grub fails (?)

[phibuntu]

Hi all

I have read about 10 forum-threads about grub and its errors, but nothing helped.


I have configured a wonderful distro at /dev/sda2 (sda1 is swap).
I backed up /dev/sda2 completely using dd.

Now, I want to restore everything (for that test, I deleted the whole content on /dev/sda, repartitioned it and restored the content using dd as well).


I forgot to backup the boot-sector on /dev/sda and want to generate a new boot-sector on /dev/sda using grub.

For that, I start a life-distro (ubuntu 10.10) and first check, if /dev/sda2 is visible and mounted (so I mount it on /media/rose).

Now, I install grub using

sudo bash
apt-get install grub
and start it

grub

Now I follow the main stream in the forum-threads in different forums:

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1

Error 15: File not found
Even omitting "/boot" and finding "/grub/stage1" leads to the same error.

I then tried to "chroot" to "/media/rose", which works fine, but even there I get the same errors.

Any help is welcome.

phi





Here are my Configs:

mount:


aufs on / type aufs (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
/dev/sr0 on /cdrom type iso9660 (ro,noatime)
/dev/loop0 on /rofs type squashfs (ro,noatime)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
tmpfs on /tmp 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)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/ubuntu/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=ubuntu)
/dev/sda3 on /media/5A6456DE1A39FC1E type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_ permissions)
/dev/sda2 on /media/rose type ext4 (rw)


df:


Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
aufs 4088204 97360 3990844 3% /
none 4080960 256 4080704 1% /dev
/dev/sr0 711674 711674 0 100% /cdrom
/dev/loop0 672384 672384 0 100% /rofs
none 4088204 176 4088028 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 4088204 52 4088152 1% /tmp
none 4088204 88 4088116 1% /var/run
none 4088204 4 4088200 1% /var/lock
/dev/sda3 56669180 67716 56601464 1% /media/5A6456DE1A39FC1E
/dev/sda2 57673724 11253800 43490260 21% /media/rose

grub-probe /dev/sda

grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for /dev/sda (is /dev mounted?).


grub> setup (hd0,2)

setup (hd0,2)

Error 12: Invalid device requested
(this happens for ANY device)

ls /media/rose/boot/grub

915resolution.mod gcry_seed.mod part_sunpc.mod
acpi.mod gcry_serpent.mod parttool.lst
affs.mod gcry_sha1.mod parttool.mod
afs_be.mod gcry_sha256.mod password.mod
afs.mod gcry_sha512.mod password_pbkdf2.mod
aout.mod gcry_tiger.mod pbkdf2.mod
ata.mod gcry_twofish.mod pci.mod
ata_pthru.mod gcry_whirlpool.mod play.mod
at_keyboard.mod gettext.mod png.mod
befs_be.mod gfxmenu.mod probe.mod
befs.mod gfxterm.mod pxeboot.img
biosdisk.mod gptsync.mod pxecmd.mod
bitmap.mod grldr.img pxe.mod
bitmap_scale.mod grub.cfg raid5rec.mod
blocklist.mod grubenv raid6rec.mod
boot.img gzio.mod raid.mod
boot.mod halt.mod read.mod
bsd.mod handler.lst reboot.mod
bufio.mod hashsum.mod regexp.mod
cat.mod hdparm.mod reiserfs.mod
cdboot.img hello.mod relocator.mod
chain.mod help.mod scsi.mod
cmostest.mod hexdump.mod search_fs_file.mod
cmp.mod hfs.mod search_fs_uuid.mod
command.lst hfsplus.mod search_label.mod
configfile.mod iorw.mod search.mod
core.img iso9660.mod serial.mod
cpio.mod jfs.mod setjmp.mod
cpuid.mod jpeg.mod setpci.mod
crc.mod kernel.img sfs.mod
crypto.lst keystatus.mod sleep.mod
crypto.mod linux16.mod tar.mod
cs5536.mod linux.mod terminal.lst
datehook.mod lnxboot.img terminal.mod
date.mod loadenv.mod terminfo.mod
datetime.mod locale test.mod
device.map loopback.mod tga.mod
diskboot.img lsmmap.mod trig.mod
dm_nv.mod ls.mod true.mod
drivemap.mod lspci.mod udf.mod
echo.mod lvm.mod ufs1.mod
efiemu32.o mdraid.mod ufs2.mod
efiemu64.o memdisk.mod uhci.mod
efiemu.mod memrw.mod usb_keyboard.mod
elf.mod minicmd.mod usb.mod
example_functional_test.mod minix.mod usbms.mod
ext2.mod mmap.mod usbtest.mod
extcmd.mod moddep.lst vbeinfo.mod
fat.mod msdospart.mod vbe.mod
font.mod multiboot2.mod vbetest.mod
fshelp.mod multiboot.mod vga.mod
fs.lst nilfs2.mod vga_text.mod
functional_test.mod normal.mod video_bochs.mod
gcry_arcfour.mod ntfscomp.mod video_cirrus.mod
gcry_blowfish.mod ntfs.mod video_fb.mod
gcry_camellia.mod ohci.mod video.lst
gcry_cast5.mod part_acorn.mod video.mod
gcry_crc.mod part_amiga.mod videotest.mod
gcry_des.mod part_apple.mod xfs.mod
gcry_md4.mod part_bsd.mod xnu.mod
gcry_md5.mod part_gpt.mod xnu_uuid.mod
gcry_rfc2268.mod partmap.lst zfsinfo.mod
gcry_rijndael.mod part_msdos.mod zfs.mod
gcry_rmd160.mod part_sun.mod



grub-install --root-directory=/media/rose/ /dev/sda

/dev/sda does not have any corresponding BIOS drive.

fdisk -l:

Disk /dev/sda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00044678

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 244 1951744 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2 * 244 7538 58593280 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 7538 14593 56669184 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0007566d

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 1 14594 117219328 7 HPFS/NTFS

[ronparent]

From what you list it is apparent that you are using grub 2 and trying to find your problem with a combination of original grub and grub 2 commands. The simplest thing you can do to fix it is by doing an easy reinstall of grub 2. What has worked well for me is a simple two step process from a live cd session as outlined here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Reinstalling GRUB 2

First you mount the partition you had installed to (/dev/sda2) to an empty partition in your live cd filesystem:

sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
Then you install grub there and put the boot loader on /dev/sda:

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/ /dev/sda

You should now be ready to successfully reboot.

[phibuntu]

After posting my own thread I have found out, that I used grub2 (instead of grub, what I was expecting).

It is always like that: After a day of research I post a thread, and after some minutes I solve it myself ;-)

I don't really know what caused the effect of making my restore work again, because I have tried different approaches before using the following finally working command:


grub-install --boot-directory=/media/rose /dev/sda


Here are some commands I have tried.

apt-get install grub-pc

upgrade-from-grub-legacy

update-grub

By the way, thanks ronparent