error: no such device...

[stuckagain]

Hi,

I have installed Xubuntu 9.10 on my Thinkpad R40e. When I power on, I get the message:

error: no such device: xxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxx (a long number - the UUID of /dev/sda1)
Press any key to continue...

When I press enter, the message simply keeps repeating.

If I switch off and start again, the message appears for a moment and then the GNU GRUB version 1.97~beta4 menu screen appears! Then I am able to edit the commands and get to the Xubuntu desktop - I followed one of the posts in this forum.

But the problem is that I am getting the GRUB menu itself alternately! How do I make it appear each time I power on?

Rgds.

[darkod]

Which commands are you altering exactly? If Grub somehow has wrong UUID you can edit that and it will not give the error. Or maybe even completely reinstall grub2.

[stuckagain]

Thanks for the reply.
I am just commenting out the "search --no-floppies.........." command with a semi-colon. Thats all!
If I simply press enter on the highlighted entry on the grub menu, then I get the same error message.

After editing, I get a brief "syntax error" message but the startup completes and I get the desktop.

[stuckagain]

I am wondering whether I need to tweak that grub.cfg file to make the grub menu appear each time.......

[gnat79]

In Grub2 they have changed some things. Like, the menu.lst file is either not there, or it's autogenerated and they warn you not to change it. I'll be interested to know how you resolve this.

[stuckagain]

I don't have much idea about grub or menu.lst. There is no file called menu.lst in /boot/grub.

[darkod]

No, there isn't. Actually the grub.cfg file is the one automatically created with update-grub command and they do not recommend to manually edit it. Although in some cases it helps.

Can you download and run the script in my signature. It will show the whole boot process. If it's downloaded to the desktop for example you can run it with:
sudo bash ~/Desktop/boot_info_script*.sh

It will create results.txt file. Copy the content of that file here and please put CODE ags around that content (with all the content selected hit the # button in the toolbar when writing the post).

[stuckagain]

Darkod - Thanks for the instructions. i shall get back to u asap with the results (my laptop is not with me now......)

[PetteriP]

Hi, guys!

I have this exact same problem - no such device and the UUID. I was installing on a _very_ old IBM 600X. However with stuckagain's instructions above - ruling out the "search --no-floppies..." line - I can launch desktop.

I ran the script from darkod's sig and I attach the result here. It doesn't tell me much - ID's look good to me...

I was running this same PC earlier with 9.04 and upgraded to 9.10 by Update Manager last week, everything was ok, no error messages on startup. But now I replaced the hard drive on this mother, installed 9.10 from the CD and got this.

BR,
-P

[darkod]

Did you replace the HDD and just reinstalled grub2 or the whole 9.10?
I'm on windows machine right now and it can't read the attached file nicely. If you posted just the content it would show up.
If you just replaced a HDD and reinstalled grub2 it might keep settings from the old install and not recognize the new drive UUID or similar.

[PetteriP]

I replaced the HD and then full, clean install on that.
The script result:


============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

=> Grub1.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive
in partition #1 for /boot/grub.

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 9.10
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00031036

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 622,920,374 622,920,312 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 622,920,375 625,137,344 2,216,970 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 622,920,438 625,137,344 2,216,907 82 Linux swap / Solaris


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

/dev/sda1: UUID="5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda5: UUID="95b3d7be-79e8-4e82-9ba8-cb06b47b8139" TYPE="swap"

=============================== "mount" output: ===============================

/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)


=========================== sda1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-15-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic root=UUID=5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-15-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-15-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic root=UUID=5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-15-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
if [ ${timeout} != -1 ]; then
if keystatus; then
if keystatus --shift; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=0
fi
else
if sleep --interruptible 3 ; then
set timeout=0
fi
fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

=============================== sda1/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=5e3fed14-8044-487b-a5be-017d7c019656 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=95b3d7be-79e8-4e82-9ba8-cb06b47b8139 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

=================== sda1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


.0GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
.0GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
.0GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-15-generic
.0GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
.0GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic
.0GB: initrd.img
.0GB: initrd.img.old
.0GB: vmlinuz
.0GB: vmlinuz.old


There you go!!

BR,
-P

[darkod]

It looks fine. Sorry, no ideas.
You might google more for the exact error message. Or you can try reinstalling grub2 but I'm not sure it can help because the current one looks fine as far as I know.

[stuckagain]

Hi Darkod,

Here is my results.txt file...



============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================
=> Grub1.97 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive
in partition #1 for /boot/grub.
sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 9.10
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img
sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: Extended Partition
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________
File system: swap
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================
Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___
Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4864 cylinders, total 78140160 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc6a94131
Partition Boot Start End Size Id System
/dev/sda1 * 63 76,019,579 76,019,517 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 76,019,580 78,140,159 2,120,580 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 76,019,643 78,140,159 2,120,517 82 Linux swap / Solaris

blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________
/dev/sda1: UUID="b1c807be-8c15-4f5e-b2d3-9ee5e8d9da2e" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sda5: UUID="29223cc9-4261-4668-8fdd-b649a2e055ab" TYPE="swap"
=============================== "mount" output: ===============================
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)

=========================== sda1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set b1c807be-8c15-4f5e-b2d3-9ee5e8d9da2e
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set b1c807be-8c15-4f5e-b2d3-9ee5e8d9da2e
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set b1c807be-8c15-4f5e-b2d3-9ee5e8d9da2e
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
if [ ${timeout} != -1 ]; then
if keystatus; then
if keystatus --shift; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=0
fi
else
if sleep --interruptible 3 ; then
set timeout=0
fi
fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
=============================== sda1/etc/fstab: ===============================
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=b1c807be-8c15-4f5e-b2d3-9ee5e8d9da2e / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=29223cc9-4261-4668-8fdd-b649a2e055ab none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
=================== sda1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================

.0GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
.0GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
.0GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
.0GB: initrd.img
.0GB: vmlinuz



Rgds.

[darkod]

It looks good too. Sorry, I have no idea what is going on with this error.

[stuckagain]

Thanks for your interest anyway.

if you are a little free now, could you pls. have a look at another query of mine -
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1345607

It is about LCD brightness, a hackneyed topic I know...

Rgds.

[PetteriP]

Boys tellya what. I don't have anything important here on this PC HD yet so I'll do another clean-*** install tomorrow sntrdJpnTime (after recovering from probable hang-over). If there's no suggestions before that, let's see, if I get the same symptoms.

BR,
-P

Update:
Didn't do it. It's not a dealbreaker for me so I'll just wait, maybe there will be resolution in time that don't involve re-installing the OS.

[PetteriP]

...and YO F**Ckerzzz what good are you for?

Seriously, thanks for help. If it weren't for this forum, I'd be much more effed.

BR,
-P