Another poor soul with grub trouble

[St Stephen]

installed win7 and then reinstalled grub only to have the grub shell come up when I startup. When I use the boot command it says there are no loaded kernels and when I use root (hd0,4) it says the file system does not exist. Anyone have any idea's? I ran the boot info script:

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 #5 for /boot/grub.

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ntfs
Boot sector type: Windows Vista/7
Boot sector info: No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
Operating System: Windows 7
Boot files/dirs: /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe /grldr

sda2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sda5: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext3
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 9.10
Boot files/dirs: /boot/grub/menu.lst /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda6: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

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

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders, total 195371568 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcccdcccd

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 * 63 146,882,294 146,882,232 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 146,882,295 195,366,464 48,484,170 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 146,882,358 193,261,949 46,379,592 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 193,262,013 195,366,464 2,104,452 82 Linux swap / Solaris


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/sda1 34202C58202C237A ntfs
/dev/sda5 a4a7fb00-1c55-4506-ac27-544a7e3f240f ext3
/dev/sda6 eb3adc36-b68b-456e-9e11-9071ccc0717b swap

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev output: ===========================

Device Mount_Point Type Options

aufs / aufs (rw)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (rw)
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (rw)
/dev/sda5 /media/a4a7fb00-1c55-4506-ac27-544a7e3f240f ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=devkit)


=========================== sda5/boot/grub/menu.lst: ===========================

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=a4a7fb00-1c55-4506-ac27-544a7e3f240f ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,4)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically
## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa
## e.g. indomU=detect
## indomU=true
## indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-20-generic
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic root=UUID=a4a7fb00-1c55-4506-ac27-544a7e3f240f ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-20-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-20-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic root=UUID=a4a7fb00-1c55-4506-ac27-544a7e3f240f ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-20-generic

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-17-generic
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-17-generic root=UUID=a4a7fb00-1c55-4506-ac27-544a7e3f240f ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-17-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-17-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-17-generic root=UUID=a4a7fb00-1c55-4506-ac27-544a7e3f240f ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-17-generic

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-16-generic
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic root=UUID=a4a7fb00-1c55-4506-ac27-544a7e3f240f ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-16-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic root=UUID=a4a7fb00-1c55-4506-ac27-544a7e3f240f ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic

title Ubuntu 9.10, memtest86+
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Microsoft Windows 7
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1


=============================== sda5/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# -- This file has been automaticly generated by ntfs-config --
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=a4a7fb00-1c55-4506-ac27-544a7e3f240f / ext3 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=eb3adc36-b68b-456e-9e11-9071ccc0717b none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/IBM_PRELOAD ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8 0 0

=================== sda5: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


94.5GB: boot/grub/core.img
85.5GB: boot/grub/menu.lst
85.4GB: boot/grub/stage2
75.5GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-16-generic
85.5GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-17-generic
97.6GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-20-generic
85.5GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-16-generic
80.0GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-17-generic
86.9GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-20-generic
97.6GB: initrd.img
85.5GB: initrd.img.old
86.9GB: vmlinuz
80.0GB: vmlinuz.old

btw I'm running 9.10
thanks in advance!

[mikewhatever]

I was wondering, which live cd did you use to reinstall Grub? Was it 9.10?

[St Stephen]

yeah it was the 9.10 livecd

[oldfred]

But I bet you did a upgrade to 9.10 from 9.04 so you really had old grub legacy (0.97).

You show grub2 in the MBR and menu.lst from old grub in the partition and no grub.cfg? You have to uninstall one of the two grubs as it gets confused when both are partially installed.

Lets see if just a full reinstall of grub2 works.

While in the LiveCD, open terminal and run:
sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda
sudo grub-install --recheck --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda

[St Stephen]

Well now it seems like grub can at least see my partitions, but it still boots to the grub shell and says there are no loaded kernels. I also mounted proc dev and sys to use update-grub to create grub.cfg. Im not really intimately familiar with grub so maybe im missing something simple.

[St Stephen]

anyone have any suggestions?

[oldfred]

If you still have parts of grub legacy and grub2, it still creates problems. I would make sure to uninstall grub & grub2 and reinstall grub2 (grub-pc) from the liveCD and chroot into your system:

Of course you must first know what partition you want to mount, in this example I'm using sda5 (# is comment):


sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/resolv.conf #(may or may not be necessary to establish an internet connection)
sudo chroot /mnt
#Then run whatever commands needed - no sudo needed (maybe good to run "df- H" and "cat /etc/issue" to be certain #you mounted the correct partition).
apt-get update
apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade #this updates everything
apt-get dist-upgrade #would upgrade you to the latest kernel in the repositories
apt-get purge grub grub-pc grub-common #deletes both grub & grub2
mv /boot/grub /boot/grub_backup
mkdir /boot/grub
apt-get install grub-pc grub-common # reinstalls grub2
#When done:
exit
sudo umount /mnt/dev
sudo umount /mnt/proc
sudo umount /mnt

[St Stephen]

well grub is unistalled now, but I cant reinstall it. when I apt-get install grub-pc grub-common I get "Could not resolve us.archive.ubuntu.com"
I cant ping anything when im chrooted but it works fine from the livecd; i switched to wired to see if that would help but there was no change.

[oldfred]

Did you include this line, which may be required for connnection?

sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/resolv.conf

[St Stephen]

that did it! after a grub-install and grub-update everything's running fine again. Thanks for the help!

[oldfred]

Glad you got it working.;)