Grub : Gave up waiting on root device

[aas452]

I think this might be a grub issue and it not seeing the correct device. Here is my error screen :

Boot from (hd 0,0) ext 3 00ad768f-79cf-...... (the Hard Drive Number continues)

Starting up

Loading; Please Wait

Gave up waiting for root device

Alert
/dev/disk/by-uuid 00ad768f-79cf-...... (the Hard Drive Number continues)
does not exist. Droping to shell

in the shell I type in exit and the Ubuntu GUI loads.

Any thoughts on what the issue might be. My drive is a SCSI could the syntax for the hd be sda, I ran into something like that before.

Any thoughts???

[drs305]

Please post the results of the following. We can check if grub's UUID listing matches the actual partition UUIDs and fstab (or you can look for yourself):

cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
sudo blkid -c /dev/null
cat /etc/fstab

[aas452]

@VOXEL:~$ cat /boot/grub/menu.lst

# 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 use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default		0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout		3

## 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=00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1

## 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 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-11-generic
uuid		00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-11-generic root=UUID=00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1 ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-11-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-11-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-11-generic root=UUID=00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1 ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-11-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
uuid		00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1 ro quiet splash 
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1 ro  single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
uuid		00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1
kernel		/boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

@VOXEL:~$ sudo blkid -c /dev/null

/dev/sda1: UUID="00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="1eb8208b-0c6d-4887-8d22-43fc2cd72bf5" TYPE="swap"

@VOXEL:~$ cat /etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# /dev/sda1
UUID=00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1 /               ext3    relatime,errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /dev/sda5
UUID=1eb8208b-0c6d-4887-8d22-43fc2cd72bf5 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0       0
/dev/sdc1	/media/BACKUP 	ntfs	-3g force	0	0

Thanks for your help!!

[avtolle]

Does http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/rele...20motherboards help you at all?

[drs305]

Your UUIDs all appear correct. Check avtolle's link to see if your motherboard might be the problem listed in the Release Notes. Even if it is not the brand listed you might try adding the "rootdelay=90" item to your boot options to see if that solves the problem. You could experiment with different values to see what works. If it doesn't, remove it to restore the original settings.

The first menu (or whichever kernel you are going to boot) added item would make the entry look like this:

title		Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-11-generic
uuid		00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-11-generic root=UUID=00ad768f-79cf-48da-bc63-6fe5fab4a8a1 ro quiet splash rootdelay=90  
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-11-generic
quiet

[aas452]

Cool, now do I add the command anywhere in menu.lst

or maybe my question is what is the kernal stanza

[egalvan]

Any thoughts on what the issue might be.
drive is a SCSI
could the syntax for the hd be sda, I ran into something like that before.

Any thoughts???

SCSI drives can take longer to spool up than most non-SCSI,
so using the rootdelay=90 option drs05 gave may solve the problem.

GRUB is using uuid to identify the drive, so sda vice hda is a non-issue there.

(I use LABELS in my GRUB to ease drive changes,
but that's another story)

ErnestG

[aas452]

That did it!!

Adding the bootdelay=90 after the kernal seems to work with no problem. Thankyou

[b1lancer]

Hi all.

My Acer netbook has been running great for 3 months run. But now I'm having this same problem. If I try to boot normally I see the Ubuntu logo appear, stay for a while, and then nothing else. If I try using recovery mode, I get that gave up waiting message along with dropping to shell and a bunch of other stuff.

firstly, how do I add that root delay thing?

second, why did this happen? Can I change it back to it's original value after the change or do i just leave it?

One of the best things about Ubuntu was its fast boot up speed.

Thanks for your help.

[b1lancer]

I typed the commands from above:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
cat: /boot/grub/menu.lst: No such file or directory
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo blkid -c /dev/null
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs" 
/dev/sda1: UUID="0AA4895EA4894D5F" LABEL="PQSERVICE" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda2: UUID="B480923A80920352" LABEL="ACER" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda6: UUID="980807d9-f4e6-4097-8b08-c0778b9e1fde" TYPE="swap" 
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/fstab
aufs / aufs rw 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0
/dev/sda6 swap swap defaults 0 0
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /boot/grub/menu.lst