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#1 2019-04-09 19:31:43

alef
Member
Registered: 2015-12-30
Posts: 33

[solved] broke grub

Hi,

I'm too short on disk space on my main system since quite some time, so this morning I decided to get rid of that dual-boot ubuntu partition, which I never use.

I did this from my main bunsenLabs hydrogen system, with gparted. Then I reinstalled grub on that system.

`update-grub` did find the installed OS.

Reboot lead to a blinking cursor being displayed, instead of the grub os selection menu.

Keeping the Shift key pressed during startup results in 'GRUB' being displayed in front of the cursor, no more information is shown.

my BIOS supports UEFI was in legacy (BIOS) mode.

Hardware: Thinkpad x1 Carbon (3rd Gen).

I tried quite a number of repair / rescue / reinstall techniques to solve the problem, but nothing worked.

After a reinstall of grub (from a live usb with chroot technique, bootInfo script was displaying that grub is installed on the MBR, but core.img is not found where expected.

Latest attempt has been to install latest Bunsenlabs in a spare partition /dev/sda4, with a dedicated boot partition /dev/sda5, on which grub was installed.

Same result.


Here is the output of bootInfoScript:


                  Boot Info Script 0.77      [10 June 2018]


============================= Boot Info Summary: ===============================

 => Grub2 (v2.00) is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks at sector 
    499023872 of the same hard drive for core.img. core.img is at this 
    location and looks for (,gpt5)/grub. It also embeds following components:
    
    modules
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    fshelp ext2 part_gpt biosdisk
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 => No known boot loader is installed in the MBR of /dev/sdb.

sda1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  BunsenLabs GNU/Linux 8.1 (Hydrogen)
    Boot files:        /etc/fstab

sda2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        

sda3: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       swap
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 

sda4: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  BunsenLabs GNU/Linux 9.6 (Helium)
    Boot files:        /etc/fstab

sda5: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       BIOS Boot partition
    Boot sector type:  Grub2 (v1.99-2.00)
    Boot sector info:  Grub2 (v2.00) is installed in the boot sector of sda5 
                       and looks at sector 492593912 of the same hard drive 
                       for core.img. core.img is at this location and looks 
                       for (,gpt4)/boot/grub. It also embeds following 
                       components:
                       
                       modules
                       -------------------------------------------------------
                       fshelp ext2 part_gpt biosdisk
                       -------------------------------------------------------

sdb1: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       iso9660
    Boot sector type:  Unknown
    Boot sector info: 
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg

sdb2: __________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       vfat
    Boot sector type:  FAT16
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sdb2 starts 
                       at sector 0. But according to the info from fdisk, 
                       sdb2 starts at sector 4932. According to the info in 
                       the boot sector, sdb2 has 0 sectors.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files:        /boot/grub/grub.cfg /efi/boot/bootia32.efi 
                       /efi/boot/bootx64.efi

============================ Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sda: 238.5 GiB, 256060514304 bytes, 500118192 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
Disklabel type: gpt

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sda1                   1   500,118,191   500,118,191  ee GPT


GUID Partition Table detected.

Partition  Attrs   Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors System
/dev/sda1                 2,048    31,250,431    31,248,384 Data partition (Linux)
/dev/sda2            31,250,432   470,898,869   439,648,438 Data partition (Linux)
/dev/sda3           470,900,736   482,617,343    11,716,608 Swap partition (Linux)
/dev/sda4           482,617,344   499,023,871    16,406,528 Data partition (Linux)
/dev/sda5           499,023,872   500,117,503     1,093,632 BIOS Boot partition

Attributes: R=Required, N=No Block IO, B=Legacy BIOS Bootable, +=More bits set

Drive: sdb _____________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sdb: 2 GiB, 2107637760 bytes, 4116480 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
Disklabel type: dos

Partition  Boot  Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors  Id System

/dev/sdb1    *             64     2,238,911     2,238,848   0 Empty
/dev/sdb2               4,932         6,339         1,408  ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)

/dev/sdb1 overlaps with /dev/sdb2

GUID Partition Table detected, but does not seem to be used.

