Grub-install/dev/sda Failed

Frank Pug · 04-18-2017, 06:50 AM

I am trying to install Ubuntu 17.04 on a completely bare machine. . 2 hard drives - 1TB SATA HDD and a Kingston UV400 240GB SSD, motherboard is Gigabyte GA-MA-H110M-S2H the processor is Intel7th Gen Dual Core l3 7100 3.9 Ghz I am trying to install from a CD /Download. every time I get the message Grub-install/DEV/SDA failed. how do I overcome this??

Habitual · 04-18-2017, 06:55 PM

32 or 64 Bit Media?

UEFI and friends require 64bit host.

Just a guess.

and was it reported as
Grub-install/DEV/SDA
because it should read

Code:

grub-install /dev/sda

jefro · 04-20-2017, 03:22 PM

Hello and welcome to LQ.

For some reason the installer can't install to what it thinks is /dev/sda.

Usually you see this when a usb drive is being used as boot media and the computer assumes the usb is the /dev/sda.

Wonder if there is an issue with 17 or how your system views an optical drive??

Habitual · 04-20-2017, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank Pug

I am trying to install from a CD /Download.

Frank:
Where did this media originate?

powderburns · 05-17-2017, 01:08 PM

You will need to mount the root partition of your new install to a filesystem in your flashdrive linux's /mnt/ and chroot to it.
example..
lets say your new install root part is /dev/sda1
and you are root

Code:

mkdir /mnt/sda1 ; mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
mount --bind /dev /mnt/sda1/dev
mount --bind /proc /mnt/sda1/proc
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sda1/sys
chroot /mnt/sda1
grub-mk-config -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
grub-install /dev/sda
exit
cd ~
umount /dev/sda1

Shutdown, remove flash drive and reboot as normal.
In your BIOS, doublecheck your boot order and prior to that use fdisk or gparted to verify your new install partition has the boot flag enabled.

tofino_surfer · 05-21-2017, 03:12 AM

A correction needs to be made. There is an extra dash in grub-mkconfig in the previous instructions.

Or you can just use the update-grub shortcut for Ubuntu. From the manpage:

NAME

update-grub, update-grub2 - stub for grub-mkconfig

SYNOPSIS

update-grub

DESCRIPTION

update-grub is a stub for running grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
to generate a grub2 config file.

SEE ALSO

grub-mkconfig(8)

Therefore a correct and simpler sequence would be:

...
chroot /mnt/sda1
update-grub
grub-install /dev/sda
...

aragorn2101 · 06-09-2017, 05:46 AM

By looking at the Motherboard and processor, I will say the system is UEFI and the boot loader should be installed on the EFI partition. Once you boot into the CD, do "Try Ubuntu". Then open a terminal and please post the output of the following command:

Code:

gdisk -l /dev/sda