Ubuntu 14.04.03 netinstall on RDX fails during grub configuration (PowerNV)

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---Problem Description---
Ubuntu 14.04.03 netinstall on RDX fails during grub configuration

---uname output---
3.16.0-45-generic

Machine Type = 8286-42A

---boot type---
Network boot

---bootloader---
grub

---Kernel cmdline used to launch install---
During Power bare metal install the kernel and initrd was passed as below:
http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/trusty-updates/main/installer-ppc64el/current/images/utopic-netboot/ubuntu-installer/ppc64el/vmlinux

http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/trusty-updates/main/installer-ppc64el/current/images/utopic-netboot/ubuntu-installer/ppc64el/initrd.gz

---Bootloader protocol---
http

---Install repository type---
Internet repository

---Install repository Location---
ports.ubuntu.com

---Point of failure---
Problem during post-install (stage 2) configuration or other problem seen after reboot

steps performed:

1. In powerNV mode, create a new entry to netboot and specify the kernel and initrd locations as:

http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/trusty-updates/main/installer-ppc64el/current/images/utopic-netboot/ubuntu-installer/ppc64el/vmlinux

http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/trusty-updates/main/installer-ppc64el/current/images/utopic-netboot/ubuntu-installer/ppc64el/initrd.gz

2. choose RDX disk as the location to be installed.

SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) - 320.1 GB IBM T RDX-USB3 ? ?
  ? > #1 primary 161.3 GB ext4 ? ?
  ? > #2 primary 7.3 MB B K ? ?
  ? > #3 primary 152.3 GB f ext4 / ? ?
  ? > #5 logical 6.5 GB f swap swap

    ????????????????????????? [!!] Partition disks ?????????????????????????
    ? ?
    ? If you continue, the changes listed below will be written to the ?
    ? disks. Otherwise, you will be able to make further changes manually. ?
    ? ?
    ? The partition tables of the following devices are changed: ?
    ? SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) ?
    ? ?
    ? The following partitions are going to be formatted: ?
    ? partition #3 of SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) as ext4 ?
    ? partition #5 of SCSI1 (0,0,0) (sda) as swap ?
    ? ?
    ? Write the changes to disks? ?
    ? ?
    ? <Yes> <No> ?
    ? ?
    ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

3. at the time of configuring the grub it fails with below error.

     ????????? [!!] Install the GRUB boot loader on a hard disk ??????????
     ? ?
     ? Installation step failed ?
     ? An installation step failed. You can try to run the failing item ?
     ? again from the menu, or skip it and choose something else. The ?
     ? failing step is: Install the GRUB boot loader on a hard disk ?
     ? ?
     ? <Continue> ?
     ? ?
     ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

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[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

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Default Comment by Bridge

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------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2015-09-24 06:22 EDT-------
any update on this bug?

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[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

The logs attached to this bug report don't look correct. The described issue is a grub configuration error; the log/installer/syslog included shows no output from grub-installer, it only shows the download of the grub-installer component. At minimum, I would expect to see output such as:

Sep 24 05:10:21 ubuntu grub-installer: info: architecture: amd64/generic
Sep 24 05:10:21 ubuntu grub-installer: info: Identified partition label for /dev/sda1: msdos

Is this problem reproducible, and are you able to provide a complete installer log?

I've not heard of RDX, but according to the kernel log it appears to be a type of USB-attached storage. Is there a reason to expect this failure to be specific to RDX, as opposed to being reproducible with any disk on the Linux scsi system? There are no kernel errors in the log about sda. If this isn't RDX-specific, we could try to reproduce it against other disk targets. I don't believe we have access to RDX disks.

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------- Comment From <email address hidden> 2016-02-10 06:44 EDT-------
(In reply to comment #16)
> Ubuntu 14.04.3 install on the RDX device has passed. OS installed and kernel
> version are as folows:
>
> root@ubuntu:~# cat /etc/lsb-release
> DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
> DISTRIB_RELEASE=14.04
> DISTRIB_CODENAME=trusty
> DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS"
>
> root@ubuntu:~# uname -a
> Linux ubuntu 3.16.0-60-generic #80~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jan 20 13:37:54
> UTC 2016 ppc64le ppc64le ppc64le GNU/Linux
>
> This bug can be closed.

Harsha also confirmed that he could successfully install any of these Ubuntu releases (i.e 14.04.3, 14.04.4 or 16.04) on RDX.

So..we can close this bug now. Thanks Harsha for verifying all scenarios.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Thanks, closing this bug on our side as invalid.

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