package grub-pc 1.99~rc1-13ubuntu3 failed to install/upgrade: ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 139

[Björn Tillenius]

I just upgraded from maverick to natty. Before the upgrade, update-grub was working, but now it fails with:

error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
error: superfluous RAID member (3 found).
error: superfluous RAID member (3 found).
error: superfluous RAID member (3 found).
error: superfluous RAID member (3 found).
error: superfluous RAID member (3 found).
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
Segmentation fault

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: grub-pc 1.99~rc1-13ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-30.56-generic 2.6.35.13
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-30-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Jul 26 18:11:25 2011
ErrorMessage: ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 139
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-30-generic root=UUID=632f9a08-e68c-4de4-9702-4bc1a16b1519 ro quiet splash
SourcePackage: grub2
Title: package grub-pc 1.99~rc1-13ubuntu3 failed to install/upgrade: ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 139
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-07-26 (0 days ago)

[Pedro Monteiro (ptsmonteiro)]

I also upgraded from Maverick to Natty and I'm getting Grub related errors:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Setting up linux-image-2.6.38-11-generic (2.6.38-11.48) ...
Running depmod.
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-11-generic
Examining /etc/kernel/postinst.d.
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms 2.6.38-11-generic /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic
 * dkms: running auto installation service for kernel 2.6.38-11-generic
 * vboxhost (4.0.4)... [ OK ]
 * nvidia-current (270.41.06)... [ OK ]
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools 2.6.38-11-generic /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/nvidia-common 2.6.38-11-generic /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/pm-utils 2.6.38-11-generic /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/update-notifier 2.6.38-11-generic /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-grub 2.6.38-11-generic /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
Generating grub.cfg ...
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: error: unknown filesystem.
run-parts: /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-grub exited with return code 1
Failed to process /etc/kernel/postinst.d at /var/lib/dpkg/info/linux-image-2.6.38-11-generic.postinst line 1010.
dpkg: error processing linux-image-2.6.38-11-generic (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 2
Setting up memtest86+ (4.10-1.1ubuntu1) ...
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
Generating grub.cfg ...
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
error: found two disks with the index 0 for RAID md0.
error: superfluous RAID member (2 found).
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: error: unknown filesystem.
dpkg: error processing memtest86+ (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of ubuntu-standard:
 ubuntu-standar...

[Pedro Monteiro (ptsmonteiro)]

Found the reason for the problem and a workaround.

The problem:

The problem is having a RAID partition as the last partition of the device. Because the superblock location of a partition that is the last on the device and the superblock location of an entire device is the same (both on the end of the device) the superblock metadata should be used to find which RAID device it's related to.
Apparently grub-probe misunderstands this info. In my case it was assuming I had a full hard drive RAID device instead of a single partition at the end.

The workaround:

Having found this erratic behavior, I changed my disk partition layout so that the RAID partition wouldn't be at the end of the disk. Now, the last partition was the swap partition.
That change itself didn't work because the mkswap command didn't erase the raid superblock data still in the partition at the end of the drive. I had to do a "mdadm --zero-superblock" at the disk device so that the only valid superblock would be the RAID partition superblock.

After all this, I finally got grub-probe to detect my configuration successfully.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

[Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson)]

This issue has sat incomplete for more than 60 days now. I'm going to close it as invalid. Please feel free re-open if this is still an issue for you. Thank you.