Grub freezes on boot with just "Grub" text

Bug #99981 reported by Angelo
14
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
grub-installer (Ubuntu)
Expired
Undecided
Unassigned
Nominated for Hardy by Angelo
Nominated for Intrepid by Angelo
Nominated for Jaunty by Angelo
ubiquity (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned
Nominated for Hardy by Angelo
Nominated for Intrepid by Angelo
Nominated for Jaunty by Angelo

Bug Description

Binary package hint: grub

It appears that the Ubuntu installer installs grub by running setup (hd0), which in turn runs the following command:
"install --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 /grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+17 p (hd0,0)/grub/stage2 /grub/menu.lst"

For some systems, this does not work (e.g. Toshiba M30 in my case), presenting a blank screen on boot with the text "GRUB".

Using the "d" option resolves this issue. (i.e. Force Stage 1 to look for the actual disk stage2_file was installed on)
Here's the modified command:
install --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 /grub/stage1 d (hd0) (hd0)1+17 p (hd0,0)/grub/stage2 /grub/menu.lst

I'm not sure if fedora uses this option, but grub works without a hitch after install. With Ubuntu Dapper and Feisty, I've had to manually install grub with this option to get it working. A bit of an annoyance for me, but for a new user looking to adopt Linux, it would probably scare them off.

Could this option be set on default?

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Apr 1 21:00:02 2007
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 7.04
Uname: Linux carmen 2.6.20-12-generic #2 SMP Wed Mar 21 20:55:46 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

Revision history for this message
Anita (a-lewis) wrote :

Feisty Beta Alternate - I get only "GRUB" when I reboot after installing. The odd thing is that I installed grub in the root partition, or so I thought. It is kind of confusing, because the installer labeled my partitions as scsi. I installed on what should have been /dev/hda8, but was called /dev/sda8. I then chose to put grub in /dev/sda8, but obviously it wrote on the MBR.

I am now trying to get grub installed back in the mbr properly, hopefully with a text install of edgy. Very ugly bug for me!

Anita

Revision history for this message
Anita (a-lewis) wrote :

I got the text install of edgy in quickly and had it install grub in the mbr. Now I could boot into my main install on /dev/hda1. I then did:

ajlewis2@hopalong:~$ sudo grub-install /dev/hda
Password:
/dev/hda does not have any corresponding BIOS drive.

I finally figured out that I should run it with --recheck.

So this installation of grub with feisty beta alternate installer did something bad, I'd say. I don't know if it was grub or if it is because the drive is being seen as scsi. As I recall that was a problem in edgy while it was being produced and it got fixed. I've been seeing this in feisty all along and assumed it would have been fixed by now.

Anita

Revision history for this message
Adam Niedling (krychek) wrote :

Feisty is not supported anymore. Please reopen this report if this is still an issue in a later version of Ubuntu.

Changed in grub:
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Angelo (ubuntu-email) wrote :

Re-installed Hardy recently with the same problem. "GRUB" is shown on the screen, but does not go to stage 2.

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html#install states:
Several buggy BIOSes don't pass a booting drive properly when booting from a hard disk drive. Therefore, you will unfortunately have to specify the option d, whether your Stage2 resides at the booting drive or not, if you have such a BIOS.

Changed in grub:
status: Invalid → New
Revision history for this message
Adam J. Lincoln (adamjlincoln) wrote :

Since upstream knows about this and user's report matches upstream description (which blames it on buggy bioses), my best determination is that this bug belongs to the ubuntu installer instead of grub. Upstream seems to be saying this is "Can't Fix", but perhaps the installer could handle these special cases? I'm moving the package for this bug to casper, the installer system. If an installer guru knows better, please change the assignment accordingly. The bug reporter is right - this could be a disheartening install experience for someone with one of these bioses.

Revision history for this message
Adam J. Lincoln (adamjlincoln) wrote :

Experts in #ubuntu-bugs tell me that this is better placed in ubiquity.

Revision history for this message
Evan (ev) wrote :

This is not a bug in ubiquity. I'm not sure who told you that this would be better placed on ubiquity, but it definitely belongs on grub-installer.

Changed in ubiquity:
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
Phillip Susi (psusi) wrote :

Karmic and later releases have moved to grub2 by default, which should resolve this. Do you still have trouble with lucid or maverick?

Changed in grub-installer (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

[Expired for grub-installer (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

Changed in grub-installer (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Expired
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