Partition  Attrs   Start Sector    End Sector  # of Sectors System
/dev/sdb1   +  R             64     2,238,855     2,238,792 Data partition (Windows/Linux)
/dev/sdb2   +  R          4,932         6,339         1,408 Data partition (Windows/Linux)

Attributes: R=Required, N=No Block IO, B=Legacy BIOS Bootable, +=More bits set

"blkid" output: ________________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL

/dev/loop0                                              squashfs   
/dev/sda1        8009b33e-3d9b-4893-a02b-b0842e63e6f7   ext4       main-sys
/dev/sda2        6c8e23cc-7200-464a-a5b5-363ee2091079   ext4       main-home
/dev/sda3        c9205d49-6293-4a89-8897-6dff3a9b61c3   swap       
/dev/sda4        0ca0c687-39c2-4308-baf1-dfb2ab4ce8c9   ext4       
/dev/sda5        06b4b102-67da-470b-acb8-524619e0e0f7   ext4       
/dev/sdb1        2018-11-13-08-11-28-00                 iso9660    BUNSENLABS_HELIUM
/dev/sdb2        505D-3A3E                              vfat       

========================= "ls -l /dev/disk/by-id" output: ======================

total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 Apr  9 18:31 ata-TOSHIBA_THNSFJ256GDNU_45NS10ETTBZW -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:31 ata-TOSHIBA_THNSFJ256GDNU_45NS10ETTBZW-part1 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:31 ata-TOSHIBA_THNSFJ256GDNU_45NS10ETTBZW-part2 -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:31 ata-TOSHIBA_THNSFJ256GDNU_45NS10ETTBZW-part3 -> ../../sda3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:31 ata-TOSHIBA_THNSFJ256GDNU_45NS10ETTBZW-part4 -> ../../sda4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:31 ata-TOSHIBA_THNSFJ256GDNU_45NS10ETTBZW-part5 -> ../../sda5
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 Apr  9 18:26 usb-Generic_Flash_Disk_AAE86B28-0:0 -> ../../sdb
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:26 usb-Generic_Flash_Disk_AAE86B28-0:0-part1 -> ../../sdb1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:26 usb-Generic_Flash_Disk_AAE86B28-0:0-part2 -> ../../sdb2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 Apr  9 18:31 wwn-0x500080d91039e0d4 -> ../../sda
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:31 wwn-0x500080d91039e0d4-part1 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:31 wwn-0x500080d91039e0d4-part2 -> ../../sda2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:31 wwn-0x500080d91039e0d4-part3 -> ../../sda3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:31 wwn-0x500080d91039e0d4-part4 -> ../../sda4
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr  9 18:31 wwn-0x500080d91039e0d4-part5 -> ../../sda5

================================ Mount points: =================================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/loop0       /lib/live/mount/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs squashfs   (ro,noatime)
/dev/sda4        /mnt                     ext4       (rw,relatime,data=ordered)
/dev/sda5        /mnt/boot                ext4       (rw,relatime,data=ordered)
/dev/sdb1        /lib/live/mount/medium   iso9660    (ro,noatime)


=============================== sda1/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=8009b33e-3d9b-4893-a02b-b0842e63e6f7 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# /home was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=6c8e23cc-7200-464a-a5b5-363ee2091079 /home           ext4    defaults        0       2
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=00507f98-6c00-4155-bfa4-0cea4cc5cf2a none            swap    sw              0       0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=============================== sda4/etc/fstab: ================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda4 during installation
UUID=0ca0c687-39c2-4308-baf1-dfb2ab4ce8c9 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda3 during installation
UUID=c9205d49-6293-4a89-8897-6dff3a9b61c3 none            swap    sw              0       0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sda4: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

 230.297885895 = 247.280472064  vmlinuz                                        1
 230.297885895 = 247.280472064  vmlinuz.old                                    1
 230.404727936 = 247.395192832  initrd.img                                     3
 230.404727936 = 247.395192832  initrd.img.old                                 3

