Bug#645533: GRUB installation and re-installation bug in Debian LINUX 6.0.2.1 Squeeze i386 ...

[yekta.gursel]

Package:  GRUB install/re-install in debian-6.0.2.1-i386-DVD-1 installation/rescue DVD
Version:   6.0.2.1

Machine architecture:

Motherboard:  MSI-7108 848P Neo2-V (A very fine motherboard, available new for about $25)
Processor:       Intel Pentium 4, LGA 775 (Prescott), 3.0 GHz (A very fine processor, available new for about $50)
Floppy disk channel: One
Hard-disk channels: IDE 1 (Master and slave), IDE 2 (Master and slave), SATA 1, SATA 2
BIOS designation for Hard-disk channels: Ch0 M, Ch0 S, Ch1 M, Ch1 S, Ch2 M, Ch3 M
BIOS settings for boot device:  Boot from hard disk, and channel priority (which of the channels above are 
                                                                                                                first, second, and third priority in
                                                                                                                looking up the Master Boot Record, 
                                                                                                                that is to say, which is the boot disk?)
Hard-disk arrangement:
Ch0 M: Western Digital 160 GB E-IDE hard disk, one partition, ext3, mount point: "/home"
Ch0 S:   Maxtor 60 GB E-IDE hard disk, one partition, ext3, mount point:  "/tmp"
Ch1 M:  CD/DVD E-IDE optical drive
Ch1 S:   none
Ch2 M: None
Ch3 M:  Western Digital 500 GB SATA hard disk, 3 partitions, ext3, swap, ext2, mount points: "/", swap, "/Old_files"
Boot device: Hard disk
Boot Priority: Ch3 M

The system is loaded from the debian-6.0.2.1-i386-DVD-1, following the Graphical Installation sequence.  The installer noticed that the Debian system is the only operating system on the machine and it offered the install the
GRUB boot loader on the boot channel.  It then installed the boot loader on Ch0 M (IDE 1, Master Channel),
ignoring the BIOS setting for the boot channel priority.  This is the FIRST BUG, but it is not a disabling one. 

So, I ended up with the root file system on Ch3 M ("/"), with boot record on Ch0 M ("/home"), and the machine
booted nicely when I set the BIOS Boot Priority back to Ch 0 M.  

This was all fine, but my joy only lasted for a day, literally.  The Western Digital 160 GB E-IDE hard disk, which
was seven years old, and under nearly continuous use on various old machines during all that time, first halted the
system right after I exited a game I was looking at, then upon reboot, started slamming the head-carrier arm to the
sides of the hard-disk enclosure, periodically, about once a second like a clock, with a clanking noise, as if someone
was hitting a steel pot with a spoon.  The motherboard, not getting a disk ready signal, never authorized a boot
sequence, and the machine sat there, clanking away.

I shut the machine down, and identified the hard disk that had gone bad by sequentially unplugging their power
connector.  I removed the now broken Western Digital 160 GB E-IDE drive, and re-arranged the disks as follows:

New Hard-disk arrangement:
Ch0 M: Maxtor 60 GB GB E-IDE hard disk, one partition, ext3, mount point: "/tmp"
Ch0 S: Maxtor 30 GB E-IDE hard disk, one partition, ext2, mount point: "/Backup" [Another circa 2002, old disk]
Ch1 M: CD/DVD E-IDE optical drive
Ch1 S: none
Ch2 M: None
Ch3 M: Western Digital 500 GB SATA hard disk, 3 partitions, ext3, swap, ext2, mount points: "/", swap, "/Old_files"
Boot device: Hard disk [Temporarily set to CDROM to boot the debian-6.0.2.1-i386-DVD-1 for rescue operations]
Boot Priority: Ch3 M

I booted the system from the debian-6.0.2.1-i386-DVD-1, and chose the rescue option.  When it came to re-install
the GRUB boot loader, it first asked for a "/" file system on a disk.  I chose the actual Ch3 M, "/" point, and it found
the file system and offered to run a shell in it.  I chose the shell option and all the files were there when the shell ran.
I exited the shell and chose the re-install-the-boot-loader option.  It asked for a disk channel to install the boot loader,
and here I ran into the SECOND BUG, which was a disabling one.   No matter what I chose (/dev/hda, /dev/hda2,
/dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, even /dev/fd0...), it failed to install or re-install the GRUB boot loader.  It would not even put
it on a floppy.  It would not ask to install a GRUB boot loader unless it could find a "/" file system on the disk, which is
contrary to what it has done, in the case of the "FIRST BUG", mentioned above.

I had to re-install everything in the system from the beginning.  I did not lose any of my old files, due to the preserved
old partitions. 

The two bugs mentioned above should be fixed, as they are obviously due to some nearly trivial oversight, which has
never been noticed due to straight-loading of the operating system into blank hard-disks which have never failed. 
I almost missed it myself, even though I had no intentions of finding a bug.  I much prefer to use the rest of the system,
other than the bugs, and it IS a very finely written and packaged software...

-- Yekta


Yekta Gursel, Ph. D.

Address:

5444 Baldwin Avenue
Temple City
California, 91780-2624

Phone: (626) 454-4029 

E-mail: yekta.gursel at att.net



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