I upgraded to (not installed) 10.04 and now I get "unknown command 'recordfail'" every time I boot. I did not make any changes to grub. I have to edit the script every boot to delete the command 'recordfail'. Any ideas why I am now getting this error?

3 Questions:
1. What script are you editing to delete the command recordfail??
2. Did you also upgrade to grub2 from grub-legacy?? The:
"function recordfail {"
is part of grub2 for 10.04. It is in the file /boot/grub/grub.cfg. This is not part of grub-legacy.
3. What version of Ubuntu did you upgrade to 10.04 from??
To know if you are using grub-legacy or grub2 will help in diagnosing this problem.

I upgraded from version 9.10. When offered the option of updating GRUB I selected "no" because I didn't want to risk making my Windows 7 installation unbootable/inaccessible, so I think I'm still on GRUB-legacy. When I boot up I have the option of pressing "e" to edit the script. Once "recordfail" is deleted I then reboot by pressing ctrl-x.

Are you deleting recordfail from the kernel line in the entry to boot Ubuntu? If this is so, then you can edit your /boot/grub/menu.lst file and just delete recordfail from the kernel line in the entry for booting Ubuntu. This should eliminate the recordfail problem.

If you have still have a /boot/grub/menu.lst file, then you are using grub-legacy. If you have a
/boot/grub/grub.cfg file then you are using grub2.

There is no boot/grub/menu.lst file but there is a boot/grub/grub.cfg file. So I apparently have grub2 but still get the "recordfail" error.

Edit /etc/default/grub to remove the command, and then run:

It should work then.

I don't know what I should be removing. The command "recordfail" does not appear in this file.

See the 5th post in this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/inde...t-1282539.html
And see this:
http://ubuntu-install.blogspot.com/2...s-install.html
So edit /etc/grub.d/10_linux, and comment out any lines that mention recordfail. Then run:
NOTE: My /etc/grub.d/10_linux file looks slightly different from those files in the links I posted. I did a clean install of Ubuntu 10.04 though. If you upgraded from 9.10, your /etc/grub.d/10_linux file may still be the same as in the links I posted.
So comment out the recordfail stuff in /etc/grub.d/10_linux, and then run:
and reboot and see if the problem is fixed.

NOTE#2: In the future, save yourself from these problems and always do clean installs of Ubuntu instead of dist-upgrades. I always do clean installs; and I never have problems.
NOTE#3: No installation of Ubuntu is so "highly customized" that a reinstall is utterly impossible!

Was able to duplicate this bug in 10.10 by formatting my '/' partition as BTRFS (and /boot is Ext2). Luckily, all I do is press <Enter> and the netbook boots.