Bug#462159: grub-pc: doesn't boot: "free magic is broken"

[Piotr Kaczuba]

Package: grub-pc
Version: 1.95+20080116-2
Severity: critical
Justification: breaks the whole system

After having done a 'grub-install --recheck --no-floppy /dev/hda' and
'update-grub' the system has become unbootable. After 'Loading grub' the
message 'free magic is broken at (some address): (some number)' shows up
and grub won't load. Unfortunately, recent versions of grub-pc aren't
available any more at ftp.debian.org so I can't say which is the last
working version.


-- Package-specific info:

*********************** BEGIN /proc/mounts
rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
/dev/hda3 / xfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /lib/init/rw tmpfs rw,nosuid 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
/dev/hda3 /dev/.static/dev xfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,nosuid,noexec 0 0
fusectl /sys/fs/fuse/connections fusectl rw 0 0
/dev/hda2 /boot ext2 rw 0 0
/dev/mapper/vg_sid-lv_usr /usr xfs rw 0 0
/dev/mapper/vg_sid-lv_usr_local /usr/local xfs rw 0 0
/dev/mapper/vg_sid-lv_usr_src /usr/src xfs rw 0 0
/dev/mapper/vg_sid-lv_usr_local_src /usr/local/src xfs rw 0 0
/dev/mapper/vg_sid-lv_var /var xfs rw 0 0
/dev/mapper/vg_sid-lv_home /home xfs rw 0 0
/dev/mapper/vg_sid-lv_tmp /tmp xfs rw 0 0
binfmt_misc /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0
none /proc/fs/vmblock/mountPoint vmblock rw 0 0
*********************** END /proc/mounts

*********************** BEGIN /boot/grub/device.map
(hd0)	/dev/hda
(hd1)	/dev/sda
*********************** 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=10
set root=(hd0,3)
terminal console
### 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 ###
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.23.14-orbiter.x86-64.1" {
	linux	(hd0,2)/vmlinuz-2.6.23.14-orbiter.x86-64.1 root=/dev/hda3 ro selinux=0 vga=0x318 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap,vram:128
	initrd	(hd0,2)/initrd.img-2.6.23.14-orbiter.x86-64.1
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.23.14-orbiter.x86-64.1 (single-user mode)" {
	linux	(hd0,2)/vmlinuz-2.6.23.14-orbiter.x86-64.1 root=/dev/hda3 ro single selinux=0 vga=0x318 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap,vram:128
	initrd	(hd0,2)/initrd.img-2.6.23.14-orbiter.x86-64.1
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.23.12-orbiter.x86-64.1" {
	linux	(hd0,2)/vmlinuz-2.6.23.12-orbiter.x86-64.1 root=/dev/hda3 ro selinux=0 vga=0x318 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap,vram:128
	initrd	(hd0,2)/initrd.img-2.6.23.12-orbiter.x86-64.1
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.23.12-orbiter.x86-64.1 (single-user mode)" {
	linux	(hd0,2)/vmlinuz-2.6.23.12-orbiter.x86-64.1 root=/dev/hda3 ro single selinux=0 vga=0x318 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap,vram:128
	initrd	(hd0,2)/initrd.img-2.6.23.12-orbiter.x86-64.1
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.23.11-orbiter.x86-64.1" {
	linux	(hd0,2)/vmlinuz-2.6.23.11-orbiter.x86-64.1 root=/dev/hda3 ro selinux=0 vga=0x318 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap,vram:128
	initrd	(hd0,2)/initrd.img-2.6.23.11-orbiter.x86-64.1
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.23.11-orbiter.x86-64.1 (single-user mode)" {
	linux	(hd0,2)/vmlinuz-2.6.23.11-orbiter.x86-64.1 root=/dev/hda3 ro single selinux=0 vga=0x318 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap,vram:128
	initrd	(hd0,2)/initrd.img-2.6.23.11-orbiter.x86-64.1
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.22.9-orbiter.x86-64.1" {
	linux	(hd0,2)/vmlinuz-2.6.22.9-orbiter.x86-64.1 root=/dev/hda3 ro selinux=0 vga=0x318 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap,vram:128
	initrd	(hd0,2)/initrd.img-2.6.22.9-orbiter.x86-64.1
}
menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux, linux 2.6.22.9-orbiter.x86-64.1 (single-user mode)" {
	linux	(hd0,2)/vmlinuz-2.6.22.9-orbiter.x86-64.1 root=/dev/hda3 ro single selinux=0 vga=0x318 video=vesafb:mtrr:3,ywrap,vram:128
	initrd	(hd0,2)/initrd.img-2.6.22.9-orbiter.x86-64.1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_windows ###
@ Windows {
    set root=(hd0,1)
    chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_windows ###
*********************** END /boot/grub/grub.cfg

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.23.14-orbiter.x86-64.1 (PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=pl_PL.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=pl_PL.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages grub-pc depends on:
ii  base-files                    4.0.2      Debian base system miscellaneous f
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]         1.5.18     Debian configuration management sy
ii  libc6                         2.7-6      GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  liblzo2-2                     2.02-3     data compression library

grub-pc recommends no packages.

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