Bug#645533: GRUB installation and re-installation bug in Debian LINUX 6.0.2.1 Squeeze i386 ...
Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko
phcoder at gmail.com
Sun Oct 16 19:03:18 UTC 2011
On 16.10.2011 20:29, yekta.gursel wrote:
> Package: GRUB install/re-install in debian-6.0.2.1-i386-DVD-1
> installation/rescue DVD
> Version: 6.0.2.1
>
This is the worst bugreport I've ever seen. Lots of life-telling and not
even a single error message or attached log. Ignoring it unless it gets
better.
> 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.
>
Allowing to install wherever is needed is a good thing. You can change a
BIOS order, you know.
> 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 <mailto:yekta.gursel at att.net>
>
>
>
>
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--
Regards
Vladimir 'φ-coder/phcoder' Serbinenko
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