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Crest
19 Post subject: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting [closed]  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 01:08 AM



Joined: Dec 02, 2006
Posts: 173
Location: Berlin
Status: Offline
I was running du-fixes-h2 for some reason today (usually I'm doing my d-u without the script) and now after rebooting no Grub screen appears. Instead the computer is instantly rebooting when I try to boot sidux. Grub is installed into partition here, not mbr.

The d-u itself ran normal without errors, after that the script asked if I want to install severall sidux related things like gfxboot etc. and several sources for kernel modules. I said no to this but I said yes to fix the grub-gfxboot (didn't knew that there was something to fix here at all). This meant that 2 already installed packages had to be reinstalled and that some grub related stuff was updated. And most probably this is the only error source where I can search since grub is the first thing which gets touched when booting the system.

I have booted the Kanotix LiveCD (2006-01-RC3) and made a look into /boot/grub but couldn't see something strange looking. the file device.map contains valid entries for my 2 hd's. Also the menu.lst looks correct. Is it possible that some gfx related stuff forces the system to reboot? There are several bmp's here (coffee.bmp, sid.bmp and debian.bmp if I remember right) and the message.hd (with correct symbolic link 'message') and message.live


Last edited by Crest on Jan 24, 2007 - 12:46 AM; edited 1 time in total
 
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h2
Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 01:30 AM



Joined: Nov 28, 2006
Posts: 4299

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The question is how you switched to sidux, and what your starting system was.

I've had similar problems using the etch netinstall and grub graphics boot, and I can't figure out a way to get them fixed.

Like you, the problem seems to occur when the boot loader is on root of partition, not mbr. And what seems to trigger the problem is trying to install grub-gfxboot after the standard grub is running on the partition boot sector already, that's the normal debian stuff that is.

I will assume you are using a netinstall.

I was hoping someone would figure out a way to get the grub-gfxboot running when converting from standard grub, but I haven't read a solution yet so far.

If it's just grub that is failing, all you have to do is paste in the kernel booting stuff from the partition that won't boot's menu.lst into your master grub menu.lst, then you can boot into it fine, that's how I get around it, but I have not yet found a solution to getting grub back on partiton, assuming that's your problem.

We were looking at this problem, but then it sort of faded away, and hasn't really come up anymore, though it's not fixed either.

I've tried all the fixes and none of them worked, so if anyone knows how to restore grub function after switching to grub-grxboot ON PARTITION ROOT, not mbr, please let me know.

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sidux Maintenance script: dist-upgrade, kernel install, general utilities: smxi
Backup script [using rdiff-backup]: rd-h2.sh
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 01:38 AM



Joined: Dec 02, 2006
Posts: 173
Location: Berlin
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My system was already migrated from Kanotix 2006-01-RC4 to sidux at beginning of last December (with du-fixes-h2) but I said again yes to the question in the script if I want to switch to sidux. The (obviously older) version of grub-gfxboot before running the script worked here without problem.
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 01:52 AM



Joined: Nov 28, 2006
Posts: 4299

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You should not have seen that question again, that's either a bug or caused by deleting /etc/du-fixes.conf.

I can't say anymore, something definitely is not right with either grub-gfxboot or the way it's run, but beyond that I can't say, we have not been able to collect any meaningful information on this issue, since it only seems to happen in the single case of grub on partition boot sector.

However, the graphics stuff, both on sidux and kanotix, has always been absolutely terrible, and by far the worst component of any switch or upgrade, and by far the least reliable, although most people do not seem to have problems with it, except that for netinstall the grub-gfxboot simply doesn't work, in fact, I removed it as an install option since we couldn't figure out anything else to do to fix it in this case.

It's possible that dependencies have changed in the meantime, and that it is now pulled in automatically, which it was not before. I really can't say.

It's also possible that the grub reinstall logic is flawed, I don't know.

