Comment 272 for bug 1289977

Here is some information that might shed some light on the problem.
I am running Linux in a virtual machine (VM) using VirtualBox. I have a working 13.10 VM that boots using /boot on /sda1, and a number of other disks that are tied together using LVM. The /root, /home, etc. directories are all in the LVM. Linux is the only operating system. I took a tar copy of all the files associated with the 13.10 VM. Then:
1. I tried to upgrade to 14.04. The upgrade seemed to succeed, but would not boot with the dreaded grub_term_highlight_color missing message.
2. I took a tar copy of the VM with the failed upgrade. I still have this copy.
3. I used tar to restore the 13.10 VM
4. I used the recommended "sudo dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc" command. The message informed me that the disk that grub was originally installed to was no longer present. I believe this message is true. It also presented me with a list of disks to install grub to. There was no default chosen for me (I expected to find /dev/sda as default). If I hit OK without choosing a disk, it warned me that grub would not be installed. I went back to the list, chose /dev/sda and hit OK. It then did its job with "No error reported."
5. I then did the upgrade to 14.04. The upgraded system booted normally. SUCCESS!

My conclusion is that the upgrade process on my original system NEVER INSTALLED GRUB at all! When it did the equivalent of the dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc, it found that the original disk grub was installed to was missing (true) but then decided NOT to install grub anywhere. In comment 268, Philip Susi indicated this might be a bug, and I agree it is a bug in my situation.

I suggest that, at the end of the upgrade process, when the upgrader asks whether or not to remove obsolete packages, it should also warn the user that grub was never installed and give the user another chance to install it.