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Thread: cannot boot maverick "error: sparse file not allowed"

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Beans
    3

    cannot boot maverick "error: sparse file not allowed"

    I read this is a common bug, but no solution I found in the Internet works for me
    In grub 1.97 after choosing Linux Ubuntu I get
    "error: sparse file not allowed, press any key to continue"
    hitting any key directs me back to the grub menu.

    I ran a liveCD and commented out:
    Code:
    #cat << EOF
    #if [ -s \$prefix/grubenv ]; then
    #  set have_grubenv=true
    #  load_env
    #fi
    #EOF
    in /etc/grub.d/00_header and I still get the same error.

    When did it start? I had three partitions with: Windows 7, Ubuntu 10.10 and Mint 12. Mint was installed the most recently, so the grub file loaded at the startup must have been from the Mint partition. Then I formatted the Mint partition, loosing my grub. Then I run some magic grub-rescuing commands from liveCD and everything was working fine for 2 days. Today it won't start due to this sparse file error.

    this is my fstab file:
    Code:
    proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
    UUID=c1f21bbe-c892-4c21-a78a-16787327238e none            swap    sw              0       0
    /dev/sda4    /media/playground    ntfs    defaults     0    0
    /dev/sda6 /media/sandbox ext4 defaults 0 0
    this is my fdisk-l:
    Code:
       Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
    /dev/sda2               1        3916    31453185    5  Extended
    /dev/sda3   *        3916        6466    20480000    7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda4            6466       30402   192264192    7  HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda5            1974        3916    15600640   83  Linux
    /dev/sda6               1        1974    15850496   83  Linux
    The partition with Ubuntu 10.10 is /dev/sda5.
    How can I run grub rescue or something like this when I'm not able to login to Ubuntu 10.10?
    Thanks for your help!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    uk
    Beans
    9,249
    Distro
    Xubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

    Re: cannot boot maverick "error: sparse file not allowed"

    Hi

    Purge and reinstall grub from a LiveCD. See if that fixes the problem.

    http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-repair...buntu-live-cd/

    Kind regards
    If you believe everything you read, you better not read. ~ Japanese Proverb

    If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed. - Mark Twain

    Thinking about becoming an Ubuntu Member?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Beans
    3

    Re: cannot boot maverick "error: sparse file not allowed"

    Hi,
    reinstalling grub solved the problem (hopefully for good, because I've already reinstalled grub from liveCD two days back). While following the steps from the link I got an error:
    Code:
    root@ubuntu:/# update-grub
    Generating grub.cfg ...
    Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-28-generic
    Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-28-generic
    Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-25-generic
    Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-25-generic
    Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic
    Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
    Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
    Cannot find list of partitions!
    done
    but my maverick started successfully.
    Thank you, matt_symes!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    uk
    Beans
    9,249
    Distro
    Xubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr

    Re: cannot boot maverick "error: sparse file not allowed"

    Hi

    Cannot find list of partitions!
    I think mounting /sys may get rid of that error message (at least i read that somewhere).

    Code:
    sudo mount -t sysfs sysfs /mnt/sys
    or

    Code:
    sudo mount -o bind /sys /mnt/sys
    Kind regards
    Last edited by matt_symes; May 29th, 2012 at 07:34 PM.
    If you believe everything you read, you better not read. ~ Japanese Proverb

    If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed. - Mark Twain

    Thinking about becoming an Ubuntu Member?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Beans
    3

    Re: cannot boot maverick "error: sparse file not allowed"

    Hi again,
    I can't believe I cannot find a solution in google to another, common (according to my common sense ), problem :/
    When I got my GRUB back, and was able to start Maverick successfully, I haven't noticed there is no Windows 7 on the list :/ I usually use Linux only, but today I have to do something in C# and I can't start Windows

    Kind Regards

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