Ubuntu
grub2 package

Fresh 12.04 install = grub rescue & file not found

Asked by Grench

Symptoms:

Ubuntu 10.04, 11.10, Mint 12 KDE, Debian 6.04 (no update) all install fine.

Debian 6.04 fails on the next boot if allowed to update during install.

Ubuntu 12.04, any spin of Mint 13 all fail on boot after installation.

Description of failure:

Attempting Boot From Optical Drive
Attempting Boot From USB Device
Attempting Boot From Hard Drive
error: file not found.
grub rescue> _

Attempted fix:
I tried Boot-Repair while booted to the Ubuntu 12.04 live DVD. It claimed success. Next boot result = same as above failure.
Boot repair result page: http://paste.ubuntu.com/1137198/

I have been running Ubuntu then Mint on this machine for the last 2+ years without any issue. It's been great. Now I can't get it to boot.

Hardware is:
HPxw8600 Workstation
dual Xeon E5420 CPUs, 16GB RAM
four 2TB Samsung hard drives in hardware RAID 10 on a 3ware 9500S-8 controller

This machine WAS running Ubuntu 10.04 then Ubuntu 11.10 then Mint 12 KDE all without issues during install or operation.
I can re-load any of those just fine.

Foolish me - I thought I'd try out the newer releases.

I suspect the issue is in a new release of grub not liking the 3ware 9500-8 RAID controller.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thank you.

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Grench (mark-schann) said : 		#1

Tonight I was able to get Ubuntu 64bit 12.04 to install and then boot one time.
I reinitialized the RAID array to RAID 5 (I don't think this had anything to do with any difference).
I installed with the checkboxes for downloading updates and additional software. (This may have been key to the limited success.)

I thought, "Wow - great - it worked."

Then I ran update.

Then I got a Grub prompt on the next boot.

Something in the update set is altering Grub or something it is looking for and resulting in a non-bootable system.

So - I'm going back to Mint 12 KDE so I can get some work done. Ubuntu 12.04 will have to wait until this bug can get found/addressed. Right now it's impossible to create a stable and updated Ubuntu 12.04 installation on my system.

If anyone has some solid suggestions, I can re-install again - it only takes an hour or so each time. I've reinstalled 16 times in the last week trying different things found on the web.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Revision history for this message
Grench (mark-schann) said : 		#2

Last night I installed Linux Mint 12. Installation went fine. Update went fine. Grub 1.99 is working 100% perfect.

So, my hardware is all functioning just fine. It is definitely something in Grub 2 that is causing the issue with Ubuntu 12.04.

Is there a way to install Ubuntu 12.04 64bit and force it to use - and not update - Grub 1.99 instead of Grub 2+?

Thank you.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#3

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.