Bug#495049: grub-pc: does not boot because module "normal" is not loaded

[Ian Bruce]

Package: grub-pc
Version: 1.96+20080724-7
Severity: critical
Justification: breaks the whole system


I installed grub because lilo wouldn't boot any more.
My root fs is on lvm; I don't know if this is related.

After running "grub-install" and rebooting, grub drops into the
"grub rescue>" prompt. The "pc", "lvm", and "ext2" modules are loaded,
"ls" finds the root volume, and the variable "root" is set 
appropriately.

Investigation shows that if the following commands are issued:

    insmod normal
    normal

 -- then the boot menu specified by "grub.cfg" appears, and the system
boots properly. It turns out that the file "core.img" does not contain
the string "normal".

It seems like this problem should be easy to fix.

-- Package-specific info:

*********************** BEGIN /proc/mounts
/dev/mapper/volume11-root / ext3 rw,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/mapper/volume11-root /dev/.static/dev ext3 ro,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/mapper/volume11-home /home ext3 rw,errors=continue,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/mapper/volume11-usr /usr ext3 rw,errors=continue,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/mapper/volume11-var /var ext3 rw,errors=continue,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/mapper/volume11-work /work ext3 rw,errors=continue,data=ordered 0 0
*********************** END /proc/mounts

*********************** BEGIN /boot/grub/device.map
(hd0)	/dev/sda
(volume11-root)	/dev/mapper/volume11-root
*********************** END /boot/grub/device.map

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

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
set default=0
set timeout=5
insmod lvm
set root=(volume11-usr)
search --fs-uuid --set b2a61cc9-be9a-43a2-9ca6-900dc4e01ea1
if font /share/grub/ascii.pff ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  insmod gfxterm
  insmod vbe
  terminal gfxterm
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_hurd ###
### END /etc/grub.d/10_hurd ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
insmod lvm
set root=(volume11-root)
search --fs-uuid --set cbcda803-4997-4932-bd61-f8bd0a168859
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.26-1-amd64" {
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-1-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/volume11-root ro  
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-1-amd64
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.26-1-amd64 (single-user mode)" {
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-1-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/volume11-root ro single 
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-1-amd64
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.25-2-amd64" {
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25-2-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/volume11-root ro  
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.25-2-amd64
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.25-2-amd64 (single-user mode)" {
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.25-2-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/volume11-root ro single 
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.25-2-amd64
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.18-6-amd64" {
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/volume11-root ro  
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-6-amd64
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.18-6-amd64 (single-user mode)" {
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-6-amd64 root=/dev/mapper/volume11-root ro single 
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-6-amd64
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file is an example on how to add custom entries
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
*********************** END /boot/grub/grub.cfg

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (990, 'stable'), (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.26-1-amd64
Locale: LANG=en_CA.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_CA.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)

Versions of packages grub-pc depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]    1.5.11etch2     Debian configuration management sy
ii  grub-common              1.96+20080724-7 GRand Unified Bootloader, version 
ii  libc6                    2.7-13          GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  liblzo2-2                2.03-1          data compression library
ii  libncurses5              5.6+20080713-1  shared libraries for terminal hand

grub-pc recommends no packages.

-- debconf information:
  grub-pc/linux_cmdline: fillme
  grub-pc/chainload_from_menu.lst: true