GRUB Hard Disk Error with Refit on Mac Mini

[kmand]

I had been booting Ubuntu on a Mac Mini off of the internal disk (hd0,2) with refit and grub. This worked for quite a while and then it broke after some Linux and Mac updates.

Now I get "GRUB Hard Disk Error", when refit tries to boot off the partition. Apparently that means that grub is having trouble with the disk geometry it tries to get from the bios when it goes to stage 1.5/2.

I know that the Bios emulation is still there, and Refit thinks the GPT and MBR are in sync.

I can boot off a grub cd, which then boots from (hd0,2), but I would like to avoid this step.

Any ideas on what might have gone wrong?

[cyberdork33]

I had been booting Ubuntu on a Mac Mini off of the internal disk (hd0,2) with refit and grub. This worked for quite a while and then it broke after some Linux and Mac updates.

Now I get "GRUB Hard Disk Error", when refit tries to boot off the partition. Apparently that means that grub is having trouble with the disk geometry it tries to get from the bios when it goes to stage 1.5/2.

I know that the Bios emulation is still there, and Refit thinks the GPT and MBR are in sync.

I can boot off a grub cd, which then boots from (hd0,2), but I would like to avoid this step.

Any ideas on what might have gone wrong?
Just try to reinstall grub manually.
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/Installing-GRUB-natively.html#Installing-GRUB-natively

[kmand]

I've reinstalled manually several times, both from a running ubuntu and from a grub cd. Each time I get

grub> root (hd0,2)

grub> setup (hd0,2)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,2)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,2)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0,2) /boot/grub/stage2 p /boot/grub/menu
.lst "... succeeded
Done.


But then on boot "GRUB Hard Disk Error"

Is it the not fatal embeds failing that is the problem?

[cyberdork33]

I've reinstalled manually several times, both from a running ubuntu and from a grub cd. Each time I get

grub> root (hd0,2)

grub> setup (hd0,2)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,2)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,2)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0,2) /boot/grub/stage2 p /boot/grub/menu
.lst "... succeeded
Done.


But then on boot "GRUB Hard Disk Error"

Is it the not fatal embeds failing that is the problem?

can you give the output of
sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
and
sudo parted /dev/sda print

[kmand]

fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00007427

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 26 204819+ ee EFI GPT
/dev/sda2 26 18693 149946368 af Unknown
/dev/sda3 * 18710 19458 6008624 83 Linux

parted /dev/sda print

Disk /dev/sda: 160GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 20.5kB 210MB 210MB fat32 EFI system partition boot
2 210MB 154GB 154GB hfs+ Customer
3 154GB 160GB 6153MB ext3 Untitled 2

Information: Don't forget to update /etc/fstab, if necessary.

[inchaos]

I've got the same thing except I already had Ubuntu installed and was installing OS X.

Now instead of the GRUB menu I get "HFS+ Partition Error" and I noted the same "these are not fatal" errors when I reinstalled GRUB.

Urg, I would love to not have to reinstall Gutsy again...

[cyberdork33]

fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00007427

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 26 204819+ ee EFI GPT
/dev/sda2 26 18693 149946368 af Unknown
/dev/sda3 * 18710 19458 6008624 83 Linux

parted /dev/sda print

Disk /dev/sda: 160GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 20.5kB 210MB 210MB fat32 EFI system partition boot
2 210MB 154GB 154GB hfs+ Customer
3 154GB 160GB 6153MB ext3 Untitled 2

Information: Don't forget to update /etc/fstab, if necessary.
Sorry, I never replied. That all looks OK, so I am not sure what the issue might be.

[kmand]

I'm still stuck on this, and just booting off the dvd.

I'm suspicious that grub is just not connecting properly with the Mac emulated bios. My two pieces of evidence are:

1) As posted, if I try to boot from a partition on the internal disk, I get "GRUB Hard Disk Error" which means that stage1 is getting the wrong geomerty from the bios.

2) Even if I boot off the dvd, the grub interactive mode I get does not see the external usb drive. On a normal pc notebook I have, booting off the same dvd with the same external usb drive, the interactive mode sees the external drive.

It is true that when I boot from the dvd, interactive mode can set its root to the internal drive and boot from a partition there, so it must be getting something right from the bios.

Is there some diagnostic mode to grub that might reveal whats going on?