Installed Kubuntu 8.10 and wont boot.

bano6010 · 10-31-2008, 02:36 PM

I installed Kubuntu 8.10 on my system and when it boots it drops right into BusyBox v.10.2. On the system I have Debian Lenny installed on a 10 gig partition, a 250 gig data partition, a 1 gig swap partition and another 10 gig partition for Kubuntu. I'm not sure if it has something to do with Lenny already being on the drive or not.

I would appreciate an help!

Thanks!

Duck2006 · 11-01-2008, 09:46 AM

What error massage are you getting?

tommcd · 11-01-2008, 11:34 PM

Does Debian Lenny boot up ok? If Debian works, then Ubuntu should work also, since Intrepid uses a newer kernel, xorg, and many other things.
First off, did you check the md5sums of the Kubuntu iso that you downloaded, and the md5sums of the Kubuntu disk that you burned? I'm thinking that perhaps you may have installed from a corrupted disk. Rule that out before proceeding further.

bano6010 · 11-03-2008, 07:16 AM

This is what the screen says while booting and starting BusyBox:

Boot from (hd0,4) ext3 a12d3a74-0aa6-4362-9df4-c6fdee343457
Starting up ...
[ 0.004000] Aperture pointing to e820 RAM. Ignoring.
[ 0.004000] Your BIOS doesn't leave a aperture memory hole
[ 0.004000] Please enable the IOMMU option in the BIOS setup
[ 0.004000] This costs you 64 MB of RAM
Loading, please wait...
Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:
-Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
-Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
-Check root= (did the system wait for the right device?)
-Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/a12d3a74-0aa6-4362-9df4-c6fdee343457 does not exist. Dropping to a shell!

BusyBox v1.10.2 (Ubuntu 1:1.10.2-1ubuntu6) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs) _

Debain Lenny boots up and works just fine. I don't see any problems with that system at all. I did not check the md5sums because I do not know what that is. I recall seeing that somewhere before but do not understand what it is asking. I am hoping that is the problem since I did not check it. Should I just start downloading a new copy of the ISO?

yancek · 11-03-2008, 12:58 PM

The problem is indicated in the line from your last post beginning with 'Alert!... It's looking for a partition by UUID on (hd0,4) - indicated in the first line of your post of error message, and not finding it. Do you have a correct Kubuntu entry in Debian Grub.

It would be helpful to post the contents of /boot/grub/menu.lst and output of 'fdisk -l' command (lower case letter L, not a one).

bano6010 · 11-04-2008, 07:37 AM

Alright, I re-downloaded the ISO and burned it slower, and tried to install it again. I got a similar error and its below. I also posted the menu.lst and fdisk results.

First the error when the OS tries to load:

Boot from 9hd0,3) ext3 3b986017-d5e3-46b9-95ab-29a76a32ae18
Starting up ...
[ 0.004000] Aperture pointing to e820 RAM. Ignoring.
[ 0.004000] Your BIOS doesn't leave a aperture memory hole
[ 0.004000] Pleas enable the IOMMU option in the BIOS setup
[ 0.004000] This costs you 64 MB of RAM
Loading, please wait...
Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:
- Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
- Check rootdelay= (did the systems wail long enough?)
- Check root= (did the system wait for the right device?)
-Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; ls /dev)
ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/3b986017-d5e3-46b9-95ab-29a76a32ae18 does not exist. Dropping to a Shell!

BusyBox v1.10.2 (Ubuntu 1:1.10.2-1ubuntu6) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

(initramfs) _

The fdisk -l results:

root@ubuntu:/home/ubuntu# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 320.0 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00080cb7

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1216 9767488+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 1217 1338 979965 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3 1339 37638 291579750 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 37639 38913 10241437+ 83 Linux

Finally, menu.lst:

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=3b986017-d5e3-46b9-95ab-29a76a32ae18 ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=3b986017-d5e3-46b9-95ab-29a76a32ae18

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
uuid 3b986017-d5e3-46b9-95ab-29a76a32ae18
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=3b986017-d5e3-46b9-95ab-29a76a32ae18 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
uuid 3b986017-d5e3-46b9-95ab-29a76a32ae18
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=3b986017-d5e3-46b9-95ab-29a76a32ae18 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
uuid 3b986017-d5e3-46b9-95ab-29a76a32ae18
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda1.
title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-1-amd64 (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-1-amd64 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-1-amd64
savedefault
boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda1.
title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-1-amd64 (single-user mode) (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-1-amd64 root=/dev/hda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-1-amd64
savedefault
boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda1.
title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.24-1-amd64 (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-1-amd64 root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-1-amd64
savedefault
boot

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/sda1.
title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.24-1-amd64 (single-user mode) (on /dev/sda1)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-1-amd64 root=/dev/hda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-1-amd64
savedefault
boot

I think the problem is that grub is trying to boot it from partition 3 but the systems resides on partition 4. I'm not quite sure how to fix this.

yancek · 11-04-2008, 08:59 AM

The error message shows Grub trying to boot from partition four (4), (hd0,3) is the same as sda4. Grub counts from zero. In your first post this error showed (hd0,4) and after your re-install it is (hd0,3) which should be right according to information you have given and your fdisk results. Is this the menu.lst from Kubuntu? Are you booting from Kubuntu or using Debian Grub?

You might try searching the specific errors below:

Starting up ...
[ 0.004000] Aperture pointing to e820 RAM. Ignoring.
[ 0.004000] Your BIOS doesn't leave a aperture memory hole
[ 0.004000] Pleas enable the IOMMU option in the BIOS setup

I'm not sure what this means so can't help with that.

theclifster · 11-07-2008, 05:34 PM

I have exactly the same errors, if you figure this out please leave a post with any solution!

lugoteehalt · 11-08-2008, 07:33 AM

Wouldn't just doing:

$ ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid

so that you get a list of the UUIDs for the devices (except, mysteriously at least for me, the CDROM-drive(s)) then shove the correct UUID into menu.lst????

Does 'ALERT! /dev/disk/by-uuid/3b986017-d5e3-46b9-95ab-29a76a32ae18 does not exist. Dropping to a Shell!
' make sense? Does it not exist?

tommcd · 11-09-2008, 08:08 AM

You can also run sudo blkid to find out the uuid of each partition. This will return an output similar to this:

Code:

debian:/home/tom# blkid
/dev/sda1: UUID="420CB81A0CB80B45" TYPE="ntfs" 
/dev/sda2: UUID="9e1cd7f8-bd16-405e-84c0-c63897faa92e" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda3: TYPE="swap" 
/dev/sda5: UUID="a7d3c61c-66a6-4a1a-88b5-86c73e77fef5" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda6: UUID="6c3381f7-b7ba-4379-a153-aa852cf57850" SEC_TYPE="ext2" TYPE="ext3" 
/dev/sda7: UUID="1c82c3df-d1de-4d0a-a20c-2321803b4410" TYPE="ext3"

This was run from my Debian system. I'm not sure if you need sudo for this or not in Ubuntu. In Debian you must be root to run blkid. So if it don't work without sudo, then run it with sudo in Ubuntu.
Compare the output of the uuids from blkid for Ubuntu, Debian, swap, and your data partition against the uuids in Ubuntu's menu.lst. Change the uuids in menu.lst to match the output of blkid if necessary. Back up your menu.lst first just to be safe.
If you can't boot Ubuntu, then you can do this from the Ubuntu live CD.