GRUB failed to install to (sda)

[richwillal]

During install to a USB (sda) drive, GRUB failed. The following is the error detail:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/ubiquity", line 166, in ?
    main()
  File "/usr/bin/ubiquity", line 161, in main
    install(sys.argv[1])
  File "/usr/bin/ubiquity", line 57, in install
    ret = wizard.run()
  File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/kde-ui.py", line 338, in run
    self.process_step()
  File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/kde-ui.py", line 828, in process_step
    self.progress_loop()
  File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/kde-ui.py", line 599, in progress_loop
    raise RuntimeError, ("Install failed with exit code %s\n%s" %
RuntimeError: Install failed with exit code 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 1404, in ?
    install.run()
  File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 385, in run
    self.configure_bootloader()
  File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 1163, in configure_bootloader
    raise InstallStepError(
InstallStepError: GrubInstaller failed with code 1

I expect it may be because I installed grub to a drive that is not the first one in the boot order currently, and is a USB drive.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Could you please attach /var/log/syslog and /var/log/partman to this bug, by commenting on the bug's web page? Thanks in advance.

Did you literally tell GRUB to install to "(sda)"? That's not a valid GRUB device name.

[richwillal (richwillal)]

I've seen the e-mail trail, and hope this isn't just an annoying duplicate,
but I tried different variations after I found the manpage on grub. All of
then resulted in the same error message. I can try again in a few days to
replicate the conditions if it will help, but it was on an external drive
that has been re-formatted since so I don't have the logs.

Thanks,
Rich

On 12/1/06, Colin Watson <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> Could you please attach /var/log/syslog and /var/log/partman to this
> bug, by commenting on the bug's web page? Thanks in advance.
>
> Did you literally tell GRUB to install to "(sda)"? That's not a valid
> GRUB device name.
>
> ** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
> Status: Unconfirmed => Needs Info
>
> --
> GRUB failed to install to (sda)
> https://launchpad.net/bugs/71099
>

[Andy Schaumberg (aday00)]

This sounds much like the 'bug' I found (I tried to find the bug report
number, but maybe it's closed and therefore I can not see it?). In the
end, with just a SATA HD in my system I installed GRUB, but
counterintuitively GRUB installed to 'hda'. I don't know anything about
GRUB, but 'hda' was how my previous ATA HD was listed. So now I have
GRUB installed to a HD in a system with no other HDs...

This 'hda' naming only seems to be an issue because the person
installing Ubuntu is allowed to change the GRUB target device name (hda)
to anything s/he wants even if the name is invalid, e.g. 'sda', and then
things get messy. Maybe the UI control for GRUB target device name could
be changed from a textbox to a dropdown menu? A dropdown menu would have
been nice when I had SATA and ATA HDs in my system, needed to pick which
HD should have GRUB installed, and had no idea what valid GRUB device
names were.

Thanks for your hard work folks.

Andy Schaumberg

richwillal wrote:
> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 73825 ***
>
> I've seen the e-mail trail, and hope this isn't just an annoying duplicate,
> but I tried different variations after I found the manpage on grub. All of
> then resulted in the same error message. I can try again in a few days to
> replicate the conditions if it will help, but it was on an external drive
> that has been re-formatted since so I don't have the logs.
>
> Thanks,
> Rich
>
>
> On 12/1/06, Colin Watson <email address hidden> wrote:
>
>> Could you please attach /var/log/syslog and /var/log/partman to this
>> bug, by commenting on the bug's web page? Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Did you literally tell GRUB to install to "(sda)"? That's not a valid
>> GRUB device name.
>>
>> ** Changed in: ubiquity (Ubuntu)
>> Status: Unconfirmed => Needs Info
>>
>> --
>> GRUB failed to install to (sda)
>> https://launchpad.net/bugs/71099
>>
>>
>
>

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Looks like this is mostly bug 90575 (lack of validation for grub device), then.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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