cannot start memtest86+ when /boot is a separate partition

[Nobuto Murata]

Binary package hint: grub2

Having the separete "/boot" partition from "/",
cannot start memtest86+ with "error: file not found".

An example partition allocation
/dev/sda1: /boot
/dev/sda2: /
/dev/sda3: swap

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Oct 13 21:52:21 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: grub-pc 1.97~beta3-1ubuntu8
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=ja_JP.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-13.45-generic
SourcePackage: grub2
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-13-generic i686
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1354): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:1354): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:1429): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:1410): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed

[Felix Zielcke (fzielcke)]

Please attach your grub.cfg.
I think the problem is that /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ doestn't use prepare_grub_to_access_device
This has been fixed in Debian now, which has 4.00-2 now.

[Simon Déziel (sdeziel)]

Here is a debdiff for Karmic-proposed.

[Simon Déziel (sdeziel)]

I have a package in my PPA if someone need it.

https://launchpad.net/~sdeziel/+archive/ppa

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

It's been 4 days since the patch appeared. Any chance it'll hit tomorrow final Karmic CDs?

[Michael Reinsch (mr-uue)]

Please also see my comment on #449180: This also happens if /boot is on the same partition as /, but with /usr on a different partition.

[Marc G. (marc-gu)]

I have exactly the same problem. I have a separate partition for /boot and the rest which is on an LVM. The fix proposed by Simon Déziel in his PPA worked on my system.

[MikeR (mike-rechtman)]

1. Upgraded from Jaunty, continued using 'old' GRUB for a couple of days
2. Needed GRUB2 for remastersys, so upgraded to grub-pc, current version is 1.97~beta4-1ubuntu4
3. menuitem for both memtest options failed.
  If i add a line 'set root=(hdX,Y) at the beginning of the menuitem using the 'e' option, it works,
  where X and Y refer to my /boot partition

Even though it is _not_ recommended, I added the 'set root...' to the start of each memtest stanza in boot.cfg
memtest now works, though I imagine my changes will disappear next GRUB update.

[Felix Zielcke (fzielcke)]

This has been fixed in lucid.

memtest86+ (4.00-2ubuntu1) lucid; urgency=low

  * Merge from debian testing, remaining changes:
    - Makefile: Add -fno-stack-protector to CFLAGS, since this package does
      not link against libc.
    - debian/grub: check for existance of /usr/lib/grub/grub-mkconfig_lib
    - debian/postinst: Only run update-grub2 in postinst if
      /boot/grub/grub.cfg exists

memtest86+ (4.00-2) unstable; urgency=low

  * Fix wrong integration of grub2 patch (Closes: #549125).

memtest86+ (4.00-1) unstable; urgency=low

  * New upstream release (Closes: #548033).
  * Dropped obsolete patches for old gcc-4.3 bugs (works fine now), and
    for opteron (support for builtin memory controller was redone).
  * Update grub2 support file to use "linux16" command and use
    grub-mkconfig_lib instead of old update-grub_lib (Avi Rozen,
    Closes: #539907, #522345).
  * Update grub2 support file for systems where /boot is on a separate
    partition (Vasilis Vasaitis, Closes: #540572).

[MikeR (mike-rechtman)]

Will the fix be backported to karmic?

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

I'd like to ask about the same. This bug is NOT fixed as it is still present in Karmic. Having an improper entry in GRUB menu of latest supported Ubuntu isn't really Your way of saying the bug is fixed, is it?

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

(If You think it is, You should force an update which would REMOVE memtest entry from GRUB menu. Current solution (meaning lack of solution) isn't acceptable)

[Felix Zielcke (fzielcke)]

Please see the official Ubuntu Documentation about the Bug Status:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status
If a bug is fixed in the current development release, it is Fix Released. If the bug also needs to be fixed in a stable release, use the "Target to release" link to nominate it for that release.

I think the "Target to release" actually means now "Nominate for release". That's at least the only link I can see here.

[Felix Zielcke (fzielcke)]

Oh and I'm not an Ubuntu developer so I can't do anything to help getting this fix into karmic.
It's fixed in lucid and backporting that change would be trivial.

[Michał Gołębiowski-Owczarek (mgol)]

OK, sorry for misunderstanding. I added a Karmic nomination, I hope it's what should be done at the moment...

[MikeR (mike-rechtman)]

After the last updates (7-Jan-2010) which also did an update-grub, memtest86+ *again* no longer boots.
Again, by entering the GRUB boot menu and adding a root=... line the problem is corrected.
Karmic is a supported version, and this should be fixed!

[Sander Steffann (sander-steffann)]

This has been broken for a long time while the (trivial) solution is known. Please get the fix into Karmic.

[BAleks (bukhalenkov-a)]

Confirm that bug exist in karmik, please fix. isn't fix trivial?

[Charles Curley (charlescurley)]

I confirm this bug on Karmic. Also, ironically enough, 30_os-prober gets it almost right when fining another instance of memtest86 on another drive.

What "Target to release" link? It seems to have gone away. See https://bugs.launchpad.net/malone/+bug/132733

[jacobbrett (jacobbrett)]

I installed Karmic 64-bit, then upgraded to Lucid 64-bit. Since then, I decided to move my /usr to a separate partition, which I did successfully. Now I'm getting the message "error: file not found" on startup, although Ubuntu still boots.

Could this be due to upgrade, or moving the /usr directory post-installation?

[udippel (udippel)]

jacobbrett,

this is hijacking the thread (bug) what you do. That is a no-never.
Your problem is totally unrelated to the bug; and - if you want to pursue it - should be filed elsewhere in launchpad.