[Karmic] grub fails with error "unrecognised symbol"

[Ken Lewis]

Binary package hint: grub-common

After a recent full-upgrade while testing Karmic Koala (with an upgrade to grub-common), the linux module in grub 2 causes an 'unrecognised symbol' error when I try to boot linux. I know how to chainload windows and so am reporting the bug from my backup system.

In the error console attempts to 'insmod linux' generate the same error.

System is AMD64, Karmic Koala, linux-image-2.6.31-5-generic, /boot is on ext4. If you need any more information (or help with the grub packages -- I've experienced a drop in quality with those in Karmic and am offering to help instead of raging), I want to help.

[Felix Zielcke (fzielcke)]

Am Mittwoch, den 05.08.2009, 08:29 +0000 schrieb Ken Lewis:
> Public bug reported:
>
> Binary package hint: grub-common
>
> After a recent full-upgrade while testing Karmic Koala (with an upgrade
> to grub-common), the linux module in grub 2 causes an 'unrecognised
> symbol' error when I try to boot linux. I know how to chainload windows
> and so am reporting the bug from my backup system.
>
> In the error console attempts to 'insmod linux' generate the same error.
>
> System is AMD64, Karmic Koala, linux-image-2.6.31-5-generic, /boot is on
> ext4. If you need any more information (or help with the grub packages
> -- I've experienced a drop in quality with those in Karmic and am
> offering to help instead of raging), I want to help.
>

Maybe the same reason as bug #408699, i.e. /boot out of sync with the
embed core.img?
In that case it should help to run grub-install again with the right
disk.

--
Felix Zielcke
Proud Debian Maintainer

[Ken Lewis (kenlewis)]

On 05/08/2009 12:52, Felix Zielcke wrote:
> Am Mittwoch, den 05.08.2009, 08:29 +0000 schrieb Ken Lewis:
>> Public bug reported:
>>
>> Binary package hint: grub-common
>>
>> After a recent full-upgrade while testing Karmic Koala (with an upgrade
>> to grub-common), the linux module in grub 2 causes an 'unrecognised
>> symbol' error when I try to boot linux. I know how to chainload windows
>> and so am reporting the bug from my backup system.
>>
>> In the error console attempts to 'insmod linux' generate the same error.
>>
>> System is AMD64, Karmic Koala, linux-image-2.6.31-5-generic, /boot is on
>> ext4. If you need any more information (or help with the grub packages
>> -- I've experienced a drop in quality with those in Karmic and am
>> offering to help instead of raging), I want to help.
>>
>
> Maybe the same reason as bug #408699, i.e. /boot out of sync with the
> embed core.img?
> In that case it should help to run grub-install again with the right
> disk.
>
I can confirm that I have the same issue as 408699. I have no other
installations of Ubuntu other than Karmic, and my system is a
conventional laptop with only one HDD.

For information, I have grub-pc in the mbr, NTFS on (hd0,1), /boot
(ext4) on (hd0,2), media (ext2) on (hd0,4), / (ext4) on (hd0,5), /home
(ext4) on (hd0,6) and swap on (hd0,7).

I can start windows with:
"insmod chain"
"chainloader (hd0,1)+1"
"boot"

I plan to fix grub with an install from a livecd.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

On Wed, Aug 05, 2009 at 12:40:41PM -0000, Ken Lewis wrote:
> On 05/08/2009 12:52, Felix Zielcke wrote:
> > Maybe the same reason as bug #408699, i.e. /boot out of sync with the
> > embed core.img?
> > In that case it should help to run grub-install again with the right
> > disk.
>
> I can confirm that I have the same issue as 408699.

Could you please also confirm whether re-running grub-install fixes it?

What does 'debconf-show grub-pc' say? In a simple setup such as yours,
it's curious that grub wasn't automatically reinstalled to the MBR.

[Ken Lewis (kenlewis)]

The issue was resolved by running grub-install in a rescue console.

Output of 'debconf-show grub-pc':

* grub-pc/install_devices: /dev/sda
* grub-pc/linux_cmdline:
* grub-pc/chainload_from_menu.lst: false

[rk (rkasl)]

I got the same on 10.04 alpha2 after
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
--- snip ---
Setting up grub-common (1.98~20100115-1ubuntu2) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/grub.d/10_linux ...

Setting up grub-pc (1.98~20100115-1ubuntu2) ...
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Attempting to install GRUB to a partitionless disk. This is a BAD idea.
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and its use is discouraged.
Installation finished. No error reported.
...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done

Current status: 0 updates [-88].
----
 then after reboot only what I got is

GRUB loading
error: the symbol 'grub_term_outputs_disabled' not found
grub rescue>