Ubuntu 13.10 not booting on hardware RAID

[Hagen Kuehn]

Steps to reproduce with Ubuntu 13.10:

1. Setup the adaptec RAID controller to use ANY of the RAID modes
2. Install Ubuntu 13.10 (in my case from USB) by using either classic partitioning or LVM
-> Observe that the installer correctly finds the RAID disk and the installation process finishes successfully
3. Boot the system
-> Bug: System does not boot into the newly installed Ubuntu 13.10

Hardware:
- ASUS H87I-PLUS Motherboard with latest UEFI/BIOS update
- Adaptec RAID 6405 Controller

Note the issue reported here is not encountered with Ubuntu 14.04 daily build (downloaded 27/02/2014). So it appears that Grub 2.02 used with Ubuntu 14.04 has a positive impact as it resolves the bug. I hope this will be another good reason to ship Grub 2.02 with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

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[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Did the raid array show up as /dev/sda, or /dev/mapper/something? Can you run the boot info script and provide the results?

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/

Also please provide a more detailed description of how the boot "doesn't work". Do you get the grub menu? Do you get an error message?

[Hagen Kuehn (hag-k)]

Question: Did the raid array show up as /dev/sda, or /dev/mapper/something?
Answer: No it did not show as neither of those since a boot takes me right back to the UEFI/ BIOS user interface as if there is no OS installed on the RAID disk. Though, within the UEFI/ BIOS user interface I can see the RAID disk. Also note that the Ubuntu 13.10 installer can see the RAID disk and seems to install successfully.

Question: Can you run the boot info script and provide the results?
Answer: No, since it doesn't boot Ubuntu at all. The machine boot takes me to the UEFI/ BIOS interface. Installing Ubuntu on an USB Stick and then running the "bootinforscript" from there is currently not an option since I have Ubuntu 14.04 Beta1 (i.e. "ubuntu-gnome-14.04-beta1-desktop-amd64.iso") currently working on this machine for OpenStack testing purposes. Therefore the boot record entries present there now are not relevant.

Question: Also please provide a more detailed description of how the boot "doesn't work". Do you get the grub menu? Do you get an error message?
Answer: I do not get a Grub menu but instead I end up in the UEFI/ BIOS user interface. I never get to see an error message.

Note: The problem is not encountered with Ubuntu Gnome 14.04 Beta1 Desktop. I do not need this addressed with Ubuntu 13.10 but it would be great if it works with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS as it currently does with Ubuntu Gnome 14.04 Beta1"

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

I mean when the installer can see the array, *how* does it see it? Does it see it as /dev/mapper/big_long_name, or just /dev/sda?

You can boot the live cd and run the script from there.

[Hagen Kuehn (hag-k)]

Please see attached PDF which contains screenshots and further explainations. I know the PDF turned out quite large due to the mobile phone fotos but I believe it should clarify what's going on.

As of the information provided with the attached PDF, I think that the problem is introduced once Ubuntu 13.10 is installed by using an USB Stick without the UEFI option. This way the boot record ends up pointing to "sdb" rather "sda" since the installer orders the USB Drive as "sda" and the RAID disk as "sdb". However after the installation has finished and the USB Stick is removed, there is not "sdb" drive and thus no bootable device is found and the UEFI/ BIOS user interface shows up instead.

[Hagen Kuehn (hag-k)]

Nonetheless, once the Grub records a screwed up a subsequent install by using the USB Stick with the UEFI option does not make Ubuntu 13.10 bootable.

My current conclusion is that the following workaround is required to be able to install Ubuntu 13.10. Possibly this workaround is equally applicable with 14.04 too.

1. Start Ubuntu 14.04 Live CD
2. Install Ubuntu from within the Live CD.
This will make sure that the boot record will point to “sda”.
3. Install Ubuntu 13.10 by selecting the “UEFI: KingstonDataTraveler” from within the UEFI/Boot interface.

Note: In my case the USB Stick is named "KingstonDataTraveler", if you use a different USB Stick this name will be different.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

The boot code does not know or care about sda vs sdb, so that isn't it. It appears to have installed grub just fine for bios mode, so if you aren't at least getting a grub error or rescue shell or menu, it must be a bios configuration problem: make sure your bios is configured to boot from the hard drive in bios mode.

You also might try using fdisk to set the boot flag on the GPT protective partition; some very stupid bioses refuse to boot if they don't see a boot flag set. Or, just stick with the full uefi mode install if that works for you.

[Hagen Kuehn (hag-k)]

I can confirm that the initially reported problem does not occur once legacy BIOS support was disabled.

Within UEFI/ BIOS user interface I changed the Compatibility Support Module (CSM) to "UEFI only" to basically switch off the legacy BIOS support. After that, only the UEFI compatible installer was available when booting the Ubuntu 13.10 installer from the USB Stick. After the installation was successfully finished the subsequent reboot then correctly showed the Grub loader for a brief moment and then started up Ubuntu 13.10.

However, the Ubuntu startup fails, at least once, at a different stage than initially reported with this bug, after having overcome the problem discussed above. I'll attach the description of that subsequently encountered problem and it would be great if you could give me your opinion.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Te MBR is a bios thing so efi mode does not use it. It looks like your raid driver has an intermittent problem causing the boot failure.

[Hagen Kuehn (hag-k)]

Thank you for you help!

I think we can close this bug as not Ubuntu related. The initially reported issue got resolved by going into the UEFI/ BIOS interface and switching the compatibility Support Module (CSM) to "UEFI only".

[Mate Kukri (mkukri)]

Ubuntu 13.10 isn't supported anymore.