12.3 RC1 Grub installation fails

English Install/Boot/Login
1

I have just tried to all 12.3 RC1 (openSUSE-12.3-KDE-LiveCD-Build0024-x86_64.iso) on an HP Pavilion dm1-3105. This is a system with an AMD E-350 cpu and ATI Radeon HD 6310 graphic processor

When I try a “standard” Grub 2 installation, without changing anything, it fails with:

    Error occurred while installing GRUB2.

    /usr/sbin/grub2/bios-setup: warning: Attempting to install GRUB to a partitionless disk or to a partition.
    /usr/sbin/grub2/bios-setup: error: embedding is not possible, but this is required for RAID and LVM install.

When I change the Boot Options to select (Legacy) Grub, it fails with:

    Error occurred while Installing GRUB

    sh: /usr/sbin/grub: No such file or directory

This is certainly not a RAID or LVM installation.

I have installed on various other systems, including AMD/ATI systems, without problem. I have installed openSuSE 12.2 on this system without problem.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

jw

2

Did you run the media check?

3

Yes, thanks. The media is ok, and the same media (USB stick) installs with no problem on a variety of other systems.

jw

4

Is any of the information re: partitions/lvm relevant to you

I mean are you using a standard MBR DOS partition table

5

Yes, it is a standard MBR DOS partition table, and yes, I understand the question, it is not a GPT partition table, I have another system with a GPT partition table, and the same media installs just fine on that one, and it installs just fine on a couple of other totally different systems which also have a standard MBR DOS partition table.

The only thing that is slightly beyond the simplest case is that I am installing to an extended partition on this system, but I have done that on several other systems with no problem, also.

Thanks,

jw

6

I would also like to say thanks for taking the time to try to help with this, whatever the outcome may be. I appreciate it.

I am not a newbie of any sort, I have been installing, running and administering Linux for a long, long time (and Unix for a long, long time before that). I have been installing the 12.3 daily builds since something like Build0048, and this system has been a problem from the beginning. But until now it has only been Grub 2 that wouldn’t install. I had the feeling that the problem had something to do with the somewhat unusual Radeon gpu, but I could never figure it out for sure. I prefer legacy grub anyway, so I had always just selected that, and installed with no problem. It is only with this RC1 build that it also fails to install.

Thanks again.

jw

7

When you say you are installing to an extended, you mean to a logical or set of logical partitions inside the extended space?

8

Correct.

Thanks.

jw

9

Go in to Booting here
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/12.2_liveCD_Install/13_Install_Summary.jpeg

And mark it up like this
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/Grub2_Project/grub2-set.png

10

I’ll give that a try, thanks very much.

jw

11

Still no joy. I tried it exactly as shown in the pictures, and installation still fails with exactly the same errors.

I thought that perhaps the installation media had gotten corrupted somehow, so I installed on a different system last night, from the same USB stick, and it installed with Grub 2 perfectly.

I just discovered that there might be something wrong with the partition table. I was going to look at it with gparted, and I got an error message (something about “invalid label ffff”, sorry, I didn’t write it down). I then deleted all of the Linux partitions (including swap), wrote that to the disk, and rebooted. Then created the Linux partitions again (sda3 Swap, sda4 Extended, sda5 Logical). Then I tried the 12.3 installation again and… it succeeded!

So, that was it. Thanks very much for pointing me at the MBR. I hadn’t suspected that because of the variety of things which did and did not work:

  • opensSuSE 12.2 installed ok with Legacy Grub, but not with Grub 2
  • openSuSE 12.3 installation failed with both Legacy Grub and Grub 2
  • Fedora 18 installation failed (Grub 2)
  • Ubuntu 12.10 installation succeeded (Grub 2)
  • PCLinuxOS 201302 installation succeeded (Legacy Grub)

Thanks for the assistance.

jw

12

RC1 is out now…

If it’s a sandbox machine, you could re-write the partition table?

IIRC I had trouble with grub in 12.3 beta, had to repair grub to boot with another install

But 12.2 grub should be fine if you follow my tips

13

Hello,

I have the same problem (as given in the subject), but on a fujitsu lifebook.

This computer used to run XP and openSUSE 11.4. It’s only a testbed, no real work on it.

I removed the partitions and made a new (default yast, swap, /, /home)

right now I can’t install 12.2 (previous distro). This install with grub2 fails when the software installs, that is the rpm, not at the bootloader config. If I try to install grub legacy, the exact same error come: error when installing grub2. I wonder why openSUSE try to install grub2 when I ask to install grub legacy!!

Very same problem with openSUSE 12.3 RC1

Bug 800744what can I test?

thanks
jdd

14

I just notice that this computer is old (2003) and do not allow PAE (I can’t install the last ubuntu). Don’t know if this have anything to do with the problem :frowning:

and it’s at least as fast as a modern netbook :slight_smile:

jdd

15

I’ve tried installing from both KDE and Gnome 12.3 RC1 liveCDs using a legacy grub multi-boot configuration. Both failed with “sh: /usr/sbin/grub: No such file or directory”. This is on a ThinkPad SL510 Intel GM45 and I wouldn’t call it old hardware.

16

At which point? I did not try full DVD but net CD worked for me.

BIOS or EFI?

17

Just to add that grub executable and shell script files are missing from /usr/sbin/grub directory on the installed 12.3 partition. The first reboot fails and so the installation cannot proceed.

Also see: bug #803401 - installation from live cd with grub1 doesn’t work, added yesterday

18

Did you install using the Live CD? If so, perhaps the clue is in the Release Announcement:

…installation from Live CD do not include grub2 or plymouth branding.

Does this mean prior to installing openSUSE 12.3 we should install grub2 first?


#zypper install grub2
19

BIOS. I posted at which point - see previous, just after yours. Did Net CD work with legacy grub multi-booting with existing sytem partitions??

20

I just performed new installation on Windows/Fedora 18 VM. Used grub2 (or, better, did not explicitly select anything using defaults) it correctly detected both systems and added to boot menu.

OK sorry, I did not test legacy grub, so cannot say whether it works. I may test it tomorrow, but right now I have very slow network, so won’t be able to do it.