=========================== sdb1/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
set default=0

loadfont $prefix/dejavu-bold-16.pf2
loadfont $prefix/dejavu-bold-14.pf2
loadfont $prefix/unicode.pf2
set gfxmode=auto
insmod all_video
insmod gfxterm
insmod png

set color_normal=light-gray/black
set color_highlight=white/black

if [ -e /isolinux/splash.png ]; then
    # binary_syslinux modifies the theme file to point to the correct
    # background picture
    set theme=/boot/grub/live-theme/theme.txt
elif [ -e /boot/grub/splash.png ]; then
    set theme=/boot/grub/live-theme/theme.txt
else
    set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
    set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
fi

terminal_output gfxterm

# Disable beep
#insmod play
#play 960 440 1 0 4 440 1

# Live boot
menuentry "Live system" {
	linux	/live/vmlinuz-4.9.0-8-amd64 boot=live components quiet splash
	initrd	/live/initrd.img-4.9.0-8-amd64
}
menuentry "Live system (fail-safe mode)" {
	linux	/live/vmlinuz-4.9.0-8-amd64 boot=live components memtest noapic noapm nodma nomce nolapic nomodeset nosmp nosplash vga=normal
	initrd	/live/initrd.img-4.9.0-8-amd64
}


menuentry "Live system (load image to RAM)" {
    linux /live/vmlinuz-4.9.0-8-amd64 boot=live components quiet splash toram
    initrd /live/initrd.img-4.9.0-8-amd64
}

# You can add more entries like this
# menuentry "Alternate live boot" {
# linux /live/vmlinuz-4.9.0-8-amd64 boot=live components quiet splash custom options here
# initrd /live/initrd.img-4.9.0-8-amd64
# }
# menuentry "Alternate graphical installer" {
# linux /install/gtk/vmlinuz video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788 quiet  custom options here
# initrd /install/gtk/initrd.gz
# }
# menuentry "Alternate textual installer" {
# linux /install/vmlinuz vga=normal quiet  custom options here
# initrd /install/initrd.gz
# }


# Installer (if any)
menuentry "Start installer" {
	linux	/install/gtk/vmlinuz video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788 quiet
	initrd	/install/gtk/initrd.gz
}


submenu 'Advanced options...' {

# More installer entries (if any)

menuentry "Install in graphical mode" {
	linux	/install/gtk/vmlinuz video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788 quiet
	initrd	/install/gtk/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Install in text mode" {
	linux	/install/vmlinuz vga=normal quiet
	initrd	/install/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Expert install in graphical mode" {
	linux	/install/gtk/vmlinuz priority=low video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788 quiet
	initrd	/install/gtk/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Expert install in text mode" {
	linux	/install/vmlinuz priority=low vga=normal quiet
	initrd	/install/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Automatic install in graphical mode" {
	linux	/install/gtk/vmlinuz auto=true priority=critical video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788 quiet
	initrd	/install/gtk/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Automatic install in text mode" {
	linux	/install/vmlinuz auto=true priority=critical vga=normal quiet
	initrd	/install/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Rescue system in graphical mode" {
	linux	/install/gtk/vmlinuz rescue/enable=true video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788
	initrd	/install/gtk/initrd.gz
}
menuentry "Rescue system in text mode" {
	linux	/install/vmlinuz rescue/enable=true vga=normal
	initrd	/install/initrd.gz
}


#menuentry "Rescue mode" {
#	linux	/install/vmlinuz vga=788 rescue/enable=true quiet
#	initrd	/install/initrd.gz
#}
#menuentry "Rescue mode (GUI)" {
#	linux	/install/gtk/vmlinuz video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788 rescue/enable=true quiet
#	initrd	/install/gtk/initrd.gz
#}

# Memtest (if any)
menuentry "memtest86+" {
	linux16 /live/memtest
}


}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sdb1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

            ?? = ??             boot/grub/grub.cfg                             1

=========================== sdb2/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
search --set=root --file /live/vmlinuz
set prefix=($root)/boot/grub
configfile ($root)/boot/grub/grub.cfg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

=================== sdb2: Location of files loaded by Grub: ====================

           GiB - GB             File                                 Fragment(s)

