HOME
> >
> > Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
> > Executing `grub-install /dev/sda` failed
> > fatal error
> > --> Can't fix this, no matter what I do.
> >
> > Spent a long time researching: common problem going back years. Seems to
> > revolve around boot, legacy vs new. I haven't touched any boot settings.
> > Tried different partitions and flags. Tried using sda1 instead of sda -
> > same error.
> >
> > sda   - all primary partitions
> > 1M (appears by itself, no format)
> > 500M  tried /BOOT and nothing
> > 50G  ext4  /
> > 16M swap
> > remainder of space ext4 but not mounted
> >
> > sdb  ext4 /HOME
> >
> > Is there a different sda partitioning I need? No data on it so no
> worries.
> > If I had hair, I'd be pulling it out.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
> > --
> > François P. Rotzinger
> > Chemin des Vignes 20
> > CH-1373 Chavornay
> >
> > --
> > xubuntu-users mailing list
> > xubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> > Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/xubuntu-users
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2023 14:20:23 -0500
> From: Clarence Fender <leftystrat1 at gmail.com>
> To: Xubuntu Support and User Discussions
>         <xubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Subject: Re: [xubuntu-users] unable to install grub
> Message-ID:
>         <
> CAJ9d0Eyeb_zWkGwmGzn9k9Zmd+0+PRHouAq9bFRUTGt4GsTGiw at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Yes, I tried an EFI partition on sda.  Same error.
>
> Trying again, I used gparted, installed partitions. Did install - made the
> partition EFI, which left no option for type or mount. Failed. Tried FAT32,
> mounted /BOOT/EFI, install told me there was no EFI partition and it
> wouldn't boot.
>
> Thanks
>
> On Wed, Feb 1, 2023 at 1:25 PM François P. Rotzinger <Tm232 at netplus.ch>
> wrote:
>
> > Maybe, you should create an EFI partition. Typing "df", do you get
> > something like
> >
> > /dev/nvme0n1p1    973952     6184    967768   1% /boot/efi
> >
> > (or perhaps /dev/sda1)?
> >
> > Good luck, François
> > On 2/1/23 19:09, Clarence Fender wrote:
> >
> > Xubuntu 22.04 to laptop, USB boot (~2yrs old, linux-specific)
> > "something else" disk part
> > sda is where everything goes except HOME
> > sdb/nvm_etc  is /HOME
> >
> > Unable to install GRUB in /dev/sda
> > Executing `grub-install /dev/sda` failed
> > fatal error
> > --> Can't fix this, no matter what I do.
> >
> > Spent a long time researching: common problem going back years. Seems to
> > revolve around boot, legacy vs new. I haven't touched any boot settings.
> > Tried different partitions and flags. Tried using sda1 instead of sda -
> > same error.
> >
> > sda   - all primary partitions
> > 1M (appears by itself, no format)
> > 500M  tried /BOOT and nothing
> > 50G  ext4  /
> > 16M swap
> > remainder of space ext4 but not mounted
> >
> > sdb  ext4 /HOME
> >
> > Is there a different sda partitioning I need? No data on it so no
> worries.
> > If I had hair, I'd be pulling it out.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> >
> > --
> > François P. Rotzinger
> > Chemin des Vignes 20
> > CH-1373 Chavornay
> >
> > --
> > xubuntu-users mailing list
> > xubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> > Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
> > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/xubuntu-users
> >
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