Grub fails to boot

[aeb]

This is a machine that works well with LILO. Not with Grub.
The Ubuntu install put Grub in the MBR. Upon booting I see

GNU GRUB version 0.95
grub>

a prompt that I hate to see since I do not know what to say.
Try

grub> root /dev/hda6
Error 11: Unrecognized device string

This is a Grub bug: a boot loader for Linux should understand Linux
device names and not force users to learn a different set of names
for use with Grub only.

grub> root (hd0,5)
Error 18: Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS.

Hmm. Now I am stuck, don't know how to proceed with Grub.
Find a rescue CD and reinstall LILO, which boots fine.

Another bug, critical: the Ubuntu installer and/or grub installer should not create
an unbootable machine.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thanks for your bug report. Which version of Ubuntu are you using? What type of machine do you have?

[aeb (aeb-cwi)]

Hmm - I replied to the above letter, but maybe the reply was lost, or replying is impossible?

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 15:35:07

> Which version of Ubuntu are you using?
> What type of machine do you have?

Ubuntu 6.10.
A Pentium II with Award BIOS.

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

This sounds like the classic BIOS won't let grub boot an image stored past the 1023rd cylinder ( http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/GRUB#Error_18 ). The typical workaround for this is to create a /boot partition that is 100Mbytes or so at the very start of the partition. The installer (ubiquity?) should really use dmidecode to look at the BIOSes age (perhaps anything older than 2001) and refuse to install/set up a boot partition/warn the user clearly if it is too old...

Probably related to bug #34353 ...

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

Could you check if Gutsy or Hardy beta can boot on your system?

[spiroux17 (spiroux17)]

"Error 18: Selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS."

I'm using Ubuntu Hardy Heron and I have the same message when I try to boot with the 2.6.24-15 kernel... No problem with the 2.6.24-14 though.

[Jeff Anderson (jander99)]

spiroux17,

Can you tell us what type of hardware you are running? Specifically, CPU/Motherboard if you know it, or look for the BIOS information when you first turn on the computer.

Thanks.

[Gaetan Nadon (memsize)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue for you. Can you provide the information requested above? Thanks in advance.
BugSquad

[aeb (aeb-cwi)]

Gaetan,

You did not address anybody in particular, but since your question arrived in my mailbox, let me answer.

At some point in time an Ubuntu install failed because Ubuntu uses Grub, and grub is broken on old hardware. So, I switched to LILO and installed a different distribution on that particular machine.
If you want me to try something specific, like installing some specific version of Grub, ask and be very precise. I will not change the distribution running there.

(The above bug report mentions two separate bugs: (1) Grub does not understand Linux kernel names but has a private naming system, (2) Ubuntu installs grub and thus makes the machine unbootable.)

[Gaetan Nadon (memsize)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 9006, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.
BugSquad