Bug#292724: Installer Fails To Install Grub - "/boot/grub/stage1 not read correctly"
On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 17:52:39 +0100, Frans Pop wrote:
>On Saturday 29 January 2005 03:11, Nick Boyce wrote:
>> ... there is no /boot directory at all - but there
>> _is_ one on /target - i.e. the file
>> /target/boot/grub/stage1
>> *does* exist. Is the installer simply passing the wrong
>> --root-directory parameter to grub-install ?
[...]
>
>No: grub installation is run inside a chroot on /target.
Ah - thanks - I should have thought of that.
>> (1) I notice that the above partition table print from fdisk shows my
>> two Linux partitions (7 & 8) have type=FAT16 (type 06) despite their
>> just having been formatted by the installer as ext3 and swap
>
>That looks more likely. We've seen before that the partition types are not
>always set correctly in edge cases.
>Suggest you try fixing this with fdisk from vt2 after hardware detection
I've just done this, and it fixed the problem :-)
I switched to VC2 when the prompt about not finding a DHCP server
appeared, then ran cfdisk, and changed the partition types to 83 and
82 respectively. When I exited cfdisk I was told I *had* to reboot to
have the partition changes recognised (any change to the MBR I guess).
After a reboot and restart of the installation from the start, the
Grub installation step completed (to the root partition boot sector,
/dev/hda7) straight away, no problem.
Then, I wiped & reinstalled again, and this time selected the LILO
bootloader, and that installed without problem too.
>> (2) I created all the partitions using Win2K Disk Manager, at a time
>
>We advise to never use non-linux tools for partitioning.
Well I understand what you're saying, but I was a bit nervous of
trying the Sarge partitioner - I tried the Ubuntu Warty Warthog
installer 3 weeks ago on this same box, and it trashed my MBR. Maybe
I used it badly, but I asked it to create a 2nd primary partition for
its root (Win2K was already installed), and specified "create the new
partition at the start of the available space". The effect seemed to
be to reorder the partition table entries (or something) such that
Win2K wouldn't boot any more - it couldn't find its boot partition,
even though the partition was still there and the contents were
visible using the Win2K Recovery Console. I assume the Ubuntu
partitioner is closely related to Sarge's ?
Also, I used the same plan with several other boxes at work which
dual-boot WinNT Workstation and Woody : I used WinNT Disk Manager to
create the Linux partitions, and the Woody installer didn't have any
problem at all with them.
There may be a regression in Sarge here ....
>You might try again later next week using a _daily_ CD image.
I will - I'm happy to keep this box available for a while to test
Sarge installations if that helps iron out any other installer issues.
I've made a backup copy of the MBR now, so I'm thinking of deleting
the entire extended partition, and installing Sarge into a new 2nd
primary partition, to see if there's any difference from the above
experience.
I'll add any new relevant info to this bug report, but I guess you
could close this bug now if that's The Right Thing.
Thanks for your help.
Nick Boyce
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