Grub Update Problem (Mostly solved)

[Paul Sweet]

GRUB has caused problems on my last two system updates. After my previous update, it loaded my old Kubuntu 9.04 as a terminal. Fortunately I have installed all the applications I use in 10.04, so I don't need 9.04 any more.

I just did an update, and now GRUB won't recognize Windows as well as 9.04. When I boot, all the 10.04 kernels and memtest show up on the GRUB menu, but Windows & 9.04 aren't on the menu. I did a sudo update-grub, and Windows & 9.04 appear in /boot/grub/grub.cfg, but they still don't appear in the GRUB menu.

EDITED 3/8/11 to delete lengthy listing of old grub.cfg

[Snowhog]

Re: Grub Update Problem

They are there, as listed under ### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ### in grub.cfg. You have a butt-load of installed kernels!! I'm suprised you haven't run out of space on your root partition.

Have you tried scrolling all the way down through the displayed entries?

[Paul Sweet]

Re: Grub Update Problem

I used Synaptic to get rid of the excess kernels, copied the Windows & K9.04 entires from /boot/grub/grub.cfg and pasted them into /etc/grub.d/40_custom, then did a sudo update-grub in Konsole.

Konsole gave me the following message:

Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-29-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-29-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition on /dev/sda2
Found Ubuntu 9.04 (9.04) on /dev/sdb2
done

I checked to be sure that Windows & K9.04 were still listed in grub.cfg.

However, when I rebooted only the remaining Linux kernel and memtest appeared. Could something be stopping grub.cfg from reading past memtest?

[Snowhog]

Re: Grub Update Problem

40_custom needs to be 'executable' otherwise it won't be run. Just make sure it is.

[Paul Sweet]

Re: Grub Update Problem

I removed the execute bit from 30_os-prober, and made 40_custom executable, as you suggested in another thread, and did a sudo update-grub in Konsole. This is my grub.cfg now:

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
set saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then
saved_entry=${chosen}
save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then if [ -z ${boot_once} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set dee8536d-d303-49a9-b9cb-1e573d371b52
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set dee8536d-d303-49a9-b9cb-1e573d371b52
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=light-gray/blue
set menu_color_highlight=yellow/blue
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-29-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set dee8536d-d303-49a9-b9cb-1e573d371b52
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-29-generic root=UUID=dee8536d-d303-49a9-b9cb-1e573d371b52 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-29-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.32-29-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set dee8536d-d303-49a9-b9cb-1e573d371b52
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.32-29-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-29-generic root=UUID=dee8536d-d303-49a9-b9cb-1e573d371b52 ro single
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-29-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set dee8536d-d303-49a9-b9cb-1e573d371b52
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
# menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
# EOF
# printf '%s\n' " insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,3)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set dee8536d-d303-49a9-b9cb-1e573d371b52"
# cat << EOF
# linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
# }
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (on /dev/sda2)" {
insmod ntfs
set root='(hd0,2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set a278aa1c78a9eeeb
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
menuentry "Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-19-generic (on /dev/sdb2)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 8b5d2a45-5b5c-481d-b83e-b096e5c98b71
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-19-generic root=UUID=8b5d2a45-5b5c-481d-b83e-b096e5c98b71 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-19-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-19-generic (recovery mode) (on /dev/sdb2)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 8b5d2a45-5b5c-481d-b83e-b096e5c98b71
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-19-generic root=UUID=8b5d2a45-5b5c-481d-b83e-b096e5c98b71 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-19-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+ (on /dev/sdb2)" {
insmod ext2
set root='(hd1,2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 8b5d2a45-5b5c-481d-b83e-b096e5c98b71
linux /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

When I rebooted only Linux kernel 2.6.32-29 and memtest appeared in the Grub menu.

Finally I noticed that there were 2 non-commented lines under memtest (serial console). The only thing I could think to try was to manually edit grub.cfg and add # in front of them. When I rebooted I got the full Grub menu. 9.04 is still booting as a terminal, but at least I can get into Windows again. Could my /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ be corrupted?

[Snowhog]

Re: Grub Update Problem

Your 30_os-prober isn't executable, as it doesn't appear in your grub.cfg at all. Look at the permissions. They should be:

-rwxr-xr-x

If you see:

-rw-r--r--

then it's not executable.

I make my 20_memtest86+ unexecutable, as I don't care to have it in my Grub menu.

[Paul Sweet]

Re: Grub Update Problem

Snowhog, thanks for helping me track this down. I'll make 20_memtest86+ non-executable, and hope that solves the problem.