PDA

View Full Version : [ubuntu] menu.lst messed up



Physicist
April 28th, 2008, 03:53 PM
When I upgraded from 7.10 to 8.04, I chose to use my own copy of menu.lst instead of the maintaner's.

I have been using kernel


Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic

before the upgrading.

After the upgrading, I verified in Synaptic Package that a newer kernel


kernel 2.6.24-16-generic

is installed. However, when I restart the computer, it is NOT shown in the boot menu options.

So, I did some Google research on this. I tried


$ sudo update-grub

It printed out


Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic
Found kernel: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done


But the menu.lst file is not really updated. It still looks like


# 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 change this entry to 'saved' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 2

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 30

## 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=afd641ba-718b-4c03-b6c8-6811af092b94 ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,5)

## 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

## 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 7.10, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=UUID=afd641ba-718b-4c03-b6c8-6811af092b94 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,5)
ernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=UUID=afd641ba-718b-4c03-b6c8-6811af092b94 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic

title Ubuntu 7.10, memtest86+
root (hd0,5)
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 Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader) (System Recovery)
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda2
title Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader) (preload OS)
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1



Not knowing what to do, I inserted the following into menu.lst:


title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=afd641ba-718b-4c03-b6c8-6811af092b94 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet


At restart, I can now boot into 2.6.24-16 kernel, however, that UUID is copied from


Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic


I am wondering

* would my UUID be a problem for anything ?

* how to automatically generate the menu.lst so it has all the available boot options (including my current Windows Vista installation) ?

Thanks!