no grub installed when installing ubuntu 8.10 alpha3

[florent calosso]

When installing Ubuntu desktop 8.10 alpha3 (gnome) on my computer, I had chosen to install grub on a particular partition (sda10).
I did not noticed any particular issues during the install process.
Then I modified my personal grub partition (on sda12) to chainload with the new grub expected to be installed on sda10.
When rebooting to boot onto my new intrepid ibex distribution, I could not boot on sda10.
Then, I checked the sda10 partition :
I have a /boot folder, but there is no /boot/grub in there.

the hard disk is a sata2 disk, and it is the first time I noticed that kind of issue when installing a linux distribution (stable or not).

update :
this "bug" has been reproducted on the same machine twice :
once using the exact same process
once using (hd0,9) instead of /dev/sda10 to indicate the expected grub location (step 7/7 / menu advanced)

in both cases, no /boot/grub folder is created, so I cannot boot on my installed ibex.

[Han Chung (han+c)]

Exact same problem here.

[spiderwort (ironweed)]

I have had grub fail to install with Intrepid on multiple different install attempts. The installation from the Live CD fails to give an error message at all. The installation from the alternate install states that the grub installation has failed. (LILO fails as well.)

It is possible to complete the installation without a boot loader. It is then necessary to boot with a grub floppy (or media of your choice), and manually boot into the installation,

At this point I discovered that the grub package had been installed, but none of the post-installation processing had occurred. There was no /boot/grub directory. It is necessary to run:
grub-install
update-grub
(update automagic options in menu.lst using editor of your choice)
update-grub

The machine was able to boot normally at this point.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

This bug is reported against Intrepid alpha 3, which was quite a while ago. Is anyone still seeing this problem with the Ubuntu 8.10 beta?

No one has run into this problem as part of our ISO testing for the beta, so if this bug is still present it must require particular circumstances to reproduce it.

[florent calosso (fcalosso)]

Hi, I will try to download the last iso available, and install it again on my computer.
I will keep you updated if I can reproduce or not this "bug".

spiderwort : on which Intrepid version have you noticed this behavior ?

[spiderwort (ironweed)]

This occurred on a freshly-downloaded 64-bit iso, alternate install.

It also occurred on a hardy install, alternate, 64-bit. In this case (since I pursued the install to viability), I can verify that the grub package was _not_installed.

Perhaps my hardware is just too unusual...
Motherboard: Biostar TA790GX A2+
CPU: AMD Phenom 8450
BIOS: AMI v02.61
Motherboard chipset: AMD790GX
4 GB of memory
Disk is a 5-disk SCSI hardware RAID on a Mylex eXtremeRAID 2000 controller (module DAC960)

I have been using the Mylex controllers for several years, with no issues until very recently, in attempting this new build.

Please let me know if there is any other information I can supply.

[florent calosso (fcalosso)]

Hi,

I just tried on the RC release available here today October 24th (11pm paris)
http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.10/ubuntu-8.10-rc-desktop-i386.iso

I installed the exact same way, on my sda12 partition, and specifying grub to be installed on /dev/sda12 (same as /), so that my historical grub installed on the MBR would be untouched.

GRUB as been successfully installed on my /dev/sda12 partition, in the /boot/grub folder.
so I could boot onto intrepid ibex without any problems.

I just tried once, and as it is successfull, I personnaly consider this bug as solved or unreproductible on this RC version.

[spiderwort (ironweed)]

Downloaded intrepid rc iso (64-bit alternate) this morning. Install failed to install grub. This is the same hardware I listed above (I had some spare unallocated disk space).

I don't know what information might be useful for anyone to find out what is going on. I captured a few log files to a thumb drive; if I have one that might be of use I'll post it. Let me know.

Obviously, not many people are having this problem, so it must be pretty unique to my hardware.

[Saeed Moghaddas zadeh (moghaddas)]

At the end of installation process (after coping data) a skip button appears. By clicking on it some post installation processes don't work. So grub doesn't install correctly.

[florent calosso (fcalosso)]

I have never seen such a button in the intrepid installation process.

And I did the exact same actions when I experienced the "grub not installed" issue and when I did not.

[spiderwort (ironweed)]

Ditto with Florent....I never saw any "skip" button either.

After the installer installed a _large_ bunch of packages, it displayed a big red window that stated it was unable to install the boot loader. I was never able to get past that window except by telling it to continue without the boot loader.

[florent calosso (fcalosso)]

ok. I never had this red window you are talking about.
for me, when I experienced this "bug", everything seemt to be al right, no error message, no red window.

[spiderwort (ironweed)]

Ah, yes, let me clarify: when I ran the alternate install, I got the red window. When I ran the install from the live CD, I never received any sort of error, no indication anything was wrong, I just had an unbootable system after it ejected the CD. I usually run the alternate installations, because of my ...ummm...less common hard drive modules (I use Mylex now, I've used MegaRAID in the past).

[davescafe (davescafe)]

I think this bug affects me as well.

Short Summary:
Live CD install of 8.10 desktop i386 released fails to install a /boot/grub directory. After install is complete, Ubuntu will not boot from the local machine.

