configuring grub-pc install devices did not work

Bug #1009531 reported by Edwin Grubbs
20
This bug affects 4 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
grub2 (Ubuntu)
Expired
High
Unassigned

Bug Description

When I updated grub-pc to version 1.99-21ubuntu3.1 using Update Manager, it asked me to configure the "GRUB install devices". I selected one of the drives, and I clicked "Forward". It then asked "Continue without installing GRUB?" I made that box was unchecked, and clicked "Forward". It took me back to the list of devices that grub could be installed on. I kept going in a loop like this until I gave up and checked the "Continue without installing GRUB?" box.

After the update completed, I ran
 dpkg-reconfigure --frontend=gnome grub-pc
and it had no problem.

I tried running
 dpkg-reconfigure --frontend=gnome grub-pc
to see if I could recreate the problem, but it worked also.

Revision history for this message
Steve Langasek (vorlon) wrote :

I saw this bug myself but assumed it had to do with my recent frankenstein brain swap (rsync-based install to a new hard drive in my laptop). If others are seeing it, I guess there's a real bug here.

Changed in grub2 (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
importance: Undecided → High
Revision history for this message
DrJohn (jhinshaw) wrote :
Download full text (3.7 KiB)

Similar happened to me upon update manager upgrade to grub -pc 1.99-21ubuntu3.4. The "COnfigure Grub Devices" dialog offered choices of /dev/sda and /dev/sda6. Selecting both of these, the Details display of update manager showed

/usr/sbin/grub-probe: error: cannot stat '/,'

I deselected /dev/sda6 and continued. Afterwards, but not rebooting yet, I see the following. This (as can be seen) is a dual-boot Win7 / Ubuntu 12.04 machine.

[code]
~$ fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x29133921

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 209717247 104857600 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 209717248 241174527 15728640 1b Hidden W95 FAT32
/dev/sda3 241176574 488355839 123589633 5 Extended
/dev/sda4 488355840 488397167 20664 ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sda5 480356352 488355839 3999744 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6 241176576 476184575 117504000 83 Linux
/dev/sda7 476186624 480344063 2078720 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Disk /dev/mapper/cryptswap1: 2128 MB, 2128609280 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 258 cylinders, total 4157440 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x26f89c28

Disk /dev/mapper/cryptswap1 doesn't contain a valid partition table
[/code]

(The /dev/sda7 second swap was created by the upgrade process from 11.10 to 12.04)

Then I ran:
[code]
~$ update-grub
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-31-generic-pae
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-31-generic-pae
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-30-generic-pae
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-30-generic-pae
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sda1
Found Windows Recovery Environment (loader) on /dev/sda2
done
[/code]

and found

[code]
~$ debconf-show grub-pc
  grub-pc/kopt_extracted: false
  grub2/kfreebsd_cmdline:
  grub2/device_map_regenerated:
* grub-pc/install_devices:
  grub-pc/postrm_purge_boot_grub: false
  grub-pc/install_devices_failed_upgrade: true
  grub-pc/disk_description:
* grub2/linux_cmdline:
* grub-pc/install_devices_empty: true
  grub2/kfreebsd_cmdline_default: quiet
  grub-pc/partition_description:
  grub-pc/install_devices_failed: false
* grub-pc/install_devices_disks_changed:
* grub2/linux_cmdline_default: quiet splash
  grub-pc/chainload_from_menu.lst: true
  grub-pc/hidden_timeout: false
  grub-pc/mixed_legacy_and_grub2: true
  grub-pc/timeout: 10
[/code]

As stated above, dpkg-reconfigure was successful from the cmd line:

[code]
~$ dpkg-reconfigure --frontend=gnome grub-pc
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: ...

Read more...

Revision history for this message
DrJohn (jhinshaw) wrote :

Grub menu, Ubuntu, and Win7 startups are normal.

I didn't note in the previous post that running dpkg-reconfigure --frontend=gnome grub-pc did not change the output of debconf-show grub-pc. So, this looks like a mis-directed attempt by the package upgrade process to install Grub in the non-bootable Linux partition at /dev/sda6.

Revision history for this message
Marcus Tomlinson (marcustomlinson) wrote :

This release of Ubuntu is no longer receiving maintenance updates. If this is still an issue on a maintained version of Ubuntu please let us know.

Changed in grub2 (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

[Expired for grub2 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

Changed in grub2 (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Expired
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