10.04 new install fails at 94%

[rayray519]

I am trying to install 10.04 on a Dell XPS Gen 4 machine with Raid 0. I have 2 WD 74GB drives with a 128k stripe.

The install appears to be working great - then suddenly hangs trying to install Grub with the following error:

Unable to install Grub in /dev/sda.
Executing 'grub-install /dev/sda' failed.

This is a fatal error.

I have tried choosing different partitions without any luck at all.

Please help - Thanks!
Ray

[mörgæs]

Please ask only once. It will not earn you goodwill to ask repeatedly.

[dagdeniz]

What did it do on reboot? Grub screen or nothing? I have encountered the same problem with alternate-install cd and was given an option to continue without a bootloader, and I installed grub manually with the help of a live cd. Wasn't there such an option?

[ronparent]

The install didn't actually fail, only the grub write to the MBR. This is fixable. On a system where the only boot is a raid, grub has to be written to the MBR section of the raid (not /dev/sda).

To fix read the section 'Reinstalling Grub 2' in the following:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Post-Restoration%20Commands

This tells you how to reinstall grub from the live cd. Hint - the root is your full raid partition (ie /dev/mapper/<YourRaidPartitionInstalledTo> - the location to write the boot loader to is /dev/mapper/<YourRaidArray> (not a partiton on the array). There are three methods shown. You might have to try them all before you succeed. Have fun. Post on how you make out.

[rayray519]

Excellent, thank you very much ronparent - I will try this tonight and post the outcome (sorry for the repeated posts).

[rayray519]

What did it do on reboot? Grub screen or nothing? I have encountered the same problem with alternate-install cd and was given an option to continue without a bootloader, and I installed grub manually with the help of a live cd. Wasn't there such an option?
After the reboot it did nothing - flashing cursor only in the upper left. No other options were presented. It looks like ronparent has provided some steps which I will give a try tonight - thanks again dagdeniz.

[rayray519]

The install didn't actually fail, only the grub write to the MBR. This is fixable. On a system where the only boot is a raid, grub has to be written to the MBR section of the raid (not /dev/sda).

To fix read the section 'Reinstalling Grub 2' in the following:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Post-Restoration%20Commands

This tells you how to reinstall grub from the live cd. Hint - the root is your full raid partition (ie /dev/mapper/<YourRaidPartitionInstalledTo> - the location to write the boot loader to is /dev/mapper/<YourRaidArray> (not a partiton on the array). There are three methods shown. You might have to try them all before you succeed. Have fun. Post on how you make out.
So I followed the steps under " Copy Grub2 files from LiveCD". I entered sudo blkid, and got the following:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="160 GB" UUID="7b758379-2209-4981-b2a9-ef24f7d5884d" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdd1: LABEL="1TB Elements" UUID="008C5D298C5D1A8C" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/mapper/isw_hdfhhahbh_RAIDVOL01: UUID="846f8505-cd28-4c64-ba59-e94cb36cd57f" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/mapper/isw_hdfhhahbh_RAIDVOL05: UUID="ba026def-8a24-475c-bd3b-528d4581dd2b" TYPE="swap"
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda: TYPE="isw_raid_member"
/dev/sdc: TYPE="isw_raid_member"
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

When I try and mount /dev/sda, I get this error:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo mount /dev/sda /mnt
mount: unknown filesystem type 'isw_raid_member'

Not sure what next to do here. Is there a way around this or to still mount sda despite it being a part of the RAID array?

[ronparent]

As you now see you cannot mount sda because it is a raid member. If you are trying to mount the raid partition you installed to, you have to specify that partition explicitly (ie /dev/mapper/isw_hdfhhahbh_RAIDVOL01?). The same applies to any other instruction in the document giving a drive location. You will have to list the contents of /dev/mapper/ to see how your system named the raid drive overall (I am unfamiliar with your particular naming convention). You are making progress.

[Anusiya]

Did you use the Alternate CD/DVD to install? This problem is common amongst people who use regular edition, for RAID alternate edition needs to be used.