Clean ubuntu install crashed after grub failed to install to default location.

[Menicus]

I did a Clean install of ubuntu this morning, the whole install went without a hitch until it wanted to install grub. The install failed to install grub to /dev/sda and when i wanted to exit the installer, it crashed.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: ubiquity 2.8.7
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic i686
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: i386
CasperVersion: 1.287
Date: Sun Oct 23 08:07:31 2011
LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release i386 (20111012)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: ubiquity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Exception during installation:
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: Traceback (most recent call last):
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 1641, in <module>
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: install.run()
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 55, in wrapper
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: func(self)
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 199, in run
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: self.configure_bootloader()
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/share/ubiquity/plugininstall.py", line 944, in configure_bootloader
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: old_bootdev = self.db.get('grub-installer/bootdev')
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 60, in <lambda>
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: lambda *args, **kw: self.command(command, *args, **kw))
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/debconf.py", line 65, in command
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: self.write.flush()
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py: IOError: [Errno 32] Broken pipe
Oct 23 08:07:25 ubuntu plugininstall.py:

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Oct 23 08:05:02 ubuntu grub-installer: info: Installing grub on '/dev/sda'
Oct 23 08:05:02 ubuntu grub-installer: info: grub-install supports --no-floppy
Oct 23 08:05:02 ubuntu grub-installer: info: Running chroot /target grub-install --no-floppy --force "/dev/sda"
Oct 23 08:05:04 ubuntu grub-installer: /usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn:
Oct 23 08:05:04 ubuntu grub-installer:
Oct 23 08:05:04 ubuntu grub-installer: Your embedding area is unusually small. core.img won't fit in it.
Oct 23 08:05:04 ubuntu grub-installer: .
Oct 23 08:05:04 ubuntu grub-installer: /usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn:
Oct 23 08:05:04 ubuntu grub-installer:
Oct 23 08:05:04 ubuntu grub-installer: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged.
Oct 23 08:05:04 ubuntu grub-installer: .
Oct 23 08:05:09 ubuntu grub-installer: /usr/sbin/grub-setup: error: cannot read `/@/boot/grub/core.img' correctly.
Oct 23 08:05:09 ubuntu grub-installer: error: Running 'grub-install --no-floppy --force "/dev/sda"' failed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.