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kr0b1t
February 21st, 2010, 05:58 PM
I just got a new laptop ( 2 days ago ), and installed Ubuntu 9.10 ( 64 bits ), but some of the things didn't work, so since I'm more familiar with Fedora, I installed Fedora 12 ( 64 bits ) on a different partition. Here is were problems started. Before Fedora, I was able to load grub and boot without a problem, after fedora, when booting I get a boot failure hard drive

Using the Ubuntu installation CD,I'm able to select the [ Boot from primary hard drive ], see grub menu and boot without a problem.

I have re-installed grub using:


grub-install /dev/sdaStill the same problem.

I have downloaded and run boot_info_script (http://sourceforge.net/projects/bootinfoscript/) and found no error in my MBR or any partitions.

Partial Results:


Boot Info Script 0.55 dated February 15th, 2010

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

=> Grub 2 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

I have even gone to the process of a complete re-install and still have the same problems.

I believe that the problem is not grub or the MBR. So I'm think what happens before loading the MBR into mem to boot. POST is done without a problem -- at least there is not errors until selecting the HD as the booting device -- , how can a debug what is happening at booting time to be able to fix the problem?

Any ideas out there?

darkod
February 21st, 2010, 06:20 PM
The part of the results file you posted doesn't show anything. Except that you do have grub2 on the MBR of the hdd.

Is the error still there?

Post the whole content of the results to see if grub.cfg is correct.

kr0b1t
February 21st, 2010, 06:25 PM
Here it is:



### 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 2e2cb2d9-c443-475a-8b95-77700188c4b8
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/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 2e2cb2d9-c443-475a-8b95-77700188c4b8
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=2e2cb2d9-c443-475a-8b95-77700188c4b8 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 2e2cb2d9-c443-475a-8b95-77700188c4b8
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=2e2cb2d9-c443-475a-8b95-77700188c4b8 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###


Since I'm able to load this configuration file once I boot from the CD, I'm assuming this is correct.

kansasnoob
February 21st, 2010, 07:39 PM
We need to see the full output, not just bits and pieces.

kr0b1t
February 21st, 2010, 10:00 PM
Hey, I found the problem. Looking back at you asking for all the info, here is a disk information


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

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders, total 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7add4962

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 2,048 3,074,047 3,072,000 27 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 3,074,048 107,523,044 104,448,997 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 107,523,045 1,225,888,019 1,118,364,975 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 107,523,108 115,523,414 8,000,307 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 * 115,523,478 215,528,039 100,004,562 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 * 215,528,103 315,532,664 100,004,562 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 315,532,728 615,530,474 299,997,747 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 615,530,538 915,528,284 299,997,747 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 915,528,348 1,065,462,929 149,934,582 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 1,215,526,158 1,225,888,019 10,361,862 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 1,225,893,888 1,250,263,039 24,369,152 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS



Notice that the first partition ( as was in the system before I installed Ubuntu ) is not set as bootable., So I deleted /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 and created a new partition re-installing Ubuntu on it.

[CODE=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 640.1 GB, 640135028736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 77825 cylinders, total 1250263728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x7add4962

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 63 107,523,044 107,522,982 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 107,523,045 1,225,888,019 1,118,364,975 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 107,523,108 115,523,414 8,000,307 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 * 115,523,478 215,528,039 100,004,562 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 215,528,103 315,532,664 100,004,562 83 Linux
/dev/sda8 315,532,728 615,530,474 299,997,747 83 Linux
/dev/sda9 615,530,538 915,528,284 299,997,747 83 Linux
/dev/sda10 915,528,348 1,215,526,094 299,997,747 83 Linux
/dev/sda11 1,215,526,158 1,225,888,019 10,361,862 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 1,225,893,888 1,250,263,039 24,369,152 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS

[/CODE]

Even after the installation of Ubuntu in /dev/sda1, that partition is not toggled as bootable.

So I change the partition to bootable with fdisk, and now I can boot without a problem.

The OS that I'm using right now is in /dev/sda6, grub is installed correctly and points to a correct partition. I've never seen a problem with having to have a bootable partition in the first partition ( /dev/sda1 ) as bootable.

I will try to re-create this problem in a different environment. What if a I want to have a swap partition as my first partition?

oldfred
February 22nd, 2010, 01:58 AM
One of your posting shows two bootable partitions, you can only have one. Linux does not required a bootable flag, but I just learned today from one of meierfra's posts that some BIOS require at least one bootable flag on the drive.

meierfra.
February 22nd, 2010, 02:11 AM
some BIOS require at least one bootable flag on the drive.
More precisely: Some Bios require a boot flag on a primary partition.
So it is not important that the first partition has the boot flag, but that one of the first four partition has a boot flag.

Those extra boot flags on /dev/sda6 and /dev/sda7 are probably completely ignored and should not cause any problems