[Bug 797544] Re: grub2 waits forever for keystroke before booting default OS. headless server. hang.

[Bryce Nesbitt]

SOLVED (sort of):

We found three causes of the "headless server waits forever for someone
to press a key" problem with grub2:

1) "apt-get updgrade" can trigger "grub-setup".  If by chance there happens to be a USB drive attached with Linux on it... grub will find it.  And suddenly you have two OS's and grub asks.
2) If a previous boot fails (for example because of a power failure in the middle), the next boot waits forever for a keypress.
3) On a kiosk, if a visitor happens to press the shift key (or it is stuck) at boot time, the machine won't finish the boot.

All three issues are problems for unattended/kiosk uses of Ubunu.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/797544

Title:
  grub2 waits forever for keystroke before booting default OS.  headless
  server. hang.

Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: grub2

  After a seemingly-routine "apt-get update" on an Ubuntu 10.10  server, the machine hangs on boot. 
  It is sitting at the grub2 prompt, waiting in vain for someone to come along and press <enter>.

  I have tried two workarounds:

  ---------------------------------------------
  Edit /etc/grub.d/00_header to remove the check for recordfail in:

  make_timeout ()
  {
      echo "set timeout=1"
  }
  --------------------------------------------------------------------
  In /etc/default/grub set
   GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=2
  ---------------------------------
  Then "sudo update-grub"

  Now I'm pretty dang stuck.  There is plenty of forum activity on this
  issue, but no true solutions.

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