upgrade to precise, grub fails?

[metalfan_]

Setting up grub-common (1.99-20ubuntu1) ...
Setting up grub2-common (1.99-20ubuntu1) ...
Setting up grub-pc-bin (1.99-20ubuntu1) ...
Setting up grub-pc (1.99-20ubuntu1) ...
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: This msdos-style partition label has no post-MBR gap; embedding won't be possible!.
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: warn: Embedding is not possible. GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists. However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
/usr/sbin/grub-setup: error: non-sector-aligned data is found in the core file.


what might be the problem?
grub worked before and i did not change grub related config files.

[darkod]

Are you using gpt table on the HDD, or did you use gpt earlier? That message about post-MBR is weird.

Also, this might be due to the fact that 12.04 is not released yet. It is never recommended to use development version as your main system.

[oldfred]

Does your first partition start at a non-standard location. Old systems used sector 63 as the first and new systems use sector 2048 as the first sector leaving lots of room for grub and windows to install stuff (technical term) in the 'unused' ares.

Post this:


sudo fdisk -lu

[metalfan_]

i guess the system was first installed with ubuntu 8.04 but im not sure.
nothing besides what ubuntu uses for partitioning touched the drive.



sudo fdisk -lu
[sudo] password for julius:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xc87ec87e

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 163846934 81923467 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 163846996 311516414 73834709+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 163846998 164826899 489951 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 164826963 289844729 62508883+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 289844793 311516414 10835811 83 Linux

[darkod]

sda1 start sector is 1. It didn't leave any space at all at the front of the disk.

As oldfred said, earlier the first partition was starting at sector 63, these days it starts at 2048.

I have never seen a disk where it starts at 1.

Maybe shrinking sda1 a little bit at the front?

[metalfan_]

is that even possible when the system is running on sda?

[darkod]

Nope, you could only run it from live mode.

Of course, the same as any partition procedure, it does carry small risk that something gets corrupted, but in most cases it works out fine. It's best to have a full backup before doing it anyway.

[metalfan_]

any idea how i could get a old static grub that can be installed just in case?