grub-install fails

[YannUbuntu]

Reported by Tom by email.

12.04 install.
Dell Inspiron 910.
From a liveCD, reinstalling GRUB fails:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media
mount: /dev/sda1 already mounted or /media busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/sda1 is already mounted on /media
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ for w in dev dev/pts proc sys; do sudo mount -B /$w
/media/$w ; done
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo chroot /media grub-install /dev/sda
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: error: cannot write to `/dev/sda'.

Same error when trying to reinstall GRUB via Boot-Repair: http://paste.ubuntu.com/1192496/

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Does dmesg show any errors after this?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for grub2 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[YannUbuntu (yannubuntu)]

FYI, the user (Tom) wrote:

"So I started back from scratch. I wiped the system and reinstalled
10.4 LTS with a stock lilo loader. Then I followed the update-upgrade
link to to 12.04. That worked.

The netbook now works, though I am stuck with the ineligance of lilo.
But my Dell Inspiron 910 is now working well enough"