Booting from cold

[fnoren]

I have a problem when booting my computer from cold.
Previously i had Ubuntu and Windows side by side and always arrived at the prompt where to choose os, so no issues there.
Now with only Ubuntu installed, when starting from cold it comes up to the black and white logo which then disappears after 5 seconds, then a small cursor up in the top left corner and then nothing. The hard drive is working all during this process.

If i however do an F12 during startup and accept the first option "1. Normal" it boots without a problem. Likewise I can choose the 2nd option "2. Hard-Disk Drive C:" where I am then also given the alternative to run Ubuntu in Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-16-generic, Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-16-generic (recovery mode), Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic or Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-14-generic, (recovery mode). This also works quite fine.
I can also without problems reboot from the live system.

In bios I have deactivated all other options (such as CD, USB etc) than to boot on the hard drive

I have tried reinstalling the ISO with the same result. The same image worked quite fine with another computer on my network so that should at least not be the problem.

Any advice (understanding that i am still a novice with Ubuntu) is much appreciated.
Fredrik

[SecretCode]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the BIOS options (I presume that's what F12 takes you to). Instead, something is up with the Grub bootloader. Although there is a Grub somewhere on the disk, because you're getting that list of alternative kernels.

I think what we need ... this is the first time I have asked for this :) ... is the output from boot_info_script. Instructions from this thread: Boot Info Script: How to (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1291280)


How to get it - Download it from here. Boot Info Script - SourceForge.net (http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/)

How to run it:
From a live Ubuntu CD:
Open a terminal window - Applications>Accessories>Terminal

Type or cut n paste the following.

sudo bash ~/Desktop/boot_info_script*.shUpdate Karmic Live CD users - the default download directory is now Downloads

sudo bash ~/Downloads/boot_info_script*.sh

From your Ubuntu hard drive install:
Same as above unless you have changed the Firefox default download location. Then change the ~/Desktop/ part of the command to your download directory.

You will be asked for a password - your user password. You will not see the cursor move or see any stars as you type - thats the way of the Linux terminal. Type it in and press enter.

Where to find its output:
The script creates file RESULTS.TXT in same directory it is stored in. ~/Desktop

Add it to your post:
Open RESULTS.TXT in your favorite text editor - cut and paste - it can be long please use code tags (the # on the tool bar) or add the file as an attachment.

[fnoren]

Thanks for advice, this is what i came up with





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

=> Grub 1.97 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: 41.1 GB, 41110142976 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4998 cylinders, total 80293248 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x9dc96e9e

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 78,830,954 78,830,892 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 78,830,955 80,292,869 1,461,915 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 78,831,018 80,292,869 1,461,852 82 Linux swap / Solaris


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

sda1: UUID="362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990" TYPE="ext4"
sda5: UUID="616bee48-09c9-4c25-bb49-92be6e56bc71" 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)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/olof/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=olof)


=========================== 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 362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990
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 2.6.31-16-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 362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic root=UUID=362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-16-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 362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic root=UUID=362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-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 362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990 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 362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990 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=362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=616bee48-09c9-4c25-bb49-92be6e56bc71 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0

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


.0GB: boot/grub/core.img
.0GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
.0GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
.0GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic
.0GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
.0GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic
.0GB: initrd.img
.0GB: initrd.img.old
.0GB: vmlinuz
.0GB: vmlinuz.old

[SecretCode]

All that boot info looks fine ... so I looked more closely at your OP. I missed the fact that you actually get the white Ubuntu logo, meaning that the boot process is starting, and grub2 is installed and working fine. (Now you have only one OS, grub doesn't offer the prompt - even though you have multiple kernels.)

I'm not sure why it should work when you boot other ways, though. I would suspect different boot options being passed on the linux boot command line, but I can't see why that would happen.

Try a cold boot with the shift key pressed down (this is supposed to force the grub menu to show).

[fnoren]

Yes holding down shift - that gets me to the same menu as if i chose alt 2 after the F12 exercise; Hard-Disk Drive C:, plus two memory tests (memtest86+) and (memtest86+, serial console 115200)
Makes any sense?

[SecretCode]

I'm stumped. Everything looks fine?

Can anyone else help?

[fnoren]

It is a mind-bender for me at least...

[fnoren]

Re the above, i had friend who is very skilled in Unix (not so much Ubuntu) look at my problem and he picked the following;


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-16-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 362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic
root=UUID=362dd957-7258-42c3-898f-3a596d7d0990 ro quiet splash

Remove quiet and splash and regenerate the bootenvironment.


Is this something that might remedy the issue and if so how do I do this in Ubuntu?

[SecretCode]

Is this something that might remedy the issue
I don't really see how - what will happen is a lot more messages will appear on the screen

how do I do this in Ubuntu?
The quick way to do this is to edit the grub.cfg file on the hard disk, find the line
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-16-generic"
(exactly that) then go 6 or 7 lines down, and delete the text 'quiet splash'.

I don't have time to check at the moment, but you will need to mount the hard disk from the live CD, and I think you will find the file at /mount/sda1/boot/grub/grub.cfg. Edit with sudo gedit .

Save and reboot.

[fnoren]

Thanks, i will give it a go tomorrow
best regards
f

[SecretCode]

I don't have time to check at the moment, but you will need to mount the hard disk from the live CD, and I think you will find the file at /mount/sda1/boot/grub/grub.cfg. Edit with sudo gedit .

Save and reboot.

I have a bit more time now ... if you mount the hard disk partition using the "Places" menu it will mount at /media/xyz where xyz is the disk label. The command you would need is

sudo gedit /media/xyz/boot/grub/grub.cfg

[bugs6]

im having the same issue the cursor in the top corner of a black screen after the ubuntu symbol though i cant seem to boot ubuntu at all it just freezes on that black screen.

Hope someone figures this out soon