GRUB won't install in text mode in hardy alpha 4

I took a screenshot, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

Attempting to install LILO results in a similar error:

The lilo package failed to install into /target/. Installing LILO as a boot loader is a required step. The install problem might however be unrelated to LILO, so continuing the installation may be possible.
LILO installation failed. Continue anyway?
<Go Back> <Yes> <No>

I attempted to install Ubuntu Hardy every day since 20080210,
the installation process stalls with the same message:
  "Grub installation failed."

My last attempt is hardy-alternate-i386.iso, build on 20080217.

Lilo doesn't work either.

I cannot install Ubuntu by other means. LiveCD is not working on
my box. The current DVD image is larger than 4.5 GB and cannot be
burned.

Please attach /var/log/syslog from the running installer to this bug. You can extract it by going back to the installer main menu and selecting "Save debug logs".

I reformated the disks since I was not able to boot Ubuntu.
My setup is dualboot with XP.
I don't have the data.

I installed ubuntu from the liveCD 20080218.
I run Ubuntu, great!
I'll test the setup and keep using XP for the time being.
I should reinstall ubuntu and XP completely during the next 4 weeks.
I'll test alternate then.

Bernard

On Feb 18, 2008 9:38 PM, Colin Watson <email address hidden> wrote:

> Please attach /var/log/syslog from the running installer to this bug.
> You can extract it by going back to the installer main menu and
> selecting "Save debug logs".
>
> ** Changed in: grub-installer (Ubuntu)
> Sourcepackagename: debian-installer => grub-installer
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Colin Watson (kamion)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> GRUB won't install in text mode in hardy alpha 4
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/192938
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

I experienced exactly the same problem (both grub and lilo) trying to install Ubuntu Hardy to a sata2 hard drive using the amd64 alternate cd daily build for 2008-02-16. Will try a text install again using a more current amd64 alternate cd, and will extract and post /var/log/syslog if it fails again. Alan

Just completed a successful install to the same sata2 hard drive using the 20080220.2 amd64 alternate cd. Grub installed without incident (cannot say whether lilo would have done so as I didn't go back and test this). Alan

This error does not seem to be present in hardy alpha 5. Unless anyone else has problems like the previous one, I think this can be closed.

I just got the exact errors as above while trying to install the hardy daily build on March 24, 2008 (hardy-alternate-i386.iso).

I've attached the logs as requested.

I've installed Hardy Daily 4-10-08 on three separate machines (using hardy-alternate-amd64.iso and hardy-alternate-i386.iso). I cannot reproduce this error.

IIRC, the problem wasn't with grub itself. It was that an earlier install step that failed (installation of language-pack-gnome-en-base). Once this failed, no new packages could be installed (including grub), but I was only informed that the installation was failing when grub was being installed. At least, that's how I interpret the entries in my syslog file (that I posted earlier). Those entries are below. I think to get around this I installed a nightly build at a later point, where the language-pack-gnome-en-base package had been fixed.

Probably what needs to happen is that the process which installed the earlier package needs to be fixed to inform the user of the error at that point, so that grub doesn't get blamed later by mistake.

