GRUB2 takes a long time to load

squirrel-the-tire · 01-05-2010, 04:59 PM

I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows XP on my system.
After installing Ubuntu, it boots normally about once, and then the next time I try to boot, I have to wait a few minutes with it saying "GRUB Loading." I have read other threads about this that say that it is clearly a GRUB2 problem, and something about Windows overwriting something with the MBR; although I haven't booted into windows once in the process of installing Ubuntu (multiple times) or afterward.
GRUB version 1.97~beta4
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit:
I installed GRUB legacy, and rebooted. It still takes about 10 minutes to boot.
I checked to be sure by typing
grub-install -v
but got the output
grub-install (GNU GRUB 0.97)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I reinstalled GRUB2, and still have the same old issue, however, when I set my BIOS to boot from my 2nd hard disk (the one with ubuntu on it), It loads in a few seconds, but I can only boot into windows. All the other entries say something about the disk not being there, or the file not found.

cdnLilwolf · 01-06-2010, 04:01 AM

I was irritated by the same boot times. I don't know them off the cuff, but there are threads at the Ubuntu forums that help you downgrade.

I eliminated the problem when I had a look at OpenSuse 11.2 and decided to keep using it (which uses GRUB Legacy).

ronlau9 · 01-06-2010, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by squirrel-the-tire

I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows XP on my system.
After installing Ubuntu, it boots normally about once, and then the next time I try to boot, I have to wait a few minutes with it saying "GRUB Loading." I have read other threads about this that say that it is clearly a GRUB2 problem, and something about Windows overwriting something with the MBR; although I haven't booted into windows once in the process of installing Ubuntu (multiple times) or afterward.
GRUB version 1.97~beta4

Can you find something strange in you're boot upp log ?
It seems to me that GRUB is waiting for something.
MBR is only 512 bites so what can windows do there beside overwriting GRUB it self

squirrel-the-tire · 01-06-2010, 05:27 PM

The only boot log file I can find is var/log/boot and it is empty.

squirrel-the-tire · 01-06-2010, 05:28 PM

I would really like to know what's going on rather than have to wait 10 minutes for GRUB to load.

squirrel-the-tire · 01-06-2010, 06:45 PM

I'm just going to install the old GRUB for the time being, but I would like to be able to try out the new features in GRUB2...

squirrel-the-tire · 01-06-2010, 07:20 PM

I installed GRUB 0.97 and have the same problem!

TheTreeMaster · 01-06-2010, 07:42 PM

I am having a similar issue, though I never encountered this before I put Mint on my system. Grub seems to be taking forever all of a sudden and I cant figure out why.

jerry-va · 03-02-2010, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by squirrel-the-tire

I'm running Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows XP on my system.
After installing Ubuntu, it boots normally about once, and then the next time I try to boot, I have to wait a few minutes with it saying "GRUB Loading."
[snip]
I reinstalled GRUB2, and still have the same old issue, however, when I set my BIOS to boot from my 2nd hard disk (the one with ubuntu on it), It loads in a few seconds, but I can only boot into windows. All the other entries say something about the disk not being there, or the file not found.

SUMMARY: If it booted fast and GRUB now sits for 5 to 25 minutes, what did you change? Start pulling disks, starting with USB devices, until it's fast again.

Hi,
First post, probably a mess.

My Ubuntu boot went to 25 minutes, once it failed after .GT. 45 min. Powering down and retrying got the boot to move past GRUB, but still only after ca 15 min.

Other Internet posts indicate the system is waiting for something about a drive. Another user's boot was killed by a DVD drive he'd added.

I had converted an IDE DVD burner to USB (ah, those Hong Kong electronics deals on eBay

) and plugged it in for testing. (The DVD burner was listed OK by both Ubuntu and VMWare/guest machines ... if the boot ever finished, that is.) Unplugging restored a fast boot.

If you open a black-screen terminal sesssion

CNTRL-ALT-F1 terminal ON

CNTRL-ALT-F7 terminal OFF

you'll see error messages -- here's only fragments, but good enough for Google searches:

exception Emask 0x0 ((or 0x2, 0x4, 0x6))
action 0x6 frozen
emask 0x4 (timeout)
ata2.00: cmd pio 512
status: { DRDY }

A "frozen" "action" and a "timeout" involving ATA2.0 (Advanced Technology Attachment; could the 2.0 be USB 2.0?) looks like a smoking gun to me, but otherwise it's all Greek. Anyone on top of this?

Wise advice for other Windows veterans: do not rush to reinstall, certainly not to reinstall the entire Ubuntu machine. It may not get you anywhere. Linux Land is not Windows. Things do not degenerate. The system is stable, something happened. Take a break and think over what happened.

Newbie advice to Ubuntu developers: put out an error warning. The history of bringing Linux to the masses (me!) is a history of putting GUIs (Graphical User Interface; e.g., Windows) on top of a command-line interface (the terminal). So now we have a schizophrenic patient with a split-personality -- there are still error messages on the underlying terminal, but the overlying GUI is all smiles

A filter for messages of some level of severity should trigger a discreet little advisory "You have error messages, type CTRL-ALT-F1 to see, CTRL-ALT-F7 to exit" on the GUI.

JOKE: (Ubuntu error messages are cyptic, but at least they are honest.) A helicopter pilot, lost in the thick fog of the Pacific Northwest, circled around an office building -- the only thing high enough to stand clear. Excited office workers rushed to their windows and read his improvised sign, "Where am I?". More than one plastered the same, clear answer to the office window: "In a helicopter." The pilot immediately took off on a westward compass heading and landed safely. "How did you do it?" his shaken passenger asked. "Simple. It was a Windows error message. We could only have been in Redmond."

tredegar · 03-02-2010, 01:07 PM

If you are having problems with booting, you need to see the log as it boots.

By default, most distros hide this from you now. Apparently bootmessages = SCARY LINUX STUFF!!
So you get a pretty picture and a progress bar instead, but then have no idea what is going on

Whichever bootloader you are using, edit the kernel line and remove the splash and quiet options. Adding vga=normal to the kernel boot line might be useful also.

That way you'll be able to see at which point the boot process gets stuck.

squirrel-the-tire · 03-03-2010, 04:47 PM

OK. Been a while. I have a few things to say:
1. There is no boot log for the loading of GRUB (is there?) My issue was with GRUB taking a while to load, and not with Ubuntu's actual boot process.

2. When I say "was", I mean it. I ended up getting sick of it enough that a couple days ago, I downloaded a new iso for Ubuntu, and installed it. I ended up with the same issue until I set my BIOS to boot off of the other hard disk. There don't seem to be any problems now; so although I didn't learn as much as I could have liked to, I like things the way they are.