            ?? = ??             boot/grub/grub.cfg                             1

======================== Unknown MBRs/Boot Sectors/etc: ========================

Unknown MBR on /dev/sdb

00000000  45 52 08 00 00 00 90 90  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |ER..............|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000020  33 ed fa 8e d5 bc 00 7c  fb fc 66 31 db 66 31 c9  |3......|..f1.f1.|
00000030  66 53 66 51 06 57 8e dd  8e c5 52 be 00 7c bf 00  |fSfQ.W....R..|..|
00000040  06 b9 00 01 f3 a5 ea 4b  06 00 00 52 b4 41 bb aa  |.......K...R.A..|
00000050  55 31 c9 30 f6 f9 cd 13  72 16 81 fb 55 aa 75 10  |U1.0....r...U.u.|
00000060  83 e1 01 74 0b 66 c7 06  f3 06 b4 42 eb 15 eb 02  |...t.f.....B....|
00000070  31 c9 5a 51 b4 08 cd 13  5b 0f b6 c6 40 50 83 e1  |1.ZQ....[...@P..|
00000080  3f 51 f7 e1 53 52 50 bb  00 7c b9 04 00 66 a1 b0  |?Q..SRP..|...f..|
00000090  07 e8 44 00 0f 82 80 00  66 40 80 c7 02 e2 f2 66  |..D.....f@.....f|
000000a0  81 3e 40 7c fb c0 78 70  75 09 fa bc ec 7b ea 44  |.>@|..xpu....{.D|
000000b0  7c 00 00 e8 83 00 69 73  6f 6c 69 6e 75 78 2e 62  ||.....isolinux.b|
000000c0  69 6e 20 6d 69 73 73 69  6e 67 20 6f 72 20 63 6f  |in missing or co|
000000d0  72 72 75 70 74 2e 0d 0a  66 60 66 31 d2 66 03 06  |rrupt...f`f1.f..|
000000e0  f8 7b 66 13 16 fc 7b 66  52 66 50 06 53 6a 01 6a  |.{f...{fRfP.Sj.j|
000000f0  10 89 e6 66 f7 36 e8 7b  c0 e4 06 88 e1 88 c5 92  |...f.6.{........|
00000100  f6 36 ee 7b 88 c6 08 e1  41 b8 01 02 8a 16 f2 7b  |.6.{....A......{|
00000110  cd 13 8d 64 10 66 61 c3  e8 1e 00 4f 70 65 72 61  |...d.fa....Opera|
00000120  74 69 6e 67 20 73 79 73  74 65 6d 20 6c 6f 61 64  |ting system load|
00000130  20 65 72 72 6f 72 2e 0d  0a 5e ac b4 0e 8a 3e 62  | error...^....>b|
00000140  04 b3 07 cd 10 3c 0a 75  f1 cd 18 f4 eb fd 00 00  |.....<.u........|
00000150  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000160  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000170  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000180  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000190  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001a0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001b0  c4 18 00 00 00 00 00 00  09 95 01 0f 00 00 80 02  |................|
000001c0  01 00 00 44 e0 f5 40 00  00 00 80 29 22 00 00 fe  |...D..@....)"...|
000001d0  ff ff ef fe ff ff 44 13  00 00 80 05 00 00 00 00  |......D.........|
000001e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
000001f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa  |..............U.|
00000200


/dev/sdb1: unknown GPT attributes
1000000000000001

/dev/sdb2: unknown GPT attributes
1000000000000001
Unknown BootLoader on sdb1

00000000  01 43 44 30 30 31 01 00  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |.CD001..        |
00000010  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |                |
00000020  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  42 55 4e 53 45 4e 4c 41  |        BUNSENLA|
00000030  42 53 5f 48 45 4c 49 55  4d 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |BS_HELIUM       |
00000040  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |        ........|
00000050  70 8a 08 00 00 08 8a 70  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |p......p........|
00000060  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000070  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  01 00 00 01 01 00 00 01  |................|
00000080  00 08 08 00 b4 11 00 00  00 00 11 b4 56 01 00 00  |............V...|
00000090  00 00 00 00 00 00 01 59  00 00 00 00 22 00 23 00  |.......Y....".#.|
000000a0  00 00 00 00 00 23 00 10  00 00 00 00 10 00 76 0b  |.....#........v.|
000000b0  0d 08 02 18 00 02 00 00  01 00 00 01 01 00 20 20  |..............  |
000000c0  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |                |
*
00000130  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 42 55  |              BU|
00000140  4e 53 45 4e 4c 41 42 53  20 4c 49 4e 55 58 3b 20  |NSENLABS LINUX; |
00000150  48 54 54 50 53 3a 2f 2f  57 57 57 2e 42 55 4e 53  |HTTPS://WWW.BUNS|
00000160  45 4e 4c 41 42 53 2e 4f  52 47 2f 3b 20 41 44 4d  |ENLABS.ORG/; ADM|
00000170  49 4e 5f 42 55 4e 53 45  4e 4c 41 42 53 2e 4f 52  |IN_BUNSENLABS.OR|
00000180  47 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |G               |
00000190  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  |                |
*
000001b0  20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  20 20 20 20 20 20 4c 49  |              LI|
000001c0  56 45 2d 42 55 49 4c 44  20 31 3a 32 30 31 38 30  |VE-BUILD 1:20180|
000001d0  39 32 35 5f 42 50 4f 39  2b 31 3b 20 48 54 54 50  |925_BPO9+1; HTTP|
000001e0  53 3a 2f 2f 44 45 42 49  41 4e 2d 4c 49 56 45 2e  |S://DEBIAN-LIVE.|
000001f0  41 4c 49 4f 54 48 2e 44  45 42 49 41 4e 2e 4f 52  |ALIOTH.DEBIAN.OR|
00000200

