[grub ver. 1.97] unbootable system - the system waiting with message "grub loading"

[Miroslav Hadzhiev]

Binary package hint: grub2

The system does not boot and hangs with the message "GRUB LOADING". It cannot even be restarted with 'ctrl+alt+del' combination.

This bug occurs on my machine for the third time and after every one of them a fresh clean install was made.
The interesting thing is that the system boots normally several days without any problem and then without any obvious reason
this bug happens. I think that it happens mainly after booting windows (xp sp3 in my case) and then rebooting the machine.

The computer is:

Laptop
HP NX9420 rh450ea, ati MOBILITY x1600, Intel Core 2 Duo t7200, 3 GB ddr2 667 mhz

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Dec 3 22:55:43 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: grub-pc 1.97~beta4-1ubuntu4
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-15.50-generic
SourcePackage: grub2
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-15-generic x86_64
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1665): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1665): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (nautilus:1698): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1739): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (gnome-panel:1697): Gdk-WARNING **: /build/buildd/gtk+2.0-2.18.3/gdk/x11/gdkdrawable-x11.c:952 drawable is not a pixmap or window

[Felix Zielcke (fzielcke)]

Please check if this really happens after a boot of Windows.
If it does, then this is a duplicate of https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/441941

[Miroslav Hadzhiev (xtigyro)]

Yes, it's a duplicate. Right after a reboot under windoze xp the system hangs with that very message. (:

[Miroslav Hadzhiev (xtigyro)]

Is there a way to install the old GRUB because now I have to re-install the loader (with the live-CD) on every booting of windoze...

[Felix Zielcke (fzielcke)]

Am Freitag, den 04.12.2009, 14:52 +0000 schrieb Xtigyro:
> Is there a way to install the old GRUB because now I have to
> re-install
> the loader (with the live-CD) on every booting of windoze...
>

It's still packaged as `grub'. Installation should be the same as with
grub2: running grub-install /dev/sda and update-grub
GRUB Legacy though uses the embeding area too, it only needs much less
space there.

But I suggest the following to keep GRUB 2:
Run grub-install --force /dev/sda1 (or whatever your Ubuntu partition
is)
Then install mbr package
install-mbr /dev/sda
And then use cfdisk/fdisk/gparted or so to set the boot flag on your
Ubuntu partition (the one were you ran grub-install)

--
Felix Zielcke
Proud Debian Maintainer and GNU GRUB developer

[Felix Zielcke (fzielcke)]

Am Freitag, den 04.12.2009, 16:08 +0100 schrieb Felix Zielcke:
> But I suggest the following to keep GRUB 2:
> Run grub-install --force /dev/sda1 (or whatever your Ubuntu partition
> is)
> Then install mbr package
> install-mbr /dev/sda
> And then use cfdisk/fdisk/gparted or so to set the boot flag on your
> Ubuntu partition (the one were you ran grub-install)

Oh and I forgot something important.
You have to do this too:
echo "SET grub-pc/install_devices /dev/sda1" | sudo debconf-communicate

--
Felix Zielcke
Proud Debian Maintainer and GNU GRUB developer

[Miroslav Hadzhiev (xtigyro)]

Thank you, Felix, really! It worked like a charm.