debian sid and grub2 problem

helpinghand · 07-22-2009, 02:53 PM

I've stumbled upon this message while I was searching to solve a completely different problem related to grub2.
First grub.cfg and menu.lst are two completely different beasts, don't try to rename them or you will loose any chance to come back to your original configuration soon.
grub and grub2 must always be installed on your MBR before booting, so installing them is necessary but not sufficient

.
After installation you must enter

Code:

grub-install /dev/sda  (or hda, or anything you have).

BTW grub2 is in development and is really useful only if you want some of its new features like ext4 support. If you are not interested stick with grub. If you want to configure grub2 you must edit these files: /etc/default/grub and /etc/grub.d/xxx.
Modifying /boot/grub/grub.cfg is useless since it is generated by

Code:

update-grub

from the content inside the aforementioned files. Hope this helps. Bye

jackgu1988 · 07-22-2009, 03:03 PM

any ideas?

helpinghand · 07-22-2009, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackgu1988

but how can i re-install grub to my pc while i am booting from a usb?

If you have a live CD or something similar in an USB pen, let's say Ubuntu or Knoppix, you can boot from it then:

Code:

1) mount /dev/your_drive /mnt/some_point
2) mount -t proc none /mnt/some_point/proc
3) mount -o bind /dev /mnt/some_point/dev
4) chroot /mnt/some_point/
5) grub-install /dev/name_of_device

if you have not grub installed, you can download the package from Internet, copy it in /mnt/some_point
and then:
use your package manager to install it, after go to point 5)
Bye

linus72 · 07-22-2009, 03:11 PM

Thanks Helpinghand
My grub2 experience is not good

Welcome to LQ as well

jackgu1988 · 07-22-2009, 03:34 PM

YES YES YES! that was it!

thank you! you just saved my pc! i really can't figure out why that happened and i couldn't boot with grub2.......

linus72 · 07-22-2009, 03:38 PM

That's good
i apologize if I steered you wrong

Seems helpinghand is a good name.

you should get together with niravshah
he's also having issues with grub2

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...intrid-741461/

jackgu1988 · 07-22-2009, 04:09 PM

yeah but he seems to be having a more serious problem... anyway i ll try to help him! thanks for your help both of you! PROBLEM SOLVED!

helpinghand · 07-22-2009, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

Thanks Helpinghand
My grub2 experience is not good

Welcome to LQ as well

Thank you. Today I have struggled against ext4, grub2 and MBR stuff solving almost everything and making myself a little knowledge on this topic. I'm happy that at least my efforts have been useful to someone else.

linus72 · 07-22-2009, 04:52 PM

No doubt
I'm preparing myself now to
install all this and have it all work

sda1 /boot (must have this with fed11)
sda2 fedora 11 lxde / ext4
sda3 ulimate-2.2 / ext3 (ubuntu-9.04)
sda4 extended
sda5 sidux-xfce / ext3 (Debian SID)
sda6 Slackware current or 12.2 / ext3
sda7 CentOS-5.3 / ext3
sda8 Various frugal's including puppy/tinycore/etc / ext3
sda9 swap

I will install ultimate last
and fed11 first

CentOS and fed11 so i can learn about redhat, etc

Any others I should add?

helpinghand · 07-23-2009, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linus72

No doubt
I'm preparing myself now to
install all this and have it all work

sda1 /boot (must have this with fed11)
sda2 fedora 11 lxde / ext4
sda3 ulimate-2.2 / ext3 (ubuntu-9.04)
sda4 extended
sda5 sidux-xfce / ext3 (Debian SID)
sda6 Slackware current or 12.2 / ext3
sda7 CentOS-5.3 / ext3
sda8 Various frugal's including puppy/tinycore/etc / ext3
sda9 swap

I will install ultimate last
and fed11 first

CentOS and fed11 so i can learn about redhat, etc

Any others I should add?

A lot of happy hacking! Good luck!

BobRobertson · 07-24-2009, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by helpinghand

If you have a live CD or something similar in an USB pen, let's say Ubuntu or Knoppix, you can boot from it then:

Code:

1) mount /dev/your_drive /mnt/some_point
2) mount -t proc none /mnt/some_point/proc
3) mount -o bind /dev /mnt/some_point/dev
4) chroot /mnt/some_point/
5) grub-install /dev/name_of_device

if you have not grub installed, you can download the package from Internet, copy it in /mnt/some_point
and then:
use your package manager to install it, after go to point 5)
Bye

Ok, this is my third edit, I think I finally have a handle on what is failing.

In /boot/grub/grub.cfg, there is a UUID on each boot image line. The error I'm getting on boot is that there is no such UUID found.

update-grub run over and over, and it doesn't make any difference.

Any suggestions?

linus72 · 07-24-2009, 10:02 AM

I was reading something yesterday about grub2 changing the uuid's
I'll try and find it
but here's some info
http://flossexperiences.wordpress.co...nty-and-grub2/

BobRobertson · 07-24-2009, 06:38 PM

Ok, here's where it stands.

Edit /etc/default/grub and fix this line:

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

Then run update-grub, of course.

That takes the UUID and replaces it with the device. All well and good, happy to say that part works fine.

However, this is the resulting part of /boot/grub/grub.cfg:

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, Linux 2.6.30-1-686" {
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 8946a06a-195e-4e5d-ba10-5ebc16dbf84b
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30-1-686 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.30-1-686

It still won't boot. The UUID in the "search" line still causes a "device 8946a06a-195e-4e5d-ba10-5ebc16dbf84b not found" error and it won't boot.

If I hit "e" and simply remove the entire "search" line, it boots just fine.

So now, the search is on to find out how to get rid of the UUID in the search line without hand-editing /boot/grub/grub.cfg

BobRobertson · 07-24-2009, 07:36 PM

Just to put another knicker in the twist, I checked my Lenny laptop which is running Grub2, UUIDs and all, and works just fine.

So the source of this UUID problem, which according to the Debian-user mailing list is happening to quite a few people, should be interesting for someone to track down.

aus9 · 07-25-2009, 08:22 PM

hi

one should not install grub2 if you are using ext4 atm.

my grub2 link in signature may help others?

regards