Hardware Config:
Motherboard = Asus P4P800-E Deluxe (Series: Socket478)
GFX = MSI NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900
HDD = six (6) SATA drives

Install Config:
/dev/sde1 = ntfs (Windows XP) - 32GB
/dev/sde2 = linux-swap - 2GB
/dev/sde4 = ext3 root (/) - 16GB
/dev/sde3 = ext3 home (/home) - 175GB

Steps to duplicate:
1. Boot of Ubuntu 8.10 desktop i386 live CD
2. Invoke the Ubiquity installer
3. Proceed thgouh install steps, accepting defaults where possible (Grub is selected to install as default to hd0)
4. Reboot after install - Only the previously-installed Windows XP loads - no Grub

I have reproduced this three times on this hardware.

I have not experienced anything like this with any of the Ubuntu versions starting at 6.06 and newer.

I expect this may have to do with the order my 6 drives are loading in, or perhaps the partition order.

[davescafe (davescafe)]

Resolution (workaround?) Follow-up to my previous post.

Here's what I did to get it working:

I suspected the problem may have been that I used the Partition Editor on the Live CD to resize my /home partition prior to Ubuntu 8.10 installation. Specifically, before I installed Ubuntu 8.10, I did this:

/dev/sde1 = ntfs (Windows XP) - 32GB <I used Partition Editor to reduce the size of the ntfs partition from 128GB to 32GB>
/dev/sde2 = linux-swap - 2GB <I deleted this partition and then re-created it from the pool of empty space.
/dev/sde4 = ext3 root (/) - 16GB <I deleted this partition and then re-created it from the pool of empty space.
/dev/sde3 = ext3 home (/home) - 175GB <I increased the size of this partition using the Partition Editor>

My personal data was already backed-up, so I decided I would delete and re-create all my Linux partitions. I re-created them with the same size and the same order. I left the Windows XP partition alone.
Thus:

/dev/sde1 = ntfs (Windows XP) <left untouched>
/dev/sde2 = linux-swap <I deleted and re-created the partition>
/dev/sde4 = ext3 root (/) <I deleted and re-created the partition>
/dev/sde3 = ext3 home (/home) <I deleted and re-created the partition>

Then I re-ran the Ubiquity installer from the Live CD. After it finished, the /boot/grub directory was where it was supposed to be. So the variable for me appears to be that I had re-sized partitions using the Partition Editor prior to installing. I expect that the large number of hard drives I have installed on my machine may have been a complicating factor as well.

[florent calosso (fcalosso)]

just to say that when I had the bug (beta3) , I left all my partition unchanged during the all installation process from the live CD (configure the partitions manually and only setting / to sda10 and grub to sda10)

then, with the RC, I did the exact steps, but the bug was not there this time.

my hardware is so common :
P5KC - Q6600
hard disks : WD SATA.

[spiderwort (ironweed)]

My recollection is getting a little fuzzy at this point as there have been so many install attempts on this hardware, but if I recall correctly, my first attempt was onto a single SCSI drive (the same Mylex controller), and I let the installer do the default partitioning ( / takes everything but a swap partition at the end of the disk). I still had trouble with grub (that recollection is pretty clear....I had trouble with using a grub floppy to get into the install, as I had neglected to connect the floppy cable to the motherboard :-\ )

I did install an early RC of Intrepid on an old Dell desktop with a couple of IDE drives in it....absolutely no trouble at all with that one, so I know it does work :-)

[Dan (dan-dss)]

Hello Everybody,

I've got a similar problem with ubuntu 8.10 when installing the server version on a HP Proliant ML580 G5 machine.
The installation goes fine up to the end, but when it reboots, than the machine won't start. I couldn't fix the bootloader with SuperGrubDisk. Any hints?

Thank you,
Dan

[alant49 (grumpygardener)]

Hi all
I was looking for a Linux distro which enabled wireless connect with my desktop and tried Ubuntu 8.10 running under Windows. All worked fine until I tried a stand-alone install. All installed well, until I rebooted my pc. There was no mention of Ubuntu ... no sign ... totally disappeared. Anyone got a plain-language help plan for me to be able to boot Ubuntu?

Thanks
Alan

[ConstintineNightKind (skittlesccd42)]

SAME PROBLEM.... ive got a stock compaq presario m2000 was built for windows xp i use plop boot manager so that i can boot from usb... and have had no issues to date with grub not installing...
well today i upgraded (from a usb stick using unetbootin) to intrepid anyone got a clue as to what the hell is going on with grub here???
   seemed rather odd to me i spent all night trying to figure this one out im stumped....
 every thing seemed ok like a few others mentioned untill i reboot i checked my bootmanager and its right it cant boot linux from the mbr thats why i have to install to my first partition.... anyway may be odd hardware usb install or the like please feel free to post meaning full sht here i need some advice for jaunty

[Chu (jmadisondev)]

Just hit the same bug.

Computer has 3 drives, 150Gb, 1.5 Tb, and 500 Gb. I was installing to the 150Gb drive (where windows resides) which was /dev/sdc I believe.

Windows partition was 140 gigs. I was going to try to squeeze the Ubuntu distro into the last 10 gigs, which I thought would be ok since my ubuntu VM image I've been using for a year is only about 7 gigs in size.

After rebooting and trying to figure out what went wrong I noticed all 3 drives were marked as boot drives. I changed removed the boot flag from the other two drives, still no go.

From my slackware days I remember that the /boot partation had to be in the first X megs of the drive for certain hardware to acknowledge it correctly, but considering you don't appear to need a separate boot partition anymore I assume this is long fixed.

I am going to try reinstalling now, since the other disks are marked as non-boot and see if it changed anything.