Now seeing Grub Menu at Startup, doesn't "auto" boot

[bender1234]

When I do an update-grub after editing that file, it's changed back to it's original form.

I had the same issue as you, and followed the directions, but I really don't think it helped I have a server box which hasn't got a display nor input devices. Each time it fails I have to carry an old big fat crt screen over to it! I altered the script as you did then booted, and it went well. However I don't know if it will stop at the grub menu the next time an error occurs, or if it will boot directly.

It says that you shouldn't alter this script, but instead use the /etc/default/grub file. Do you know if there is any param there, that doesn't force you to enter a selection when errors occur? This is a particular annoying when I'm away and the server goes down due to power failure forinstance(as it does in this building due to old "wiring"). I can easily get a non-computer person to press the powerbutton, but its a bit harder to get her to get that big nasty screen and start it for me.

Still merry x-mas and a happy new year!
Bender

[meierfra.]

You need to edit the file /etc/grub.d/00_header.

gksudo gedit /etc/grub.d/00_header

Scroll to the very end of the file. Change

cat << EOF
if [ \${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=${GRUB_TIMEOUT}
fi
EOF

to

cat << EOF
# if [ \${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
#  set timeout=-1
# else
  set timeout=${GRUB_TIMEOUT}
# fi
EOF

Save the file. Then

sudo update-grub

to generate a new grub.cfg

[nuffy]

Thanks meierfra!!!

I have been searching for days for a solution and your fix solves my problem!!

[subsynth]

I think i did something wrong, I followed meierfra's instructions, and now it auto boots into memtest and I can't do anything else.

Solutions?

How can I generate a new grub.cfg from a live cd?

[meierfra.]

I would suggest to first boot into Ubuntu, and then reinstall Grub from Ubuntu.

You should be able to boot into Ubuntu with either of the following methods.

1) Hold down the "shift" key during boot up (or press "esc" during the count down) to get to the Grub Menu.

If you have an entry for Ubuntu on the Grub menu, use it.

If you don't have an entry for Ubuntu, press "c" to get to the grub shell. Type:

insmod ext2
search -f --set /vmlinuz
probe -u --set=uuid $root
linux /vmlinuz root=UUID=$uuid ro
initrd /initrd.img
boot

2) Boot from the Live CD. Open a terminal and type

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

Here /dev/sda1 needs to be replaced by the device name of the Ubuntu partition.If you don't know the device name you can usually figure it out via "sudo fdisk -lu"

cd /mnt/boot/grub
sudo mv grub.cfg grub.cfg.old
gksudo gedit  grub.cfg

This will open a blank file.

Type this into the file

default=0
menuentry "Ubuntu" {
insmod ext2
search -f --set /vmlinuz
probe -u --set=uuid $root
linux /vmlinuz root=UUID=$uuid ro
initrd /initrd.img
}

Save the file. Reboot. You should get a Grub menu with just one entry and you should be able to boot into Ubuntu.


Once you booted into Ubuntu, you could try to undo your changes, or you can just reinstall Grub from scratch:

sudo apt-get purge grub-pc grub-common
sudo apt-get install grub-pc grub-common
sudo update-grub

[rob1408]

Cheers meierfra, I was having the same thing happen, and while not a show stopper it was kind of annoying. The fix you posted worked perfectly, I now boot straight into my desktop using my default kernel.

Once again, thanks.

[krzysztofikus]

Worked for me too. Thank you meierfra.!

[jmail524]

I know this thread is a year old, but I wanted to give a big thanks to meierfra for the fix.

This GRUB problem started plaguing me only a few days after installing Ubuntu 11.04. Since I'm running it on a keyboard-less machine, it was a real PITA. This information helped get be back in operating order.

Thanks.
Brian

[NessDan]

I know this thread is old, but I was having this problem on an Ubuntu Server 11.04 and I solved it by following meierfra instructions and running these two commands afterwards:

sudo update-grub
sudo update-grub2

[MonsterDuc]

Old thread, but worked well for me!

Running Linux Mint and came across the same problem. Adjusted my 00_header file to this instead as it didn't have the GRUB_TIMEOUT variable:

    cat << EOF
#if [ "\${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
#  set timeout=-1
#else
  set timeout=3
  #set timeout=${2}
#fi
EOF

First reboot didn't work, but once I ran "update-grub" and "update-grub2" as the previous user suggested it worked fine.

Many thanks!