Grub Error 16 need a fix

[bikefreak]

I'm getting a Grub error 16: inconsistent filesystem structure at boot up. It displays a menu of different kernel choices and the first one (and 2nd which is recovery mode) always fails with this error.

Been running it for a quite a while with no problems. 32bit

Ubuntu 10.10, kernel 2.6.35-23-generic is giving me the problems
Ubuntu 10.10, kernel 2.6.35-22-generic works fine but seems slow.

Thought it might be a MBR type of error and ran Rescatux (like super grub disk) basically restored MBR and no change.

Error first appeared when I was having trouble getting a thumb drive to load. plugged it in and out a number of times and it never mounted. upon reboot (to see if that would fix the mounting problem) it gave the error. Also don't recall if I rebooted after doing an upgrade where it requested a reboot. I'm trying to think of what might have caused it.

I'm single booting off a laptop. so no dual boot reasons like most I found when googling.

Searched here and googled with no luck.

Let me know what else you need to help me.

Thanks!

[oldfred]

Welcome to the forums.

You must be using grub legacy as grub2 does not have error numbers.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~herman546/p15.html#16
Says to use gparted and click on partitions to see if it will clear error.

If you know what partition I would run fsck. If you have just upgraded you should download a liveCD just for repairs. Ubuntu liveCD includes gparted. Or you can download the latest gparted liveCD which is a smaller download as Herman suggests.

From liveCD so everything is unmounted, change sdb1 to your partition(s)
sudo e2fsck -C0 -p -f -v /dev/sdb1
if errors:
sudo e2fsck -f -y -v /dev/sdb1

[bikefreak]

Tried gparted --- ran "check" and returned no problems. Still getting grub error. I am running 10.10 but have upgraded from 8.04?? or something around then. never had any problems.

Tried your first e2fsck command. (I tried a fsck command earlier but forgot to mention it) It didn't return any errors so I didn't run the second. Here is the output:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo e2fsck -C0 -p -f -v /dev/sda1
                                                                               
  302885 inodes used (12.93%)
   21080 non-contiguous files (7.0%)
     624 non-contiguous directories (0.2%)
         # of inodes with ind/dind/tind blocks: 19681/413/1
 8378616 blocks used (89.55%)
       0 bad blocks
       4 large files

  229522 regular files
   31485 directories
      66 character device files
      26 block device files
       3 fifos
     434 links
   41766 symbolic links (35484 fast symbolic links)
       8 sockets
--------
  303310 files
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Is there anything that would have brought "inconsistency" as a result of putting in and pulling out the usb drive quickly and repeatedly? partial mount or something?

Can i upgrade to grub2? (how?)

thanks for the help so far.
-

[oldfred]

To install grub2 you need to chroot into your system, and fully uninstall both grub & grub2, then cleanly reinstall grub2.

chroot & grub uninstall & reinstall
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1581099

Grub Rescue Prompt Megathread - drs305
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1594052

[bikefreak]

Installed grub2 per instructions (removed grub, used chroot) that went well. rebooted and got a mess but basically still not working. here is the error message (in part) it hangs after the _.

[    0.573014] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
[    0.573053] Pid: 1, comm: swapper Not tainted 2.6.35-23-generic #41-Ubuntu
[     xxx] Call Trace:
[     xxx] [<c05c6db0>] ? printk+0x2d/0x35...
[     xxx] [<c05c6db0>] panic+0x5a/oxd2...
[     xxx] [<c05c6db0>] mount_block_root...
[     xxx] [<c05c6db0>] ? sys_mknod+...
[     xxx] [<c05c6db0>] mount_root+...
[     xxx] [<c05c6db0>] prepare_namespace+...
[     xxx] [<c05c6db0>] ? sys_access+...
[     xxx] [<c05c6db0>] kernel_init+...
[     xxx] [<c05c6db0>] ? kernel_init+...
[     xxx] [<c05c6db0>] kernel_thread_helper+...
_

Reboot after this presents the grub2? menu where i can select kernel 22 again and get back to where i was. Grub had at the top gnu grub version 1.98+20100804-5ubuntu3

Pressing escape got me to a grub> prompt.

next?

thx.

[bikefreak]

did more searching with the new error message and thought it might be a problem in the grub.cfg... doesn't look like it, here is a snip of the contents:

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-23-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
        recordfail
        insmod part_msdos
        insmod ext2
        set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
        search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 075756c2-66cf-42ab-bd7a-e80eedbd5c35
        linux   /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-23-generic root=UUID=075756c2-66cf-42ab-bd7a-e80eedbd5c35 ro   quiet splash
        initrd  /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-23-generic
}
***snip***
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
        recordfail
        insmod part_msdos
        insmod ext2
        set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
        search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 075756c2-66cf-42ab-bd7a-e80eedbd5c35
        linux   /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=075756c2-66cf-42ab-bd7a-e80eedbd5c35 ro   quiet splash
        initrd  /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}

-22 works -23 does not. time to learn about corrupt kernels and how to fix/rebuild/reinstall them? thoughts? I'll keep looking for ideas.

[bikefreak]

Sorry for all the posts. here is where i'm finding some info... would this make sense in my case?
pulled from this post http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1635133 but edited for my issue.

Remove 2.6.35-23 with this:

sudo apt-get purge linux-headers-2.6.35-23 linux-headers-2.6.35-23-generic linux-image-2.6.35-23-generic

Re-install it with this:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.35-23 linux-headers-2.6.35-23-generic linux-image-2.6.35-23-generic

I have not run it yet... looking for a green light on trying it. All new stuff for me at this point.

thx.

[oldfred]

As long as you have -22 working there should be no harm in uninstalling -23 and reinstalling it. I have never tried it to know for sure.

Does this come back to the original grub error of inconsistent file structure.

Have you run a refresh?
sudo apt-get autoclean # only removes files that cannot be downloaded anymore (obsolete)
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade #this updates everything
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade #would upgrade you to the latest kernel in the repositories
#dist-upgrade is also able to remove existing packages if required
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo dpkg --configure -a

[bikefreak]

the original grub error (#16) is gone and the kernel panic error and it hanging has replaced it. (reboot gives menu then)

I did the clean and no luck. I started the kernel purge but didn't know if I should continue, see below...

user@mylinux:~$ sudo apt-get purge linux-headers-2.6.35-23 linux-headers-2.6.35-23-generic linux-image-2.6.35-23-generic[sudo] password for bikefreak: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
  hplip-cups
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  linux-generic* linux-headers-2.6.35-23* linux-headers-2.6.35-23-generic* linux-headers-generic*
  linux-image-2.6.35-23-generic* linux-image-generic*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 6 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 198MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? n
Abort.

Will removing linux-generic* and linux-headers-generic* cause any problems for the 2.6.35-22 that is working? Just concerned it might hork the whole thing...

Thanks oldfred!

[oldfred]

Not sure, but I am always adventuresome as I assume (maybe not correctly) that I can get back into system some way as long as it is not totally corrupted. Then I reinstall.

If you run the sudo apt-get dist-upgrade next it should make sure you have the newest kernal and what ever it requires.