Can't get GRUB2 Installed

[shadowofblood]

EDIT: After discovering that the "/boot" partition did not end on a cylinder boundary, I booted back up into the alternate cd, re-partitioned everything and re-installed. It worked fine after that :)

I can't seem to get Grub2 Installed.
After many attempts, my computer boots into a black screen with white text stating:

[Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible completions of a device/filename. ] I used the Ubuntu 10.10 Alternate CD to set up an unencrypted "/boot" partition (dev/sdb1) and an encrypted volume (dev/sdb2). I used the Logical Volume Manager to create several partitions on the encrypted volume for "/", "tmp", "var", "usr", "usr local", "home", and "swap".

/dev/Ubuntu/Root is the encrypted root partition on /dev/sdb2.

So far I've tried:

Mount /dev/Ubuntu/Root to /mnt. Mount /dev/sdb1 to /mnt/boot. grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdb.
Installation was successfull. But I still boot into the screen described above.

I have also attempted the above, but instead of running grub-install, I ran "mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev" and then attempted to chroot into /mnt, but got an error saying "bash: groups: command not found". I then tried dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc, but it failed to install grub to /dev/sdb.

Let me know if I need to post any more information.

Here are my Boot Info Script 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 #2 for (,msdos2)/grub.
=> Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb and looks on the same drive in
partition #1 for (,msdos1)/grub.

sda1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

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

sdb1: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext2
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

sdb2: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: crypto_LUKS
Boot sector type: Unknown
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed:
mount: unknown filesystem type 'crypto_LUKS'

Ubuntu-Root: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System: Ubuntu 10.10
Boot files/dirs: /etc/fstab

Ubuntu-Swap: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system:
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Mounting failed:
mount: unknown filesystem type 'crypto_LUKS'
mount: unknown filesystem type ''

Ubuntu-tmp: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

Ubuntu-usr: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

Ubuntu-var: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

Ubuntu-usrlocal: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

Ubuntu-Home: __________________________________________________ _______________________

File system: ext4
Boot sector type: -
Boot sector info:
Operating System:
Boot files/dirs:

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

Drive: sda ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders, total 78165360 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sda1 2,048 66,052,095 66,050,048 7 HPFS/NTFS


Drive: sdb ___________________ __________________________________________________ ___

Disk /dev/sdb: 160.0 GB, 160000000000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19452 cylinders, total 312500000 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition Boot Start End Size Id System

/dev/sdb1 * 63 963,899 963,837 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 976,896 312,498,175 311,521,280 83 Linux


blkid -c /dev/null: __________________________________________________ __________

Device UUID TYPE LABEL

/dev/loop0 squashfs
/dev/mapper/test 6oQkX9-E3pG-ezMb-EHrU-e0gn-J5PZ-sprJuj LVM2_member
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-Home b0aa8032-9f52-4427-acee-ce508f65606f ext4
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-Root 68e816f5-f2b3-408f-8645-7b6dc3e4c683 ext4
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-tmp aef7def0-891b-4b70-9a02-8d24840c4daa ext4
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-usr 30e20962-5af7-414e-9a45-e6326f103ca2 ext4
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-usrlocal 33062bf0-2d1e-4869-9232-79e04fcb7441 ext4
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-var 24bab8e5-cfca-4d3d-b9c4-5f30c5553521 ext4
/dev/sda1 4836FBBA36FBA75A ntfs
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sdb1 df487720-4629-4bb5-aed0-32563f362c9a ext2
/dev/sdb2 df03bc74-a8be-4d2c-aba0-71193382b062 crypto_LUKS
/dev/sdb: PTTYPE="dos"

=============================== "ls -R /dev/mapper/" output: ===============================
/dev/mapper:
control
test
Ubuntu-Home
Ubuntu-Root
Ubuntu-Swap
Ubuntu-tmp
Ubuntu-usr
Ubuntu-usrlocal
Ubuntu-var

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

Device Mount_Point Type Options

aufs / aufs (rw)
/dev/sr0 /cdrom iso9660 (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop0 /rofs squashfs (ro,noatime)
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-Root /mnt ext4 (rw)
/dev/sdb1 /mnt/boot ext2 (rw)
/dev /mnt/dev none (rw,bind)


============================ Ubuntu-Root/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 nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-Root / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /boot was on /dev/sdb1 during installation
UUID=caae870d-61e2-4f9b-b1a9-6b1e345384a0 /boot ext2 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-Home /home ext4 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-tmp /tmp ext4 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-usr /usr ext4 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-usrlocal /usr/local ext4 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-var /var ext4 defaults 0 2
/dev/mapper/Ubuntu-Swap none swap sw 0 0
/dev/mapper/cryptswap1 none swap sw 0 0
=========================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc =======================