I'll post it here so someone can see if they can see a flaw in it:

Code:
local OldGrub=$( awk -F= '/^# groot/{print $2}' $GRUB_PATH )
local bm='/boot/message'
...................
echo "${S}Running ${C}sidux grub${S} fix...${N}"
# make a copy of old penguin graphic
[ -f $bm.hd -a "$DISTRO_LEVEL" -lt 5 ] && cp $bm.hd $bm.hd-bu
# check for old physical file, move to renamed
[ -f $bm ] && mv -f $bm $bm.presidux
apt-get install --reinstall sidux-graphics sidux-graphics-common

# force link to file
if [ -L $bm -o ! -e $bm ]
then
   ln -fs message.hd $bm
else
echo "${E}No grub graphics file was found. Sorry, script cannot resolve this for you.${N}"
fi
grub-install --recheck --no-floppy $OldGrub
grub-install --recheck --no-floppy $OldGrub

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Backup script [using rdiff-backup]: rd-h2.sh
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 01:56 AM



Joined: Dec 02, 2006
Posts: 173
Location: Berlin
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I had to re-download the script manually a few days earlier due to the yaird missing problem which is fixed now but I did not delete the file du-fixes.conf. Btw, the file sidux-version was also not touched by the script during/after the d-u. Shouldn't it reflect the date of last d-u with the script?
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 01:59 AM



Joined: Nov 28, 2006
Posts: 4299

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Very difficult to say in that case.

Post: cat /etc/sidux-version
cat /etc/kanotix-version

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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 02:02 AM



Joined: Dec 02, 2006
Posts: 173
Location: Berlin
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kanotix-version was deleted lately, sidux-version is hand edited and contains 'sidux-20070109-d:4'
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 02:04 AM



Joined: Nov 28, 2006
Posts: 4299

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hmm, that's correct, ok. You shouldn't have seen the reinstall grub option at all, unless maybe you converted in the very first weeks of sidux with the script, but even then I thought that was in place, but maybe not.

And reinstalling grub shouldn't break it.

If it's the same problem, you can boot into your install by editing the master grub menu.lst to boot directly to the kernel, not the chainloader. If that's already how you do it then I don't know.

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Backup script [using rdiff-backup]: rd-h2.sh
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 02:41 AM



Joined: Dec 02, 2006
Posts: 173
Location: Berlin
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Chainloader is not used for booting sidux, there are only chainloader entries for the automaticly added Windows partitions. Also preventing to load any gfx by deleting message.hd has not helped. Computer is still instantly rebooting when trying to boot sidux.

Actually I'm not reinstalling, to much work for now since I have changed several things to my needs.
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 04:25 AM



Joined: Nov 28, 2006
Posts: 4299

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how far do you get after hitting enter on grub boot selection? Does the kernel start at all? Or is it instant?

this is actually a new problem, it's not the one where grub just starts like this:

grub>

and nothing else, is it?

This might be a brand new thing, not sure, more details might help.

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sidux Maintenance script: dist-upgrade, kernel install, general utilities: smxi
Backup script [using rdiff-backup]: rd-h2.sh
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 04:44 AM



Joined: Dec 02, 2006
Posts: 173
Location: Berlin
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As I wrote, it's an instant reboot. I'm selecting my OS within the XFDISK Bootmanager and when selecting sidux I get nothing else than the reboot of my machine. No chance to reach a point where I can start booting any kernel.
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 05:44 AM



Joined: Nov 28, 2006
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<<< I'm selecting my OS within the XFDISK Bootmanager >>>

hmmm. So grub is not the main bootmanager? At that point I am pretty much powerless and out of ideas, since I have no idea at all about xfdisk and grub interacting.

Hopefully someone else might have some observation that will be helpful.

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sidux Maintenance script: dist-upgrade, kernel install, general utilities: smxi
Backup script [using rdiff-backup]: rd-h2.sh
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 05:53 AM



Joined: Dec 02, 2006
Posts: 173
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The problem is definitly Grub since my bootmanager is since years able to boot a Linux system. I have tried to start sidux via a linux.bin containing the first 512 bytes of my Linux partition. But using it as additional entry in the boot.ini of my Win2000 system leads only to a message 'GRUB geom error'
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 06:05 AM



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Well, we'll see if anyone can find a solution, I'd like to know what is causing this issue too, and if it's the same problem, I still have my borked grub stuff on this box to test any solutions on.

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sidux Maintenance script: dist-upgrade, kernel install, general utilities: smxi
Backup script [using rdiff-backup]: rd-h2.sh
 
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Post subject: RE: Ran du-fixes-h2, now sidux is not booting at all  PostPosted: Jan 23, 2007 - 06:43 AM



Joined: Dec 02, 2006
Posts: 173
Location: Berlin
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OK, the last try was to repair Grub using the Kanotix CD but also this did not help. Therefore my Linux system is officially 'drop dead' for now. Maybe I'll save my home dir for some later usage. The correct tar/gz command line would be handy for this.
 
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