[SOLVED] Grub2win

Penstroke4 · 04-10-2023, 06:17 AM

Hello, After my Fedora 37 has been unstable (lagging and freeze) which I noticed after I have upgrade from Fedora 36. Prior to the upgrade Fedora 36 kept displaying "Low space on boot" so I thought by performing an upgrade 36 to '37 will solve the problem but then after the upgrade the system became lagging -a simple click on the mouse will take tens of seconds late.
I have tried switching from Gnome Xorg desktop to Plasma Wayland, immediately there is an improvement on the ethernet lan connection but the system operations (everything from clicking on the mouse to opening and working on a desktop file is still lagging- tens of seconds late).
I then decided to re-install using Fedora 36 -the install & operation were fine but after the 3rd sessions where on booting up- the error pops up
"Grub loading-Welcome to Grub: error : ../. /grub-core/fs/fshelp.c:257: file 'grub2/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found. Entering rescue mode.
grub rescue> _
What does it mean? Can the error be corrected? If no then how do I disable "grub" on booting up?
My system is dual boot on windows 10 with Fedora 36 on a SSD drive.
Thanks

hazel · 04-10-2023, 07:08 AM

What it means is that GRUB has lost contact with its module collection, which should be somewhere in the /boot/grub.d directory in whatever OS you installed GRUB from. Did you reinstall GRUB after reinstalling Fedora? You might need to reinstall it from a rescue disc.

Penstroke4 · 04-10-2023, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hazel

What it means is that GRUB has lost contact with its module collection, which should be somewhere in the /boot/grub.d directory in whatever OS you installed GRUB from. Did you reinstall GRUB after reinstalling Fedora? You might need to reinstall it from a rescue disc.

>>>>>>>>>
No I did not re-install Grub after reinstalling Fedora and being a linux newbie -I have never attempted this act. how do I reinstall Grub -from the rescue disk?
Thanks

colorpurple21859 · 04-10-2023, 07:23 AM

Quote:

but after the 3rd sessions where on booting up- the error pops up

Does this mean that about every third boot you get a grub-recue prompt? Otherwise it boots okay?

hazel · 04-10-2023, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Penstroke4

>>>>>>>>>
No I did not re-install Grub after reinstalling Fedora and being a linux newbie -I have never attempted this act. how do I reinstall Grub -from the rescue disk?
Thanks

Your Fedora installation disc should be able to act as a rescue disc. The command you need to issue is grub-install but I don't know the arguments you need to use with it. I bet colorpurple knows them! Most of the people on this forum use GRUB to boot their systems but I don't.

Penstroke4 · 04-10-2023, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

Does this mean that about every third boot you get a grub-recue prompt? Otherwise it boots okay?

>>>>>>>>
The 3rd boot is last successful boot-after that the Grub rescue prompt keep popping up.
I am unable to boot into Fedora nor Windows thereafter.
So I am in a desperate situations and wouldnt like to disable Grub loader.
Kindly help.Thanks

colorpurple21859 · 04-10-2023, 09:37 AM

Did you try to use the f-key/esc at power-on to get the bios/firmware boot menu to boot windows or fedora

Penstroke4 · 04-11-2023, 02:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

Did you try to use the f-key/esc at power-on to get the bios/firmware boot menu to boot windows or fedora

>>>>>>>>>>>
I have tried but were unsuccessful. It keep popping Grub rescue>
I have even tried to install new os- Debian 11, Fedora 37 and Opensuse.
Hoping the new os bootloader will over-write the problematic
grub although the installation is successful
yet on booting-up the grub-rescue prompt keep popping up. so all is in vain.
Kindly help
thanks

yancek · 04-11-2023, 04:03 AM

I don't think an upgrade will do anything to help a "low space on boot" error. In that case, you should run the command : df -h which will show the size, space used and available for all mounted partitions. If your root ( / ) or /boot partitions (if you have a separate boot partition) are 90-95% full, you will probably see this error and you should remove unneeded data.

Are both windows and Fedora EFI installs? The error is explicit, it says that in your /boot/grub2/i386-pc directory, you do not have the normal.mod file. Do you see that file when you look at the Fedora files? Do you have an i386-pc directory under /boot/grub2? Do you have an x86_64-efi there? The normal.mod file should be in these directories.

The title of your post is grub2win which is not Grub. Is that what you are actually using?

Penstroke4 · 04-11-2023, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek

I don't think an upgrade will do anything to help a "low space on boot" error. In that case, you should run the command : df -h which will show the size, space used and available for all mounted partitions. If your root ( / ) or /boot partitions (if you have a separate boot partition) are 90-95% full, you will probably see this error and you should remove unneeded data.