I hope that helps!
-- Scott

Mar 24 14:10:22 in-target: You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
Mar 24 14:10:22 in-target: The following packages have unmet dependencies:
Mar 24 14:10:22 in-target: language-pack-gnome-en-base: Depends: language-pack-gnome-en (>= 1:8.04+20080301) but it is not going to be installed
Mar 24 14:10:22 in-target: language-support-en: Depends: language-support-translations-en but it is not going to be installed
Mar 24 14:10:22 in-target: Depends: language-support-writing-en but it is not going to be installed
Mar 24 14:10:22 in-target: E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
Mar 24 14:10:23 in-target: dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of language-pack-gnome-en-base:
Mar 24 14:10:23 in-target: language-pack-gnome-en-base depends on language-pack-gnome-en (>= 1:8.04+20080301); however:
Mar 24 14:10:23 in-target: Package language-pack-gnome-en is not installed.
Mar 24 14:10:23 in-target: dpkg: error processing language-pack-gnome-en-base (--configure):
Mar 24 14:10:23 in-target: dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Mar 24 14:10:23 in-target: Errors were encountered while processing:
Mar 24 14:10:23 in-target: language-pack-gnome-en-base
...
Mar 24 14:16:23 grub-installer: info: architecture: i386/generic
Mar 24 14:16:23 grub-installer: info: Identified partition label for /dev/sda3: msdos
Mar 24 14:16:24 grub-installer: dpkg - warning: ignoring request to remove grub-pc which isn't installed.
Mar 24 14:16:24 in-target: Reading package lists...
Mar 24 14:16:25 in-target:
Mar 24 14:16:25 in-target: Building dependency tree...
Mar 24 14:16:25 in-target:
Mar 24 14:16:25 in-target: Reading state information...
Mar 24 14:16:25 in-target:
Mar 24 14:16:26 in-target: You might want to run `apt-get -f install' to correct these:
Mar 24 14:16:26 in-target: The following packages have unmet dependencies:
Mar 24 14:16:26 in-target: language-pack-gnome-en-base: Depends: language-pack-gnome-en (>= 1:8.04+20080301) but it is not going to be installed
Mar 24 14:16:26 in-target: E: Unmet dependencies. Try 'apt-get -f install' with no packages (or specify a solution).
Mar 24 14:16:26 grub-installer: info: Calling 'apt-install grub' failed

I'm still having this problem, or one like it, in Hardy's latest beta. I was able to install LILO instead of grub, though. The (compressed) contents of /var/log/installer are attached.

DaveAbrahams, do you mean the hardy beta images or the latest daily builds.

I mean the beta images. I didn't realize there was a latest daily build CD I could download. I could try again with what I now find at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily/current/

I note that after proceeding by allowing it to install LILO, I ended up with partitions under /dev/mapper/ even though I'm not running LVM on this system. Maybe that, or something related, might have fooled grub-install into thinking that /boot was on LVM?

Quite possible. Post your success/fail results of the daily alternate CD install.

FYI... I have been facing the same issue installing Hardy Beta Alternate and Server Editions on an OQO Model 02, VirtualBox, and in VMWare Server.

I've successfully been able to work around the grub installation failure in all cases by doing the following:

1. When the installer goes to the red screen regarding GRUB faling to install, I hit ok until it takes me back to the installer menu asking whether to install GRUB, Lilo, etc.

2. Alt+F2 into another terminal window, and hit enter at prompt.

3. chroot /target

4. "apt-get install grub" which then installs a number of dependencies, and also generates the initramfs images, etc.

5. After GRUB successfully installs, ALT+F1 bank to the menu, and choose to "Install Grub". It's already installed by now the installer gets further than it did before. It also asks whether you want to install GRUB to the MBR which I accept.

The installer completes, and CD ejects, and GRUB is installed without any apparent issues.

I have not tried a newer (daily/nightly) install CD, so I'm not sure if this has been corrected already.

In my testing so far, the final release of 8.04 no longer suffers from the issue I noted above.

Greetings,

I had the following error whilst installing Debian on an Ubuntu 9.04 VirtualBox:

"The 'grub' package failed to install into /target/."

Well, it turned out that the install ran out of disk space... alt <f2> told the tale.

Regards,

Flint

I had the exact same error while installing Ubuntu 9.10 32-bit. After finding this thread I looked in /var/log/syslog for details, and noticed that "apt-get install grub" failed near the end of the install. I rebooted into the live CD, configured my networking properly and attempted the install again. It worked perfectly this time. Perhaps the installation media either needs grub2 to be added, or maybe the user needs to be given an opportunity to configure the network settings prior to installation? At any rate, I hope this helps!

I had the same problem, and like Johnny above realized it was due to not connecting the LAN cable during setup so it could configure DHCP.