Harddisk not bootable after grub install

[Jan Ischebeck]

I updated /dev/hda (hd0) with grub (version 0.97-1ubuntu4) but afterwards the system doesn't started from harddisk anymore. I created a grub floppy of the same version, and got the same results.
Just starting an older version of grub returned my system into a usable stage again.
For updating I always used the commands: root (hd0,4) setup (hd0).
No problem was reported during installation.

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

Your bug report unfortunately lacks details that we need in order to diagnose the problem. Please explain in what way the system fails to boot. What error messages do you see?

This article may help you to collect the kind of information we need: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html

[Michael Mauch (michael-mauch)]

I'm not the original reporter, but I have the same problem. After upgrading to Dapper Beta (from Breezy/Warty), I wanted to install the new grub 0.97 from Dapper. I started grub and ran:

root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
quit

grub didn't show an error, but after rebooting, I only get garbage on the screen when grub should show up. Hitting enter or anything else doesn't help. Booting from a rescue CD I see that the /boot/grub/*stage* files are still the old ones from April 2005. Using the "boot from first harddisk" option of the Dapper live CD I can still boot from the harddisk (and see the old grub 0.95 while doing so). Even

apt-get remove grub; apt-get install grub

doesn't bring the new /boot/grub/*stage* files. How do I get these files?

[Michael Mauch (michael-mauch)]

Ok, I found these *stage* files in /lib/grub/i386-pc and copied them to /boot/grub. Not sure if that was "the right way" to do that, but at least grub boots now.

[Jan Ischebeck (siesel)]

After upgrading grub to a newer version this problem went away. I'm ok with closing this bug.

Unfortunately I can't remember the exact error message. But it was a BIOS message. Grub wasn't started at all.

[Tollef Fog Heen (tfheen)]

As this problem seems to have disappeared, I'm closing this bug.