[Bug 1289977] Re: Ubuntu 14.04 Update breaks grub, resulting in "error: symbol 'grub_term_highlight_color' not found"

[sde]

I spent about 8 hours trying different methods mentioned above, to
repair a 14.04 upgrade from 13.10. The method that worked for me was
boot-repair, selecting standard repair with the "rename Windows files"
option (aka rename EFI files.)

Things that didn't work on my system: (all repairs required booting from a LiLi USB of 13.04 first)
1. boot-repair standard repair with no options, (after that it booted directly to Windows 8)
2. boot-repair again, which had some errors on missing 386 files (after that "1962 no operating system found" error)
3. switching to prioritize UEFI boot (still "1962") and back
4. boot-repair again with restore EFI files option
5. adding the missing expected line to grub by mounting the old system and chroot'ing in and editing 05_debian_theme and updating grub
6. chroot'ing in to the old system including setting up Internet access and reinstalling all grub and using 'dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc' (still "1962") This suggested solution was the hardest to do, and didn't by itself solve the problem, although it may have contributed.

The original install was 13.04 amd64 plus use of boot-repair to get a
dual boot with Windows 8.

It would be really nice and cool if the upgrade installer for 14.04 or
subsequent versions were improved to detect whether the grub
installation was up-to-date and ready to be upgraded, before trying to
upgrade it, instead of breaking the boot for the whole computer. There
should be a warning, and if the warning isn't automatically just given
when it's needed, it should be given to everyone using the installer,
"If you've used boot-repair, then purge and reinstall grub before
attempting upgrade," or something like that, whatever would prevent this
problem.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1289977

Title:
  Ubuntu 14.04 Update breaks grub, resulting in "error: symbol
  'grub_term_highlight_color' not found"

Status in “grub2” package in Ubuntu:
  Incomplete

Bug description:
  The update from 13.10 to 14.04 via update-manager broke grub for me,
  which resulted in the grub error:

  "symbol 'grub_term_highlight_color' not found"

  on startup.

  To fix the problem I had to boot to my persisting Ubuntu installation
  (e.g. using Super Grub Disk) and had to reinstall grub on my boot
  partition: "sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sdx"

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
  Package: grub2-common 2.02~beta2-6
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-16.36-generic 3.13.5
  Uname: Linux 3.13.0-16-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.13.3-0ubuntu1
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: Unity
  Date: Sun Mar  9 10:36:45 2014
  EcryptfsInUse: Yes
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-12-10 (88 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1)
  ProcEnviron:
   LANGUAGE=de_DE
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: grub2
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-03-07 (2 days ago)

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