Whitching to EFI mode in the bios and reinstalling grub warned that the older system is likely not to be bootable anymore.

Does anyone have hints about what to do?

Thanks.

Last edited by alef (2019-05-06 10:18:53)

Thinkpad X1Carbon 3rd Gen | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X250 | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X1Carbon 1st Edition | CrunchBang Waldorf r20121015
Thinkpad X240 | Wally <-- don't buy that & Eee-PC 1000H  |  CrunchBang Statler r20110207 Openbox

Offline

#2 2019-04-09 21:08:52

alef
Member
Registered: 2015-12-30
Posts: 33

Re: [solved] broke grub

Solved, here is what I finally did. It's probably not the most optimal way to solve the problem, but it worked.

## Investigation:

1. switch the BIOS/UEFI settings to booting to UEFI by default, instead of legacy Bios mode
2. This allows the boot menu from bunsenlabs helium live USB to provide a grub command line option, which was not displayed in the other mode.
3. follow the steps documented in this article in order to boot manually in the local system. Realize that vmlinuz and other content which should be inside /boot is missing (I must have removed them by mistake during a previous attempt to solve the problem).

## Resolution

1. start the bunsenlabs helium live usb
2. chroot to the local system drive and try to install linux-image (v4.9.0.0 bpo in my case).
3. installation fails because Internet is not available in the chrooted environment. symlinking /etc/resolv.conf from the live system doesn't help.
4. download manually the linux-image, linux-headers-amd64 and linux-headers-common .deb packages form debian.org website, and copy them to the chrooted drive.
5. install them using dpkg -i
6. run update-grub, it still doesn't work.
7. run grub-install /dev/sda5. Some error message appears (didn't take the time to write it down hmm)
8. run grub-install /dev/sda. It works this time
6. run update-grub. all good.
7. reboot. and... we're back.

Thinkpad X1Carbon 3rd Gen | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X250 | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X1Carbon 1st Edition | CrunchBang Waldorf r20121015
Thinkpad X240 | Wally <-- don't buy that & Eee-PC 1000H  |  CrunchBang Statler r20110207 Openbox

Offline

#3 2019-04-09 21:30:38

linux_user
50/50 it's a spam account
Registered: 2016-11-04
Posts: 484

Re: [solved] broke grub

I envy your Thinkpads... big_smile

"Blind faith to authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

Offline

#4 2019-04-10 04:15:50

hhh
Gaucho
From: High in the Custerdome
Registered: 2015-09-17
Posts: 16,030
Website

Re: [solved] broke grub

alef wrote:

7. run grub-install /dev/sda5. Some error message appears (didn't take the time to write it down hmm)

As you discovered, no.

8. run grub-install /dev/sda. It works this time
6. run update-grub. all good.
7. reboot. and... we're back.

Yes! You need to install grub to the drive without the partition number. Well done!

No, he can't sleep on the floor. What do you think I'm yelling for?!!!

Offline

#5 2019-04-12 12:42:29

alef
Member
Registered: 2015-12-30
Posts: 33

Re: [solved] broke grub

I thought I was out of trouble, it turns out that this is not true.

Switching my computer back on today, I am greeted again with the blank screen with blinking cursor, and no way to boot. Everything worked fine yesterday, I am not sure about what could be the cause of the regression.

switching the grub command line on from bunsenlabs helium live cd, the following error messages appear whenever I type a first command in the prompt:

error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/zfs.mod' not found
error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/sfs.mod' not found
error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/nilfs2.mod' not found
error: file '/boot/grub/x86_64-efi/minix.mod' not found

I cannot even boot manually to my local system.

directory /boot/grub contains an 'i386-pc' directory, but neither 'x86_64-efi' nor 'efi' directories.

