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

[Lastique]

I've also been affected by this bug. I'm on a MacBook Pro, dualboot with
OS X. There is a single HDD split in several partitions. Kubuntu is
installed on /dev/sda3 and boots in BIOS mode from ReFit (Kubuntu cannot
boot in EFI mode on this laptop). OS X is on /dev/sda2. The bug appeared
after the upgrade from 13.10.

Things I tried that did not help:

- I could not boot into Kubuntu from the grub rescue prompt. Grub
displayed errors saying that commands "linux" and "initrd" were unknown.
Trying "insmod linux" resulted in the same error "symbol
'grub_term_highlight_color' not found".

- Boot-Repair-Disk did not help. I used the latest standalone image
(i.e. I did not install it under Ubuntu Live CD). The repair process
failed with an error, here are a couple of logs:

http://paste.ubuntu.com/7457286/
http://paste.ubuntu.com/7457303/

- Running "dpkg-reconfigure grub-pc". I did that after I booted into
Kubuntu 14.04 Live CD and created a chroot environment as described in
comment #27. The command executed successfully but the problem stayed
the same.

- Purging and re-installing "grub*" packages. After purging I made sure
to delete /boost/grub with all its contents. I did this from chroot as
well.

- Running "grub-install --boot-directory/boot -v -recheck /dev/sda3
--force". Basically, a similar command is executed during grub packages
installation, so no surprise here.


What actually helped:

As I mentioned, Kubuntu is installed on /dev/sda3. Grub boot loader was
also installed on that partition. I did not install the boot loader to
MBR (/dev/sda), and it worked with 13.10. However, after the upgrade and
attempts to fix the problem I tried to purge/reinstall grub packages and
selected to install the boot manager to MBR (/dev/sda). After that the
next boot succeeded.

This may be a result of weird behavior of ReFit as I was convinced it
would use the /dev/sda3 boot record. I don't know what boot loader was
in MBR before I reinstalled grub that last time.

So my final solution is:
1. Boot in Kubuntu 14.04 Live CD. I had to actually use DVD, my MacBook Pro doesn't boot in BIOS mode from USB sticks.
2. Mount the HDD and create a chroot command prompt as described in comment #27.
3. Purge grub packages: apt-get remove --purge 'grub*'
4. Remove any leftovers: rm -rf /boot/grub
5. Install grub packages: apt-get install grub-pc
6. When it asks where to install the boot loader I chose /dev/sda. It also offered /dev/sda3, I didn't select it this time, but in previous attempts I did try it. Maybe it's safer to install it on all partitions.
7. Reboot.

Bottom line: you have to know or at least guess which boot record is
used by your BIOS and/or higher level boot loader, such as ReFit in my
case. Otherwise the part of grub in the boot record is out of sync with
the installed part in /boot/grub which results in problems like this.

PS: Regarding the bug treatment. It is obvious that it affects a lot of
people. Closing it as Invalid is nonsense, the problem exists. Arguably,
it may not be an easy one to fix, but you can't pretend it isn't there.
I'm sad to say I can't imagine such treatment on MS or Apple part.

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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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