Installed Ubuntu 6.10 and GRUB to external- boot error /bin/sh can't access tty

The can't access tty error also came up when I moved files into a partition other than the Ubuntu ext3 or the linux-swap. I was in Ubuntu and dragged some files to the FAT32 and then I rebooted went into Windows to retrieve the files and then rebooted to go back to Ubuntu.. got the same error

I'm not sure my self, but I've posed the question to a few other people and I'm trying to work out the problem as I speak. I should have something soon.

Cheers,

Matt

Hi,

Can you please provide us with the contents of your fstab file (located at /etc/fstab) and your grub conf file (located at /boot/grub/menu.lst)

These can be found by mounting the drive with a live cd and posting them on here. If you need guidance with that then please don't hesitate to ask.

Dave

David Morris wrote:
> Your support request #3346 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/3346
>
> David Morris requested for more information:
> Hi,
>
> Can you please provide us with the contents of your fstab file (located
> at /etc/fstab) and your grub conf file (located at /boot/grub/menu.lst)
>
> These can be found by mounting the drive with a live cd and posting them
> on here. If you need guidance with that then please don't hesitate to
> ask.
>
> Dave
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> To answer this request for more information, you can either reply to
> this email or enter your reply at the following page:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/3346
>
>
>
Well I downloaded the CD image for the Ubuntu alternate CD and I have
already partitioned and installed Ubuntu using the text-based
installer. I am going to see if it works correctly if not I will sned
you the fstab. I hope my alternate CD install works though. Thanks for
your help. I will be sure to contact you and share with you how it
worked out!

ok I rebooted and same thing! I think I have narrowed something down now though. I shut down my PC, and opened it up then I disconnected the power and SATA connectors from my internal HDD which is my Windows drive (I don't want anything but Windows on). Now when I boot from the external USB drive and no internal Windows drive connected it boots fine, but when the internal Windows drive is connected I get the error. That sounds to me like it is a GRUB issue, such as GRUB is pointing to the Windows drive somehow and that is why it cannot access tty. Here are the contents of fstab and grub.conf.

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=aac7ae5d-eadf-470d-9e87-d6f1e9dbeaeb / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /dev/sda3
UUID=1753-FA0B /media/windows vfat defaults,utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
# /dev/sda2
UUID=e5c2d717-d081-4bd2-ba5e-b66eaafcab7b none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdb /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/hda /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/ /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0

and grub.conf

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to 'saved' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 3

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=aac7ae5d-eadf-470d-9e87-d6f1e9dbeaeb ro
# kopt_2_6=root=/dev/sda1 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,0)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
quiet
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
boot

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet
boot

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

I think I might have to edit grub.conf a bit to get it working. Please keep in mind that I do NOT want any modifications to happen to my Windows internal drive. As it sounds to me though GRUB might be pointing to the Windows drive because when I installed Ubuntu on the external drive the Windows drive was not connected.

forgot to add.. thanks for your help.. hope I can get it working.. I am going to start referring people to Ubuntu.

"As it sounds to me though GRUB might be pointing to the Windows drive because when I installed Ubuntu on the external drive the Windows drive was not connected."

That is exactly what is happening.

Now I'm not 100% sure which bits need changing I'm afraid, but making them won't damage anything.

I suspect that since the pc boots to start with you need to just change the references to "/dev/sda" to /"dev/sdb" in both your fstab and menu.lst files (including in the "### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST" section as this auto generates this config when you do upgrades)

You may also need to change the "root (hd0,0)" to root(hd1,0) but I'm pretty sure you don't so try the other way 1st.

To clarify what happened for people looking at this in the future.

# Ubuntu was installed on the external HDD whilst the windows drive was unplugged.
# This makes ubuntu think its going to be on /dev/sda all the time
# When the windows drive was plugged back in, its order appeared before the external HDD and was assigned /dev/sda, and the external drive became /dev/sdb
# This screws up grub as it was pointing at /dev/sda when it needed to be /dev/sdb

The fstab was correctly solved before (although I didn't notice earlier) by the use of UUID's, however grub was referring to the device directly. I'm not sure if its possible or been worked on by grub needs to be able to make use of UUID's to prevent this happening.

David Morris wrote:
> Your support request #3346 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ticket/3346
>
> David Morris posted a new comment:
> To clarify what happened for people looking at this in the future.
>
> # Ubuntu was installed on the external HDD whilst the windows drive was unplugged.
> # This makes ubuntu think its going to be on /dev/sda all the time
> # When the windows drive was plugged back in, its order appeared before the external HDD and was assigned /dev/sda, and the external drive became /dev/sdb
> # This screws up grub as it was pointing at /dev/sda when it needed to be /dev/sdb
>
> The fstab was correctly solved before (although I didn't notice earlier)
> by the use of UUID's, however grub was referring to the device directly.
> I'm not sure if its possible or been worked on by grub needs to be able
> to make use of UUID's to prevent this happening.
>

Indeed, that is what was going on, but to clarify when I reconnected the
Windows internal drive the external hard drive was listed as first in
the BIOS, but since Ubuntu sees the internal hard drive as always before
the external ones I simply changed the fstab and grub's menu.lst file to
say sdb instead of sda. Thanks for the help.
>
>

David Morris wrote:

[[ The fstab was correctly solved before (although I didn't notice earlier) by the use of UUID's, however grub was referring to the device directly. I'm not sure if its possible or been worked on by grub needs to be able to make use of UUID's to prevent this happening. ]]

In grub, one can refer to the partitions by their labels to solve this problem, e.g. root=LABEL=labelofhda2 instead of root=/dev/hda2

The command "blkid" outputs the properties of partitions including their labels.

I just read something on the Spanish Ubuntu website - appearently it is possible to refer to the UUIDs with grub, too!

http://www.ubuntu-es.org/index.php?q=node/28581
root=UUID=xxxxxxxxx

Have a look at

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&newwindow=1&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=bin/sh:+can%27t+access+tty:+job+control+turned+off&spell=1

Rongo_Tai