My pc is 64 bits.


Here is what I have tried, from live usb sessions, nothing worked.

1. reinstall grub in 64 bit EFI mode (via chroot):

root@debian:/# grub-install --target=x86_64-efi /dev/sda
grub-install: error: /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi/modinfo.sh doesn't exist. Please specify --target or --directory.

2. reinstall grub with default settings (same as the solution which worked two days ago)

root@debian:/# grub-install /dev/sda
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible.
grub-install: warning: Embedding is not possible.  GRUB can only be installed in this setup by using blocklists.  However, blocklists are UNRELIABLE and their use is discouraged..
grub-install: error: will not proceed with blocklists.

3. reset the bios_grub flag to partition sda1 in gparted, and run the following:

root@debian:/# grub-install /dev/sda
Installing for i386-pc platform.
Installation finished. No error reported.
root@debian:/# update-grub
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.9.0-0.bpo.7-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-0.bpo.7-amd64
grub-probe: error: cannot find a GRUB drive for /dev/sdb1.  Check your device.map.
Adding boot menu entry for EFI firmware configuration
done

Reboot, the issue is not fixed.

4. purge grub packages, reinstall grub-pc, same results.

5. purge grub packages, install grub-efi, then:

root@debian:/# sudo grub-install /dev/sda
sudo: unable to resolve host debian
grub-install: error: /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/modinfo.sh doesn't exist. Please specify --target or --directory.
root@debian:/# sudo grub-install --target=x86_64-efi /dev/sda
sudo: unable to resolve host debian
Installing for x86_64-efi platform.
grub-install: error: cannot find EFI directory.

Note: I haven't created any EFI partition.

6. try a reinstall again using bunsenlabs hydrogen live images instead of bunsenlabs helium just in case.

Any pointers for a solution  welcome. I don't mind using legacy boot or EFI, or using another boot loader than grub, what matters to me is to have a stable solution...

Thanks.

Last edited by alef (2019-04-12 12:43:25)

Thinkpad X1Carbon 3rd Gen | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X250 | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X1Carbon 1st Edition | CrunchBang Waldorf r20121015
Thinkpad X240 | Wally <-- don't buy that & Eee-PC 1000H  |  CrunchBang Statler r20110207 Openbox

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#6 2019-04-12 13:21:11

alef
Member
Registered: 2015-12-30
Posts: 33

Re: [solved] broke grub

hhh wrote:

Yes! You need to install grub to the drive without the partition number. Well done!

Thanks for highlighting this point.


linux_user wrote:

I envy your Thinkpads... big_smile

Pretty good machines indeed smile

Thinkpad X1Carbon 3rd Gen | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X250 | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X1Carbon 1st Edition | CrunchBang Waldorf r20121015
Thinkpad X240 | Wally <-- don't buy that & Eee-PC 1000H  |  CrunchBang Statler r20110207 Openbox

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#7 2019-04-20 14:47:23

alef
Member
Registered: 2015-12-30
Posts: 33

Re: [solved] broke grub

*bump*

Has anyone a clue about how to solve this? Any pointers will be greatly appreciated.

In the mean time, I have to use a USB flash drive with "super Grub Disk" on it in order to be able to boot...

Thinkpad X1Carbon 3rd Gen | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X250 | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X1Carbon 1st Edition | CrunchBang Waldorf r20121015
Thinkpad X240 | Wally <-- don't buy that & Eee-PC 1000H  |  CrunchBang Statler r20110207 Openbox

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#8 2019-05-04 14:27:11

alef
Member
Registered: 2015-12-30
Posts: 33

Re: [solved] broke grub

So, I tried the following:

Create a small partition to host a debian minimal install, and have grub installed / managed from there.
It didn't work as expected, as it totally broke the original system partition.

I kept the home partition, wiped out all the rest and installed BL Helium.

It went quite smoothly, I'm upgraded, happy and worry-free again.

Thinkpad X1Carbon 3rd Gen | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X250 | BunsenLabs Deuterium
Thinkpad X1Carbon 1st Edition | CrunchBang Waldorf r20121015
Thinkpad X240 | Wally <-- don't buy that & Eee-PC 1000H  |  CrunchBang Statler r20110207 Openbox

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