[Bug 1269728] Re: could not install grub bootloader (ubuntu-gnome)

[Arnaud Ongenae]

First of all thank you for the follow-up.
Just for the sake of completeness here are all the step

- I had a running 12.10 ubuntu (normal version) that would have reach
end of life the 29th January.
The install was only on a SSD hard drive (64Gb)

- I acquired an refurbished 500Gb regular hard drive. It probably
hosted some version of windows (I don't really know and cared at the
time)

- I decided to install a new ubuntu-gnome 13.10 and have the /home
partition on the normal HDD, leave the swap and / on the SSD
First install, I rearrange the partition as mentioned and at the very
end of the installation process, I got the error message stated in the
bug report.
At this stage, there are three available options
* choose another partition (I tried them all /dev/sda /dev/sda1
/dev/sdc /dev/sdc5)
* finish the installation without bootloader
* cancel the installation

- I tried all available partition of the drop list, unsuccessfully.

- I decided to cancel the installation and was presented the
opportunity to fill a bug report (which I did)

- I rebooted the computer, there was no bootloader.

- I launched the live session again and tried a normal installation,
leave the partition to the installer, I choose exclusively my SDD
disk. At the end I encounter the same issue. I chose to exit without
the installation of the bootloader.

- I opened the disk utility and erased the 500Gb disk writing all
zeros (took a very long time)

- Retried the custom partition install... unsuccessfully and exit with
the option "no bootloader"

- I mounted the "/" partition and I chroot in it. I tried to install
grub manually. folIowing this howto:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1581099
At this point I encounter the more verbose error message:

/usr/sbin/grub2-bios-setup: warning: Sector 32 is already in use by
the program `FlexNet'; avoiding it.  This software may cause boot or
other problems in future.  Please ask its authors not to store data in
the boot track.

That lead me to:
http://pissedoffadmins.com/general/usrsbingrub2-bios-setup-warning-sector-32-is-already-in-use-by-the-program-flexnet-avoiding-it-this-software-may-cause-boot-or-other-problems-in-future-please-ask-its-authors-not-to-store.html

- I followed the instructions and could finally install grub
- reboot and victoire :)


As you can see, It's a (almost) fresh install. I didn't install (try)
windows in between tries (I don't have windows disk at all)


--
Arnaud


On Fri, Jan 17, 2014 at 12:28 AM, Phillip Susi <psusi at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> This report says that grub failed to *install*.  If you subsequently
> resolved that in the way I stated and later got the error at boot time
> after successfully booting windows, then yes, you ran into a second,
> unrelated issue.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1269728
>
> Title:
>   could not install grub bootloader (ubuntu-gnome)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub-installer/+bug/1269728/+subscriptions

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to grub-installer in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1269728

Title:
  could not install grub bootloader (ubuntu-gnome)

Status in “grub-installer” package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  At the end of the installation of ubuntu-gnome 13.10,  it failed to install the bootloader.
  The original disk was a SSD
  The installer allowed me to choose another disk, I tried without success on a normal drive.

  The partition are as follow, I asked the install to format these partition (there was an older ubuntu version on them)
  - SSD 64G
  10G swap
  54G /

  - normal disk 550G
  500G /home

  It's the first time I encounter such issue on this computer/disks, I
  use this HW since ubuntu 11.10 without issue.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
  Package: ubiquity 2.15.26
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-12.19-generic 3.11.3
  Uname: Linux 3.11.0-12-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperVersion: 1.336ubuntu1
  Date: Thu Jan 16 10:13:11 2014
  InstallCmdLine: noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu-gnome.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz quiet splash -- maybe-ubiquity
  LiveMediaBuild: Ubuntu-GNOME 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131017)
  MarkForUpload: True
  ProcEnviron:
   LANGUAGE=en_US
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  SourcePackage: grub-installer
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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