Are both windows and Fedora EFI installs? The error is explicit, it says that in your /boot/grub2/i386-pc directory, you do not have the normal.mod file. Do you see that file when you look at the Fedora files? Do you have an i386-pc directory under /boot/grub2? Do you have an x86_64-efi there? The normal.mod file should be in these directories.

The title of your post is grub2win which is not Grub. Is that what you are actually using?

>>>>>>>>>>>
A few gentlemen has kindly advise me on the usage of df -h and were solved
I think they were UEFI and being new to linux command -so many terms mentioned is so alien to me.
<<Do you see that file when you look at the Fedora files?>>
~ I cant follow the statement do not know where to look~
<<Do you have an i386-pc directory under /boot/grub2?>>
~ I am unable to check as I am still unable to boot into my Linux system ~
<<Do you have an x86_64-efi there? The normal.mod file should be in these directories.>>
~ I am unable to check as I am still unable to boot into my Linux system ~

<<The title of your post is grub2win which is not Grub. Is that what you are actually using?[/QUOTE]>>
~ Yes I didnt realise my mistake it is not Grub2win but Linux Grub
(which were automatically installed along with the Debian\ Fedora OS~
Again I wish to correct my mistake earlier, after my latest re-installation of Debian 11
-to replace the problematic grub-rescue prompt, -it no longer appear but the Grub prompt keep popping up.
After I have installed Debian Grub bootloader to replace the problematic grub on the /sda.
Thanks

colorpurple21859 · 04-11-2023, 09:22 AM

Is the computer an HP?

Penstroke4 · 04-11-2023, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859

Is the computer an HP?

>>>>>>>>>>>>
No, Mine is a generic self assembled pc.using a gigabyte motherboard.
Thx

yancek · 04-12-2023, 06:39 AM

If I understand correctly, you have now replaced Fedora with Debian? Do you see the grub prompt on each boot? Is Debian on a separate drive? Can you boot windows from the BIOS firmware boot options?

As for your questions about viewing the /boot/grub files in an earlier post, you could use any Linux 'live' CD/USB to find the drive/partition containing the /boot directory with fdisk -l or parted -l commands, then mount the partition to view the files. If you're not familiar with mounting, there are countless sites explaining it online. You would need to have either an i386-pc or x86_64.efi directory under /boot/grub in order to boot from Grub.

The "low space on boot" error is pretty common and if you do not have a separate /boot partition, it is often the case that log files are taking up a lot of space. You can view and remove them (as root) by going to the /var/log directory and checking the number and size of files there. If you have a separate /boot partition, you would need to check it, not removing old kernels would be a possibility.

Quote:

No I did not re-install Grub after reinstalling Fedora

The above comment is from one of your earlier posts. When you reinstalled fedora 36, it should have installed Grub unless you selected not to do it. Installing a new system will change a lot of things like UUIDs and you would really need to reinstall Grub during the install.

colorpurple21859 · 04-12-2023, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Hoping the new os bootloader will over-write the problematic
grub although the installation is successful
yet on booting-up the grub-rescue prompt keep popping up. so all is in vain.

To find out what is happening, download the boot-repair 64bit iso, https://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair-cd/home/Home/ put it on a usb. Once booted into the boot-repair iso, do not run "recommended repair", run "create bootinfo summary" and post the results.

Penstroke4 · 04-12-2023, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yancek

If I understand correctly, you have now replaced Fedora with Debian? <<ans:Yes>>
Do you see the grub prompt on each boot?
<<Yes>>
Is Debian on a separate drive?
<<No, is on /sda-the same drive as windows 10>>
Can you boot windows from the BIOS firmware boot options?
<<No, have tried on the bios firmware boot-there is no boot reset option >>

As for your questions about viewing the /boot/grub files in an earlier post, you could use any Linux 'live' CD/USB to find the drive/partition containing the /boot directory with fdisk -l or parted -l commands, then mount the partition to view the files. If you're not familiar with mounting, there are countless sites explaining it online. You would need to have either an i386-pc or x86_64.efi directory under /boot/grub in order to boot from Grub.
<<pending outcome>>

The "low space on boot" error is pretty common and if you do not have a separate /boot partition, it is often the case that log files are taking up a lot of space. You can view and remove them (as root) by going to the /var/log directory and checking the number and size of files there. If you have a separate /boot partition, you would need to check it, not removing old kernels would be a possibility. << will do>>

The above comment is from one of your earlier posts. When you reinstalled fedora 36, it should have installed Grub unless you selected not to do it. Installing a new system will change a lot of things like UUIDs and you would really need to reinstall Grub during the install.

<< At that time, i have choosen to install Grub on /sdb-hoping to give alternative boot options. Previously I have install Grub on /sda-but keep producing Grub prompt >> [/QUOTE]