[SOLVED] Debian Squeeze installation on LVM setup

gacanepa · 03-28-2013, 07:47 AM

I recently reinstalled Debian Squeeze in my home server and just to give it a try, I chose to install it over LVM. The thing is, now grub takes forever to load. When the machine boots, I get the message "GRUB loading. Welcome to GRUB!" and a blinking cursor for like 15 minutes, and then grub loads and presents the list of operating systems installed (in this case, it's just Debian Squeeze).
I tried to reconfigure grub2 by installing it to the /boot partition as well as to the MBR (the default option) by running dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc, but it didn't work.
Up to this point, I am almost 100% sure that this is caused by the installation on LVM. I don't understand exactly why, though. I'd appreciate any suggestions that could help me to understand and solve this issue, otherwise I'll just reinstall Squeeze in normal setup.
Thanks in advance folks!

goumba · 03-28-2013, 08:10 AM

Hmmm... I am puzzled as well. I always use LVM and GRUB together, and never had a problem, BUT:

Is /boot on an LVM volume? At one time, GRUB would not work if trying to load from an LVM volume (GRUB would not load at all, I don't even recall getting a welcome message). To correct this I always kept /boot on a primary or extended partition outside of a volume group.

gacanepa · 03-28-2013, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goumba

Hmmm... I am puzzled as well. I always use LVM and GRUB together, and never had a problem, BUT:

Is /boot on an LVM volume? At one time, GRUB would not work if trying to load from an LVM volume (GRUB would not load at all, I don't even recall getting a welcome message). To correct this I always kept /boot on a primary or extended partition outside of a volume group.

I just rechecked and yes, /boot is installed in a separate partition:

Code:

root@debian:~# df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/debian-root
                       37G  1.1G   34G   4% /
tmpfs                 124M     0  124M   0% /lib/init/rw
udev                  120M  148K  120M   1% /dev
tmpfs                 124M     0  124M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/sda1             228M   17M  199M   8% /boot

while the whole disk is used for the / partition.

goumba · 03-28-2013, 01:27 PM

Take a look at this, it sounds SIMILAR (although he flat out says hangs, but truthfully not many of us I believe would wait 15 minutes to verify if it hung or stalled):

http://elias-chatzigeorgiou.blogspot...e-to-grub.html

Yes, it is old, but that doesn't mean that it can never happen again on another piece of hardware. Good luck, maybe it will help your problem.

gacanepa · 03-28-2013, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goumba

Take a look at this, it sounds SIMILAR (although he flat out says hangs, but truthfully not many of us I believe would wait 15 minutes to verify if it hung or stalled):

http://elias-chatzigeorgiou.blogspot...e-to-grub.html

Yes, it is old, but that doesn't mean that it can never happen again on another piece of hardware. Good luck, maybe it will help your problem.

Thank you for taking the time to do that search. I gave it a try but it didn't work. However, I added that web page to my bookmarks just in case. I ended up reinstalling Squeeze with a normal installation (guided, no LVM) and the issue was gone.

Thanks again! I will add to your reputation for your kind help.

goumba · 03-29-2013, 06:41 AM

I hate to say, but damn, sorry you got it fixed that way. I'm a little disappointed as it was one of the few solutions I found that did not involve reinstalling, but hey, as long as it works, great!