Unknown BootLoader on sdb2

00000000 4c 55 4b 53 ba be 00 01 61 65 73 00 00 00 00 00 |LUKS....aes.....|
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 63 62 63 2d 65 73 73 69 |........cbc-essi|
00000030 76 3a 73 68 61 32 35 36 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |v:sha256........|
00000040 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 73 68 61 31 00 00 00 00 |........sha1....|
00000050 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000060 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 08 00 00 00 20 |............... |
00000070 3c 15 4f 34 c7 f9 c7 3e 81 4a f6 99 80 ff 73 fa |<.O4...>.J....s.|
00000080 17 c5 09 d5 9f 5b cc 77 d5 5a 43 4f 77 3f c4 3e |.....[.w.ZCOw?.>|
00000090 e8 df 17 77 70 c9 1f a3 a3 17 6d 56 79 5a bb 95 |...wp.....mVyZ..|
000000a0 fe f1 7d ef 00 00 76 a7 64 66 30 33 62 63 37 34 |..}...v.df03bc74|
000000b0 2d 61 38 62 65 2d 34 64 32 63 2d 61 62 61 30 2d |-a8be-4d2c-aba0-|
000000c0 37 31 31 39 33 33 38 32 62 30 36 32 00 00 00 00 |71193382b062....|
000000d0 00 ac 71 f3 00 01 db fb d9 34 2f 2c 50 41 e3 ab |..q......4/,PA..|
000000e0 24 f6 c4 6d d5 0e 73 8e f1 a2 6f 0b fe f4 8d 52 |$..m..s...o....R|
000000f0 a3 d3 de 43 15 7e 97 a3 00 00 00 08 00 00 0f a0 |...C.~..........|
00000100 00 00 de ad 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000110 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000120 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 08 00 00 0f a0 |................|
00000130 00 00 de ad 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000140 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000150 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 08 00 00 0f a0 |................|
00000160 00 00 de ad 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000170 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000180 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 08 00 00 0f a0 |................|
00000190 00 00 de ad 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001a0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001b0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 08 00 00 0f a0 |................|
000001c0 00 00 de ad 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
000001e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 05 08 00 00 0f a0 |................|
000001f0 00 00 de ad 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000200

Here's what's in grub (/etc/default/grub):


# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
Thanks for the help!

[shadowofblood]

I added my Boot Info Script results for more information.

I noticed at the top, it says I have Grub2 installed on /dev/sda looking at partition #2 and also installed on /dev/sdb looking at partition #1.

It shouldn't be installed on /dev/sda. I never did that. Should I remove it?

FYI: /dev/sda doesn't have an OS installed; it's just temporary storage ATM.

[shadowofblood]

Any ideas?
I haven't been able to use my computer for several days now :(

EDIT: I added the contents of /etc/default/grub to the first post.

[shadowofblood]

Any Ubuntu gurus out there willing to give this a shot? :confused:

I'm still trying to figure it out, but I'm getting nowhere. Every attempt I make either fails to install, or brings up that annoying "minimal bash" grub screen. :(

[shadowofblood]

3rd page bump.

Still no answers? :confused:

EDIT: Sorry about all the bumps; I just now learned about the unanswered search feature =\

[dino99]

its easier :)

boot on partedmagic ( http://partedmagic.com/ ) to create 3 partitions:

- / : which is "root", make it bootable, ext4, ~ 12 Gb (take note of its name, something like /dev/sd?, the installer in manual mode will ask about it )

- swap : ~ 2 Gb

- /home : ext3 or ext4, unlimited space to store your data and settings

then use the "alternate" iso to install it on / , and install grub2 on /dev/sd? ( ? is a letter )

then you can choose to boot on hdd into the bios.

about luks:
http://blog.kumina.nl/2010/07/two-factor-luks-using-ubuntu/

[Quackers]

In your ubuntu-root partition you have the only ubuntu boot file on your system (etc/fstab) but there should be 3 boot files in total.
Grub on sdb is looking at sdb1 for the boot files because that's where you told it to look when you mounted sdb1 and installed grub to sdb.
I would say that you need to boot from the live cd and mount the ubuntu-root partition then purge and re-install grub then install grub to the root-directory of sda and sdb (if your bios is setup to look at the first HDD as the boot device).
Having said all that, I don't know if /dev/mapper/Ubuntu-Root can be mounted in the same way as /dev/sdb1 is.
Your partition structure is, to say the least, complicated, and I suspect this is the problem.
The guide for purging/re-installing grub is below, but as I have said, I don't know whether those commands will work for your situation.
Maybe somebody else can comment on that.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1581099

[shadowofblood]

I booted back into the alternate cd and started over. For some reason it worked fine this time. I think it couldn't properly install the bootloader the first time because the "/boot" partition didn't end on a cylinder boundary. I fixed that and it installed just fine :)

Thanks for the help!

[Quackers]

That's great :-) Another happy Ubunuer!